OF 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

DAVIS 

GIFT  OF 

THE  PIERCE  FAMILY 


•* 


COPYRIGHTED. 


COPYRIGHTED 


CAMPAIGN  OF  '84 


BIOGRAPHIES 

OF 

JAMES  G-.  ELAINE, 

THE  REPUBLICAN  CANDIDA  TE  FOR  PRESIDENT, 
AND 

JOHN  A.  LOGAN, 

THE  REPUBLICAN  CANDIDA  TE  FOR  VICE-PRESIDENT. 
WITH  A 

DESCRIPTION   OF   THE    LEADING   ISSUES 

AND   THE 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  NATIONAL  CONVENTION. 

TOGETHER  WITH  A 

History  of  the  Political  Parties  of  the   United  States: 

COMPARISONS  OF  PLATFORMS  ON  ALL 
IMPORTANT  QUESTIONS, 


AND 


POLITICAL  TABLES  FOR  BEADY  REFERENCE* 


BY  HON.  THOS.  V.  COOPER, 

Author  of  "American  Politics,"  and  Chairman  of  Pennsylvania 
Republican  State  Committee  1881-82-83-84. 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 
J.    DEWINO   &   CO. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1884,  in  the  Offio* 
of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.C. 


Bound  by 

HENRY  ALTBMUS, 

4th  and  Cherry  Street*, 

Philadelphia. 


CONTENTS. 


Biographies,   eto. 

PAGE 

JAMES  G.  BLAINE,  1 

JOHN  A.  LOGAN,  60 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  NATIONAL  REPUBLICAN  CONVENTION  AT  CHICAGO,  JUNB  3,  1884  .  71 
ISSUES  OF  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGN  OF  1884 •••80 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POLITICAL  PAR' 


PAGE. 

COLONIAL  PARTIES — WHIG  AND  TORY 3 

PARTICULARISTS  AND  STRONG  GOVERNMENT  WHIGS .5 

FEDERALS  AND  ANTI-FEDERALS 7 

REPUBLICANS  AND  FEDERALS 9 

DOWNFALL  OF  THE  FEDERALS 13 

DEMOCRATS  AND  FEDERALS 17 

JEFFERSON  DEMOCRATS 19 

HARTFORD  CONVENTION 20 

TREATY  OF  GHENT 20 

CONGRESSIONAL  CAUCUS 21 

PROTECTIVE  TARIFF 21 

MONROE  DOCTRINE 23 

MISSOURI  COMPROMISE 24 

TARIFF — AMERICAN  SYSTEM •   • 25 

TENURE  OF  OFFICE — ELIGIBILITY 27 

NULLIFICATION — DEMOCRATS  AND  FEDERALS 29 

UNITED  STATES  BANK 31 

JACKSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE  ON  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK 33 

CONCEPTION  OF  SLAVERY  QUESTION 35 

DEMOCRATS  AND  WHIGS 37 

THE  HOUR  RULE 39 

NATIONAL  BANK  BILL — FIRST 41 

SECOND 43 

OREGON  TREATY  OF  1846 47 

TREATY  OF  PEACE  WITH  MEXICO 49 

CLAY'S  COMPROMISE  RESOLUTIONS 51 

ABOLITION  PARTY — RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OF 53 

KANSAS-NEBRASKA  BILL 55 

RITUAL  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PARTY 57 

KANSAS  STRUGGLE 71 

LINCOLN  AND  DOUGLAS  DEBATE 73 

CHARLESTON  CONVENTION — DEMOCRATIC,  1860 81 

DOUGLAS    CONVENTION,    1860,  BALTIMORE 86 

BRECKINRIDGE  CONVENTION,  1860,  BALTIMORE 86 

CHICAGO  REPUBLICAN  CONVENTION,   1860 ,   .   .   .  86 

AMERICAN  CONVENTION,  1860 87 

SECESSION — PREPARING^  FOE 87 

vii 


viii  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

SECESSION — VIRGINIA  CONVENTION,  1861 91 

"  INTER-STATE  COMMISSIONERS 96 

"          SOUTHERN  CONGRESS,  PROCEEDINGS  OF 97 

11          CONFEDERATE  CONSTITUTION 97 

"          CONFEDERATE  STATES 98 

BUCHANAN'S  VIEWS 99 

CRITTENDEN  COMPROMISE 104; 

PEACE  CONVENTION 106 

ACTUAL  SECESSION 109 

"  "         TRANSFERRING  ARMS  TO  THE  SOUTH 109 

FERNANDO  WOOD'S  SECESSION  MESSAGE 112 

CONGRESS  ON  THE  EVE  OF  THE  REBELLION 113 

LINCOLN'S  VIEWS 115 

JUDGE  BLACK'S  VIEWS 115 

ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS'  SPEECH  ON  SECESSION 116 

LINCOLN'S  FIRST  ADMINISTRATION 120 

CONFEDERATE  MILITARY  LEGISLATION .  128 

GUERRILLAS 129 

TWENTY-NEGRO  EXEMPTION  LAW 130 

DOUGLAS  ON  THE  REBELLION 130 

POLITICAL  LEGISLATION  INCIDENT  TO  THE  WAR. 130 

THIRTY-SEVENTH  CONGRESS 131 

COMPENSATED  EMANCIPATION 135 

LINCOLN'S  APPEAL  TO  THE  BORDER  STATES 137 

REPLY  OF  THE  BORDER  STATES 138 

BORDER  STATE  SLAVES 139 

EMANCIPATION 141 

"  PRELIMINARY  PROCLAMATION  or 141 

"  PROCLAMATION  OF 143 

LOYAL  GOVERNORS,  THE  ADDRESS  OF 144 

FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW,  REPEAL  OF 145 

FINANCIAL  LEGISLATION 149 

SEWARD  AS  SECRETARY  OF  STATE 149 

INTERNAL  TAXES 151 

CONFEDERATE  DEBT 152 

CONFEDERATE  TAXES 153 

WEST  VIRGINIA — ADMISSION  OF 158 

COLOR  IN  WAR  POLITICS 159 

THIRTEENTH  AMENDMENT — PASSAGE  OF 167 

LOUISIANA — ADMISSION  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 168 

RECONSTRUCTION » 169 

ARKANSAS — ADMISSION  OF 170 

RECONSTRUCTION  MEASURES — TEXT  OF 171 

FOURTEENTH  AMENDMENT 1V4 

MoCLELLAN's  POLITICAL  LETTERS 175 

LINCOLN'S  SECOND  ADMINISTRATION 177 

ANDREW  JOHNSON  AND  HIS  POLICY 178 

"        — IMPEACHMENT  TRIAL 179 

GRANT 191 

ENFORCEMENT  ACTS • 193 

READMISSION  OF  REBELLIOUS  STATES 193 

LEGAL  TENDER  DECISION 194 

GREENBACK  PARTY 194 

PROHIBITORY  PARTY •. 196 

SAN  DOMINGO — ANNEXATION  OF <••-.« 196 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS.  ix 

PAGE. 

ALABAMA  CLAIMS 197 

FORCE  BILL 197 

CIVIL  SERVICE — ORDER  OF  PRESIDENT  HAYES 198 

AMNESTY 199 

LIBERAL  REPUBLICANS 199 

REFORM  IN  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE 200 

CREDIT  MOBILIER 200 

SALARY  GRAB 214 

RETURNING  BOARDS 217 

GRANGERS 218 

"       — ILLINOIS  RAILROAD  ACT  OF  1873 218 

CIVIL  RIGHTS  BILL — SUPPLEMENTARY 221 

MORTON  AMENDMENT 222 

WHISKY  RING 222 

BELKNAP  IMPEACHED 223 

WHITE  LEAGUE 223 

WHEELER  COMPROMISE — TEXT  OF 226 

ELECTION  OF  HAYES  AND  WHEELEB 228 

ELECTORAL  COUNT »   •   ., 229 

TITLE  OF  PRESIDENT  HAYES 233 

CIPHER  DESPATCHES 234 

THB  HAYES  ADMINISTRATION 239 

NEGRO  EXODUS • 240 

CAMPAIGN  OF  1880 242 

THREE  PER  CENT.  FUNDING  BILL 244 

HISTORY  OF  THE  NATIONAL  LOANS 245 

GARFIBLD  AND  ARTHUR — INAUGURATION  OF 253 

REPUBLICAN  FACTIONS 253 

THE  CAUCUS 256 

ASSASSINATION  OF  GARFIELD 260 

ARTHUR,  PRESIDENT 261 

Boss  RULE 261 

READJUSTEES 263 

MORMONISM — SUPPRESSION  OF 264 

"  TEXT  OF  THE  BILL 265 

SOUTH  AMERICAN  QUESTION 269 

STAR  ROUTE  SCANDAL 277 

THE  COMING  STATES 278 

CHINESE  QUESTION 281 

"  "        — SPEECH  OF  SENATOR  MILLER  ON 281 

"  "        — REPLY  OF  SENATOR  HOAR 285 

MERCHANT  MARINE 296 

CURRENT  POLITICS 298 

POLITICAL  CHANGES  IN  1882 .304 


POLITICAL   PLATFORMS. 


VIRGINIA  RESOLUTIONS,  1798 

VIRGINIA  RESOLUTIONS,  1 798— ANSWERS  OF  THE  STATE  LEGISLATURES 6 

RESOLUTIONS  OF  1798  AND  1799 10 

WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS 

ALL  NATIONAL  PLATFORMS  I-ROM  1800  TO  1880 2I-6& 

COMPARISON  OF  PLATFORM  PLANKS  ON  GREAT  POLITICAL  QUESTIONS 69-*N 


PART  I. 
BIOGRAPHIES  OF 

\ 

JAMES  G.  ELAINE 


AND 


JOHN  A.  LOGAK 


JAMES  G.  ELAINE. 


HON.  JAMES  G.  ELAINE,  the  Republican 
nominee  for  President  of  the  United  States, 
is  so  well  and  favorably  known  to  the 
people  of  the  country,  that  he  needs  no 
introduction  to  his  fellow-citizens.  During 
his  eventful  life  he  has  taken  such  a  pro 
minent  part,  and  has  been  such  a  con 
spicuous  figure  in  the  history  of  the  coun 
try  as  to  bring  him  into  every  community 
and  every  household. 

Revolutions,  exciting  events,  questions 
of  municipal,  state  and  national  impor 
tance,  bring  men  to  the  surface  and  place 
them  for  the  time  prominently  before  the 
people ;  but  when  quiet  is  restored,  when 
the  issues  have  been  decided  and  passed 
into  history,  a  great  majority  of  the  pro 
minent  figures  sink  to  the  level  from  which 
they  arose,  and  are  almost  forgotten. 
Men  elevated  to  political  prominence  and 
power,  wielding  the  patronage  and  dis 
tributing  the  favors  of  official  position, 
are  followed  by  the  public  eye,  heralded 
by  the  public  press,  cajoled  and  flattered 
by  the  myriads  of  sycophants  who  bask 
in  the  sunshine  of  power  and  exist  on  the 
gifts  of  patronage.  They  are  exalted  by 
their  office  unto  greatness,  and  their 
names  are  sounded  in  the  ears  of  the 
world  through  the  trumpet  of  praise  until 
they  appear  to  have  attained  the  summit 
of  human  ambition.  But  when  they  are 
stripped  of  their  official  position,  when 
they  cease  to  perform  in  their  official  role, 
when  they  are  succeeded  by  others,  and 
retire  to  the  shades  of  private  life,  their 
followers  leave  them,  their  satellites  re 
volve  around  another  centre,  and  they 
find  that  it  was  the  position  and  not  the 
man  that  people  worshipped,  and  flattered, 
and  they  realize  that  couplet  of  Pope: 

"Imperious   Caesar,  dead  and  turned  to 

clay, 
May  stop  a  hole  to  keep  the  wind  away." 

Yet  while  this  may  be  termed  the  "  com 


mon  lot"  of  those  who  are  placed  in  high 
positions  by  their  countrymen,  yet  there 
are  exceptions  to  the  rule.  Where  honor, 
love,  confidence  and  fame  follow  men, 
and  continue  as  abiding  when  devoid  of 
power  and  patronage  as  when  they  were 
at  the  summit  of  political  power,  it  shows 
the  worth  of  the  man.  "  The  survival  of 
the  fittest  "  holds  true  even  on  the  camp 
ing  ground  of  honor  and  fame.  How 
many  are  unable  to  name  the  succession 
of  Presidents  and  Vice-Presidents.  How 
few  can  name  the  cabinets  of  distinguished 
men  from  Washington  to  Arthur.  What 
a  small  percentage  of  the  Continental 
Congress  has  lived  in  names  familiar  to 
the  present  generation. 

It  is  a  very  severe,  but  an  excellent  test 
of  innate  greatness,  worth,  ability  and 
character,  as  it  separates  the  man  from 
the  office,  and  gives  him  to  posterity 
stripped  of  all  extraneous  trappings.  The 
man  survives  as  a  man ;  he  lives  on  his 
intrinsic  value,  or  becomes  lost  for  the 
want  of  it. 

Judged  by  this  standard,  James  G. 
Elaine  is,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  a 
great  man.  His  brilliant  intellect  and  in 
spiring  genius  are  as  fully  recognized  by 
the  people  of  the  nation  as  his  services  as 
statesman  and  legislator  have  been  ac 
knowledged.  In  all  the  positions  he  has 
held,  from  his  first  office  to  that  of  Prime 
Minister  of  the  Government,  he  has  been 
an  honor  to  the  position,  and  hence  when 
he  left  them  he  retained  that  nobility  of  self 
which  kept  him  prominent  and  potential. 
James  G.  Elaine  has  passed  through  more 
crucial  tests  than  perhaps  any  other  public 
man  living.  His  acknowledged  intellectual 
ity,  his  brilliant  and  magnetic  style,  his  fo 
rensic  power,  and  his  native  genius  all  tend 
to  place  him  on  so  high  a  pinnacle  that  no 
man, »unless  he  be  great,  can  sustain  him 
self  in  all.  Yet  in  public  and  private  life 
he  has  added  to  his  renown,  and  never 


JAMES  G.   ELAINE. 


dazed  by  the  giddy  height  he  has  reached, 
he  still  has  a  higher  aim,  and  an  upward 
march. 

In  all  the  positions  he  has  rilled,  as  well 
as  during  his  short  rests  within  the  quiet 
of  private  lite,  he  has  kept  himself  close  to 
the  people,  and  been  a  ready  champion 
for  their  rights.  As  a  leader  of  men  he  is 
brave  to  a  fault.  As  a  party  man  he  has 
been  one  of  its  most  able  expounders  and 
supporters — and  as  a  statesman  he  has 
shown  an  unflinching  devotion  to  our 
institutions,  and  he  has  throughout  ad 
vocated  a  policy  as  broad  as  our  na 
tion.  Outspoken  in  his  faith,  and  zea 
lous  for  the  principles  of  Freedom,  he  has 
stood  by  the  people  of  his  country  at  home, 
and  wherever  our  flag  covered  them  abroad. 
In  the  House,  in  the  Senate,  at  the  head  of 
the  Nation's  Cabinet  alike  he  has  won  the 
love  of  the  people  by  his  devotion  to  their 
personal  interest  and  the  national  honor. 
For  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  has  been  iden 
tified  with  the  people,  and  his  wonderful 
popularity  with  the  masses  is  the  highest 
eulogium  that  he  can  receive.  Next  to  the 
immortal  Lincoln  he  is  held  to  the  people 
by  the  strongest  bonds,  and  for  the  same 
reason — that  he  has  been  so  closely  allied 
to  the  masses.  „  James  G.  Elaine  has  not 
been  the  pet  of  politicians,  and  been 
elevated  from  place  to  place  by  political 
manoeuvering.  On  the  contrary,  his  ad 
vancement,  and  brilliant  career  has  often 
excited  the  jealousy  and  envy  of  his  fel 
low  leaders,  who  have  endeavored  to 
retard  his  rapid  march  in  the  path  of 
greatness.  It  is  nothing  derogatory  to 
Elaine,  that  he  has  his  enemies — on  the 
contrary,  it  is  the  best  of  proof  that  he  has 
positiveness  and  decision  of  character.  It 
is  no  compliment  to  say  that  a  man  has 
no  enemies.  The  friction  of  life  naturally 
makes  them,  when  men  are  the  exponents 
of  ideas,  the  zealous  advocates  of  prin 
ciples,  and  the  acknowledged  leaders  of 
men  and  of  party.  The  genius  of  a  man 
like  Elaine  naturally  makes  him  aggressive. 
The  comprehensive  grasp  of  such  a  mind 
can  find  no  rest  in  our  age  and  country, 
and  he  who  is  brave  enough  to  grasp  the 
issues  of  the  hour  must  always  expect  to 
meet  with  opposition.  Such  a  character 
cannot  float  quietly  down  the  stream  of 


time  with  the  current,  content  to  wait  for 
time  and  tide,  but  will  trust  to  its  own 
propelling  powers,  rather  than  to  others, 
and  will,  if  necessary,  stem  the  current  in 
stead  of  being  carried  by  it. 

Even  to  those  who  know  Mr.  Elaine 
best,  his  wonderful  magnetism  is  a  mystery. 
He  does  not  act  as  though  he  was  aware 
of  this  power,  and  he  shows  nothing  in 
his  manners  or  general  conversation  to  lead 
a  stranger  to  suspect  his  real  greatness. 

He  is  now  in  the  prime  of  a  well-pre 
served  life,  which  has  given  him  such  a 
knowledge  of  men  and  measures  as  but 
few  persons  possess.  For  twenty-five  years 
he  has  been  brought  in  personal  contact 
with  all  the  leading  politicians,  statesmen 
and  diplomats,  besides  being  a  close  stu 
dent  and  a  great  reader.  His  record  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  both  as  a 
member  and  as  its  presiding  officer, 
shows  tha*t  he  possesses  vast  resources, 
and  is  always  ready  to  apply  them.  This, 
and  not  any  oratorical  display  gave 
him  his  prestige  as  a  debater  and  leader. 
According  to  the  accepted  definition  of 
oratory,  James  G.  Elaine  is  not  an  orator, 
although  the  experience  and  practice  of  his 
official  life  has  proven  him  to  be  a  pro 
found  and  almost  irresistible  speaker.  It 
is  the  earnestness  of  his  style,  joined  to 
his  personal  magnetism,  and  not  the  dis 
play  of  oratorical  sentences,  that  gives 
him  his  power.  Indeed,  his  early  life 
showed  an  actual  dearth  of  oratorical 
ability,  and  during  the  period  when  he 
was  at  Washington  College,  he  gave  no 
evidence  in  that  direction.  The  different 
literary  societies  to  which  he  belonged 
never  selected  him  to  represent  them  on 
the  platform  on  gala  occasions.  He  was 
far  from  being  the  brightest  boy,  and  his 
college  days  gave  but  little  indication  of 
his  reserved  powers,  or  of  the  prominence 
to  which  he  has  arrived  in  after  life. 

James  Gillespie  Elaine  was  born  at  what 
was  known  as  the  Indian  Hill  Farm,  in 
Washington  County,  Pennsylvania,  just 
opposite  Brownsville,  January  31,  1830, 
and  hence  is  now  in  the  fifty-fifth  year  of 
his  age.  The  stone  house  in  which  he 
first  drew  the  breath  of  life,  dingy  with 
time,  and  tottering  with  its  age,  still  re 
mains.  It  is  now  included  within  the 


JAMES  G.   ELAINE. 


3 


limits  of  West  Brownsville.  It  was  erected 
by  Neal  Gillespie,  the  great-grandfather 
of  Mr.  Elaine,  in  1778,  so  that  it  has  stood 
intact  for  more  than  a  century.  Indian 
Hill  Farm  was  then  on  the  very  borders 
of  civilization;  now  that  civilization  has 
extended  from  ocean  to  ocean.  Mr.  Neal 
Gillespie  was  evidently  a  pioneer  in  those 
days,  as  it  is  believed  that  this  was  the 
first  stone  house  erected  on  that  side  of 
the  Mononghela  river. 

His  Family  History. 

Colonel  Ephraim  Elaine  of  Carlisle, 
Pennsylvania,  great-grandfather  of  Mr. 
Elaine,  was  one  of  the  "  patriots  of  76," 
and  took  an  active  part  in  the  revolu 
tionary  struggle  from  the  time  when  Inde 
pendence  Bell  rang  out  the  birth  of  a  new 
nation,  until  the  United  States  were  ac 
knowledged  by  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
He  was  appointed  Commissary'  General 
by  Washington  in  1778  and  held  his  com 
mission  until  1783. 

The  Blaines  were  Scotch-Irish,  the  race 
from  which  sprang  James  Buchanan,  Si 
mon  Cameron,  John  Stewart,  Wayne  Mac- 
Veagh.  The  race  has  been  remarkably 
productive  of  the  qualities  of  heart  and 
mind  which  win  the  regard  and  admiration 
of  mankind.  Courage,  quickness  and  a 
brilliancy  of  intellect  which  flashes  into 
dark  places  like  a  wave  of  the  electric  light 
are  common  to  great  Scotch-Irishmen. 

Mr.  Elaine's  father  was  born  in  the  fam 
ily  mansion  at  Carlisle.  He  made  a  tour 
of  Europe,  spent  some  time  in  South 
America  and  the  West  Indie*,  and! on  his 
return,  he  settled  in  Washington  County, 
where  he  died  before  his  son  had  reached 
his  manhood. 

Colonel  Ephraim  Elaine's  son,  "  Squire 
Elaine,"  as  he  was  known  in  the  commu 
nity,  was  married  to  Miss  Gillespie,  a  de 
vout  member  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  but  their  seven  children— five 
boys  and  two  girls — adhered  to  the  tradi 
tional  faith  of  the  Blaines.  The  second  of 
these  five  sons  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
James  Gillespie  Elaine,  just  selected  by  the 
people  for  its  highest  honors. 

Concerning  the  religious  faith  of  his 
family  and  his  own  attitude  in  religious 


matters,  Mr.  Elaine  wrote  in  later  life — 
March  10,  1876— as  follows  : 

My  ancestors  on  my  father's  side  were, 
as  you  know,  always  identified  with  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  they  were  prom 
inent  and  honored  in  the  old  colony  of 
Pennsylvania.  But  I  will  never  consent 
to  make  any  public  declaration  upon  the 
subject,  and  for  two  reasons  :  First,  be 
cause  I  abhor  the  introduction  of  anything 
that  looks  like  a  religious  test  or  qualifica 
tion  for  office  in  a  republic  where  perfect 
freedom  of  conscience  is  the  birthright  of 
every  citizen ;  andr  second,  because  my 
mother  was  a  devoted  Catholic.  I  would 
not  for  a  thousand  Presidencies  speak  a 
disrespectful  word  of  my  mother's  religion, 
and  no  pressure  will  draw  me  into  any 
avowal  of  hostility  or  unfriendliness  to 
Catholics,  though  I  have  never  received, 
and  do  not  expect  any  political  support 
from  them. 

The  Kennebec  Journal  [Augusta,  Me., 
about  this  time  said  on  the  same  subject 
that  "Mr.  Elaine  has  been  for  nearly 
twenty  years  a  consistent  member  of  the 
Orthodox  Congregational  Church  in  this, 
the  city  of  his  home.  Orthodox  Congre 
gationalism  in  Maine  is  precisely  the  same 
creed  as  Presbyterianismin  Pennsylvania." 

His  father  emigrated  (as  it  was  termed 
at  that  day)  west  in  1817,  and  was  the  lar 
gest  landholder  of  any  man  in  Western 
Pennsylvania.  The  tract  forming  this  es 
tate  is  now  worth  many  millions.  In  1825 
Mr.  Elaine's  father  sold  to  the  Economites 
a  large  tract  of  his  land,  for  $25,000,  on 
which  their  town  with  all  its  industry  and 
wealth  now  stands. 

There  were  also  timber  tracts  on  the  Al 
legheny  and  coal  tracts  on  the  Mononga- 
hela,  at  that  day  of  no  special  value,  which 
now  represent  large  fortunes  in  the  hands 
of  those  lucky  enough  to  hold  them.  Very 
near  the  large  tracts  owned  by  his  father 
and  grandfather,  Senator  Elaine  is  now 
the  possessor  of  one  of  the  most  valuable 
coal  properties  in  the  Monongahela  val 
ley.  In  area  it  is  but  a  fraction  of  that 
which  he  might  have  hoped  to  inherit,  but 
in  value  it  is  manifold  greater  than  the 
whole  landed  estate  of  his  father  fifty  years 
ago. 

Mr.  Elaine  the  elder  was  fairly  educated, 


JAMES  G.  ELAINE. 


had  good  business  qualities,  and  was  suc 
cessful  in  his  undertakings.  He  had  a 
"  push  "  about  him  which  while  it  is  com 
mon  in  these  days  of  steam  and  telegraphs, 
was  not  as  general  then.  He  was  a  quiet 
worker,  with  a  slow  but  sure  judgment, 
and  in  addition  to  being  a  fair  scholar  of 
his  day,  he  was  a  constant  and  careful 
reader.  With  a  desire  that  his  son  might 
be  well  educated  he  spared  no  pains  to 
give  him  an  intellectual  training.  As  soon 
as  he  had  attained  sufficient  age  he  was 
put  to  school  and  in  1841,  when  only 
eleven  years  old  he  was  sent  to  Lancaster, 
Ohio,  and  placed  in  the  family  of  a  rela 
tive,  Hon.  Thomas  Ewing,  a  gentleman  of 
note  in  that  State,  and  at  that  time  Secre 
tary  of  the  department  of  the  Treasury  at 
Washington. 

General  Thomas  Ewing,  at  present  in 
Congress,  is  his  cousin,  and  of  the  same 
age  ;  was  his  classmate,  under  the  tuition 
of  an  Englishman  named  Wm.  Lyons,  a 
brother  of  the  elder  Lord  Lyons  and  uncle 
of  the  late  British  Minister  at  Washing 
ton. 

Here  he  continued  at  school  preparing 
himself  for  entering  college  for  two  years, 
and  in  1843  ^e  returned  to  his  native 
place.  In  November  of  that  year  he  was 
admitted  to  the  freshmen's  class  of  Wash 
ington  College,  where  he  remained  until 
September,  1847,  when  he  graduated  in 
his  eighteenth  year. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  when  Mr.  Ew 
ing  was  Secretary  of  the  Interior  Blaine 
applied  to  him  for  a  clerkship  and  the 
old  man  sent  him  to  Kentucky  to  earn 
an  honest  living  teaching  school.  This 
association  of  the  name  of  Ewing  with 
that  of  Blaine  has  given  rise  to  the  story 
that  the  Ewing  family  of  Ohio  helped 
James  G.  Blaine  to  an  education,  but  this 
is  only  a  fiction. 

Not  a  Leader  at  College. 

During  his  college  days  Blaine  was  but 
the  chrysalis  of  what  he  has  now  become. 
The  growth  of  his  body  and  the  extra 
ordinary  expansion  of  his  mind  through 
his  continuous  reading  so  drew  on  the 
vital  strength  and  imagination  that  he 
seemed  dull  from  the  effect  of  his  rapid 
growth.  This  no  doubt  accounts  for  his 


lack  of  popularity  among  the  boys — not 
that  he  was  unpopular,  but  retiring,  and 
seemingly  unwilling  to  make  himself  pro 
minent  among  the  rest.  From  present 
recollections  I  do  not  think  he  was  known 
as  of  a  decided  character  in  any  way 
among  his  fellow-students.  He  seemed 
to  be  content  to  drift  along  reading,  study 
ing  and  growing,  with  never  a  thought  of 
prominence  or  supremacy  in  any  way. 
The  newspaper  accounts  which  claim  that 
Blaine  was  a  leader  among  the  boys  are 
incorrect.  He  was  a  remarkably  quiet 
and  unassuming  youth.  He  was  so  extra 
ordinarily  quiet  in  his  relations  at  college 
that  I  fail  to  recall  one  single  anecdote  of 
his  college  days.  He  was  neither  noted 
for  unruliness  of  conduct  nor  saintliness : 
never  engaged  in  any  college  pranks  nor 
yet  gained  a  reputation  for  being  super- 
naturally  virtuous.  A  plain,  quiet,  good- 
tempered,  studious  boy  is  what  James  G. 
Blaine  was  in  his  college  days.  He  was 
the  last  young  man  in  the  college  for 
whom  such  a  future  as  he  has  already  dis 
played  would  have  been  predicted. 
Everyone  thought  and  said  that  Blaine 
would  go  through  the  world  quiet,  studious 
and  the  quintessence  of  mediocrity.  He 
gave  not  the  slightest  hint  of  his  great 
career,  and  he  then  seemed  but  the  raw 
material  of  the  present  statesman.  His 
youth  was  singularly  without  honors  ;  he 
neither  sought  nor  received  them. 

At  the  quarter-centennial  of  the  class, 
held  in  1872,  twenty-nine  of  the  thirty- 
three  were  living,  and  every  one  of  them 
was  a  man  of  position  and  character  in 
his  community.  John  H.  Hampton,  Esq., 
of  this  city,  A.  M.  Gow,  of  Washington, 
Pa.,  John  V.  LeMoyne,  of  Chicago,  were 
members  of  the  class. 

Dr.  Smith's  description  of  him  as  a  College 
Boy. 

Said  Dr.  Smith  :  "  Yes,  I  knew  Blaine  at 
Washington  College,  he  being  in  the  next 
class  below  me.  Elaine's  parents  lived  at 
Washington  during  their  son's  college 
course,  and  on  that  account  the  students 
saw  less  of  Jim  Blaine,  as  he  was  familiarly 
called,  than  if  he  had  boarded  at  the  col 
lege  instead  of  at  home.  Young  Blaine 
was  a  sturdy,  heavy  set,  matter-of-fact 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


looking  young  fellow,  not  at  all  prepos 
sessing  in  appearance,  and  exceedingly 
awkward  at  times,  and  giving  no  hint  of 
the  elegant  gentleman  he  has  grown  to 
be.  He  was  never  seen  on  the  street  or 
playground  and  but  rarely  mingled  in  the 
customary  sports  of  the  boys.  I  remem 
ber  we  had  a  very  fine  foot-ball  ground, 
but  I  never  remember  to  have  seen  young 
Elaine  on  it.  In  fact,  I  cannot  say  for 
certain  that  I  ever  saw  him  engaged  in  any 
kind  of  sport  during  the  entire  time  I  was 
at  college.  It  is  my  impression  that  he 
passed  all  his  leisure  at  home  or  in  one  of 
the  college  halls  with  a  book.  He  was  a 
great  reader,  almost  a  bookworm,  and 
would  become  absorbed  to  a  wonderful  de 
gree  in  his  books. 

A  friend  and  acquaintance  of  Mr. 
Elaine,  in  speaking  of  his  early  life,  and 
of  the  utter  lack  of  any  precociousness 
says  : 

"As  a  remarkable  contrast  to  Elaine,  I 
remember  Nicholas  Watterman,  of  Elaine's 
class.  He  was  the  brightest  and  smartest 
in  his  class,  receiving  every  prize  and  honor 
that  was  offered.  Brilliant  in  debate  and 
oratory,  he  never  failed  to  represent  his 
class  in  oratorical  contests  and  invariably 
won  every  debate  he  engaged  in.  On 
commencement  day  he  graduated  with 
the  very  highest  honors  of  his  class,  and 
seemed  to  have  every  assurance  of  future 
renown,  while  Elaine  was  some  dis 
tance  from  the  head.  Strange  to  say,  after 
leaving  college  he  went  into  the  commis 
sion  business,  made  a  fortune,  squandered 
it  and  died  a  miserable  death,  while  Elaine, 
his  humble  rival,  went  on  and  developed 
into  the  superb  orator  and  statesman  he  is 
now.  It  seemed  to  be  the  universal  rule 
in  those  days  at  Washington  College  that 
the  brightest  pupils  never  rose  above 
mediocrity,  while  some  of  the  dullest  pupils 
made  a  name  and  position  for  them 
selves.  " 

Mr.  Elaine's  college  guardian  was  Hon. 
John  H.  Ewing,  who  was  at  that  time 
the  member  of  Congress  from  that  dis 
trict,  and  who  still  lives  and  will  cast  his 
vote  for  his  distinguished  ward. 

The  graduating  class  consisted  of  thirty- 
three  members,  and  Mr.  Elaine  divided 
the  honors  of  the  class  with  John  C.  Har 


vey,  who  is  now  superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction  in  Wheeling,  West  Virginia. 
During  his  college  life  he  was  noted  for 
excellence  in  Latin  and  mathematics,  and 
also  in  logic  and  political  economy. 


Robert  G.  I ugersoll,  of  Illinois, 

In  the  National  Republican  Convention  at  Cincinnati, 

June,  l8fb,  in  nominating  James  G.  Elaine, 

for  the  Presidency. 

"  Massachusetts  may  be  satisfied  with 
the  loyalty  o^"  Benjamin  H.  Bristow  ;  so 
am  I ;  but  if  any  man  nominated  by  this 
convention  cannot  carry  the  State  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  I  am  not  satisfied  with  the 
loyalty  .of  that  State.  If  the  nominee  of 
this  convention  cannot  carry  the  grand  old 
Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  by 
seventy-five  thousand  majority,  I  would 
advise  them  to  sell  out  Faneuil  Hall  as  a 
Democratic  headquarters.  I  would  advise 
them  to  take  from  Bunker  Hill  that  old 
monument  of  glory. 

"  The  Republicans  of  the  United  States 
demand  as  their  leader  in  the  great  con 
test  of  1876  a  man  of  intelligence,  a  man 
of  integrity,  a  man  of  well-known  and  ap 
proved  political  opinions.  They  demand 
a  reformer  after  as  well  as  before  the  elec 
tion.  They  demand  a  politician  in  the 
highest,  broadest  and  best  sense — a  man 
of  superb  moral  courage.  They  demand  a 
man  acquainted  with  public  affairs,  with 
the  wants  of  the  people  ;  with  not  only  the 
requirements  of  the  hour,  but  with  the 
demands  of  the  future.  They  demand  a 
man  broad  enough  to  comprehend  the  re 
lations  of  this  government  to  the  other 
nations  of  the  earth.'  They  demand  a  man 
well  versed  in  the  powers,  duties,  and  pre 
rogatives  of  each  and  every  department  of 
this  Government.  They  demand  a  man 
who  will  sacredly  preserve  the  financial 
honor  of  the  United  States  ;  one  who  knows 
enough  to  know  that  the  national  debt 
must  be  paid  through  the  prosperity  of  this 
people ;  one  who  knows  enough  to  know 
that  all  the  financial  theories  in  the  world 
cannot  redeem  a  single  dollar  ;  one  who 
knows  enough  to  know  that  all  the  money 
must  be  made,  not  by  law,  but  by  labor  ; 


6 


JAMES   G.   ELAINE. 


one  who  knows  enough  to  know  that  the 
people  of  the  United  States  have  the  in 
dustry  to  make  the  money  and  the  honor 
to  pay  it  over  just  as  fast  as  they  make  it. 

"  The  Republicans  of  the  United  States 
demand  a  man  who  knows  that  prosperity 
and  resumption,  when  they  come  must 
come  together ;  that  when  they  come,  they 
will  come  hand  in  hand  through  the 
golden  harvest  fields  ;  hand  in  hand  by 
the  whirling  spindles  and  the  turning 
wheels ;  hand  in  hand  past  the  open 
furnace  doors ;  hand  in  hand  by  the 
flaming  forges ;  hand  in  hand  by  the 
chimneys  filled  with  eager  fire — greeted 
and  grasped  by  the  countless  sons  of 
toil. 

"  This  money  has  to  be  dug  out  of  the 
earth.  You  cannot  make  it  by  passing 
resolutions  in  a  political  convention. 

"  The  Republicans  of  the  United  States 
want  a  man  who  knows  that  this  Govern 
ment  should  protect  every  citizen,  at  home 
and  abroad  ;  who  knows  that  any  govern 
ment  that  will  not  defend  its  defenders, 
and  protect  its  protectors,  is  a  disgrace  to 
the  map  of  the  world.  They  demand  a 
man  who  believes  in  the  eternal  separation 
and  divorcement  of  Church  and  School. 
They  demand  a  man  whose  political  repu 
tation  is  spotless  as  a  star ;  but  they  do  not 
demand  that  their  candidate  shall  have  a 
certificate  of  moral  character  signed  by  a 
Confederate  Congress.  The  man  who  has, 
in  full,  heaped  and  rounded  measure,  all 
these  splendid  qualifications,  is  the  present 
grand  and  gallant  leader  of  the  Republi 
can  party — James  G.  Elaine. 

"  Our  country,  crowned  with  the  vast 
and  marvelous  achievements  of  its  first 
century,  asks  for  a  man  worthy  of  the  past 
and  prophetic  of  her  future ;  asks  for  a 
man  who  has  the  audacity  of  genius  ;  asks 
for  a  man  who  is  the  grandest  combination 
of  heart,  conscience  and  brain  beneath 
her  flag.  Such  a  man  is  James  G. 
Elaine. 

"  For  the  Republican  host,  led  by  this 
intrepid  man,  there  can  be  no  defeat. 

"  This  is  a  grand  year — a  year  filled  with 
the  recollections  of  the  Revolution  ;  filled 
with  proud  and  tender  memories  of  the 
past ;  with  the  sacred  legends  of  liberty  ; 
a  year  in  which  the  sons  of  freedom  will 


drink  from  the  fountains  of  enthusiasm  ; 
a  year  in  which  the  people  call  for  a  man 
who  has  preserved  in  Congress  what  our 
soldiers  won  upon  the  field ;  a  year  in 
which  they  call  for  the  man  who  has  torn 
from  the  throat  of  treason  the  tongue  of 
slander ;  for  the  man  who  has  snatched 
the  mask  of  Democracy  from  the  hideous 
face  of  rebellion  ;  for  the  man  who,  like  an 
intellectual  athlete,  has  stood  in  the  arena 
of  debate  and  challenged  all  comers,  and 
who  is  still  a  total  stranger  to  defeat. 

"  Like  an  armed  warrior,  like  a  plumed 
knight,  James  G.  Elaine  marched  down 
the  halls  of  the  American  Congress,  and 
threw  his  shining  lance  full  and  fair  against 
the  brazen  foreheads  of  the  defamers  of 
his  country  and  the  maligners  of  his 
honor. 

"  For  the  Republican  party  to  desert  this 
gallant  leader  now,  is  as  though  an  army 
should  desert  their  general  upon  the  field 
of  battle. 

"James  G.  Elaine  is  now  and  has  been 
for  years  the  bearer  of  the  sacred  standard 
of  the  Republican  party.  I  call  it  sacred, 
because  no  human  being  c^,..  stand  beneath 
its  folds  without  becoming  and  without  re 
maining  free. 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  in  the 
name  of  the  great  Republic,  the  only  Re 
public  that  ever  existed  upon  the  earth  ; 
in  the  name  of  all  her  defenders  and  of  all 
her  supporters  ;  in  the  name  of  all  her  sol 
diers  living ;  in  the  name  of  all  her  soldiers 
dead  upon  the  field  of  battle,  and  in  the 
name  of  those  who  perished  in  the  skeleton 
clutch  of  famine  at  Andersonville  and 
Libby,  whose  sufferings  he  so  vividly  re 
members,  Illinois — Illinois  nominates  for 
the  next  President  of  this  country,  that 
prince  of  parliamentarians — that  leader  of 
leaders — James  G  Elaine." 

Maine  sent  us  to  this  magnificent  Con 
vention  with  a  memory  of  her  own  salva 
tion  from  impending  peril  fresh  upon  her. 
To  you  representatives  of  50,000,000  of  the 
American  people  who  have  met  here  to 
counsel  how  the  Republic  can  be  saved, 
she  says,  "  Representatives  of  the  people, 
take  the  man,  the  true  man,  the  staunch 
man,  for  your  leader,  who  has  just  saved 
me,  and  he  will  bring  you  to  safety  and 
certain  victory." 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


Frye  Nominating  Blaine. 

In  the  Chicago  Convention,  1880. 

"  I  once  saw  a  storm  at  sea  in  the  night 
time  ;  an  old  ship  battling  for  its  life  with 
the  fury  of  the  tempest ;  darkness  every 
where  ;  the  winds  raging  and  howling ; 
the  huge  waves  beating  on  the  sides  of  the 
ship,  and  making  her  shiver  from  stem  to 
stern.  The  lightning  was  flashing,  the 
thunders  rolling ;  there  was  danger  every 
where.  I  saw  at  the  helm,  a  bold,  coura 
geous,  immovable,  commanding  man.  In 
the  tempest,  calm ;  in  the  commotion, 
quiet ;  in  the  danger,  hopeful.  I  saw  him 
take  the  old  ship  and  bring  her  into  her 
harbor,  into  still  waters,  into  safety.  That 
man  was  a  hero.  [Applause.]  I  saw  the 
good  old  ship  of  State,  the  State  of  Maine, 
within  the  last  year,  fighting  her  way 
through  the  same  waves,  against  the 
dangers.  She  was  freighted  with  all  that 
is  precious  in  the  principles  of  our  repub 
lic  ;  with  the  rights  of  the  American  citi 
zenship,  with  all  that  is  guaranteed  to  the 
American  citizen  by  our  Constitution.  The 
eyes  of  the  whole  nation  were  on  her,  and 
intense  anxiety  filled  every  American 
heart  lest  the  grand  old  ship,  the  "  State 
of  Maine,"  might  go  down  beneath  the 
waves  forever,  carry  ing  her  precious  freight  I 
with  her.  But  there  was  a  man  at  the 
helm,  calm,  deliberate,  commanding,  sa 
gacious  ;  he  made  even  the  foolish  man 
wise ;  courageous,  he  inspired  the  timid 
with  courage ;  hopeful,  he  gave  heart  to 
the  dismayed,  and  he  brought  that  good 
old  ship  safely  into  harbor,  into  safety  ; 
and  she  floats  to-day  greater,  purer,  stronger 
for  her  baptism  of  danger.  That  man  too, 
was  heroic,  and  his  name  was  James  G. 
Blaine.  [Loud  cheers.] 


Judge  West   Nominates  Blaine 

At  Chigago,  June  5,  1884. 

After  the  chairman  had  succeeded  in 
producing  comparative  quiet,  Judge  West, 
of  Ohio,  was  introduced.  The  sensation 
was  intense  and  the  interest  in  Mr.  West 
on  account  of  his  commanding  presence, 
and  sympathy  for  his  infirmity,  brought  all 
to  silence  throughout  the  vast  hall.  Judge 
West  said  : 

As  a  delegate  in  the  Chicago  Conven 
tion  of  1860,  the  proudest  service  of  my 


life  was  performed  by  voting  for  the  nom 
ination  of  that  inspired  emancipator,  the 
first  Republican  President  of  the  United 
States.  [Applause.]  Four  and  twenty 
years  of  the  grandest  history  of  recorded 
times  has  distinguished  the  ascendency  of 
the  Republican  party.  The  skies  have 
lowered  and  reverses  have  threatened,  but 
our  flag  is  still  there,  waving  above  the 
mansion  of  the  Presidency,  not  a  stain  on 
its  folds,  not  a  cloud  on  its  glory.  Whether 
it  shall  maintain  that  grand  ascendency 
depends  upon  the  action  of  this  council. 
With  bated  breath  a  Nation  awaits  the 
result.  On  it  are  fixed  the  eyes  of  twenty 
millions  of  Republican  freemen  in  the 
North.  On  it,  or  to  it,  rather,  are  stretched 
forth  the  imploring  hands  of  ten  millions 
of  political  bondsmen  of  the  South  [ap 
plause],  while  above,  from  the  portals  of 
light,  is  looking  down  the  immortal  spirit 
of  the  immortal  martyr  who  first  bore  it  to 
victory,  bidding  to  us  Hail  and  God  speed. 
[Applause.]  Six  times  in  six  campaigns 
has  that  banner  triumphed — that  symbol 
of  union,  freedom,  humanity  and  progress 
— sometime  borne  by  that  silent  man  ot 
destiny,  the  Wellington  of  American  arms 
[wild  applause],  last  by  him  at  whose  un 
timely  taking  off  a  Nation  swelled  the 
funeral  cries  and  wept  above  great  Gar- 
field's  grave.  [Cheers  and  applause]. 
Shall  that  banner  triumph  again  ? 

Commit  it  to  the  bearing  of  that  chief 
[a  voice,  "  James  G.  Blaine  of  Maine," 
cheers] — commit  it  to  the  bearing  of  that 
chief,  the  inspiration  of  whose  illustrious 
character  and  great  name  will  fire  the 
hearts  of  our. young  men,  stir  the  blood  of 
our  manhood  and  rekindle  the  fervor  cf 
the  veterans,  and  the  closing  of  the  seventh 
campaign  will  see  that  holy  ensign  span 
ning  the  sky  like  a  bow  of  promise. 
[Cheers.]  Political  conditions  are  changed 
since  the  accession  of  the  Republican  party 
to  power.  The  mighty  issues  of  the  free 
dom  and  bleeding  humanity  which  con 
vulsed  the  continent  and  aroused  the 
Republic,  rallied,  united  and  inspired  the 
forces  of  patriotism  and  the  forces  of  hu 
manity  in  one  consolidated  phalanx,  have 
ceased  their  contentions.  The  subordinate 
issues  resulting  therefrom  are  settled  and 
buried  away  with  the  dead  issues  of  the 


8 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


past.  The  arms  of  the  Solid  South  are 
against  us.  Not  an  electoral  gain  can  be 
expected  from  that  section.  If  the  triumph 
come,  the  Republican  States  of  the  North 
must  furnish  the  conquering  battalions 
from  the  farm,  the  anvil  and  the  loom, 
from  the  mines,  the  workshop  and  the 
desk,  from  the  hut  of  the  trapper  on  the 
snowy  Sierras,  from  the  hut  of  the  fisher 
man  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  The 
Republican  States  must  furnish  these  con 
quering  battalions  if  triumph  comes. 

What  Political  Wisdom  Dictates. 

Does  not  sound  political  wisdom  dic 
tate  and  demand  that  a  leader  shall  be 
given  to  them  whom  our  people  will  fol 
low,  not  as  conscripts  advancing  by  fu 
nereal  marches  to  certain  defeat,  but  a 
grand  civic  hero,  whom  the  souls  of  the 
people  desire,  and  whom  they  will  follow 
with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  volunteers,  as 
they  sweep  on  and  onward  to  certain  vic 
tory  [Cheers],  a  representative  of  Ameri 
can  manhood  [applause],  a  representative 
of  that  living  Republicanism  that  de 
mands  the  amplest  industrial  protection 
and  opportunity  whereby  labor  shall  be 
enabled  to  earn  and  eat  the  bread  of  in 
dependent  employment,  relieved  of  men 
dicant  competition  with  pauper  Europe  or 
pagan  China  ?  [Loud  applause.]  In  this 
contention  of  forces,  to  whose  candidate 
shall  be  intrusted  our  battle  flags  ?  Citi 
zens,  I  am  not  here  to  do  it,  and  may  my 
tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth  if 
I  do  abate  one  tithe  from  the  just  fame, 
integrity  and  public  honor  of  Chester  A. 
Arthur,  our  President.  [Applause.]  I 
abate  not  one  tithe  from  the  just  fame  and 
public  integrity  of  George  F.  Edmunds 
[applause],  of  Joseph  R.  Hawley  [ap 
plause],  of  John  Sherman  [applause],  of 
that  grand  old  black  eagle  of  Illinois. 
[Here  the  speaker  was  interrupted  several 
moments  by  prolonged  applause.]  And  I 
am  proud  to  know  that  these  distinguished 
Senators  whom  I  have  named  have  borne 
like  testimony  to  the  public  life,  the  public 
character,  and  the  public  integrity  of  him 
whose  confirmation  brought  him  to  the 
highest  office — second  in  dignity  to  the 
office  of  the  President  only  himself — the 
first  premiership  in  the  administration  of 


James  A.  Garfield.  [Applause.]  A  man 
for  whom  the  Senators  and  rivals  will  vote, 
the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States 
is  good  enough  for  a  plain  flesh  and  blood 
God's  people  to  vote  for  President.  [Loud 
applause.] 

Who  shall  be  our  candidate  ?  [Cries  of 
"  Elaine,"  "Arthur"  and  v  Logan."  A 
loud  voice  yelled  above  the  tumult,  Give 
us  "Blackjack,"  and  we  will  elect  him. 
When  quiet  was  somewhat  restored  the 
speaker  continued.]  Not  the  representa 
tive  of  a  particular  interest  of  a  particular 
class.  Send  the  great  proclamation  to  the 
country  labelled  "  The  Doctor's  Candi 
date,"  "The  Lawyer's  Candidate,"  "The 
Wall  Street  Candidate,"  and  the  hand  of 
resurrection  would  not  fathom  his  Novem 
ber  grave.  [Applause.] 

Gentlemen,  he  must  be  a  representative  ot 
that  Republicanism  that  demands  the  ab 
solute  political,  as  well  as  personal,  eman 
cipation  and  enfranchisement  of  mankind 
— a  representative  of  that  Republicanism 
which  recognizes  the  stamp  of  American 
citizenship  as  the  passport  to  every  right, 
privilege  and  consideration  at  home  or 
abroad,  whether  under  the  sky  of  Bis 
marck,  under  the  Palmetto,  under  the 
Pelican  or  on  the  banks  of  the  Mohawk, 
that  Republicanism  that  regards  with  dis 
satisfaction  a  despotism  which  under  the 
"sic  semper  tyrannis  "  of  the  old  Dominion 
emulates,  by  slaughter,  popular  majorities 
in  the  name  of  Democracy — a  Republi 
canism  as  embodied  and  stated  in  the 
platform  of  principles  this  day  adopted  by 
your  Convention, 

Gentlemen,  such  a  representative  Re 
publican  is  James  G.  Elaine,  of  Maine.  If 
nominated  to-night  his  campaign  would 
commence  to  morrow  and  con'inue  until 
victory  is  assured.  [Cheers.]  There  would 
be  no  powder  burned  to  fire  into  the  backs 
of  his  leaders.  It  would  only  be  exploded 
to  illuminate  the  inauguration.  The  brazen 
throats  of  the  cannon  in  yonder  square, 
waiting  to  herald  the  result  of  the  conven 
tion,  would  riot  have  time  to  cool  before 
his  name  would  be  caught  up  on  ten 
thousand  tongues  of  electric  flame.  It 
would  sweep  down  from  the  Old  Pine  Tree 
State.  It  would  go  over  the  hills  and 
valleys  of  New  England. 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


9 


IN   MEMORIAM. 


Hon.  James  G.  Elaine's  Oration  on  Presi 
dent   Garneld. 

THE  GRAND  MORAL  O/ HIS  CAREER. 

An  Elaborate,  Polished  and  Scholary    Tribute   by  an 

Accomplished  Orator,  in  the  Hah  of  the  House  of 

Representatives,  on  Monday,  Feb.  27, 1882. 

At  ten  o'clock  the  doors  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  were  opened  to  holders  of 
tickets  for  the  memorial  services,  and  in 
less  than  half  an  hour  the  galleries  were 
filled,  a  large  majority  of  the  spectators 
being  ladies,  mostly  in  black.  There  were 
no  signs  of  mourning  in  the  hall,  even  the 
full-length  portrait  of  the  late  President, 
James  Abram  Garfield,  painted  by  E.  F. 
Andrews,  of  Washington,  being  undraped. 
The  three  front  rows  of  desks  had  been  re 
placed  by  chairs  to  accommodate  the  in 
vited  guests,  and  the  Marine  Band  was 
stationed  in  the  lobby,  back  of  the  Speak 
er's  desk. 

Among  the  distinguished  guests  first  to 
arrive  were  George  Bancroft,  W.  W.  Cor 
coran,  Cyrus  Field  and  Admiral  Worden, 
who  took  seats  directly  in  front  of  the 
clerk's  desk.  Among  the  guests  who  oc 
cupied  seats  upon  the  floor  were  General 
Schenck,  Governor  Hoyt,  of  Pennsylva 
nia  ;  Foster,  of  Ohio  ;  Porter,  of  Indiana  ; 
Hamilton,  of  Maryland,  and  Bigelow,  of 
Connecticut,  and  Adjutant  General  Har- 
mine,  of  Connecticut. 

At  11:30,  Generals  Sherman,  Sheridan 
Hancock, Howard  and  Meigs, and  Admirals 
Ammen  and  Rodgers  entered  at  the  north 
door  of  the  chamber  and  were  assignee 
seats  to  the  left  of  the  Speaker's  desk 
and  a  few  moments  later,  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  in  ful 
regalia,  were  ushered  in,  headed  by  th« 
Hawaiian  Minister,  as  dean  of  the  Corps 
The  Supreme  Court  of  the  District,  headec 
by  Marshal  Henry,  arrived  next.  Mrs 
Blaine  occupied  a  front  seat  in  the  gallery 
reserved  for  friends  of  the  President.  A 
twelve  o'clock  the  House  was  called  to 
order  by  Speaker  Keifer,  and  prayer  was 
offered  by  the  Chaplain.  The  Speake 
then  announced  that  the  House  was  as 
sembled  and  ready  to  perform  its  part  in 
the  memorial  services,  and  the  resolution 
to  that  effect  were  read  by  Clerk  McPher 
son.  At  12:10,  the  Senate  was  announced 


and  that  body  headed  by  its  officers,  en- 
ered  and  took  their  assigned  seats.     The 
hief  Justice  and  Associate  Justices  of  the 
upreme  Court,  in  their  robes  of  office, 
:ame  next,  and  were  followed  by  Presi 
dent  Arthur  and  his  Cabinet.     The  Presi 
dent  took  the  front  seat  on  the  right  of  the 
residing  Officer's  chair,  next  to  that  oc 
cupied  by  Cyrus  W.  Field. 

Senator  Sherman  and  Representative 
McKinley  (Ohio)  occupied  seats  at  the 
desk  on  the  right  and  left  of  t!ie  orator  of 
he  day.  Mr.  West,  the  British  Minister, 
was  the  only  member  of  the  Diplomatic 
Corps  who  did  not  wear  the  court  uni- 
brm. 

A  delegation  of  gentlemen  from  the 
Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland 
acted  as  ushers  at  the  main  entrance  to 
the  Rotunda  and  in  the  various  corridors 
leading  to  the  gallery. 

At  12:30  the  orator  of  the  day  was  an 
nounced,  and  after  a  short  prayer  by  the 
Chaplain  of  the  House,  F.  D.  Power,  pres 
ident  Davis  said:  "This  day  is  dedicated 
by  Congress  for  memorial  services  of  the 
late  President  of  the  United  States,  James 
A.  Garfield.  I  present  to  you  the  Hon. 
James  G.  Blaine,  who  has  been  fitly  chosen 
as  the  orator  for  this  historical  occasion." 
Mr.  Blaine  then  rose,  and  standing  at 
the  clerk's  desk,  immediately  in  front  of 
the  two  presiding  officers,  proceeded,  with 
impressiveness  of  manner  and  clearness 
of  tone,  to  deliver  his  eulogy  from  manu 
script,  as  follows : 

Mr.  Blaine's  Oration. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  For  the  second  time 
in  this  generation  the  great  departments 
of  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
are  assembled  in  the  Hall  of  Representa 
tives  to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  a 
murdered  President.  Lincoln  fell  at  the 
close  of  a  mighty  struggle  in  which  the 
passions  of  men  had  been  deeply  stirred. 
The  tragical  termination  of  his  great  life 
added  but  another  to  the  lengthened  suc 
cession  of  horrors  which  had  marked  so 
many  lintels  with  the  blood  of  the  first 
born.  Garfield  was  slain  in  a  day  of  peace, 
when  brother  had  been  reconciled  to 
brother,  and  when  anger  and  hate  had 
been  banished  from  the  land.  "  Whoever 


10 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


shall  hereafter  draw  the  portrait  of  mur 
der,  if  he  will  show  it  as  it  has  been  ex 
hibited  where  such  example  was  last  to 
have  been  looked  for,  let  him  not  give  it 
the  grim  visage  of  Moloch,  the  brow  knit 
ted  by  revenge,  the  face  black  with  settled 
hate.  Let  him  draw,  rather,  a  decorous, 
smooth-faced,  bloodless  demon ;  not  so 
much  an  example  of  human  nature  in  its 
depravity  and  in  its  paroxysms  of  crime, 
as  an  infernal  being,  a  fiend  in  the  ordi 
nary  display  and  development  of  his 
character." 

Garfield's  Ancestors. 

From  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at 
Plymouth  till  the  uprising  against  Charles 
First,  about  twenty  thousand  emigrants 
came  from  old  England  to  New  England. 
As  they  came  in  pursuit  of  intellectual 
freedom  and  ecclesiastical  independence 
rather  than  for  worldly  honor  and  profit, 
the  emigration  naturally  ceased  when  the 
contest  for  religious  liberty  began  in  ear 
nest  at  home.  The  man  who  struck  his 
most  effective  blow  for  freedom  of  con 
science  by  sailing  for  the  colonies  in  1620 
would  have  been  accounted  a  deserter  to 
leave  after  1640.  The  opportunity  had 
then  come  on  the  soil  of  England  for  that 
great  contest  which  established  the  au 
thority  of  Parliament,  gave  religious  free 
dom  to  the  people,  sent  Charles  to  the 
block,  and  committed  to  the  hands  of 
Oliver  Cromwell  the  Supreme  Executive 
authority  of  England.  The  English  emi 
gration  was  never  renewed,  and  from  these 
twenty  thousand  men  with  a  small  emigra 
tion  from  Scotland  and  from  France  are 
descended  the  vast  numbers  who  have 
New  England  blood  in  their  veins. 

In  1685  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of 
Nantes  by  Louis  XIV.  scattered  to  other 
countries  four  hundred  thousand  Protes 
tants,  who  were  among  the  most  intelli 
gent  and  enterprising  of  French  subjects  ; 
merchants  of  capital,  skilled  manufac 
turers,  and  handicraftsmen  superior  at  the 
time  to  all  others  in  Europe.  A  consider 
able  number  of  these  Huguenot  French 
came  to  America  ;  a  few  landed  in  New 
England  and  became  honorably  promi 
nent  in  its  history.  Their  names  have  in 
large  part  become  anglicised,  or  have  dis 


appeared,  but  their  blood  is  traceable  in 
many  of  the  most  reputable  families,  and 
their  fame  is  perpetuated  in  honorable 
memorials  and  useful  institutions. 

From  these  two  sources,  the  English- 
Puritan  and  the  French-Huguenot,  came 
the  late  President — his  father,  Abram  Gar- 
field,  being  descended  from  the  one,  and 
his  mother,  Eliza  Ballou,  from  the  other. 

It  was  a  good  stock  on  both  sides — none 
better,  none  braver,  none  truer.  There 
was  in  it  an  inheritance  of  courage,  of 
manliness,  of  imperishable  love  of  liberty, 
of  undying  adherence  to  principle.  Gar- 
field  was  proud  of  his  blood  ;  and,  with  as 
much  satisfaction  as  if  he  were  a  British 
nobleman  reading  his  stately  ancestral 
record  in  Burke's  Peerage,  he  spoke  of 
himself  as  ninth  in  descent  from  those  who 
would  not  endure  the  oppression  of  the 
Stuarts,  and  seventh  in  descent  from  the 
brave  French  Protestants  who  refused  to 
submit  to  tyranny  even  from  the  Grand 
Monarque. 

General  Garfield  delighted  to  dwell  on 
these  traits,  and  during  his  only  visit  to 
England,  he  busied  himself  in  discovering 
every  trace  of  his  forefathers  in  parish 
registries  and  on  ancient  army  rolls.  Sit 
ting  with  a  friend  in  the  gallery  of  the 
House  of  Commons  one  night  after  a  long 
day's  labor  in  this  field  of  research,  he  said 
with  evident  elation  that  in  every  war  in 
which  for  three  centuries  patriots  of  Eng 
lish  blood  had  struck  sturdy  blows  for 
constitutional  government  and  human 
liberty,  his  family  had  been  represented. 
They  were  at  Marston  Moor,  at  Naseby, 
and  at  Preston  ;  they  were  at  Bunker  Hill, 
at  Saratoga,  and  at  Monmouth,  and  in  his 
own  person  he  had  battled  for  the  same 
great  cause  in  the  war  which  preserved 
the  Union  of  the  States. 

Losing  his  father  before  he  was  two 
years  old,  the  early  life  of  Garfield  was  one 
of  privation,  but  its  poverty  has  been  made 
indelicately  and  unjustly  prominent. 
Thousands  of  readers  have  imagined  him 
as  the  ragged,  starving  child,  whose  reality 
too  often  greets  the  eye  in  the  squalid  sec 
tions  of  our  large  cities.  General  Garfield's 
infancy  and  youth  had  none  of  their  des 
titution,  none  of  their  pitiful  features  ap 
pealing  to  the  tender  heart  and  to  the 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


11 


open  hand  of  charity.  He  was  a  poor  boy 
in  the  same  sense  in  which  Henry  Clay 
was  a  poor  boy  ;  in  which  Andrew  Jack 
son  was  a  poor  boy ;  in  which  Daniel  Web 
ster  was  a  poor  boy;  in  the  sense  in  which 
a  large  majority  of  the  eminent  men  of 
America  in  all  generations  have  been  poor 
boys.  Before  a  great  multitude  of  men,  in 
a  public  speech,  Mr.  Webster  bore  this 
testimony  : 

His  Early  Days. 

"  It  did  not  happen  to  me  to  be  born  in 
a  log  cabin,  but  my  elder  brothers  and  sis 
ters  were  born  in  a  log  cabin  raised  amid 
the  snow-drifts  of  New  Hampshire,  at  a 
period  so  early  that  when  the  smoke  rose 
first  from  its  rude  chimney  and  curled  over 
the  frozen  hills  there  was  no  similar  evi 
dence  of  a  white  man's  habitation  between 
it  and  the  settlements  on  the  rivers  of 
Canada.  Its  remains  still  exist.  I  make 
to  it  an  annual  visit.  I  carry  my  children 
to  it  to  teach  them  the  hardships  endured 
by  the  generations  which  have  gone  before 
them.  I  love  to  dwell  on  the  tender  re 
collections,  the  kindred  ties,  the  early 
affections  and  the  touching  narratives  and 
incidents  which  mingle  with  all  I  know  of 
this  primitive  family  abode." 

With  the  requisite  change  of  scene  the 
same  words  would  aptly  portray  the  early 
days  of  Garfield.  The  poverty  of  the 
frontier,  where  all  are  engaged  in  a  com 
mon  struggle  and  where  a  common  sym 
pathy  and  hearty  co-operation  lighten  the 
burdens  of  each,  is  a  very  different  pov 
erty,  different  in  kind,  different  in  influ 
ence  and  effect  from  that  conscious  and 
humiliating  indigence  which  is  every  day 
forced  to  contrast  itself  with  neighboring 
wealth  on  which  it  feels  a  sense  of  grind 
ing  dependence.  The  poverty  of  the 
frontier  is  indeed  no  poverty.  It  is  but 
the  beginning  of  wealth,  and  has  the 
boundless  possibilities  of  the  future  always 
opening  before  it.  No  man  ever  grew  up 
in  the  agricultural  regions  of  the  West, 
where  a  house-raising,  or  even  a  corn- 
husking,  is  a  matter  of  common  interest 
and  helpfulness,  with  any  other  feeling 
than  that  of  broad-minded,  generous  inde 
pendence.  This  honorable  independence 
marked  the  youth  of  Garfield  as  it  marks 


the  youth  of  millions  of  the  best  blood 
and  brain  now  training  for  the  future  citi 
zenship  and  future  government  of  the  re 
public.  Garfield  was  born  heir  to  land,  to 
the  title  of  free-holder  which  has  been  the 
patent  and  passport  of  self-respect  with 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race  ever  since  Hengist 
and  Horsa  landed  on  the  shores  of  Eng 
land.  His  adventure  on  the  canal — an 
alternative  between  that  and  the  deck  of  a 
Lake  Erie  schooner — was  a  farmer  boy's 
device  for  earning  money,  just  as  the  New 
England  lad  begins  a  possibly  great  career 
by  sailing  before  the  mast  on  a  coasting 
vessel  or  on  a  merchantman  bound  to  the 
farther  India  or  to  the  China  Seas. 

No  manly  man  feels  anything  of  shame 
in  looking  back  to  early  struggles  with  ad 
verse  circumstances,  and  no  man  feels  a 
worthier  pride  than  when  he  has  con 
quered  the  obstacles  to  his  progress.  But 
no  one  of  noble  mould  desires  to  be  looked 
upon  as  having  occupied  a  menial  position, 
as  having  been  repressed  by  a  feeling  ot 
inferiority,  or  as  having  suffered  the  evils 
of  poverty  until  relief  was  found  at  the 
hand  of  charity.  General  Garfield's  youth 
presented  no  hardships  which  family  love 
and  family  energy  did  not  overcome,  sub 
jected  him  to  no  privations  which  he  did 
not  cheerfully  accept,  and  left  no  memo 
ries  save  those  which  were  recalled  with 
delight,  and  transmitted  with  profit  and 
with  pride. 

Garfield's  early  opportunities  for  secur 
ing  an  education  were  extremely  limited, 
and  yet  were  sufficient  to  develop  in  him 
an  intense  desire  to  learn.  He  could  read 
at  three  years  of  age,  and  each  winter  he 
had  the  advantage  of  the  district  school. 
He  read  all  the  books  to  be  found  within 
the  circle  of  his  acquaintance;  some  of 
them  he  got  by  heart.  While  yet  in  child 
hood  he  was  a  constant  student  of  the 
Bible,  and  became  familiar  with  its  litera 
ture.  The  dignity  and  earnestness  of  his 
speech  in  his  maturer  life  gave  evidence  of 
this  early  training.  At  eighteen  years  ot 
age  he  was  able  to  teach  school,  and  thence 
forward  his  ambition  was  to  obtain  a  col 
lege  education.  To  this  end  he  bent  all 
his  efforts,  working  in  the  harvest  field,  at 
the  carpenter's  bench,  and,  in  the  winter 
season,  teaching  the  common  schools  of 


12 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


the  neighborhood.  While  thus  laborious 
ly  occupied  he  found  time  to  prosecute  his 
studies  and  was  so  successful  that  at  twenty- 
two  years  of  age  he  was  able  to  enter  the 
junior  class  at  Williams  College,  then  un 
der  the  presidency  of  the  venerable  and 
honored  Mark  Hopkins,  who,  in  the  full 
ness  of  his  powers,  survives  the  eminent 
pupil  to  whom  he  was  of  inestimable  ser 
vice. 

The  history  of  Garfield's  life  to  this 
period  presents  no  novel  features.  He 
had  undoubtedly  shown  perseverance, 
self-reliance,  self-sacrifice,  and  ambition — 
qualities  which,  be  it  said  for  the  honor  of 
our  country,  are  everywhere  to  be  found 
among  the  young  men  of  America  But 
from  his  graduation  at  Williams  onward, 
to  the  hour  of  his  tragical  death,  Garfield's 
career  was  eminent  and  exceptional. 
Slowly  working  through  his  educational 
period,  receiving  his  diploma  when  twenty- 
four  years  of  age,  he  seemed  at  one  bound 
to  spring  into  conspicuous  and  brilliant 
success.  Within  six  years  he  was  success 
ively  president  of  a  college,  State  Senator 
of  Ohio,  Major  General  of  the  Army  of 
the  United  States  and  Representative- 
elect  to  the  National  Congress.  A  com 
bination  of  honors  so  varied,  so  elevated, 
within  a  period  so  brief  and  to  a  man  so 
young,  is  without  precedent  or  parallel  in 
the  history  of  the  country. 

In  the  Army. 

Garfield's  army  life  was  begun  with  no 
other  military  knowledge  than  such  as  he 
had  hastily  gained  from  books  in  the  few 
months  preceding  his  march  to  the  field. 
Stepping  from  civil  life  to  the  head  of  a 
regiment,  the  first  order  he  received  when 
ready  to  cross  the  Ohio  was  to  assume 
command  of  a  brigade,  and  to  operate  as 
an  independent  force  in  Eastern  Kentucky. 
His  immediate  duty  was  to  check  the  ad 
vance  of  Humphrey  Marshall,  who  was 
marching  down  the  Big  Sandy  with  the 
intention  of  occupying  in  connection  with 
other  Confederate  forces  the  entire  terri 
tory  of  Kentucky,  and  of  precipitating  the 
State  into  secession.  This  was  at  the  close 
of  the  year  1861.  Seldom,  if  ever,  has  a 
young  college  professor  been  thrown  into 
a  more  embarrassing  and  discouraging 


position.  He  knew  just  enough  of  mili 
tary  science,  as  he  expressed  it  himself,  to 
measure  the  extent  of  his  ignorance,  and 
with  a  handful  of  men  he  was  marching, 
in  rough  winter  weather,  into  a  strange 
country,  among  a  hostile  population  to 
confront  a  largely  superior  force  under  the 
command  of  a  distinguished  graduate  of 
West  Point,  who  had  seen  active  and  im 
portant  service  in  two  preceding  wars. 

The  result  of  the  campaign  is  a  matter 
of  history.  The  skill,  the  endurance,  the 
extraordinary  energy  shown  by  Garfield, 
the  courage  imparted  to  his  men,  raw  and 
untried  as  himself,  the  measures  he  adopt 
ed  to  increase  his  force  and  to  create  in  the 
enemy's  mind  exaggerated  estimates  of 
his  numbers,  bore  perfect  fruit  in  the  rout 
ing  of  Marshall,  the  capture  of  his  camp, 
the  dispersion  of  his  force,  and  the  eman 
cipation  of  an  important  territory  from  the 
rebellion.  Coming  at  the  close  of  a  long 
series  of  disasters  to  the  Union  arms,  Gar- 
field's  victory  had  an  unusual  and  extra 
neous  importance,  and  in  the  popular 
judgment  elevated  the  young  commander 
to  the  rank  of  a  military  hero.  With  less 
than  two  thousand  men  in  his  entire  com 
mand,  with  a  mobilized  force  of  only 
eleven  hundred,  without  cannon,  he  had 
met  an  army  of  five  thousand  and  defeat 
ed  them — driving  Marshall's  forces  suc 
cessively  from  two  strongholds  of  their 
own  selection,  fortified  with  abundant  ar 
tillery.  Major  General  Buell,  command 
ing  the  Department  of  the  Ohio,  an  expe 
rienced  and  able  soldier  of  the  regular 
army,  published  an  order  of  thanks  and 
congratulation  on  the  brilliant  result  of  the 
Big  Sandy  campaign  which  would  have 
turned  the  head  of  a  less  cool  and  sensible 
man  than  Garfield.  Buell  declared  that 
his  services  had  called  into  action  the 
highest  qualities  of  a  soldier,  and  Presi 
dent  Lincoln  supplemented  these  words  of 
praise  by  the  more  substantial  reward  of 
a  brigadier  general's  commission,  to  bear 
date  from  the  day  of  his  decisive  victory 
over  Marshall. 

The  subsequent  military  career  of  Gar- 
field  fully  sustained  its  brilliant  beginning. 
With  his  new  commission  he  was  assigned 
to  the  command  of  a  brigade  in  the  Army 
of  the  Ohio,  and  took  part  in  the  second 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


13 


and  decisive  day's  fight  in  the  great  battle 
of  Shiloh.  The  remainder  of  the  year 
1 86 1  was  not  especially  eventful  to  Gar- 
field,  as  it  was  not  to  the  armies  with 
which  he  was  serving.  His  practical  sense 
was  called  into  exercise  in  completing  the 
task,  assigned  him  by  General  Buell,  of 
reconstructing  bridges  and  re-establishing 
lines  of  railway  communication  for  the 
army.  His  occupation  in  this  useful  but 
not  brilliant  field  was  varied  by  service  on 
courts-martial  of  importance,  in  which  de 
partment  of  duty  he  won  a  valuable  repu 
tation,  attracting  the  notice  and  securing 
the  approval  of  the  able  and  eminent 
Judge-Advocate-General  of  the  Army. 
That  of  itself  was  a  warrant  to  honorable 
fame  ;  for  among  the  great  men  who  in 
those  trying  days  gave  themselves,  with 
entire  devotion,  to  the  service  of  their 
country,  one  who  brought  to  that  service 
the  ripest  learning,  the  most  fervid  elo 
quence,  the  most  varied  attainments,  who 
labored  with  modesty  and  shunned  ap 
plause,  who  in  the  day  of  triumph  sat  re 
served  and  silent  and  grateful — as  Francis 
Deak  in  the  hour  of  Hungary's  deliverance 
— was  Joseph  Holt,  of  Kentucky,  who  in 
his  honorable  retirement  enjoys  the  respect 
and  veneration  of  all  who  love  the  Union 
of  the  States. 

Early  in  1863  Garfield  was  assigned  to 
the  highly  important  and  responsible  post 
of  chief  of  staff  of  General  Rosecrans,  then 
at  the  head  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumber 
land.  Perhaps  in  a  great  military  cam 
paign  no  subordinate  officer  requires 
sounder  judgment  and  quicker  knowledge 
of  men  than  the  chief  of  staff  to  the  com 
manding  general.  An  indiscreet  man  in 
such  a  position  can  sow  more  discord, 
breed  more  jealousy  and  disseminate  more 
strife  than  any  other  officer  in  the  entire 
organization.  When  General  Garfield  as 
sumed  his  new  duties  he  found  various 
troubles  already  well  developed  and  seri 
ously  affecting  the  value  and  efficiency  of 
the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  The  energy, 
the  impartiality  and  the  tact  with  which  he 
sought  to  allay  these  dissensions,  and  to 
discharge  the  duties  of  his  new  and  trying 
position,  will  always  remain  one  of  the 
most  striking  proofs  of  his  great  versatility. 
His  military  duties  closed  on  the  memor 


able  field  of  Chickamauga,  a  field  which 
however  disastrous  to  the  Union  arms  gave 
to  him  the  occasion  of  winning  imperish 
able  laurels.  The  very  rare  distinction 
was  accorded  him  of  great  promotion  for 
his  bravery  on  a  field  that  was  lost.  Pres 
ident  Lincoln  appointed  him  a  Major- 
General  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States 
for  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  in  the 
battle  of  Chickamauga. 

The  Army  of  the  Cumberland  was  re 
organized  under  the  command  of  General 
Thomas,  who  promptly  offered  Garfield 
one  of  its  divisions.  He  was  extremely 
desirous  to  accept  the  position,  but  was 
embarrassed  by  the  fact  that  he  had,  a 
year  before,  been  elected  to  Congress,  and 
the  time  when  he  must  take  his  seat  was 
drawing  near.  He  preferred  to  remain  in 
the  military  service,  and  had  within  his 
own  breast  the  largest  confidence  of  suc 
cess  in  the  wider  field  which  his  new  rank 
opened  to  him.  Balancing  the  arguments 
on  the  one  side  and  the  other,  anxious  to 
determine  what  was  for  the  best,  desirous 
above  all  things  to  do  his  patriotic  duty, 
he  was  decisively  influenced  by  the  advice 
of  President  Lincolm  and  Secretary  Stan- 
ton,  both  of  whom  assured  him  that  he 
could  at  that  time,  be  of  especial  value  in 
the  House  of  Representatives.  He  re 
signed  his  commission  of  Major-General 
on  the  fifth  day  of  December,  1863,  and 
took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  on  the  yth.  He  had  served  two  years 
and  four  months  in  the  army,  and  had  just 
completed  his  thirty-second  year. 

In  Congress. 

The  Thirty-eighth  Congress  is  pre-emi 
nently  entitled  in  history  to  the  designa 
tion  of  the  War  Congress.  It  was  elected 
while  the  war  was  flagrant,  and  every 
member  was  chosen  upon  the  issues  in 
volved  in  the  continuance  of  the  struggle. 
The  Thirty-seventh  Congress  had,  indeed, 
legislated  to  a  large  extent  on  war  mea 
sures  ;  but  it  was  chosen  before  any  one 
believed  that  secession  of  the  States  would 
be  actually  attempted.  The  magnitude  of 
the  work  which  fell  upon  its  successor  was 
unprecedented,  both  in  respect  to  the  vast 
sums  of  money  raised  for  the  support  of 
the  Army  and  Navy,  and  of  the  new  and 


14 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


extraordinary  powers  of  legislation  which 
it  was  forced  to  exercise.  Only  twenty- 
four  States  were  represented,  and  one 
hundred  and  eighty-two  members  were 
upon  its  roll.  Among  these  were  many 
distinguished  party  leaders  on  both  sides, 
veterans  in  the  public  service,  with  estab 
lished  reputations  for  ability,  and  with 
that  skill  which  comes  only  from  parlia 
mentary  experience.  Into  this  assemblage 
of  men  Garfield  entered  without  special 
preparation,  and  it  might  almost  be  said 
unexpectedly.  The  question  of  taking 
command  of  a  division  of  troops  under 
General  Thomas,  or  taking  his  seat  in 
Congress  was  kept  open  till  the  last  mo 
ment — so  late,  indeed,  that  the  resignation 
of  his  military  commission  and  his  appear 
ance  in  the  House  were  almost  contem 
poraneous.  He  wore  the  uniform  of  a 
Major-General  of  the  United  States  Army 
on  Saturday,  and  on  Monday  in  civilian's 
dress,  he  answered  to  the  roll-call  as  a 
Representative  in  Congress  from  the  State 
of  Ohio. 

He  was  especially  fortunate  in  the  con 
stituency  which  elected  him.  Descended 
almost  entirely  from  New  England  stock, 
the  men  of  the  Ashtabula  district  were  in 
tensely  radical  on  all  questions  relating  to 
human  rights.  Well  educated,  thrifty, 
thoroughly  intelligent  in  affairs,  acutely 
discerning  of  character,  not  quick  to  bestow 
confidence,  and  slow  to  withdraw  it,  they 
were  at  once  the  most  helpful  and  most  ex 
acting  of  supporters.  Their  tenacious 
trust  in  men  in  whom  they  have  once  con 
fided  is  illustrated  by  the  unparalleled  fact 
that  Elisha  Whittlesey,  Joshua  R.  Gid- 
dings,  and  James  A.  Garfield  represented 
the  district  for  fifty-four  years. 

There  is  no  test  of  a  man's  ability  in  any 
department  of  public  life  more  severe  than 
service  in  the  House  of  Representatives  ; 
there  is  no  place  where  so  little  deference 
is  paid  to  reputation  previously  acquired 
or  to  eminence  won  outside  ;  no  place 
where  so  little  consideration  is  shown  for 
the  feelings  or  failures  of  beginners.  What 
a  man  gains  in  the  House  he  gains  by 
sheer  force  of  his  own  character,  and  if  he 
loses  and  falls  back  he  must  expect  no 
mercy  and  will  receive  no  sympathy.  It 
is  a  field  in  which  the  survival  of  the 


strongest  is  the  recognized  rule  and  where 
no  pretense  can  deceive  and  no  glamour 
can  mislead.  The  real  man  is  discovered, 
and  his  worth  is  impartially  weighed,  his 
rank  is  irreversibly  decreed. 

With  possibly  a  single  exception  Gar- 
field  was  the  youngest  member  in  the 
House  when  he  entered,  and  was  but 
seven  years  from  his  college  graduation. 
But  he  had  not  been  in  his  seat  sixty  days 
before  his  ability  was  recognized  and  his 
place  conceded.  He  stepped  to  the  front 
with  the  confidence  of  one  who  belonged 
there.  The  House  was  crowded  with 
strong  men  of  both  parties ;  nineteen  of 
them  have  since  been  transferred  to  the 
Senate,  and  many  of  them  have  served 
with  distinction  in  the  gubernatorial  chairs 
of  their  respective  States,  and  on  foreign 
missions  of  great  consequence  ;  but  among 
all  none  grew  so  rapidly,  none  so  firmly, 
as  Garfield.  As  is  said  by  Trevelyan  of 
his  parliamentary  hero,  Garfield  succeeded 
"  because  all  the  world  in  concert  could 
not  have  kept  him  in  the  background,  and 
because  when  once  in  the  front  he  played 
his  part  with  a  prompt  intrepidity  and  a 
commanding  ease  that  were  but  the  out 
ward  symptoms  of  the  immense  reserves 
of  energy,  on  which  it  was  in  his  power  to 
draw."  Indeed  the  apparently  reserve 
force  which  Garfield  possessed  was  one  of 
his  great  characteristics.  He  never  did 
so  well  but  that  it  seemed  he  could  easily 
have  done  better.  He  never  expended  so 
much  strength  but  that  he  seemed  to  be 
holding  additional  power  at  call.  This  is 
one  of  the  happiest  and  rarest  distinctions 
of  an  effective  debater,  and  often  counts 
for  as  much  in  persuading  an  assembly  as 
the  eloquent  and  elaborate  argument. 

The  great  measure  of  Garfield's  fame 
was  filled  by  his  Cervices  in  the  House  of 
Representatives.  His  military  life,  illus- 
strated  by  honorable  performance,  and 
rich  in  promise,  was,  as  he  himself  felt,  pre 
maturely  terminated,  and  necessarily  in 
complete.  Speculation  as  to  what  he  might 
have  done  in  a  field,  where  the  great  prizes 
are  so  few,  cannot  be  profitable.  It  is 
sufficient  to  say  that  as  a  soldier  he  did 
his  duty  bravely  ;  he  did  it  intelligently  ; 
he  won  an  enviable  fame,  and  he  retired 
from  the  service  without  blot  or  breath 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


15 


against  him.  As  a  lawyer,  though  admir 
ably  equipped  for  the  profession,  he  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  have  entered  on  its 
practice.  The  few  efforts  he  made  at  the 
bar  were  distinguished  by  the  same  high 
order  of  talent  which  he  exhibited  on  every 
field  where  he  was  put  to  the  test,  and  if  a 
man  may  be  accepted  as  a  competent 
judge  of  his  own  capacities  and  adapta 
tions,  the  law  was  the  profession  to  which 
Garfield  should  have  devoted  himself. 
But  fate  ordained  otherwise,  and  his  re 
putation  in  history  will  rest  largely  upon  his 
service  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
That  service  was  exceptionally  long.  He 
was  nine  times  consecutively  chosen  to  the 
House,  an  honor  enjoyed  by  not  move 
than  six  other  Representatives  of  the  more 
than  five  thousand  who  have  been  elected 
from  the  organization  of  the  government 
to  this  hour. 

Orator  and  Debater. 

As  a  parliamentary  orator,  as  a  debater 
on  an  issue  squarely  joined,  where  the 
position  had  been  chosen  and  the  ground 
laid  out,  Garfield  must  be  assigned  a  very 
high  rank.  More,  perhaps,  than  any  man 
with  whom  he  was  associated  in  public 
life,  he  gave  careful  and  systematic  study 
to  public  questions,  and  he  came  to  every 
discussion  in  which  he  took  part  with 
elaborate  and  complete  preparation.  He 
was  a  steady  and  indefatigable  worker. 
Those  that  imagine  that  talent  or  genius 
can  supply  the  place  or  achieve  the  results 
of  labor  will  find  no  encouragement  in 
Garfield's  life.  In  preliminary  work  he 
was  apt,  rapid  and  skillful.  He  possessed 
in  a  high  degree  the  power  of  readily  ab 
sorbing  ideas  and  facts,  and,  like  Dr.  John 
son,  had  the  art  of  getting  from  a  book  all 
that  was  of  value  in  it  by  a  reading  appar 
ently  so  quick  and  cursory  that  it  seemed 
like  a  mere  glance  at  the  table  of  contents. 
He  was  a  pre-eminently  fair  and  candid 
man  in  debate,  took  no  petty  advantage, 
stooped  to  no  unworthy  methods,  avoided 
personal  allusions,  rarely  appealed  to  pre 
judice,  did  not  seek  to  inflame  passion. 
He  had  a  quicker  eye  for  the  strong  point  of 
his  adversary  than  for  his  weak  point,  and 
on  his  own  side  he  so  marshaled  his 
weighty  arguments  as  to  make  his  hearers 


forget  any  possible  lack  in  the  complete 
strength  of  his  position.  He  had  a  habit 
of  stating  his  opponent's  side  with  such 
amplitude  of  fairness  and  such  liber 
ality  of  concession  that  his  followers  often 
complained  that  he  was  giving  his  cases 
away.  But  never  in  his  prolonged  partici 
pation  in  the  proceedings  of  the  House 
did  he  give  his  case  away,  or  fail  in  the 
judgment  of  competent  and  impartial 
listeners  to  gain  the  mastery. 

These  characteristics,  which  marked 
Garfield  as  a  great  debater,  did  not,  how 
ever,  make  him  a  great  parliamentary 
leader.  A  parliamentary  leader,  as  that 
term  is  understood  wherever  free  repre 
sentative  government  exists,  is  necessarily 
and  very  strictly  the  organ  of  his  party. 
An  ardent  American  defined  the  instinc 
tive  warmth  of  patriotism  when  he  offered 
the  toast,  "  Our  country  always  right,  but 
right  or  wrong,  our  country."  The  par 
liamentary  leader  who  has  a  body  of  fol 
lowers  who  will  do  and  dare  and  die  for 
the  cause,  is  one  who  believes  his  party 
always  right,  but  right  or  wrong,  is  for  his 
party.  No  more  important  or  exacting 
duty  devolves  upon  him  than  the  selection 
of  the  field  and  the  time  for  contest.  He 
must  know  not  merely  how  to  strike,  but 
where  to  strike  and  when  to  strike.  ,He 
often  skillfully  avoids  the  strength  of  his 
opponent's  position  and  scatters  confusion 
in  his  ranks  by  attaching  an  exposed  point 
when  really  the  righteousness  of  the  cause 
and  the  strength  of  logical  intrenchment 
are  against  him.  He  conquers  often  both 
against  the  right  and  the  heavy  battalions  ; 
as  when  young  Chas.  Fox,  in  the  days  of 
his  Toryism,  carried  the  House  of  Com 
mons  against  justice,  against  its  immemo 
rial  rights,  against  his  own  convictions,  if, 
indeed,  at  that  period  Fox  had  convictions, 
and,  in  the  interest  of  a  corrupt  adminis 
tration,  in  obedience  to  a  tyrannical  sove 
reign,  drove  Wilkes  from  the  seat  to  which 
the  electors  of  Middlesex  had  chosen  him, 
aud  installed  Luttrell  in  defiance,  not 
merely  of  law,  but  of  public  decency. 
For  an  achievement  of  that  kind  Garfield 
was  disqualified — disqualified  by  the  tex 
ture  of  his  mind,  by  the  honesty  of  his 
heart,  by  his  conscience,  and  by  every 
instinct  and  aspiration  of  his  nature. 


16 


JAMES   G.   ELAINE. 


The  three  most  distinguished  parlia 
mentary  leaders  hitherto  developed  in  this 
country  are  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Douglas  and 
Mr.  Thaddeus  Stevens.  Each  was  a  man 
of  consummate  ability,  of  great  earnest 
ness,  of  intense  personality,  differing 
widely  each  from  the  others,  and  yet  with 
a  single  trait  in  common — the  power  to 
command.  In  the  give-and-take  of  daily 
discussion,  in  the  art  of  controlling  and 
consolidating  reluctant  and  refractory  fol 
lowers  ;  in  the  skill  to  overcome  all  forms 
of  opposition,  and  to  meet  with  compe 
tency  and  courage  the  varying  phases  of 
unlooked-for  assault  or  unsuspected  defec 
tion,  it  would  be  difficult  to  rank  with 
these  a  fourth  name  in  all  our  Congres 
sional  history.  But  of  these  Mr.  Clay  was 
the  greatest.  It  would,  perhaps,  be  im 
possible  to  find  in  the  parliamentary 
annals  of  the  world  a  parallel  to  Mr.  Clay, 
in  1841,  when  at  sixty-four  years  of  age, 
he  took  the  control  of  the  Whig  party 
from  the  President  who  had  received  their 
suffrages,  against  the  power  of  Webster  in 
the  Cabinet,  against  the  eloquence  of 
Choate  in  the  Senate,  against  the  Hercu 
lean  efforts  of  Caleb  dishing  and  Henry 
A.  Wise  in  the  House.  In  unshared  lead 
ership,  in  the  pride  and  plenitude  of 
power  he  hurled  against  John  Tyler  with 
deepest  scorn  the  mass  of  that  conquering 
column  which  had  swept  over  the  land  in 
1840,  and  drove  his  administration  to  seek 
shelter  behind  the  lines  of  his  political 
foes.  Mr.  Douglas  achieved  a  victory 
scarcely  less  wonderful  when,  in  1854, 
against  the  secret  desires  of  a  strong  ad 
ministration,  against  the  wise  counsel  of 
the  older  chiefs,  against  the  conservative 
instincts  and  even  the  moral  sense  of  the 
country,  he  forced  a  reluctant  Congress 
into  a  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise. 
Mr.  Thaddeus  Stevens,  in  his  contests 
from  1865  to  1868,  actually  advanced  his 
parliamentary  leadership  until  Congress 
tied  the  hands  of  the  President  and  gov 
erned  the  country  by  its  own  will,  leaving 
only  perfunctory  duties  to  be  discharged 
by  the  Executive.  With  two  hundred  mil 
lions  of  patronage  in  his  hands  at  the  open 
ing  of  the  contest,  aided  by  the  active  force* 
of  Seward  in  the  Cabinet  and  the  moral 
power  of  Chase  on  the  Bench,  Andrew 


Johnson  could  not  command  the  support 
of  one-third  in  either  House  against  the 
parliamentary  uprising  of  which  Thaddeus 
Stevens  was  the  animating  spirit  and  the 
unquestioned  leader. 

From  these  three  great  men  Garfield 
differed  radically,  differed  in  the  quality  of 
his  mind,  in  temperament,  in  the  form 
and  phase  of  ambition.  He  could  not  do 
what  they  did,  but  he  could  do  what  they 
could  not,  and  in  the  breadth  of  his  Con 
gressional  work  he  left  that  which  will 
longer  exert  a  political  influence  among 
men,  and  which,  measured  by  the  severe 
test  of  posthumous  criticism,  will  secure  a 
more  enduring  and  more  enviable  fame. 

Garfield's  Industry. 

Those  unfamilar  with  Garfield's  indus 
try  and  ignorant  of  the  details  of  his  work 
may,  in  some  degree,  measure  them  by  the 
annals  of  Congress.  No  one  of  the  gen 
eration  of  public  men  to  which  he  be 
longed  has  contributed  so  much  that  will 
be  valuable  for  future  reference.  His 
speeches  are  numerous,  many  of  them 
brilliant,  all  of  them  well  studied,  care- 
ully  phrased  and  exhaustive  of  the  sub 
ject  under  consideration.  Collected  from 
the  scattered  pages  of  ninety  royal  octavo 
volumes  of  Congressional  Records  they 
would  present  an  invaluable  compendium 
of  the  political  history  of  the  most  impor 
tant  era  through  which  the  national  gov 
ernment  has  ever  passed.  When  the  his 
tory  of  this  period  shall  be  impartially 
written,  when  war  legislation,  measures  of 
reconstruction,  protection  of  human  rights, 
amendments  to  the  constitution,  mainte 
nance  of  public  credit,  steps  toward  specie 
resumption,  true  theories  of  revenue  may 
be  reviewed,  unsurrounded  by  prejudice 
and  disconnected  from  partisanism,  the 
speeches  of  Garfield  will  be  estimated  at 
their  true  value,  and  will  be  found  to  com 
prise  a  vast  magazine  of  fact  and  argu 
ment,  of  clear  analysis  and  sound  conclu 
sion.  Indeed  if  no  other  authority  were 
accessible,  his  speeches  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  from  December  1863,  to 
June  1880,  would  give  a  well  connected 
history  and  complete  defence  of  the  im 
portant  legislation  of  the  seventeen  event 
ful  years  that  constitute  his  Parliamentary 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


17 


life.  Far  beyond  that,  his  speeches  would 
be  found  to  forecast  many  great  measures, 
yet  to  be  completed — measures  which  he 
knew  were  beyond  the  public  opinion  of 
the  hour,  but  which  he  confidently  be 
lieved  would  secure  popular  approval 
within  the  period  of  his  own  lifetime,  and 
by  the  aid  of  his  own  efforts. 

Differing,  as  Garfield  does,  from  the 
brilliant  parliamentary  leaders,  it  is  not 
easy  to  find  his  counterpart  anywhere  in 
the  record  of  American  public  life.  He 
perhaps  more  nearly  resembles  Mr.  Seward 
in  his  supreme  faith  in  the  all-conquering 
power  of  a  principle.  He  had  the  love  of 
learning,  and  the  patient  industry  of  in 
vestigation,  to  which  John  Quincy  Adams 
owed  his  prominence  and  his  Presidency. 
He  had  some  of  those  ponderous  elements 
of  mind  which  distinguished  Mr.  Webster, 
and  which  indeed,  in  all  our  public  life, 
have  left  the  great  Massachusetts  Senator 
without  an  intellectual  peer. 

In  English  parliamentary  history,  as  in 
our  own,  the  leaders  in  the  House  of  Com 
mons  present  points  of  essential  difference 
from  Garfield.  But  some  of  his  methods 
recall  the  best  features  in  the  strong,  inde 
pendent  course  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  and 
striking  resemblances  are  discernible  in 
that  most  promising  of  modern  conserva 
tives,  who  died  too  early  for  his  country 
and  his  fame,  the  Lord  George  Bentinck. 
He  had  all  of  Burke's  love  for  the  sublime 
and  the  beautiful,  with,  possibly,  some 
thing  of  his  superabundance,  and  in  his 
faith  and  his  magnamity,  in  his  power  of 
statement,  in  his  subtle  analysis,  in  his 
faultless  logic,  in  his  love  of  literature,  in 
his  wealth  and  world  of  illustration,  one  is 
reminded  of  the  great  English  statesman 
of  to-day,  who,  confronted  with  obstacles 
that  would  daunt  any  but  the  dauntless, 
reviled  by  those  whom  he  would  relieve  as 
bitterly  as  by  those  whose  supposed  rights 
he  is  forced  to  invade,  still  labors  with 
serene  courage  for  the  amelioration  of 
Ireland,  and  for  the  honor  of  the  English 
name. 

Nomination  to  the    Presidency. 

Garfield's  nomination  to  the  Presidency, 
while  not  predicted  or  anticipated,  was  not 
a  surprise  to  the  country.  His  prominence 


in  Congress,  his  solid  qualities,  his  wide 
reputation,  strengthened  by  his  then  recent 
election  as  Senator  from  Ohio,  kept  him  in 
the  public  eye  as  a  man  occupying  the  very 
highest  rank  among  those  entitled  to  be 
called  statesmen.  It  was  not  mere  chance 
that  brought  him  this  high  honor.  "  We 
must,"  says  Mr.  Emerson,  "  reckon  success 
a  constitutional  trait.  If  Eric  is  in  robust 
health,  and  has  slept  well  and  is  at  the  top 
of  his  condition,  and  thirty  years  old  at  his 
departure  from  Greenland,  he  will  steer 
west  and  his  ships  will  reach  New  Found- 
land.  But  take  Eric  out  and  put  in  a 
stronger  and  bolder  man  and  the  ships  will 
sail  six  hundred,  one  thousand,  fifteen 
hundred  miles  farther  and  reach  Labrador 
and  New  England.  There  is  no  chance 
in  results.'' 

As  a  candidate,  Garfield  steadily  grew 
in  popular  favor.  He  was  met  with  a 
storm  of  detraction  at  the  very  hour  of  his 
nomination,  and  it  continued  with  increas 
ing  volume  and  momentum  until  the  close 
of  his  victorious  campaign  : 

No  might   nor  greatness  in  mortality 
Can  censure  'scape  ;  backwounding  calumny 
The  whitest  virtue  strikes.     What  king  so  strong 
Can  tie  the  gall  up  in  the  slanderous  tongue  ? 

Under  it  all  he  was  calm,  and  strong, 
and  confident ;  never  lost  his  self-posses 
sion,  did  no  unwise  act,  spoke  no  hasty  or 
ill-considered  word.  Indeed  nothing  in 
his  whole  life  is  more  remarkable  or  more 
creditable  than  his  bearing  through  those 
five  full  months  of  vituperation — a  pro 
longed  agony  of  trial  to  a  sensitive  man,  a 
constant  and  cruel  draft  upon  the  powers 
of  moral  endurance.  The  great  mass  of 
these  unjust  imputations  passed  unnoticed, 
and,  with  the  general  debris  of  the  cam 
paign,  fell  into  oblivion.  But  in  a  few 
instances  the  iron  entered  his  soul  and  he 
died  with  the  injury  unforgotten  if  not  un- 
forgiven. 

One  aspect  of  Garfield's  candidacy  was 
unprecedented.  Never  before  in  the  his 
tory  of  partisan  contests  in  this  country  had 
a  successful  Presidential  candidate  spoken 
freely  on  passing  events  and  current  issues. 
To,  attempt  anything  of  the  kind  seemed 
novel,  rash,  and  even  desperate.  The 
older  class  of  voters  recalled  the  unfortu- 


18 


JAMES   G.   ELAINE. 


nate  Alabama  letter,  in  which  Mr.  Clay  was 
supposed  to  have  signed  his  political  death- 
warrant.     They  remembered  also  the  hot- 
tempered  effusion  by  which  General  Scott 
lost  a  large  share  of  his  popularity  before 
his  nomination,  and  the  unfortunate  speech 
es  which  rapidly  consumed  the  remainder. 
The  younger  voters  had  seen  Mr.  Greeley 
in  a  series  of  vigorous  and  original  addres 
ses,  preparing  the  pathway  for  his  own  de 
feat.     Unmindful  of  these  warnings,  un 
heeding  the   advice   of  friends,    Garfielc 
spoke  to  large  crowds  as  he  journeyed  to 
and  from  New  York  in  August,  to  a  grea 
multitude  in  that  city,  to  delegations  anc 
deputations  of  every  kind  that  called  a 
Mentor  during   the  summer  and  autumn 
With  innumerable    critics,    watchful  and 
eager  to  catch  a  phrase  that  might  be 
turned  into  odium  or  ridicule,  or  a  sentence 
that  might  be  distorted  to  his  own  or  his 
party's  injury,  Garfield  did  not  trip  or  hal 
in  any  one  of  his  seventy  speeches.     This 
seems  all  the  more  remarkable  when  it  is 
remembered  that  he  did  not  write  what  he 
said,  and  yet  spoke  with  such  logical  con 
secutiveness  of  thought  and  such  admira 
ble  precision  of  phrase  as  to  defy  the  acci 
dent  of  misreport  and  the  malignity  of 
misrepresentation. 

As   President. 

In  the  beginning  of  his  Presidential  life 
Garfield's  experience  did  not  yield  him 
pleasure  or  satisfaction.  The  duties  that 
engross  so  large  a  portion  of  the  Presi 
dent's  time  were  distasteful  to  him,  and 
were  unfavorably  contrasted  with  his  leg 
islative  work.  "I  have  been  dealing  all 
these  years  with  ideas,"  he  impatiently  ex 
claimed  one  day,  "  and  here  I  am  dealing 
only  with  persons.  I  have  been  heretofore 
treating  of  the  fundamental  principles  of 
government,  and  here  I  am  considering  all 
day  whether  A  or  B  shall  be  appointed  to 
this  or  that  office."  He  was  earnestly 
seeking  some  practical  way  of  correcting 
the  evils  arising  from  the  distribution  of 
overgrown  and  unwieldy  patronage — evils 
always  appreciated  and  often  discussed  by 
him,  but  whose  magnitude  had  been  more 
deeply  impressed  upon  his  mind  since  his 
accession  to  the  Presidency.  Had  he  lived, 
a  comprehensive  improvement  in  the  mode 


of  appointment  and  in  the  tenure  of  office 
would  have  been  proposed  by  him,  and 
with  the  aid  of  Congress  no  doubt  per 
fected. 

But,  while  many  of  the  Executive  duties 
were  not  grateful  to  him,  he  was  assiduous 
and  conscientious  in  their  discharge.  From 
the  very  outset  he  exhibited  administrative 
talent  of  a  high  order.  He  grasped  the 
helm  of  office  with  the  hand  of  a  master. 
In  this  respect,  indeed,  he  constantly  sur 
prised  many  who  were  most  intimately  as 
sociated  with  him  in  the  government,  and 
especially  those  who  had  feared  that  he 
might  be  lacking  in  the  executive  faculty. 
His  disposition  of  business  was  orderly 
and  rapid.  His  power  of  analysis,  and  his 
skill  in  classification,  enabled  him  to  des 
patch  a  vast  mass  of  detail  with  singular 
promptness  and  ease.  His  Cabinet  meet 
ings  were  admirably  conducted.  His  clear 
presentation  of  official  subjects,  his  well- 
considered  suggestion  of  topics  on  which 
discussion  was  invited,  his  quick  decision 
when  all  had  been  heard,  combined  to 
show  a  thoroughness  of  mental  training  as 
rare  as  his  natural  ability  and  his  facile 
adaptation  to  a  new  and  enlarged  field  of 
labor. 

With  perfect  comprehension  of  all  the 
inheritances  of  the  war,  with  a  cool  calcu 
lation  of  the  obstacles  in  his  way,  impelled 
always  by  a  generous  enthusiasm,  Gar- 
field  conceived  that  much  might  be  done 
by  his  administration  towards  restoring 
harmony  between  the  different  sections  of 
the  Union.  He  was  anxious  to  go  South 
and  speak  to  the  people.  As  early  as 
April  he  had  ineffectually  endeavored  to 
arrange  for  a  trip  to  Nashville,  whither  he 
had  been  cordially  invited,  and  he  was 
again  disappointed  a  few  weeks  later  to 
find  that  he  could  not  go  to  South  Carolina 
to  attend  the  centennial  celebration  of  the 
victory  of  the  Cowpens.  But  for  the  au- 
umn  he  definitely  counted  on  being  pre 
sent  at  three  memorable  assemblies  in 
he  South,  the  celebration  at  Yorktown, 
he  opening  of  the  Cotton  Exposition  at 
Atlanta,  and  the  meeting  of  the  Army  of 
he  Cumberland  at  Chattanooga.  He  was 
already  turning  over  in  his  mind  his  ad 
dress  for  each  occasion,  and  the  three 
aken  together,  he  said  to  a  friend,  gave 


JAMES   G.   ELAINE. 


19 


him  the  exact  scope'and  verge  which  he 
needed.  At  Yorktown  he  would  have  be 
fore  him  the  associations  of  a  hundred 
years  that  bound  the  South  and  the  North 
in  the  sacred  memory  of  a  common  dan 
ger  and  a  common  victory.  At  Atlanta  he 
would  present  the  material  interests  and 
the  industrial  development  which  appealed 
to  the  thrift  and  independence  of  every 
household,  and  which  should  unite  the  two 
sections  by  the  instinct  of  self-interest  and 
self-defence.  At  Chattanooga  he  would 
revive  memories  of  the  war  only  to  show 
that  after  all  its  disaster  and  all  its  suffer 
ing,  the  country  was  stronger  and  greater, 
the  Union  rendered  indissoluble,  and  the 
future,  through  the  agony  and  blood  ot 
one  generation,  made  brighter  and  better 
for  all. 

Garfield's  ambition  for  the  success  of  his 
administration  was  high.  With  strong 
caution  and  conservatism  in  his  nature,  he 
was  in  no  danger  of  attempting  rash  ex 
periments  or  resorting  to  the  empiricism 
of  statesmanship.  But  he  believed  that 
renewed  and  closer  attention  should  be 
given  to  questions  affecting  the  material 
interests  and  commercial  prospects  of  fifty 
millions  of  people.  He  believed  that  our 
continental  relations,  extensive  and  unde 
veloped  as  they  are,  involved  responsibil 
ity,  and  could  be  cultivated  into  profitable 
friendship  or  be  abandoned  to  harmful 
indifference  or  lasting  enmity.  He  be 
lieved  with  equal  confidence  that  an  essen 
tial  forerunner  to  a  new  era  of  national 
progress  must  be  a  feeling  of  contentment 
in  every  "section  of  the  Union,  and  a  gen 
erous  belief  that  the  benefits  and  burdens 
of  government  would  be  common  to  all. 
Himself  a  conspicuous  illustration  of  what 
ability  and  ambition  may  do  under  repub 
lican  institutions,  he  loved  his  country 
with  a  passion  of  patriotic  devotion,  and 
every  waking  thought  was  given  to  her  ad 
vancement.  He  was  an  American  in  all 
his  aspirations,  and  he  looked  to  the  des 
tiny  and  influence  of  the  United  States 
with  the  philosophic  composure  of  Jefferson 
and  the  demonstrative  confidence  of  John 
Adams. 

The  Political  Controversy. 

The  political  events  which  disturbed  the 
President's  serenity  for  many  weeks  be 


fore  that  fatal  day  in  July  form  an  im 
portant  chapter  in  his  career,  and,  in  his 
own  judgment,  involved  questions  of  prin 
ciple  and  of  right  which  are  vitally  essen 
tial  to  the  constitutional  administration  of 
the  Federal  Government.  It  would  be  out  of 
place  here  and  now  to  speak  the  language 
of  controversy,  but  the  events  referred  to, 
however  they  may  continue  to  be  source 
of  contention  with  others,  have  become, 
so  far  as  Garfield  is  concerned,  as  much  a 
matter  of  history  as  his  heroism  atChicka- 
mauga,  or  his  illustrious  service  in  the 
House.  Detail  is  not  needful,  and  per 
sonal  antagonism  shall  not  be  rekindled 
by  any  word  uttered  to-day.  The  motives 
of  those  opposing  him  are  not  to  be  here 
adversely  interpreted  nor  their  course 
harshly  characterized.  But  of  the  dead 
President  this  is  to  be  said,  and  said  be 
cause  his  own  speech  is  forever  silenced, 
and  he  can  be  no  more  heard  except 
through  the  fidelity  and  the  love  of  sur 
viving  friends.  From  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  the  controversy  he  so  much  de 
plored,  the  President  was  never  for  one 
moment  actuated  by  any  motive  of  gain 
to  himself  or  of  loss  to  others.  Least  of 
all  men  did  he  harbor  revenge,  rarely  did 
he  even  show  resentment,  and  malice  was 
not  in  his  nature.  He  was  congenially 
employed  only  in  the  exchange  of  good 
offices  and  the  doing  of  kindly  deeds. 

There  wai  not  an  hour,  from  the  begin 
ning  of  the  trouble  till  the  fatal  shot 
entered  his  body,  when  the  President 
would  not  gladly,  for  the  sake  of  restoring 
harmony,  have  retraced  any  step  he  had 
taken,  if  such  retracing  had  merely  in 
volved  consequences  personal  to  himself. 
The  pride  of  consistency,  or  any  supposed 
sense  of  humiliation  that  might  result  from 
surrendering  his  position,  had  not  a  feath 
er's  weight  with  him.  No  man  was  ever 
less  subject  to  such  influences  from  within 
or  from  without.  But  after  the  most 
anxious  deliberation  and  the  coolest  sur 
vey  of  all  the  circumstances,  he  solemnly 
believed  that  the  true  prerogatives  of 
the  Executive  were  involved  in  the 
issue  which  had  been  raised,  and  that  he 
would  be  unfaithful  to  his  supreme  obliga 
tion  if  he  failed  to  maintain,  in  all  their 
vigor,  the  constitutional  rights  and  digni- 


20 


JAMES   G.   ELAINE. 


ties  of  his  great  office.  He  believed  this 
in  all  the  convictions  of  conscience  when 
in  sound  and  vigorous  health,  and  he  be 
lieved  it  in  his  suffering  and  prostration  in 
the  last  conscious  thought  which  his 
wearied  mind  bestowed  on  the  transitory 
struggles  of  life. 

More  than  this  need  not  be  said.  Less 
than  this  could  not  be  said.  Justice  to  the 
dead,  the  highest  obligation  that  devolves 
upon  the  living,  demands  the  declaration 
that  in  all  the  bearings  of  the  subject, 
actual  or  possible,  the  President  was  con 
tent  in  his  mind,  justified  in  his  conscience, 
immovable  in  his  conclusions. 

Garfteld's  Religion. 

The  religious  element  in  Garfield's  char 
acter  was  deep  and  earnest.  In  his  early 
youth  he  espoused  the  faith  of  the 
Disciples,  a  sect  of  that  great  Baptist 
Communion  which  in  different  ecclesiasti 
cal  establishments  is  so  numerous  and  so 
influential  throughout  all  parts  of  the  Uni 
ted  States.  But  the  broadening  tendency 
of  his  mind,  and  his  active  spirit  of  in 
quiry  were  early  apparent,  and  carried 
him  beyond  the  dogmas  of  sect  and  the 
restraints  of  association.  In  selecting  a 
college  in  which  to  continue  his  education, 
he  rejected  Bethany,  though  presided 
over  by  Alexander  Campbell,  the  greatest 
preacher  of  his  church.  His  reasons  were 
characteristic  :  first,  that  Bethany  leaned 
too  heavily  toward  slavery ;  and,  second, 
that  being  himself  a  Disciple,  and  the  son 
of  Disciple  parents,  he  had  little  acquaint 
ance  with  people  of  other  beliefs,  and  he 
thought  it  would  make  him  more  liberal, 
quoting  his  own  words,  both  in  his  reli 
gious  and  general  views,  to  go  into  a  new 
circle  and  be  under  new  influences. 

The  liberal  tendency  which  he  had  an 
ticipated  as  the  result  of  wider  culture  was 
fully  realized.  He  was  emancipated  from 
mere  sectarian  belief,  and  with  eager  in 
terest  pushed  his  investigations  in  the  di 
rection  of  modern  progressive  thought. 
He  followed  with  quickening  step  in  the 
paths  of  exploration  and  speculation  so 
fearlessly  trodden  by  Darwin,  by  Huxley, 
by  Tyndall,  and  by  other  living  scientists 
'  of  the  radical  and  advanced  type.  His  own 
church,  binding  its  disciples  by  nojformu- 


lated  creed.but  accepting  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  as  the  word  of  God,  with  un 
biased  liberality  of  private  interpretation, 
favored,  if  it  did  not  stimulate,  the  spirit  of 
investigation.  .Its  members  profess  with 
sincerity,  and  profess  only,  to  be  of  one 
mind  and  one  faith  with  those  who  imme 
diately  followed  the  Master,  and  who  were 
first  called  Christians  at  Antioch. 

But  however  high  Garfield  reasoned  of 
'  fixed  fate,  free-will,  foreknowledge  abso 
lute,"  he  was  never  separated  from  the 
Church  of  the  Disciples  in  his  affections 
and  in  his  associations.  For  him  it  held 
the  ark  of  the  covenant.  To  him  it  was 
the  gate  of  Heaven.  The  world  of  re 
ligious  belief  is  full  of  solecisms  and  con 
tradictions.  A  philosophic  observer  de 
clares  that  men  by  the  thousand  will  die 
in  defense  of  a  creed  whose  doctrines  they 
do  not  comprehend  and  whose  tenets  they 
habitually  violate.  It  is  equally  true  that 
men  by  the  thousand  will  cling  to  church 
organizations  with  instinctive  and  undy 
ing  fidelity  when  their  belief  in  maturer 
years  is  radically  different  from  that  which 
inspired  them  as  neophytes. 

But  after  this  range  of  speculation,  and 
this  latitude  of  doubt,  Garfield  came  back 
always  with  freshness  and  delight  to  the 
simpler  instincts  of  religious  faith,  which, 
earliest  implanted,  longest  survive.  Not 
many  weeks  before  his  assassination,  walk 
ing  pn  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  with  a 
friend,  and  conversing  on  those  topics  of 
personal  religion,  concerning  which  noble 
natures  have  an  unconquerable  reserve,  he 
said  that  he  found  the  Lord's  Prayer  and 
the  simple  petitions  learned  in  infancy  i-n- 
finitely  restful  to  him,  not  merely  in  their 
stated  repetition,  but  in  their  casual  and 
frequent  recall  as  he  went  about  the  daily 
duties  of  life.  Certain  texts  of  Scripture 
had  a  very  strong  hold  on  his  memory  and 
his  heart.  He  heard,  while  in  Edinburgh 
some  years  ago,  an  eminent  Scotch  preach 
er  who  prefaced  his  sermon  with  reading 
the  eighth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  which  book  had  been  the  subject 
of  careful  study  with  Garfield  during  his 
religious  life.  He  was  greatly  impressed 
by  the  elocution  of  the  preacher  and  de 
clared  that  it  had  imparted  a  new  and 
deeper  meaning  to  the  majestic  utterances 


JAMES   G.   ELAINE. 


21 


of  Saint  Paul.  He  referred  often  in  after 
years  to  that  memorable  service,  and  dwelt 
with  exaltation  of  feeling  upon  the  radiant 
promise  and  the  assured  hope  with  which 
the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  was  "  per 
suaded  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor 
principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  pres 
ent,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  height,  nor 
depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be 
able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God, 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 

The  crowning  characteristic  of  General 
Garfield's  religious  opinions,  as,  indeed,  of 
all  his  opinions,  was  his  liberality.  In  all 
things  he  had  charity.  Tolerance  was  of 
his  nature.  He  respected  in  others  the 
qualities  which  he  possessed  himself — 
sincerity  of  conviction  and  frankness  of 
expression.  With  him  the  inquiry  was  not 
so  much  what  a  man  believes,  but  does  he 
believe  it  ?  The  lines  of  his  friendship  and 
his  confidence  encircled  men  of  every 
creed,  and  men  of  no  creed,  and  to  the  end 
of  his  life,  on  his  ever  lengthening  list  of 
friends,  were  to  be  found  the  names  of  a 
pious  Catholic  priest  and  of  an  honest- 
minded  and  generous-hearted  free-thinker. 

The  Aasassin'i  Bullet. 

On  the  morning  of  Saturday,  July  2d, 
the  President  was  a  contented  and  happy 
man — not  in  an  ordinary  degree,  but  joy 
fully,  almost  boyishly  happy.  On  his  way 
to  the  railroad  station  to  which  he  drove 
slowly,  in  conscious  enjoyment  of  the  beau 
tiful  morning,  with  an  unwonted  sense  of 
leisure,  and  a  keen  anticipation  of  pleasure, 
his  talk  was  all  in  the  grateful  and  gratu- 
latory  vein.  He  felt  that  after  four  months 
of  trial  his  administration  was  strong  in  its 
grasp  of  affairs,  strong  in  popular  favor 
and  destined  to  grow  stronger;  that  grave 
difficulties  confronting  him  at  his  inau 
guration  had  been  safely  passed ;  that 
troubles  lay  behind  him  and  not  before 
him  ;  that  he  was  soon  to  meet  the  wife 
whom  he  loved,  now  recovering  from  an 
illness  which  had  but  lately  disquieted  and 
at  times  almost  unnerved  him  ;  that  he 
was  going  to  his  Alma  Mater  to  renew  the 
most  cherished  associations  of  his  young 
manhood,  and  to  exchange  greetings  with 
those  whose  deepest  interest  had  fol 
lowed  every  step  of  his  upward  progress 


from  the  day  he  entered  upon  his  college 
course  until  he  had  attained  the  loftiest 
elevation  in  the  gift  of  his  countrymen. 

Surely,  if  happiness  can  ever  come  from 
the  honors  or  triumphs  of  this  world,  on 
that  quiet  July  morning  James  A.  Gar- 
field  may  well  have  been  a  happy  man. 
No  foreboding  of  evil  haunted  him ;  no 
slightest  premonition  of  danger  clouded  his 
sky.  His  terrible  fate  was  upon  him  in  an 
instant.  One  moment  he  stood  erect,  strong, 
confident,  in  the  years  stretching  peacefully 
out  before  him.  The  next  he  lay  wounded, 
bleeding,  helpless,  doomed  to  weary  weeks 
of  torture,  to  silence  and  the  grave. 

Great  in  life,  he  was  surpassingly  great 
in  death.  For  no  cause,  in  the  very  frenzy 
of  wantonness  and  wickedness  by  the  red 
hand  of  murder,  he  was  thrust  from  the 
full  tide  of  this  world's  interest,  from  its 
hopes,  its  aspirations,  its  victories,  into  the 
visible  presence  of  death — and  he  did  not 
quail.  Not  alone  for  one  short  moment  in 
which,  stunned  and  dazed,  he  could  give 
up  life,  hardly  aware  of  itsrelinquishment, 
but  through  days  of  deadly  languor, 
through  weeks  of  agony,  that  was  not  less 
agony  because  silently  borne,  with  clear 
sight  and  calm  courage,  he  looked  into  his 
open  grave.  What  blight  and  ruin  met 
his  anguished  eyes,  whose  lips  may  tell — 
what  brilliant,  broken  plans,  what  baffled, 
high  ambitions,  what  sundering  of  strong, 
warm,  manhood's  friendship,  what  bitter 
rending  of  sweet  household  ties  !  Behind 
him  a  proud,  expectant  nation,  a  great  host 
of  sustainingfriends,  a  cherished  and  happy 
mother,  wearing  the  full,  rich  honors  of 
her  early  toil  and  tears ;  the  wife  of  his 
youth,  whose  whole  life  lay  in  his ;  the 
little  boys  not  yet  emerged  from  child 
hood's  day  of  frolic  ;  the  fair,  young  daugh 
ter;  the  sturdy  sons  just  springing  into 
closest  companionship,  claiming  every  day 
and  every  day  rewarding  a  father's  love 
and  care  ;  and  in  his  heart  the  eager,  re 
joicing  power  to  meet  all  demands.  Before 
him,  desolation  and  great  darkness  !  And 
his  soul  was  not  shaken.  His  country 
men  were  thrilled  with  instant,  profound, 
and  universal  sympathy.  Masterful  in  his 
mortal  weakness,  he  became  the  centre  of 
a  nation's  love,  enshrined  in  the  prayers 
of  a  world.  But  all  the  love  and  all  the 


22 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


sympathy  could  not  share  with  him  his 
suffering.  He  trod  the  wine  press  alone. 
With  unfaltering  front  he  faced  death. 
With  unfailing  tenderness  he  took  leave  of 
life.  Above  the  demoniac  hiss  of  the  as 
sassin's  bullet  he  heard  the  voice  of  God. 
With  simple  resignation  he  bowed  to  the 
Divine  decree. 

As  the  end  drew  near,  his  early  craving 
for  the  sea  returned.  The  stately  mansion 
of  power  had  been  to  him  the  wearisome 
hospital  of  pain,  and  he  begged  to  be  tak 
en  from  his  prison  walls,  from  its  oppres 
sive,  stifling  air,  from  its  homelessness  and 
its  hopelessness.  Gently,  silently,  the 
love  of  a  great  people  bore  the  pale  suffer 
er  to  the  longed  for  healing  of  the  sea,  to 
live  or  to  die,  as  God  should  will,  within 
sight  of  its  heaving  billows,  within  sound 
of  its  manifold  voices.  With  wan,  fevered 
face  tenderly  lifted  to  the  cooling  breeze, 
he  looked  out  wistfully  upon  the  ocean's 
changing  wonders  ;  on  its  far  sails,  whiten 
ing  in  the  morning  light ;  on  its  restless 
waves,  rolling  shoreward  to  break  and  die 
beneath  the  noonday  sun ;  on  the  red 
clouds  of  evening,  arching  low  to  the  hori 
zon  ;  on  the  serene  and  shining  pathway 
of  the  stars.  Let  us  think  that  his  dying 
eyes  read  a  mystic  mean'ng  which  only 
the  rapt  and  parting  soul  may  know.  Let 
us  believe  that  in  the  silence  of  the  reced 
ing  world  he  heard  the  great  waves  break 
ing  on  a  further  shore  and  felt  already 
upon  his  wasted  brow  the  breath  of  the 
eternal  morning. 

After  the  Oration. 

The  eulogy  was  concluded  at  1-50.  hav 
ing  taken  just  an  hour  and  a  half  in  its 
delivery.  As  Mr.  Elaine  gave  utterance 
to  the  last  solemn  words  the  spectators 
broke  into  a  storm  of  applause,  which  was 
not  hushed  for  some  moments.  The  ad 
dress  was  listened  to  with  an  intense  inter 
est  and  in  solemn  silence,  unbroken  by 
any  sound  except  by  a  sigh  of  relief  (such 
as  arises  from  a  large  audience  when  a 
strong  tension  is  removed  from  their 
minds)  when  the  orator  passed  from  his 
allusion  to  differences  existing  in  the  Re 
publican  party  last  spring.  Benediction 
was  then  offered  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bullock, 


Chaplain  of  the  Senate.  The  Marine  Band 
played  the  "  Garfield  Dead  March  "  as  the 
invited  guests  filed  out  of  the  Chamber  in 
the  same  order  in  which  they  had  entered 
it.  The  Senate  was  the  last  to  leave,  and 
then  the  House  was  called  to  order  by  the 
Speaker. 

Mr.  McKinley,  of  Ohio,  offered  the  fol 
lowing  resolution ; 

Resolved,  The  Senate  concurring,  that 
the  thanks  of  Congress  are  hereby  pre 
sented  to  the  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine  for  the 
appropriate  memorial  address  delivered  by 
him  on  the  life  and  services  of  James  A. 
Garfield,  late  President  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  Representative  Hall,  before 
both  houses  of  Congress  and  their  invited 
guests,  on  the  2yth  of  February,  1882,  and 
that  he  be  requested  to  furnish  a  copy  for 
publication. 

Colonel  Frank  A.  Burr,  of  the  Philadel 
phia  Press t  one  of  the  finest  biographical 
writers  in  the  country,  has  given  some 
graphic  sketches  of  Elaine's  ancestors  and 
boyhood,  which  we  take  the  liberty  of  re- 
publishing. 

What  lie  Saw  and  Heard. 

There  is  a  gift  that  is  potent  when  one 
calls  upon  the  dusty  past  in  a  grave  yard. 
It  is  to  learn  the  history  and  genius  of  the 
human  life  that  ended  \vhen  the  mound  was 
raised  and  the  inscription  cut  in  the  stone 
that  arrests  attention.  Who  was  it  that 
said  that  people  too  often  read  the  inscrip 
tions  upon  tombstones  without  knowing  or 
caring  aught  of  the  genius  that  once  resi 
ded  in  the  inanimate  dust  beneath  them  ? 
He  spoke  the  truth,  and  how  much  people 
often  miss  by  being  content  with  what  is 
recorded  above-ground. 

I  stood  beside  two  old  graves  to-day 
in  this  village  that  are  in  the  shadow  of 
the  little  Catholic  church  that  so  quickly 
recalled  to  me  Longfellow's  beautiful  lines. 
The  marble  that  marked  them  was  much 
newer  than  the  mounds,  and  the  surround 
ings  impressed  me  with  the  thought  that  a 
dutiful  and  reverent  son  had,  years  after, 
when  means  and  opportunity  that  were 
wanting  when  death  called  father  and 
mother,  placed  a  fitting  monument  to 
mark  the  spot  where  they  slept.  It  is  a 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


23 


plain,  unpretentious  stone  that  marks 
these  graves,  and  it  was  the  names  only 
that  attracted  my  attention.  They  were 
those  of 

Eiiliraim   L..   Blaine 

and 
Maria  Gillespie   Blaine. 

"  Who  were  these  two  people  in  life  ? " 
I  asked  of  an  old  gentleman,  who  had 
wandered  along  with  me  to  this  quiet  city 
of  the  dead  sleep. 

"  Why,  they  were  the  father  and  mother 
of  James  G.  Blaine.  I  knew  them  both 
well.  Eph  Blaine  and  I  went  to  school 
together.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
this  town,  and  was  "squire  here  for  many  a 
year.  He  was  elected  prothonotary  of  the 
county  in  1842,  and  moved  to  Washington, 
the  county  seat.  He  married  Maria,  a 
daughter  of  old  Neal  Gillespie,  the  smartest 
man  in  this  whole  section,  and  from  his 
people  James  Gillespie  Blaine  derives  his 
middle  name.  The  Gillespies  were  among 
the  most  prominent  families  in  the  State. 
The  seal  of  nature's  nobility  was  stamped 
upon  them,  one  and  all.  The  men  were 
brave  and  stalwart ;  as  strong  in  character, 
too,  as  they  were  stout  of  limb.  The  wo 
men  were  very  handsome,  and  carried 
themselves  as  proudly  as  though  the  blood 
of  a  hundred  earls  were  coursing  through 
their  veins.  The  beauty  of  old  Mrs. 
Blaine,  James'  mother,  passed  into  a  pro 
verb.  Even  in  her  decrepit  age  she  pre 
served  much  of  her  early  attractiveness, 
and  ,her  eye  was  like  a  hawk's,  as  clear 
and  flashing  then  as  in  the  days  of  her 
budding  womanhood.  This  was  a  pecu 
liarity  of  her  family,  and  she  transmitted  it 
to  all  her  children.  The  Gillespies  were 
ardent,  intense  Catholics,  and  made  their 
religion  the  leading  feature  of  their  lives. 
Neal  Gillespie  owned  a  good  deal  of  land 
here,  and  Eph  Blaine  built  the  brick  house 
you  see  yonder  on  a  portion  of  it,  after  his 
marriage  with  Miss  Gillespie.  There  their 
first,  child,  James,  was  born  in  1830.  I  re 
member  him  very  well  when  he  was  a  lad 
and  used  to  paddle  about  on  the  river  and 
make  mud  pies  along  its  banks.  He  was 
a  bright  lad. 

Never  Turned  his  Back  on  Friend  or  Foe. 

"  I  remember  one  little  story  about  him, 
which  I  often  heard  in  those  days,  and 


which  is  interesting  as  showing  how  truly, 
n  his  case,  the  child  was  father  to  the 
man.  When  he  was  but  a  little  toddler, 
so  to  speak,  some  laborers  were  engaged 
digging  a  well  on  his  father's  premises. 
The  future  statesman  was  caught  one 
morning  peering  down  into  the  excava 
tion,  and  one  of  the  men  with  the  idea  of 
frightening  him  and  thus  preventing  him 
from  again  putting  himself  in  danger, 
thrust  his  shovel  toward  him  and  made  all 
sorts  of  ugly  faces.  Jim  ran  away,  but  only 
to  nurse  his  anger  and  await  an  opportunity 
for  revenge.  Venturing  to  the  well  a  day 
or  two  after  he  had  been  driven  away,  he 
found  the  men  working  away  at  the  bot 
tom.  Improving  the  opportunity,  he  seized 
a  clod  of  earth  and  hurled  it  with  all  his 
little  might  full  at  the  head  of  his  unsus 
pecting  enemy,  with  the  consolatory  re 
mark,  '  There,  take  that.'  Clod  followed 
clod  in  fast  succession,  with  accompanying 
expletives,  until  the  men  were  fairly  beside 
themselves  with  rage  and  with  the  fear 
that  the  desperate  child  might  take  it  into 
his  head  to  use  some  of  the  stones  lying 
about  him  as.  messengers  of  wrath  more 
effective  than  mere  lumps  of  earth.  Their 
shouts,  however,  brought  his  mother  to 
the  scene,  and  the  little  avenger  was  un 
ceremoniously  hustled  off  to  the  house. 
That  was  the  old  blood  asserting  itself.  A 
Gillespie  or  a  Blaine  never  turned  his 
back  upon  friend  or  foe." 

A  Century's   Memories. 

"  That's  the  new  packet  James  G.  Blaine 
that  runs  from  here  to  Pittsburg.  The  two 
people  who  sleep  in  this  graveyard  little 
thought  when  they  died  that  they'd  have  a 
son  big  enough  to  have  a  packet  named 
for  him.  They  died  when  Jim  was  young, 
and  they  didn't  leave  anything  for  him  to 
start  with  either.  Eph  Elaine  was  a  rich 
man  once.  His  grandfather  left  him  some 
fifty  thousand  dollars,  but  he  spent  it  hav 
ing  a  good  time.  He  was  not  a  money- 
saver,  but  believed  in  enjoying  the  world 
as  he  lived.  He  used  to  drive  fine  horses, 
and  drive  'em  tandem,  too.  Old  Neal 
Gillespie  used  to  call  him  '  My  gig-and- 
tendem-son-in-law.'  The  Gillespies  wasn't 
so  slow  either,  but  Eph  Blaine  led  'em  all 
in  this  country.  It's  no  wonder  Jim 
Blaine  is  smart.  He  comes  of  good  stock 


24 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


on  both  sides.  All  the  Gillespies  were 
smart.  Neal  Gillespie  was  the  biggest 
brained  man  in  all  this  country.'' 

"  Do  the  Blaines  or  any  of  the  relatives 
own  the  old  homestead  ?'' 

"  No,-  indeed.  It's  long  since  passed 
into  strange  hands.  There  was  little  of 
either  the  Elaine  or  the  Gillespie  estate  left 
when  the  settlement  day  came.  The 
children  all  had  to  begin  new.  None  of 
either  family  live  about  here  now.'' 

There  is  much  that  is  strange  in  the 
story  that  the  old  man  told  me,  and  much 
more  that  is  interesting.  We  finished  the 
talk  beside  the  restless  waters  of  the  Mon- 
ongahela.near  which  Mr.  Elaine  was  born, 
and  his  family  lived  for  years.  The  little 
brick  house  doesn't  stand  more  than  forty 
rods  from  the  river,  and  the  old  path  which 
leads  from  the  doorway  that  Elaine  helped 
to  make  in  childhood,  is  still  there.  The 
best  boat  on  the  river  now  bears  his  name, 
and  the  plain  people  love  to  talk  of  his 
having  been  born  in  their  midst.  It  is  a 
queer  seel  ion  of  country  in  which  to  have 
found  the  homes  of  two  such  families  as 
the  Blaines  and  the  Gillespies.  Both  strong 
houses — both  fond  of  the  best  things  of 
this  life.  Both  educated  and  brainy. 
Blaine  sprung  from  Revolutionary  stock. 
His  great  grandfather  was  a  distinguished  1 
officer  in  the  Revolution.  He  was  a  rich 
man  and  lived  in  Cumberland  County 
above  Carlisle.  He  left  James  Blaine  the 
grandfather,  and  Ephraim  Blaine  the 
father  of  the  man  of  whom  I  am  now 
writing,  rich.  The'  story  goes  that  both 
spent  their  money  in  having  a  good  time. 
The  grandfather  spent  many  years  in 
Europe,  and  returned  to  this  country  only 
when  he  had  become  penniless.  The 
first  history  he  made  in  this  country  began 
early  in  the  present  century.  After  he  was 
poor  he  left  the  rich  and  popular  section 
of  Carlisle,  and  moved  into  the  then  wild 
erness  of  the  Youghiogheny  region,  and  es 
tablished  a  country  store,  at  the  mouth  of 
Ten  Mile  Run,  in  Greene  County.  He 
lived  here  but  a  short  time  when  he  came 
to  Brownsville,  with  his  wagon-load  of 
goods,  and  established  a  store  which  he 
kept  the  remainder  of  his  life.  The  Gil 
lespie  family  was  then  a  rich  and  powerful 
family  in  the  region.  The  strength  of! 


mind  and  character  for  which  all  the  fam 
ily  were  noted,  is  still  a  proverb  in  the  re 
gion.  The  Monongahela  river  at  this 
point  separates  the  two  counties  of  Fay- 
ette  and  Washington.  Brownsville  is  on 
the  Fayette  side  and  West  Brownsville  is 
on  the  Washington  side.  They  are  both 
quaint,  old  towns,  and  wear  the  mark  of 
many  years.  I  don't  suppose  there  are 
1 5000  people  in  both,  and  the  houses  strag 
gle  along  the  banks  of  the  river  on  the 
banks  of  the  lowlands,  which  are  just  high 
enough  to  keep  them  out  of  the  reach  of 
the  overflow.  This  country  was  new — I 
might  say  wild— when  the  Blaines 
and  the  Gillespies  came  here.  The 
rich  treasures  of  the  Youghiogheny 
region  floated  down  the  Ohio  river 
in  rude  keel  boats,  and  the  untold 
wealth  in  the  rugged  mountains  was  then 
unknown.  Albert  Gallatin  used  to  live  in 
this  country  then,  and  his  residence  was 
but  a  few  miles  up  the  river  from  this 
point.  But  mighty  changes  have  taken 
place  since  those  days,  when  he  left  his 
impress  upon  the  finances  and  credit  of 
this  country  so  that  it  can  never  be  effaced. 

Two  Stroiis;  Families. 

There  seems  to  have  been  good  feeling 
from  the  first  between  the  Blaine  and  Gil 
lespie  families,  and  there  seems  to  have 
been  a  special  care  to  intermingle  the  fam 
ily  names  as  each  son  was  born.  The  old 
man,  whom  I  encountered  in  the  first  part 
of  this  story,  told  me  that  nearly  every  son 
in  the  Blaine  family,  as  in  the  Gillespies, 
bore  the  family  name  or  some  part  of  his 
autograph.  The  Gillespie  family  seemed 
to  run  more  to  girls  than  boys,  and  it 
seemed  to  be  their  good  fortune  to  link 
their  fortunes  with  strongmen.  The  daugh 
ter  who  was  next  in  age  to  Maria,  who 
married  Ephraim  A.  Blaine,  was  wedded 
to  the  famous  Tom  Ewing,  of  Ohio,  when 
he  was  a  poor  lawyer  in  Lancaster,  Pa. 
That  s  how  he  became  an  uncle  to  James 
G.  Blaine,  and  the  names  of  Blaine  and 
Ewing  became  joined  together. 

There  is  a  tale  told  that  when  old  Tom 
Ewing  was  Secretary  of  the  Interior  Blaine 
applied  to  him  for  a  clerkship  and  the  old 
man  sent  him  to  Kentucky  to  earn  an  hon 
est  living  teaching  school.  .This  associa- 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


25 


tion  of  the  name  of  Ewing  with  that  of 
Elaine  has  given  rise  to  the  story  that  the 
Ewing  family  of  Ohio  helped  James  G. 
Elaine  to  an  education.  I  might  as  well 
destroy  this  fiction  by  telling  the  facts. 

A  short  drive  brought  me  to  Washing 
ton,  the  county  seat  of  this  county,  and  one 
of  the  first  men  I  met  was  Major  John  H. 
Ewing,  an  old  veteran  now  past  four-score 
years. 

"  I  married  the  sister  of  Ephraim  L. 
Elaine.  He  and  I  went  to  school  together 
over  in  yonder  college,  and  I  knew  him 
nearly  all  his  life.  He  was  a  leader  in  the 
mischief  of  the  school,  and  fond  of  all  the 
good  things  in  this  life.  He  was  the  hand 
somest  man  I  ever  saw,  and  he  had  a  wife 
that  was  a  match  for  him.  She  was  one  of 
the  noblest  women  I  ever  knew.  She  in 
herited  all  the  sterling  traits  of  character 
and  strength  of  mind  for  which  the  Gilles- 
pies  were  noted.  So,  you  see,  Elaine  sprang 
from  the  best  of  stock  on-both  sides.  His 
father  was  j  ustice  of  the  peace  over  in  West 
Brownville  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
afterwards  prothonotary  of  the  county.  He 
was  elected  in  1842  and  came  here  to  live. 
James  G.  was  only  about  12  years  old 
then,  and  almost  every  middle-aged  man 
you  meet  on  the  streets  here  remembers  all 
about  him. 

On  the  road  to  Fame. 

A» 

Mr.  Gow,  the  editor  of  one  of  the  village 
papers,  who  was  Elaine's  classmate,  speaks 
thus  of  his  schooldays: 

"Yes,  Elaine  graduated  in  the  class  of 
'47,  when  he  was  only  seventeen  years  old. 
I  graduated  in  the  same  class.  We  were 
thrown  a  great  deal  together,  not  only  in 
school,  but  in  society.  He  was  a  great 
favorite  in  the  best  social  circles  in  the 
town.  He  was  not  noted  as  a  leadef  in 
his  class.  He  could  learn  his  lessons  too 
easily.  He  had  the  most  remarkable 
memory  of  any  boy  in  school,  and  could 
commit  and  retain  his  lessons  without  dif 
ficulty.  He  never  demonstrated  in  his 
youth,  except  by  his  wonderful  memory, 
any  of  the  great  powers  as  a  debater  and 
thinker  that  he  has  since  given  evidence 
of. 

When  a  man  has  filled  so  large  a  place 
in  the  public  eye  as  Mr.  Elaine  has,  his 


early  life  seems  a  great  way  off.  When 
you  get  where  every  other  man  you  meet 
can  tell  you  all  about  it,  then  you  seem  to 
see  it  in  a  different  light  and  it  leaves  a  far 
different  impression  upon  your  mind. 
Here,  what  seems  to  be  to  you  when  away 
traditions  far  in  the  distant  past,  appears 
like  the  recollections  of  yesterday.  People 
cannot  only  tell  you  of  his  father  and  his 
grandfather,  but  of  almost  every  phase  of 
his  life  from  boyhood  up.  The  stories  of 
his  early  struggles  and  triumphs  are  as  vi 
vid  as  those  of  his  later  years,  and  his 
name  is  closely  associated  with  the  lore  of 
the  country  side.  He  left  here  soon  after 
he  graduated,  but  how  little  did  he  then 
think  that  his  home  would  be  made  in  the 
Northland  and  his  fame  and  fortune  won 
many  miles  away  from  the  quaint  old  town 
where  he  grew  up.  It  is  a  nice  place  for 
peace  and  rest.  The  people  are  contented 
and  happy  with  their  splendid  educational 
institutions,  their  rich  acres  and  plenty  of 
money.  He  had  clos*e  alliances  here  then 
that  were  likely  to  bring  him  back  to  stay. 
Almost  his  first  occupation  after  graduating 
was  as  a  teacher  in  the  Deaf  and  Dumb 
Asylum  in  Philadelphia. 

A  Love  Romance. 

Why  he  went  from  there  to  Kentucky  to 
teach  school  has  been  a  question  often 
asked,  but  never  answered.  There  is  a  tra 
dition  here  that  there  is  but  one  being  who 
knows.  Like  other  boys  he  had  his  friend 
ships  and  his  loves,  and  it  would  be  strange 
if  he  had  grown  up — for  he  is  said  to  have 
been  as  handsome  a  boy  as  he  is  a  man — 
without  leaving  some  impression  upon  the 
hearts  of  the  maidens  of  the  neighborhood. 
If  there  is  one  person  living  who  can  tell, 
and  there  is,  it  has  been  and  doubtless  will 
be  forever  kept  as  a  sealed  book,  so  far  as 
the  details  are  concerned.  It  was  one  of 
those  youthful  misunderstandings  that  of 
ten  come  to  two  people  who  hope  to  start 
out  on  the  voyage  of  life  together,  and  are 
separated  by  an  angry  sea  before  they 
meet.  There  is  not  even  a  suggestion  as 
to  which  of  the  two  were  at  fault  for  the 
parting  of  the  ways  that  led  their  life's 
journeys  into  different  paths.  The  party 
most  disappointed  has  never  wedded,  but 
has  rather  devoted  her  life  to  self-denying 


26 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


charity.  For  twenty  years,  and  by  the 
irony  of  fate  in  the  capital  of  the  nation,  has 
she  followed  the  path  of  an  undeviating 
Christian  life,  devoted  to  careful  attention 
upon  suffering  humanity,  doubtless  watch 
ing  with  a  careful  eye  his  steadily-advanc 
ing  steps,  and,  perhaps,  often  sitting  under 
the  spell  of  his  eloquence,  without  his  ever 
knowing  that  the  being  whose  presence 
was  once  the  chief  charm  of  life  was  even 
living. 

Blaine  as  m.  Teacher. 

From  his  alma  mater  young  Elaine  went 
to  Blue  Lick  Springs,  Kentucky,  and  be 
came  a  professor  in  the  Western  Military 
Institute,  in  which  there  were  about  450 
boys.  A  retired  officer,  who  was  a  student 
there  at  the  time,  relates  that  Professor 
Elaine  was  a  thin,  handsome,  earnest 
young  man,  v/ith  the  same  fascinating  man 
ners  he  has  now.  He  became  very  popu 
lar  with  those  entrusted  to  his  charge,  who 
trusted  him  and  made  friends  with  him 
from  the  first.  He  knew  the  given  names 
of  every  one,  and  he  knew  their  short 
comings  and  their  strong  points.  He  was 
a  man  of  great  personal  courage,  and 
during  a  fight  between  the  faculty  of  the 
school  and  the  owners  of  the  springs,  in 
volving  some  questions  about  the  removal 
of  the  school,  he  behaved  in  the  bravest 
manner,  fighting  hard,  but  keeping  cool. 
Revolvers  and  knives  were  freely  used,  but 
Elaine  only  used  his  well-disciplined  mus 
cle.  Colonel  Thornton  F.  Johnson  was 
the  principal  of  the  school,  and  his  wife 
had  a  young  ladies'  school  at  Millersburg, 
twenty  miles  distant.  It  was  at  this  place 
that  Mr.  Elaine  met  Miss  Harriet  Stan- 
wood,  who  belonged  to  an  excellent  Mas 
sachusetts  family,  and  subsequently  she 
became  Mrs.  Elaine.  Miss  Stanwood  for 
some  romantic  reason  refused  to  tell  her 
future  husband  anything  about  her  parent 
age  or  circumstances.  When  the  school 
broke  up  she  returned  to  her  home  in 
Maine.  Mr.  Elaine,  lover  like,  followed 
her;  they  were  married,  and  the  husband, 
to  oblige  his \ .wife,  became  "Elaine,  of 
Maine,"  though  a  more  correct  title  would 
be  Elaine  of  Maine  and  of  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  Elaine  continued  to  teach  at  the  In 
stitute  for  a  few  years,  but  at  last  conclud 
ed  to  take  up  a  profession.  He  returned 


to  Pennsylvania  and  began  studying  law. 
He  read  law  carefully,  and  obtained  a 
throrough  knowledge  of  its  principles,  but 
never  presented  himself  as  a  candidate  for 
admission  to  the  Bar. 

While  prosecuting  his  law  studies  he 
devoted  himself  to  literary  pursuits,  and 
wrote  for  quite  a  number  of  newspapers 
and  magazines. 

Mr.  Elaine  has  always  retained  a  warm 
affection  for  his  alma  mater  and  hi?  native 
county  and  state.  He  has  said  that  his 
pride  and  affection  for  both  increase  with 
years  and  reflection,  and  he  recalls  with 
pleasure  the  memory  of  the  hardy  pioneers 
of  the  county,  their  zealous  celebrations 
on  the  Fourth  of  July  and  Washington's 
Birthday,  and,  speaking  of  one  Fourth  of 
July  celebration  in  Brownsville  in  1840, 
which  was  attended  by  200  Revolutionary 
veterans,  Mr.  Elaine  has  said  that  the 
modern  cant  and  criticism  which  we  some 
times  hear  about  Washington  not  being  a 
very  great  man  would  have  been  dangerous 
talk  on  that  day  and  in  that  assemblage. 
Of  his  college  he  has  said :  "  During  my 
service  of  eighteen  years  in  Congress  I 
met  a  larger  number  of  the  alumni  of 
Washington  and  Jefferson  than  of  any 
single  college  in  the  Union."  With  Elaine's 
college  life  his  immediate  connection  with 
Pennsylvania,  except  for  a  short  time  spent 
as  a  teacher  in  Philadelphia,  and  a  few 
years  devoted  to  the  study  of  law,  was 
ended,  but  his  affection  for  his  native  State 
did  not  grow  less  with  distance  or  time, 
and  on  the  occasion  of  the  celebration  of 
the  looth  anniversary  of  the  establishment 
of  Washington  County,  in  1881,  he  wrote  : 

"  I  shall  always  recall  with  pride  that 
my  ancestry  and  kindred  were  and  are 
not  inconspicuously  connected  with  iis  his 
tory,  and  that  on  either  side  of  the  beauti 
ful  river  in  Protestant  and  in  Catholic 
cemeteries  five  generations  of  my  own 
blood  sleep  in  honored  graves.'' 

Before  entering  on  his  wider  career,  Mr. 
Blaine  had  yet  another  experience  of 
teaching,  and  that  was  in  this  city.  In  the 
summer  of  1852  he  arrived  in  Philadelphia 
to  answer  an  advertisement  for  a  teacher 
in  the  Pennsylvania  Institution  for  the  In 
struction  of  the  Blind.  He  had  then  the 
bold,  aggressive,  combative  qualities  that 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


27 


to-day  are  his  characteristics,  and  upon  ob 
taining  and  entering  on  his  position  as  in 
structor  of  the  institution  named,  early 
gave  evidence  of  them.  Not  that  he  was 
obtrusive  or  offensively  forward.  "  He 
discharged  his  duty,"  said  Dr.  Chapin,  the 
head  of  the  institution,  with  a  conscien 
tious  fidelity  worthy  the  highest" praise.  A 
strong,  positive  man,  having  an  opinion 
which  he  was  ready  to  support  and  argue 
upon  on  all  occasions,  Mr  Elaine  made  as 
many  friends  among  his  pupils  as  he  did 
among  the  officers  of  the  establishment.  In 
every  respect  he  proved  worthy  of  the 
trust  reposed.  He  was  a  methodical  man 
— a  master  of  statistics  and  exceedingly 
careful  in  his  deportment.  He  appeared 
to  be  in  love  with  his  work  here,  and  began 
a  journal  of  the  history  of  the  institution, 
which  is  as  much  a  model  of  neatness  as  it 
is  of  careful  research."  This  journal, 
written  throughout  in  a  plain,  somewhat 
angular  hand,  is,  page  after  page,  entirely 
free  from  blots  or  erasures,  and  affords 
ample  evidence  that  the  author  was 
thoroughly  interested  in  his  work,  It  is  a 
history  of  the  Philadelphia  Institution  for 
the  Instruction  of  the  Blind,  written 
throughout  in  the  hand-writing  of  James 
G.  Elaine,  and  is  complete  from  the  day 
on  which  the  institution  was  opened  until 
the  day  on  which  Mr.  Elaine  resigned  his 
position.  Mr.  Elaine  continued  in  this 
place  for  nearly  two  years,  winning  the 
affection  of  those  he  taught,  the  regard  of 
his  fellows,  and  the  respect  of  his  supe 
riors. 

Editor  and  Politician. 

Miss  Stanwood  was  a  native  of  Maine, 
and  after  her  marriage  to  Mr.  Elaine 
was  anxious  for  him  to  make  that  State  his 
home.  This  he  determined  to  do,  and  in 
1853  the  young  couple  moved  to  Augusta, 
where  they  have  ever  since  made  their 
home.  In  the  following  year  Mr.  Elaine 
entered  into  partnership  with  Joseph 
Baker,  a  prominent  lawyer  of  that  town, 
and  the  two  purchased  The  Kennebec 
Journal^  of  which  Mr.  Elaine  at  once  be 
came  editor.  The  Journal  was  a  weekly 
paper,  one  of  the  organs  of  the  Whig  party, 
and  exercised  considerable  political  in 
fluence.  His  first  reputation  as  a  public 
speaker,  was  gained  in  the  Fremont  cam 


paign  of  1856.  In  1857,  Mr.  Elaine  dis 
posed  of  his  interest  in  this  paper  and  be 
came  Editor  of  The  Portland  Daily  Ad 
vertiser.  In  the  campaign  of  1860  he  re 
turned  temporarily  to  his  old  post  on  The 
Kennebec  Journal  on  account  of  the  illness 
of  its  Editor.  His  career  in  journalism 
lasted  only  six  years,  but  was  marked 
throughout  by  ability  and  success,  and  it 
served  to  give  him  a  good  introduction  to 
the  world  of  politics  and  statesmanship. 

The  following  paragraph  is  from  a  letter 
by  .the  late  Gov.  Kent  of  Maine,  who  mod 
estly  refrained  from  classing  himself  with 
Fessenden,  Hamlin  and  the  Morrills, 
though  he  belonged  in  the  front  rank  of 
public  men  in  Maine,  made  especially 
prominent  to  the  whole  country  in  the 
campaign  of  1840: 

Almost  from  the  day  of  his  assuming 
charge  of  the  Kennebec  Journal,  at  the 
early  age  of  23,  Mr.  Elaine  sprang  into  a 
position  of  great  influence  into  the  poli 
tics  and  policy  of  Maine.  At  26  he  was  a 
leading  power  in  the  councils  of  the 
Republican  party,  so  recognized  by  Fes 
senden,  Hamlin,  the  two  Morills,  and 
others  then  and  still  prominent  in  the 
State.  Before  he  was  29  he  was  chosen 
chairman  of  the  executive  committee  of 
the  Republican  organization  in  Maine — a 
position  he  has  held  ever  since,  and  from 
which  he  has  practically  shaped  and 
directed  every  political  campaign  in  the 
State — always  leading  his  party  to  brilliant 
victory.  Had  Mr.  Elaine  been  New  Eng 
land  born,  he  probably  would  not  have 
received  such  rapid  advancement  at  so 
early  an  age  even  with  the  same  ability 
he  possessed.  But  there  was  a  sort  of 
Western  dash  about  him  that  took  with  us 
Down-Easters  ;  an  expression  of  frankness, 
candor,  and  confidence  that  gave  him 
from  the  start  very  strong  and  permanent 
hold  on  our  people  and  as  a  foundation  of 
all,  a  pure  character  and  a  masterly  ability 
equal  to  all  demands  made  upon  him. 

When  the  old  Whig  party  went  to  pieces 
Mr.  Elaine  joined  hands  with  Governor 
Anson  P.  Morrill  in  organizing  the  Repub 
lican  party  in  the  Pine  Tree  State.  His 
vigorous  attacks  upon  the  Buchanan  Ad 
ministration  made  him  a  power  in  the  new 
organization.  In  1858,  when  he  was  in  his 


28 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


twentf -ninth  year,  he  was  elected  to  the 
Legislature.  He  served  two  years  on  the 
floor  of  the  Lower  House  and  two  years 
in  the  chair,  where  he  displayed  the 
qualities  of  a  parliamentary  leadership  and 
control  that  afterward  gave  him  such  re 
nown  in' the  National  Legislature  at  Wash 
ington. 

His  Congressional  Career. 

Mr.  Elaine's  career  as  a  State  repre 
sentative  won  him  such  a  position  that  in 
1862  he  was  sent  to  the  Thirty-eighth 
Congress  from  the  Kennebec  district,  and 
received  a  majority  of  three  thousand 
votes.  His  aptitude  for  legislative  busi 
ness  was  so  marked,  that  he  at  once  rose 
into  notice  amongst  his  fellow-members, 
and  it  required  no  ordinary  talent  to  at 
tain  that  position  amongst  such  renowned 
men  as  Elihu  B.  Washburne,  Owen  Love- 
joy,  George  W.  Julian,  Godlove  S.  Orth, 
Schuyler  Colfax,  James  F.  Wilson,  Wm. 
B.  Allison,  John  A.  Kasson,  Alexander  H. 
Rice,  Henry  L.  Dawes,  William  Windom' 
F.  P.  Blair,  Jr.,  Jame  Brooks,  Erastus  Cor 
ning,  Reuben  E.  Fenton,  Francis  Kernan, 
George  H.  Pendleton,  Robert  C.  Schenck, 
James  A.  Garfield,  Samuel  J.  Randall, 
William  D.  Kelley,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  G. 
W.  Scofield,  and  many  other  distinguished 
men. 

Here  he  followed  the  same  even  and 
consistent  path  of  progress  that  had  marked 
his  journey  ever  since  he  left  college,  and 
the  same  characteristics  and  force  of 
mind  that  gave  him  the  leadership  in  the 
Maine  Legislature,  made  him  already  a 
man  of  mark  in  the  National  Council. 
It  was  an  eventful  era  in  our  history,  when 
every  public  man  was  most  critically  esti 
mated  by  the  people  of  the  country. 

It  is  impossible  within  the  brief  limits  of 
this  sketch  to  even  touch  upon  the  varied 
services  rendered  by  Mr.  Elaine  to  his 
country  while  a  member  of  the  House  and 
Senate.  His  congressional  career  em 
braced  the  most  trying  period  of  his  coun 
try's  history,  the  sombre  years  of  the 
rebellion,  the  reconstruction  period,  and 
the  perilous  time  when  the  election  of 
President  Hayes  aroused  an  apparently 
triumphant  Democratic  Party  almost  to  the 
verge  of  madness.  A  good  example  of 


Mr.  Elaine's  powers  as  a  debater  is  found 
in  a  speech  delivered  in  the  Senate,  April 
14,  1879,  when  an  effort  was  made  by  the 
Democrats  to  strike  out  the  words  from  a 
section  of  the  Revised  Statutes  which  pro 
vided  for  the  use  of  soldiers  to  keep  peace 
at  the  polls.  In  reply  to  the  charge  that 
the  soldiers  were  used  to  intimidate  South 
ern  voters,  Mr.  Elaine  said: 

"The  entire  South  has  1,155  soldiers  to 
intimidate,  overrun,  oppress  and  destroy 
the  liberties  of  15,000,000  people  !  In  the 
Southern  States  there  are  '1,203  counties. 
If  you  distribute  the  soldiers,  there  is  not 
quite  one  for  each  county.  If  you  distri 
bute  them  territorially,  there  is  one  for 
every  seven  hundred  square  miles  of  ter 
ritory,  so  that  if  you  make  a  territorial 
distribution,  I  would  remind  the  honorable 
Senator  from  Delaware,  if  I  saw  him  in 
his  seat,  that  the  quota  for  his  State  would 
be  three.  '  One  ragged  sergeant  and  two 
abreast,'  as  the  old  song  has  it.  That  is 
the  force  ready  to  destroy  the  liberties  of 
Delaware." 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Thirty-eighth, 
Thirty-ninth,  Fortieth,  Forty-first,  Forty- 
second,  Forty-third,  and  Forty-fourth  Con 
gresses,  and  became  the  acknowledged 
leader  of  the  party  in  the  House,  and  his 
speeches  during  the  period  which  he 
served  in  Congress,  are  a  glowing  tribute 
to  his  ability,  his  acute  sagacity,  his  broad 
and  sound  statesmanship,  and  unflinching 
patriotism. 

His  first  reputation  in  the  Lower  House 
of  Congress  was  that  of  an  exceedingly 
industrious  committeeman.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Post  Office  and  Military 
Committees,  and  of  the  Committees  on 
Appropriations  and  Rules.  He  paid  close 
attention  to  the  business  of  the  committees, 
and  took  an  active  part  in  the  debates  of 
the  House,  manifesting  practical  ability 
and  genius  for  details.  The  first  remark 
able  speech  which  he  made  in  Congress 
was  on  the  subject  of  assumption  by  the 
General  Government  of  the  war  debts  of 
the  States,  in  the  course  of  which  he  urged 
that  the  North  was  abundantly  able  to 
carry  on  the  war  to  a  sucessful  issue.  This 
vigorous  speech  attracted  so  much  atten 
tion  that  200,000  copies  of  it  were  circulated 
in  1864  as  a  campaign  document  by  the 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


29 


people.     Specie  payment  came  after  long 
public   discussion,  and  now  Senators  are 
quarreling  as  to  who   it  was   that  drafted 
the  bill  passed  in    1875.     So  it  is    with 
all   measures    of  great    public    moment. 
They  do  not  spring  from  the  mind  of  one 
sitting    behind    his    Congressional 
The   duty   of  the   statesman  is  to 


man 
desk. 


shape,  mold,  guide,  direct  in  a  Republican 
government.  The  creative  power  is  in  the 
minds  of  many,  and  the  cause  of  action  is 
necessity.  The  great  lawyer  does  not  cre 
ate  his  case.  He  argues  it,  develops  it, 
applies  principles  to  it. 

To  say  that  Mr.  Elaine  has  been  a 
power  in  Congress  for  the  past  seventeen 
years  is  simply  to  affirm  current  history. 
Though  entering  very  young,  he  made  his 


mark  at  once, 
depression    in 


At  the  period  of  darkest 
the    war,    when    anxiety 


Republican  party.  In  January,  1868,  he 
introduced  a  resolution  in  relation  to  Con 
gressional  representation,  which  was 
referred  to  the  Reconstruction  Committee, 
and  was  subsequently  made  the  basis  of 
the  ^Fourteenth  Amendment.  In  De 
cember,  1867,  he  made  an  elaborate  speech 
on  the  finances,  in  which  he  analyzed  Mr. 
Pendleton's  greenback  theory.  "The 
remedy  for  our  financial  troubles,"  said 
he,  "  will  not  be  found  in  a  superabund 
ance  of  depreciated  paper  currency.  It 
lies  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  the 
sooner  the  Nation  finds  itself  on  a  specie 
basis  the  sooner  will  -the  public  treasury 
be  freed  from  embarrassment  and  private 
business  be  relieved  from  discouragement. 
Instead,  therefore,  of  entering  upon  a 
reckless  and  boundless  issue  of  legal- 
tenders,  with  their  constant  depreciation, 
if  not  destruction,  of  value,  let  us  set  re 
solutely  to  work  and  make  those  already 
in  circulation  equal  to  so  many  gold  dol 
lars." 

He  has  always  stood  close  to  tine  People. 

On  the  floor  of  the  House,  in  the  Speak 
er's  chair  again  on  the  floor  of  the  House, 
hence  in  the  Senate,  and  during  the  politi 
cal  campaigns  of  all  these  years  on  the 
stump  in  almost  every  Northern  State,  Mr. 
Elaine  has  been  emphatically  with  the 
people  and  of  the  people.  His  opinions 
on  all  questions  have  been  pronounced, 
sometimes  to  aggressiveness,  and  his 
worst  enemy  has  never  accused  him  of 
evading  or  avoiding  any  responsibility  or  come  to  Congress  during  his  period  of  ser- 
the  expression  of  his  convictions  on  any 
public  issue. 

In  reviewing  Mr.  Elaine's  Congressional 
career  it  is  necessary  at  the  outset  to  point 
out  a  very  superficial  and  frivolous  line  of 
remark,  which  we  sometimes  see,  not 
only  in  regard  to  Mr.  Elaine,  but  to  other 
prominent  public  men.  "  What  great 
measure  did  Mr.  Elaine  ever  originate  ? " 
asks  the  unfledged  but  omnipotent  cham 
ber-statesman,  and  might  go  on  indefinitely 
asking  what  great  measure  did  Mr.  Sher 
man,  or  Mr.  Thurman  ever  originate,  or 
Mr.  Edmunds,  or  Mr.  Conkling,  or  Mr. 
Webster,  or  Mr.  Gallatin  ?  Such  critics 
and  such  criticisms  are  equally  shallow. 
Great  measures  grow  in  the  minds  of  the 


brooded  everywhere  and  boded  every 
thing,  Mr.  Elaine  delivered  a  speech  on 
"  The  Ability  of  the  American  People  to 
Suppress  the  Rebellion,"  which  has 
been  cited  for  the  great  attention  and 
commendation  it  received.  Its  value  lay 
not  alone  in  its  timeliness,  for  after  its  first 
wide  circulation  it  was  reprinted  as  a  cam 
paign  document  in  the  Presidential  cam 
paign  of  1 864. 

It  was  the  delivery  of  this  speech,  and 
some  discussions  which  took  place  shortly 
after,  that  caused  Thaddeus  Stevens  to 
say  that  "  Elaine,  of  Maine,  has  shown  as 
great  aptitude  and  ability  for  the  higher 
walks  of  public  life  as  any  man  that  had 


vice. 

During  the  first  session  of  Mr.  Elaine's 
service  as  member  of  the  Post-Office  Com 
mittee  he  took  an  active  part  in  co-opera 
tion  with  the  chairman,  Hon.  John  B. 
Alley,  and  the  late  James  Brooks  of  New 
York,  in  encouraging  and  securing  the 
system  of  postal  cars  now  in  universal 
use.  Distribution  on  the  cars  had  not 
been  attempted  on  any  great  scale,  and 
the  first  appropriations  for  the  enlarged 
service  were  not  granted  without  opposi 
tion. 

Following  the  war,  and  throughout  the 
period  of  reconstruction,  Mr.  Elaine  was 
active,  energetic,  and  intelligent.  He  was 
especially  prominent  in  shaping  some  of 


30 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


the  most  important  features  of  the  Four 
teenth  Amendment,  particularly  that  re 
lating  to  the  basis  of  representation.  The 
discussions  on  this  great  series  of  ques 
tions,  in  which  Elaine  figured  largely,  are 
among  the  most  interesting  and  valuable 
in  the  history  of  the  American  Congress. 

Mr.  Elaine  became  a  leader  in  legisla 
tion  as  he  became  the  leader  of  men  gen 
erally,  by  virtue  of  his  comprehensiveness 
of  mind,  his  quick  perception  of  objective 
points,  and  his  devotion  in  advocating 
what  he  felt  was  right  and  duty. 

It  was  in  the  beginning  of  his  second 
term  that  he  began  to  make  himself  felt. 
None  of  the  younger  members  had  been 
on  more  cordial  or  confidential  terms  with 
Mr.  Lincoln  than  the  new  member  from 
Maine.  Towards  the  expiration  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  first  teim  Mr.  Elaine  was  the 
person  with  whom  the  President  con 
stantly  conferred  in  regard  to  political 
movements  in  Maine.  Ward  H.  Lamon, 
Lincoln's  law  partner,  was  presented  at  a 
conference  when  Mr.  Lincoln  requested 
Mr.  Elaine  to  go  to  Maine  and  watch  the 
movements  of  the  President's  opponents. 
The  acquaintance  between  Lincoln  and 
Blaine  had  begun  in  Illinois  during  the 
Douglas  campaign  in  1858,  and  at  that 
early  time  the  Maine  editor  had  predicted 
in  the  columns  of  his  paper  that  Lincoln 
would  be  defeated  for  senator  by  Douglas, 
but  that  he  would  beat  Douglas  for  presi 
dent  in  1860.  A  copy  of  this  prophecy 
Mr.  Lincoln  carried  in  his  memorandum- 
book  long  after  he  had  been  inaugurated 
as  president.  In  1860,  a  delegate  to  the 
Chicago  Convention,  Mr.  Blaine  had  been 
almost  the  only  New  England  man  who 
had  supported  Mr.  Lincoln  from  the  start, 
and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  was 
Mr.  Elaine's  early  and  firm  stand  for  Lin 
coln  which  opened  the  way  to  the  first 
nomination  of  the  first  martyr  President. 

In  1867,  Mr.  Elaine  sought  a  temporary 
relaxation  from  official  cares  and  labors, 
and  for  the  first  time  paid  a  short  visit  to 
Europe.  While  he  was  out  of  the  country 
the  theory  of  paying  the  public  debt  in 
greenbacks  was  started  in  Ohio  by  Mr. 
Pendleton,  and  in  Massachusetts  by  Gen 
eral  Butler.  Just  after  his  return  in  the 
autunm,  at  a  special  or  adjourned  session 


of  Congress  in  November,  Mr.  Blaine  as 
saulted  the  proposition  in  a  speech  of 
great  research,  logic,  and  force.  It  thus 
happened  that  he  was  the  first  man  in 
either  branch  of  Congress  who  spoke 
against  the  financial  heresy  that  in  subse 
quent  years  has  engrossed  so  much  of 
public  attention.  From  that  time,  both  in 
Congress  and  before  the  people,  Mr.  Blaine 
has  been  indefatigable  in  bringing  the 
public  opinion  of  the  country  to  the  right 
standard  of  financial  and  national  honor. 

Blaine  as  Speaker  of  the  House. 

Six  years  in  Congress  had  made  him  so 
conspicuous  as  a  leader,  and  so  noted  as  a 
parliamentarian,  that  he  was  made  Speaker 
of  the  House,  a  position  that  he  filled  with 
marked  ability  for  six  years,  when  the 
Democrats  obtained  control  of  that  body. 
Mr.  Blaine  was  perhaps  the  youngest  man 
who  ever  occupied  the  Speaker's  chair, 
being  then  39  years  of  age.  He  presided 
over  some  of  the  most  important  and 
exciting  sessions  of  the  House,  and  by  his 
just  rulings,  admirable  tact,  and  magnetic 
influence,  he  passed  through  the  long  and 
trying  period  with  the  approbation  of  both 
friend  and  foe. 

A  Memorable  Event. 

Even  more  marked,  at  least  in  the  pop 
ular  eye,  than  his  career  as  Speaker,  was 
Mr.  Elaine's  course  in  the  House  when  he 
returned  to  the  floor  at  the  close  of  his 
Speakership.  Few  have  forgotten  the 
sudden  tilt  by  which,  in  a  day,  a  victorious 
and  exultant  Democratic  majority  was 
changed  into  a  surprised,  subdued,  and 
saddened  crowd,  under  Mr.  Elaine's 
aggressive  and  unexpected  tactics.  The 
debates  of  that  memorable  session  on  the 
proposition  to  remove  the  disabilities  of 
Jefferson  Davis  are  still  fresh  in  all  minds, 
and  more  likely  to  be  appreciated  perhaps 
to-day  than  at  any  time  within  the  last 
three  years.  Mr.  Elaine's  speeches  laid 
the  foundation  of  success  in  the  campaign 
of  1876  though  he  was  not  selected  as  the 
standard-bearer.  The  excitement  growing 
out  of  this  exciting  session  with  all  its 
attendants  events  brought  Mr.  Blaine 
more  prominently  before  the  country  than 
any  other  citizen  for  the  time,  centered 
upon  him  indeed  a  hostility  more  malig- 


JAMES   G.   ELAINE. 


31 


nant  and  a  love  more  enthusiastic  than 
are  often  inspired  by  public  service,  and 
gave  him  such  a  national  fame  that  he  at 
once  became  a  prominent  candidate  for 
the  Presidency. 

HI  at  lie  as  Senator. 

Mr.  Elaine  was  appointed  by  the  Gov 
ernor  of  Maine,  July  19,  1876,  to  be  United 
States  Senator  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused 
by  the  resignation  of  Senator  Morrill,  who 
then  became  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
and  took  his  seat  in  that  august  body  at 
the  opening  of  its  session  in  December, 
1876.  Many  regretted  that  the  able 
Speaker  of  the  House,  the  dashing  and 
brilliant  debater  in  Committee  of  the 
Whole,  should,  as  they  expressed  it,  be 
shelved  in  the  Senate.  Four  years  passed, 
and  it  would  be  hard  to  name  a  man  who 
had  been  less  securely  shelved,  a  Senator 
who  moved  so  promptly  to  the  front.  The 
Senate  contains  a  large  number  of  able 
men  and  some  skillful  debaters,  but  in 
logical,  off-hand  discussion,  in  quick  per 
ception  and  full  command  of  every  re 
source,  it  has  seldom  contained  a  man 
superior  to  Mr.  Elaine.  His  career  in  the 
Senate  was  as  active  as  that  in  the  House. 
He  took  a  prominant  part  in  every  im 
portant  debate,  and  though  not  fearing  to 
differ  from  his  party,  was  always  a  strong 
party  man,  and  one  of  the  recognized 
leaders  on  the  Republican  side.  He  was 
subsequently  elected  for  the  unexpired 
term  and  for  the  ensuing  term  expiring  in 
1883.  On  his  appointment  he  wrote  to  the 
people  of  his  Congressional  District  a 
farewell  address,  in  which  he  said  : 

"  Beginning  with  1862  you  have  by  con 
tinuous  elections  sent  me  as  your  repre 
sentative  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States.  For  such  marked  confidence  I 
have  endeavored  to  return  the  most  zeal 
ous  and  devoted  service  in  my  power,  and 
it  is  certainly  not  without  a  feeling  of  pain 
that  I  now  surrender  a  trust  by  which  I 
have  always  felt  so  signally  honored.  It 
has  been  my  boast  in  public  and  in  private 
that  no  man  on  the  floor  of  Congress  ever 
represented  a  constituency  more  distin 
guished  for  intelligence,  for  patriotism,  for 
public  and  personal  virtue.  The  cordial 
support  you  have  so  uniformly  given  me 


through  these  fourteen  eventful  years  is 
the  chief  honor  of  my  life.  In  closing  the 
intimate  relations  I  have  so  long  held  with 
the  people  of  this  district  it  is  a  great  satis 
faction  to  me  to  know  that  with  returning 
health  I  shall  enter  upon  a  field  of  duty  in 
which  I  can  still  serve  them  in  common 
with  the  larger  constituency  of  which  they 
form  a  part." 

The  Kennebec  Journal  of  his  State  well 
representing  the  sentiment  of  the  public  in 
the  state,  said : 

"  Fourteen  years  ago,  standing  in  the 
convention  at  which  he  was  first  nomi 
nated,  Mr.  Elaine  pledged  himself  to  use 
his  best  services  for  the  district,  and  to 
support  to  the  best  of  his  ability  the  policy 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  subdue  the  rebel 
lion,  and  then  and  there  expressed  plainly 
the  idea  that  slavery  must  and  ought  to 
be  abolished  to  save  the  Union.  That  he 
has  kept  his  pledge  faithfully  his  constitu 
ents  know  and  feel,  and  the  records  of 
Congress  attest.  To  this  district  his  abili 
ties  were  freely  given,  and  as  he  rose  in 
honor  in  the  House  and  in  the  public 
estimation  he  reflected  honor  and  gave 
strength  to  the  constituency  that  supported 
him.  Every  step  he  made  in  advance 
was  a  gain  for  them,  It  was  a  grand  thing 
for  this  district  to  have  as  its  Representa 
tive  in  Congress  for  six  years  the  Speaker 
of  the  House,  filling  the  place  next  in  im 
portance  to  that  of  President  of  the  United 
States,  with  matchless  ability.  It  was  a 
grander  thing  when  we  took  the  lead  of 
the  minority  in  the  House  last  December, 
routed  the  Democratic  majority,  and  drove 
back  in  dismay  the  ex-Confederates  who 
were  intending  and  expecting  through  the 
advantage  they  had  already  gained  to 
grasp  the  supreme  power  in  the  Nation  and 
wield  it  in  the  interest  of  the  cause  of 
secession  and  rebellion  revived.  For  what 
he  has  done  as  their  representative  in 
Ccngress,  never  will  this  Hid  District  of 
Maine  forget  to  honor  the  name  of  James 
G.  Elaine.  It  will  live  in  the  hearts  of  this 
people  even  as  the  name  of  Henry  Clay 
is  still  loved  by  the  people  of  his  old  dis 
trict  in  Kentucky." 

He  at  once  entered  actively  upon  his 
new  official  duties,  and  his  prestige  in  the 
House,  and  his  great  popularity  with  the 


32 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


people  made  him  a  prominent  figure  in 
his  new  position.  His  progressive  nature 
had  little  regard  for  the  tradition  of  that 
body,  which  expects  new  members  to 
listen  to  their  elders  instead  of  pushing 
forward  in  debates.  He  could  not  remain 
silent  on  questions  which  he  was  well  in 
formed,  and  so  he  at  once  became  a 
debater  in  the  Senate. 

The  Senate  had  a  large  number  of  able 
men  and  some  skillful  debaters,  but  in 
logical,  off-hand  discussion,  in  quick  per 
ception  and  full  command  of  every  re 
source,  it  has  seldom  contained  a  man 
superior  to  Mr.  Elaine.  His  career  in  the 
Senate  was  as  active  as  that  in  the  House. 
He  took  a  prominent  part  in  every  import 
ant  debate,  and  though  not  fearing  to  differ 
from  his  party,  was  always  a  strong  party 
man,  and  one  of  the  recognized  leaders  on 
the  Republican  side. 

He  made  a  strong  speech  in  favor  of 
restricting  Chinese  immigration,  which 
was  much  censured  and  much  praised,  ac 
cording  to  the  point  of  view  of  his  critics. 
He  voted  against  the  Electoral  Commission 
bill.  He  opposed  the  Eland  Silver  bill  in 
a  vigorous  speech,  and  favored  the  coinage 
of  an  honest  silver  dollar.  The  question 
of  the  restoration  of  the  American  carry 
ing  trade  upon  the  seas  has  received  a 
great  deal  of  attention  from  him,  and  his 
speeches  and  letters  on  this  subject  have 
attracted  much  attention.  One  of  these 
speeches  was  made  at  a  New  York  Cham 
ber  of  Commerce  dinner,  and  was  accepted 
as  a  masterly  presentation  of  the  sub 
ject. 

Mr.  Elaine's  sagacity,  coolness  and  wis 
dom  as  a  party  leader  were  conspicuously 
demonstrated  in  the  measures  he  took  to 
circumvent  the  Democratic  plot  for  steal 
ing  the  State  Government  of  Maine  in 
1879,  by  fraudulently  counting  out  Repub 
lican  members  of  the  Legislature.  All  the 
advantages,  save  that  of  being  in  the  right, 
were  with  his  opponents  at  the  start.  His 
supporters  were  eager  to  resort  to  arms  as 
the  only  means  of  obtaining  justice,  but 
they  were  restrained  by  him.  His  plan  was 
first  to  arouse  public  sentiment  by  expos 
ing  the  enormity  of  the  plot,  next  to  tangle 
up  his  antagonists  in  a  web  of  contradic 
tions,  and  then,  after  obtaining  the  judg 


ment  of  the  Supreme  Court,  to  seize  and 
hold  the  legislative  halls.  It  was  com 
pletely  successful,  and  the  conspiracy  be 
came  impotent  and  ridiculous. 

His  debates  in  both  Houses  of  Congress 
covered  a  wide  range  of  the  most  compli 
cated  subjects,  and  show  him  to  have  been 
sound  in  his  financial  views,  practical 
always  and  liberal  in  his  political  views. 
When,  in  December,  1864,  Mr.  Stevens,  of 
Pennsylvania,  introduced  a  bill  in  the 
House  to  determine  the  value  of  legal  ten 
der  notes  and  to  compel  all  persons  to  take 
the  notes  at  their  face  value,  Mr.  Elaine 
was  the  member  to  expose  the  absurdity  of 
the  attempt.  "  This  bill,"  he  said,  "  aims 
at  the  impossible.  You  cannot  make  a 
gold  dollar  worth  less  than  it  is  or  a  paper 
dollar  worth  more  than  it  is  by  Congres 
sional  declaration." 

Mr.  Elaine  invented  the  word  "  Stal 
wart,"  but  no  one  was  quicker  than  he  to 
advise  keeping  hands  off  the  South  after 
the  war.  In  January,  1868,  when  the  for 
feiture  of  Southern  land  grants  was  under 
discussion,  Mr.  Elaine  said  : 

We  do  not  treat  the  South  as  well  as  the 
Northwest  for  the  latter  have  representa 
tives  here  and  they  have  been  effectual  in 
getting  the  grants  extended  and  renewed 
where  the  law  has  not  been  fully  complied 
with,  and  now,  when  there  are  no  repre 
sentatives  of  the  South  upon  the  floor,  with 
not  a  voice  to  speak  in  her  behalf,  we  pro 
pose  to  cut  them  off.  I  say  there  is  no 
hope  for  the  growth  of  cotton  and  grain 
down  South  on  the  part  of  the  loyal  men 
there  unless  we  furnish  them  with  the  mag 
nificent  facilities  for  transportation  to  mar 
ket  afforded  by  these  very  railroads. 

In  a  speech  upon  the  financial  condition 
of  the  country,  delivered  in  the  House  in 
March,  1868,  Mr.  Elaine  said: 

Nor  do  I  see  how  any  gentleman  can 
consistently  propose  an  inflation  of  the 
currency  in  the  face  of  an  express  and  sol 
emn  pledge  to  the  contrary  by  Congress. 
*  *  *  If  we  were  ever  so  eager  to  pay 
off  our  5-20*3  in  greenbacks  we  are  actu 
ally  stopped  by  the  $400,000,000  pledge. 
If  we  disregard  that  pledge  we  might  just 
as  well  trample  upon  others  and  take  a 
short  cut  at  once  to  .repudiation  and  nation 
al  bankruptcy.  The  policy  which  I  ad- 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


33 


vocate  is  to  bring  our  entire  currency  in 
due  season,  without  haste,  without  rash 
ness,  without  contraction,  without  financial 
convulsion,  up  to  the  specie  standard." 

June  23,  1868,  Mr.  Elaine  made  an  elabo 
rate  argument  in  opposition  to  the  propo 
sition  to  impose  a  tax  upon  Government 
bonds.  He  was  one  of  the  most  conspic 
uous  and  able  of  the  opponents  of  the  im 
portation  of  Chinese  labor.  His  ablest 
speeches  in  the  Senate  were  probably 
those  made  during  the  Geneva  award 
debate,  \vhen  he  successfully  crossed  arms 
with  the  great  legal  athletes  of  the  Senate 
Chamber. 

His  position  on  the  Chinese  question 
was  the  result  of  a  thorough  investigation 
of  the  subject  in  all  its  bearings,  and  when 
a  conclusion  had  been^ reached,  he  threw 
all  the  force  of  his  genius  and  ability  in 
opposition  to  an  unlimited  immigration  of 
those  people  to  this  country.  This  action 
made  him  the  most  popular  statesman  on 
the  Pacific  Coast,  and  the  people  of  those 
states  have  given  him  the  most  decided 
manifestations  of  their  esteem  and  confi 
dence.  His  independence  of  action  has 
made  him  friends  and  enemies,  but  ap 
parently  indifferent  to  personal  interests 
or  popular  clamor,  he  has  boldly  pro 
claimed  and  defended  his  convictions.  He 
is  no  time-serving  politician.  He  never 
waits  to  ascerrain  the  current  of  public 
opinion  and  then  drift  with  it.  On  the  con 
trary  he  is  a  born  leader,  who  makes 
public  opinion,  and  his  advanced  ideas 
lead  him  to  the  front,  while  his  magnetism 
brings  a  host  of  followers.  He  possesses 
those  qualities  which  make  a  military 
commander  great,  a  diplomat  effective, 
and  a  statesman  popular.  His  position  on 
the  tariff  question  is  in  strict  harmony  with 
his  party,  and  ever  since  he  entered  the 
halls  of  legislation  he  has  advocated  the 
doctrine  of  protection  to  labor. 

In  the  Senate,  as  in  the  House,  Mr. 
Blaine  was  a  staunch  advocate  of  a  protec 
tive  tariff. 

On  the  22d  of  April,  1878,  he  offered  the 
following  resolutions  : 

Resolved,  that  any  radical  change  in  our 
present  tariff  laws  would  in  the  judgment 
of  the  Senate,  be  inopportune,  would 
needlessly  derange  the  business  interests 


of  the  country,  and  would  seriously  retard 
that  return  to  prosperity  for  which  all  should 
earnestly  co-operate. 

Resolved,  that  in  the  judgment  of  the 
Senate,  it  should  be  the  fixed  policy  of 
this  government  to  so  maintain  our  tariff 
for  revenue  as  to  afford  adequate  protec 
tion  to  American  labor. 

On  the  ist  of  May,  1878,  Mr.  Blaine 
called  up  his  resolutions  and  urged  their 
passage  in  a  stormy  speech,  which  how 
ever,  was  ineffectual  at  the  time. 

In  1876,  his  friends  brought  him  forward 
as  a  candidate  for  President,  and  without 
any  exertion  or  direction  on  his  part,  they 
made  a  most  brilliant  charge  on  the  con 
vention.  Then  as  now,  he  was  the  choice 
of  a  majority  of  the  masses  of  his  party  and 
had  popular  sentiment  decided  the  issue 
it  would  have  resulted  in  the  nomination 
of  James  G.  Blaine.  He  went  into  the 
convention  with  more  votes  than  any  of 
his  competitors.  On  the  sixth  ballot  he 
received  308  votes,  on  the  seventh  ballot 
his  vote  rose  to  345,  or  33  votes  less  than 
a  majority.  But  for  an  unfortunate  sun 
stroke  on  a  hot  July  day  he  would  probably 
have  been  nominated.  As  it  was,  his 
friends  looked  forward  to  his  nomination 
on  the  next  ballot  with  confidence,  and 
every  indication  pointed  to  his  nomina 
tion  when  a  combination  was  formed  to 
defeat  him  which  succeeded,  for  on  the 
following  ballot :  R.  B.  Hayes  received 
384  votes,  Mr.  Blaine  351,  Mr.  Conkling  21, 
and  Mr.  Hayes  was  declared  the  nominee. 

On  the  following  December  he  entered 
the  Senate,  and  whilst  in  that  position,  in 
1880,  he  was  again  brought  forward  as  a 
presidential  candidate.  He  had  antagon 
ized  the  Hayes  policy  and  had  carried  the 
popular  heart  of  his  partisans  with  him 
again.  But  the  field  was  so  powerful 
in  several  States  of  the  North  that  it  was 
able  to  deprive  the  favorite  of  many  votes 
which  belonged  to  him. 

Mr.  Elaine's  candidacy  for  the  Presi 
dential  nomination  in  1880  is  of  such 
recent  date  that  only  a  passing  reference 
to  it  is  necessary.  He  received  284  votes 
on  the  first  ballot  in  the  Convention,  to  - 
304  for  Grant,  and  fairly  held  his  own  un 
til  the  34th  ballot,  on  which  he  had  275 
votes.  It  was  on  the  next  ballot  that  Gar- 


34 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


field  began  to  loom  up  as  the  coming  man, 
and  Elaine  fell  to  257.  On  the  36th  and 
last  ballot,  all  his  supporters  except  42 
went  over  to  Garfield. 

Blaine  in  the  Cabinet. 

Elaine  had  made  General  Garfield 
President  by  throwing  his  votes  in  the 
Convention  to  him  at  the  proper  time,  and 
this  materially  made  his  relations  with 
Garfield  closer  than  his  relations  with 
Lincoln,  confidential  as  they  had  been  in 
proportion  as  his  services  to  Garfield  in 
1880  were  made  greater  than  his  service 
to  Lincoln  in  1860  by  his  increased  in 
fluence  and  prominence.  It  remained  for 
Mr.  Blaine  to  do  almost  as  much  to  elect 
Garfield  as  he  had  done  to  nominate  him 
by  his  appreciation  of  the  importance  of 
the  tariff  question,  and  by  exposing  upon 
the  stump  the  dangers  of  Free  Trade  at  a 
moment  in  the  campaign  when  the  Re 
publican  horizon  was  darkest  with  clouds. 
Mr.  Garfield  was  elected  in  November, 
and  shortly  afterwards  made  a  visit  to 
Washington,  to  confer  with  Mr.  Blaine, 
but  found  that  he  was  at  his  home  in  Maine. 
He  at  once  wrote  him  to  meet  him  in 
Wa-hington  on  the  24th  of  November,  and 
on  the  26th  he  arrived  and  called  upon 
the  President  elect.  For  two  hours  they 
were  closeted  without  interruption  from  a 
single  person.  At  this  conference  General 
Garfield,  without  reservation,  tendered  the 
State  Department  to  Mr.  Blaine.  When 
Mr.  Blaine  had  recovered  from  his  surprise 
he  replied:  "General,  I  was  hardly  pre 
pared  for  this  tender  on  your  part.  I  do 
not  know  how  to  make  answer.  I  would 
like  some  time  for  reflection  and  consulta 
tion,  and  in  the  meantime  I  will  advise 
you."  General  Garfield  then  and  there 
urged  Mr.  Blaine  to  accept,  but  he  made 
no  binding  answer  at  the  time.  Subse 
quently  Mr.  Blaine  had  a  conference  with 
his  closest  friends,  and  the  weight  of  their 
testimony  was  that  he  should  accept  the 
place.  Said  he :  "  Gentlemen,  I  am  in 
clined  to  accept  General  Garfield's  offer ; 
but  meanwhile  I  will  for  a  very  short 
period  still  further  hold  it  under  advise 
ment."  After  this  conference  with  his 
friends  the  fact  that  General  Garfield  had 
offered  .the  Senator  the  Secretaryship  of 


State  was  communicated  to  one  or  two  of 
Senator  Elaine's  confidential  friends,  and 
he  said  :  "  If  the  sentiment  of  the  country 
indorses  the  selection  General  Garfield  has 
made,  I  will  accept  the  office.  Otherwise 
not."  Early  in  December  the  announce 
ment  was  made  in  one  or  two  newspapers, 
directly  and  absolutely,  that  Senator 
Blaine  had  been  invited  by  General  Gar- 
field  to  accept  the  position  of  Secretary  of 
State. 

It  was  almost  a  month  after  this  Confer 
ence  that  Blaine  formally  accepted  the 
position  tendered  him,  as  will  be  seen  by 
his  letter  of  acceptance  : 

WASHINGTON,  Dec.  20,  1880. 

MY  DEAR  GARFIELD  :  Your  generous 
invitation  to  enter  your  Cabinet  as  Secre 
tary  of  State  has  been  under  consideration 
for  more  than  three  weeks.  The  thought 
had  really  never  occurred  to  my  mind 
until  at  our  late  conference  you  presented 
it  with  such  cogent  arguments  in  its  favor 
and  with  such  warmth  of  personal  friend 
ship  in  aid  of  your  kind  offer. 

I  know  that  an  early  answer  is  desirable, 
and  I  have  waited  only  long  enough  to 
consider  the  subject  in  all  its  bearings,  and 
to  make  up  my  mind,  definitely  and  con 
clusively.  I  now  say  to  you,  in  the  same 
cordial  spirit  in  which  you  have  invited 
me,  that  I  accept  the  position. 

It  is  no  affectation  for  me  to  add  that  I 
make  this  decision,  not  for  the  honor  of 
the  promotion  it  gives  me  in  the  public 
service,  but  because  I  think  I  can  be  use 
ful  to  the  country  and  to  the  party  ;  useful 
to  you  as  the  responsible  leader  of  the 
party  and  the  great  head  of  the  Govern 
ment. 

I  am  influenced,  somewhat,  perhaps,  by 
the  shower  of  letters  I  have  received  urging 
me  to  accept,  written  to  me  inconsequence 
of  the  mere  unauthorized  newspaper  report 
that  you  had  been  pleased  to  offer  me  the 
place.  While  I  have  received  these  letters 
from  all  sections  of  the  Union,  I  have  been 
especially  pleased  and  even  surprised  at 
the  cordial  and  widely  extended  feeling  in 
my  favor  throughout  New  England,  where 
I  had  expected  to  encounter  local  jealousy 
and  perhaps  rival  aspiration. 

In  our  new  relation  I  shall  give  all  that 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


35 


I  am  and  all  that  I  can  hope  to  be,  freely 
and  loyally,  to  your  service.  You  need  no 
pledge  of  my  loyalty  in  heart  and  act.  I 
should  be  false  to  myself  did  I  not  prove 
true  both  to  the  great  trust  you  confide  to 
me  and  to  your  own  personal  and  political 
fortunes  in  the  present  and  in  the  future. 
Your  Administration  must  be  made  bril 
liantly  successful  and  strong  in  the  confi 
dence  and  pride  of  the  people,  not  at  all 
directing  its  energies  for  re-election,  and 
yet  compelling  that  result  by  the  logic  of 
events  and  by  the  imperious  necessities  of 
the  situation. 

To  that  most  desirable  consummation 
I  feel  that,  next  to  yourself,  I  can  possibly 
contribute  as  much  influence  as  any  other 
one  man.  I  say  this  not  from  egotism  or 
vainglory,  but  merely  as  a  deduction  from 
a  plain  analysis  of  the  political  forces 
which  have  been  at  work  in  the  country 
for  five  years  past,  and  which  have  been 
significantly  shown  in  two  great  National 
Conventions.  I  accept  it  as  one  of  the 
happiest  circumstances  connected  with  this 
affair  that  in  allying  my  political  fortunes 
with  yours — or  rather  for  the  time  merging 
mine  in  yours — my  heart  goes  with  my 
head,  and  that  I  carry  to  you  not  only  politi 
cal  support  but  personal  and  devoted  friend 
ship.  I  can  but  regard  it  as  somewhat 
remarkable  that  two  men  of  the  same  age, 
entering  Congress  at  the  same  time, 
influenced  by  the  same  aims  and  cherish 
ing  the  same  ambitions,  should  never,  for 
a  single  moment  in  eighteen  years  of  close 
intimacy,  have  had  a  misunderstanding  or 
coolness,  and  that  our  friendship  has 
steadily  grown  with  our  growth  and 
strengthened  with  our  strength. 

It  is  this  fact  which  has  led  me  to  the 
conclusion  embodied  in  this  letter ;  for 
however  much,  my  dear  Garfield,  I  might 
admire  you  as  a  statesman,  I  would  not 
enter  your  cabinet  if  I  did  not  believe  in 
you  as  a  man  and  love  you  as  a  friend. 

Always  faithfully  yours, 
JAMES  G.  ELAINE. 


Mr.  Elaine  qualified  as  Secretary  of 
State  March  5, 1881,  two  days  following  the 
inauguration  of  the  President,  and  imme 
diately  assumed  the  duties  of  the  office. 


President  Garfield's  Cabinet  was  as  fol 
lows  : 

Secretary  of  State,  James  G.  Elaine,  of 
Maine ;  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  William 
Windom,  of  Minnesota;  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  William  H.  Hunt,  of  Louisana ; 
Secretary  of  War,  Robert  T.  Lincoln,  of 
Illinois ;  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Samuel 
J.  Kirkwood,  of  Iowa  ;  Attorney-General, 
Wayne  MacVeagh,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Post 
master-General,  Thomas  L.  James,  of  New 
York. 

The  foreign  policy  announced  by  Presi 
dent  Garfield  was:  First,  to  bring  about 
peace  and  prevent  future  wars  in  North 
and  South  America ;  and,  secondly,  to  cul- 
vate  such  friendly  commercial  relations 
with  all  American  countries  as  would  lead 
to  a  large  increase  in  the  export  trade  of 
the  United  States.  It  was  for  the  purpose 
of  promoting  peace  on  the  Western  Hem 
isphere  that  it  was  determined  to  invite  all 
the  independent  governments  of  North  and 
South  America  to  meet  in  a  peace  con 
ference  at  Washington  on  March  15,  1882. 
The  project  met  with  cordial  approval  in 
South  America,  and,  had  it  been  carried 
out,  would  have  raised  the  standard  of  civ 
ilization,  and  possibly,  by  opening  South 
American  markets  to  our  manufactures, 
would  have  wiped  out  $12,000,000  balance 
of  trade  which  Spanish  America  brings 
against  us  every  year.  The  invitations  to 
this  important  conference  were  subse 
quently  sent  out  by  President  Arthur,  but 
in  a  short  time  they  were  recalled,  after 
some  of  the  countries  had  actually  accepted 
them.  It  was  a  pacific  policy  and  was 
wholly  in  accord  with  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
and  the  characteristic  traditions  of  Ameri 
can  diplomacy. 

President  Garfield  in  his  inaugural  ad 
dress  had  repeated  the  declaration  of  his 
predecessor  that  it  was  "  the  right  and  duty 
of  the  United  States  to  assert  and  maintain 
such  supervision  and  authority  over  any 
interoceanic  canal  across  the  isthmus  that 
connects  North  and  South  America  as  will 
protect  our  National  interests."  This 
policy,  which  had  received  the  direct  ap 
proval  of  Congress,  was  vigorously  upheld 
by  Secretary  Elaine.  The  Columbian 
Republic  had  proposed  to  the  European 
Powers  to  join  in  a  guarantee  to  the  neu- 


36 


JAMES   G.   ELAINE. 


trality    of   the  proposed    Panama   Canal 
One  of  President  Garfield's  first  acts  unde 
the  advice  of  Secretary   Elaine  was  to  re 
mind  the   European   Government  of  th< 
exclusive  rights  which  the  United   State 
had  secured  with  the  country  to  be  trav 
ersed  by  the  interoceanic  waterway.  Thesi 
exclusive  rights  rendered  the  prior  guaran 
tee  of  the  United  States  Government  indis 
pensable,  and  the  Powers  were  informe 
that  any  foreign  guarantee  would  be  no 
only  an  unnecessary  but  unfriendly  act 
As  the  United   States  had  made  in   th 
Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty  of  1850  a  specia 
agreement  with  Great  Britain  on  this  sub 
ject,    Secretary   Elaine  supplemented  hi: 
memorandum  to  the  Powers  by  a  forma 
proposal  for  the  abrogation  of  all   provi 
sions  of  that  convention  which  were  not  in 
accord  with  the  guarantees  and  privileges 
covenanted  for  in  the  compact  with  the 
Colombian  Republic.     In  his  State  paper 
the  most  elaborate  of  the  series  receiving 
his  signature   as  Secretary  of  State,  Mr 
Elaine  contended  that  the  operation  of  the 
Clayton-Bulwer    Treaty    practically    con 
ceded  to  Great  Britain  the  control  of  any 
canal  which  might  be  constructed  in  the 
isthmus,  as  that  Power  was  required  by  its 
insular  position  and  colonial  possessions  to 
maintain  a  naval  establishment  with  which 
the  United  States  could  not  compete.     As 
the  American    Government    had    bound 
itself  by  its  engagements  in  the  Clayton- 
Bulwer  Treaty  not  to  fight  in  the   isthmus, 
nor  to  fortify  the  mouths  of  any  waterway 
that  might  be  constructed  the  Secretary 
argued  that  if  any  struggle  for  the  control 
of  the  canal  were  to  arise  England  would 
have  an  advantage  at  the  outset  which 
would  prove  decisive.     "  The  treaty,"  he 
remarked,  "  commands  this  Government 
not  to  use  a  single  regiment  of  troops  to 
protect  its  interests  in  connection  with  the 
interoceanic  canal,   but  to   surrender  the 
transit  to  the  guardianship  and  control  of 
the  British  navy."     The  logic  of  this  paper 
was  unanswerable  from  an  American  point 
of  view.     If  the  Monroe  Doctrine  be  any 
thing  more  than  a  traditfon,  the  control  of 
the  Panama  Canal  must  not  be  allowed  to 
pass  out  of  American   hands ;    and  since 
the  country    having    the    most  powerful 
navy  is  the  real  guardian  of  the  freedom 


of  an  interoceanic  canal  under  any  system 
of  international  guarantees,  or  in  the  ab 
sence  of  treaty  law,  the  Panama  Canal,  as 
Mr.  Elaine  said,  under  the  Clayton-Bulwer 
Treaty  would  be  surrendered,  if  not  in  form 
yet  in  effect,  to  the  control  of  Great  Britain. 

Proposed  Changes  in  the  Treaty. 

In  Secretary  Elaine's  instructions  to  Mr. 
James  Russel  Lowell,  Minister  to  England, 
is  the  following  summary  of  the  changes 
in  the  Clayton  Bulwer  treaty  of  1850, 
necessary  to  meet  the  views  of  the  United 
States  Government : 

"  first.  Every  part  of  the  treaty  which 
forbids  the  United  States  fortifying  the 
canal,  and  holding  the  political  control  of 
it  in  conjunction  with  the  country  in  which 
it  is  located  to  be  cancelled. 

"Second.  Every  part  of  the  treaty  in 
which  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States 
agree  to  make  no  acquisition  of  territory 
in  Central  America  to  remain  in  full 
force." 

The  admirable  and  forcible  chain  of 
reasoning  by  which  Mr.  Elaine  led  to 
these  conclusions  forced  the  English  news 
papers  to  admit  that  he  had  made  out  a 
good  case  upon  British  precedents,  and 
that  the  right  of  the  United  States  to  con 
trol  the  Panama  Canal  was  stronger,  and 
the  necessity  of  such  control  greater,  than 
the  right  and  necessity  of  England  to  con 
trol  the  Suez  Canal. 

What  the  Administration  Promised. 

The  brief  administration  of  President 
arfield  was  remarkable  for  its  promise  of 
broad  statesmanship.  For  many  years 
ongress  and  the  entire  government  had 
been  busy  in  making  war,  in  restoring  peace 
and  in  paying  the  immense  war  debt.  It 
was  all  the  United  States  could  do  to  pre 
serve  the  Union,  and  other  nations  were 
profiting  by  the  neglect  of  this  country  to 
Droperly  cultivate  its  foreign  relations. 
England  had  absorbed  our  commerce  and 
directed  into  her  own  coffers  the  trade  of 
he  South  American  countries.  And  now, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  French  Repub- 
ic,  under  the  direction  of  a  citizen  of 
France,  and  backed  by  continental  capi- 
alists,  active  preparations  had  been  made 
o  construct  an  interoceanic  canal  across 
he  Isthmus  of  Panama,  while,  under  the 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


37 


Clayton-Bui wer  treaty  of  1850,  the  United 
States  was  practically  powerless  to  take 
any  steps  for  the  protection  of  her  own 
interests. 

Home    Policy. 

At  the  same  time  at  home  a  more 
sagacious  Southern  policy  was  demanded, 
a  policy  which  would  promote  the  ma 
terial  reconstruction  of  the  South,  here 
tofore  neglected  for  the  sake  of  political 
reconstruction. 

The  Southern  policy  of  the  Administra 
tion  would  have  been  to  cultivate  cordial 
relations  between  the  different  sections  of 
the  country,  and,  by  thus  promoting  the 
flow  Southward  of  Northern  capital,  to 
assist  the  development  of  the  Southern 
States.  Mr.  Elaine  had  great  faith  in  the 
future  of  the  South.  On  one  occasion  he 
said : 

"  In  reconstructing  the  South  we  made 
the  same  mistake  the  British  Government 
is  making  with  the  Irish.  If  we  had  made 
a  government  donation  of  $50,000.000 
for  the  purpose  of  constructing  a  railway 
from  Charleston  to  the  Southern  end  of 
California,  and  spent  every  dollar  of  it 
between  Charleston  and  the  Mississippi 
River  in  the  first  three  years  following  the 
war,  the  problem  of  reconstruction  would 
have  solved  itself;  the  people  would  have 
had  business  interests,  instead  of  politics, 
to  occupy  their  attention.  I  believe  that 
within  ten  years  the  material  increase  in 
the  Southern  States,  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
will  equal,  if  it  does  not  surpass,  that  of 
the  Northwestern  States,  west  of  the  Mis 
sissippi." 

Foreign  Policy. 

As  the  policy  of  the  Garfield  administra 
tion  and  its  course  of  action  during  the 
war  between  Chili  and  Peru,  a  short  and 
succinct  presentation  of  the  facts  should 
be  given  here  inasmuch  as  Mr.  Blaine 
was  considered  the  originator  of  the  pro 
jected  action  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States.  The  following  carefully  prepared 
article  gives  such  a  clear  exhibit  of  the  sub 
ject,  and  which  appeared  in  the  New  York 
Tribune,  will  inform  the  general  reader  of 
the  facts  as  they  exist,  and  which  we  pub 
lish  along  with  Mr.  Elaine's  statement : 

"  The  war  between  Chili  and  Peru  had 
virtually  ended  with  the  capture  of  Lima 


on  January  17,  1881.  Pierola,  the  presi 
dent,  had  succeeded  in  rallying  a  few  fol 
lowers  in  the  north,  and  Calderon,  assum 
ing  the  provisional  Presidency,  had  con 
voked  a  Congress  in  the  vicinity  of  Lima. 
The  State  Department  made  strenuous 
exertions  to  bring  about  the  conclusion  of 
an.  early  peace  between  Chili  and  the  two 
prostrate  States  which  have  been  crushed 
in  war.  The  influence  of  the  Government 
was  brought  to  bear  upon  victorious  Chili 
in  the  interest  of  peace  and  magnanimity  ; 
but  owing  to  an  unfortunate  misapprehen 
sion  of  Mr.  Elaine's  instructions,  the 
United  States  Ministers  did  not  promote 
the  ends  of  peace.  Special  envoys  were 
accordingly  sent  to  South  America  ac 
credited  to  the  three  Governments  with 
general  instructions  which  should  enable 
them  to  bring  those  belligerent  Powers 
into  friendly  relations.  These  envoys 
were  Mr.  Trescot  and  Mr.  Walker  Blaine, 
and  their  mission  was  to  perform  a  most 
delicate  and  important  diplomatic  duty  in 
the  interest  of  peace.  After  they  had  set 
out  from  New  York  Mr.  Blaine  resigned, 
and  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  reversed  the  diplo 
matic  policy  with  such  precipitate  haste 
that  the  envoys  on  arriving  at  their  desti 
nation  were  informed  by  the  Chilian  Min 
ister  of  Foreign  Affairs  that  their  instruc 
tions  had  been  countermanded  and  that 
their  mission  was  an  idle  farce.  By  this 
extraordinary  reversal  of  diplomatic 
methods  and  purposes  the  influence  of  the 
United  States  Government  on  the  South 
American  coast  was  reduced  to  so  low  a 
point  as  to  become  insignificant  Mr. 
Elaine's  policy  had  been  at  once  strong 
and  pacific.  It  was  followed  by  a  period 
of  no-policy  which  enabled  Chili  to  make 
a  conqueror's  terms  with  the  conquered 
and  to  seize  as  much  territory  as  pleased 
its  rapacious  generals. 

The  Peace  CougreM. 

The  most  conspicuous  act  of  Mr. 
Elaine's  administration  of  the  State  De 
partment  was  his  invitation  to  the  Peace 
Congress.  This  plan  had  been  decided 
upon  before  the  assassination  of  President 
Garfield.  'The  proposition  was  to  invite 
all  the  independent  Governments  of  North 
and  South  America  to  meet  the  Peace 


38 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


Congress  at  Washington  on  March  15, 
1882.  The  representatives  of  all  the  minor 
Governments  on  this  continent  were  to 
agree,  if  possible  upon  some  comprehen 
sive  plan  for  averting  war  by  means  of 
arbitration  and  for  resisting  the  intrigues 
of  European  diplomacy.  Invitations  were 
sent  on  November  22,  with  the  limitations 
and  restrictions  originally  designed.  Mr. 
Frelinghuysen  lost  n  >  time  in  undermin 
ing  this  Diplomatic  Congress  and  the 
meeting  never  took  place.  It  cannot  be 
doubted  that  the  proposed  Congress  would 
have  had  a  most  important  effect,  not 
only  in  promoting  the  ends  of  peace,  but 
in  stimulating  American  trade  with  the 
Spanish-American  States.  It  was  a  bril 
liant  conception — a  most  useful  project. 

Mr.  Elaine  has  described  the  Congress 
as  "  an  important  and  impressive  step  on 
the  part  of  the  United  States  toward  closer 
relationship  with  our  continental  neigh 
bors.  In  no  event  could  harm  have  result 
ed  in  the  assembling  of  the  Peace  Con 
gress.  Failure  was  next  to  impossible. 
Success  might  be  regarded  as  certain.  The 
subject  to  be  discussed  was  peace,  and 
how  it  can  be  permanently  preserved  in 
North  and  South  America.  The  labors' of 
the  Congress  would  have  probably  ended 
in  a  well-digested  system  of  arbitration, 
under  which  all  troubles  between  Ameri 
can  States  could  be  quickly,  effectually  and 
satisfactorily  adjusted.  Such  a  consum 
mation  would  have  been  worth  a  great 
struggle  and  a  great  sacrifice.  It  could 
have  been  reached  without  any  struggle 
and  would  have  involved  no  sacrifice.  It 
was  within  our  grasp.  It  was  ours  for  the 
asking.  It  would  have  been  a  signal  vic 
tory  of  philanthropy  over  the  selfishness 
of  human  ambition;  a  complete  triumph 
of  Christian  principles  as  applied  to  the 
affairs  of  Nations.  It  would  have  reflected 
enduring  honor  on  our  new  country,  and 
would  have  imparted  a  new  spirit  and  a 
new  brotherhood  to  all  America.  Nor 
would  its  influence  beyond  the  sea  have 
been  small.  The  example  of  seventeen 
independent  Nations  solemnly  agreeing. to 
abolish  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword,  and 
to  settle  every  dispute  by  peaceful  meth 
ods  of  adjudication,  would  have  exerted 
an  influence  to  the  utmost  confines  of 


civilization,  and  upon  the  generations  of 
men  yet  to  come." 

Mr.  Elaine's  Statement. 

Shortly  after  Mr.  Elaine  retired  from  the 
Cabinet,  and  after  President  Arthur  had 
modified  the  foreign  policy  laid  down  by 
his  predecessor,  he  wrote  the  following 
letter  to  a  paper  in  Chicago,  in  explanation 
of  his  position. 

As  there  is  a  desire  to  re-read  it,  the 
entire  letter  is  given  : 

AUGUSTA,  Maine,  Sept.  ist,  1882. 

The  foreign  policy  of  President  Gar- 
field's  administration  had  two  principal 
objects  in  view :  First,  to  bring  about 
peace,  and  prevent  future  wars  in  North 
and  South  America ;  second,  to  cultivate 
such  friendly  commercial  relations  with 
all  American  countries  as  would  lead  to  a 
large  increase  in  the  export  trade  of  the 
United  States,  by  supplying  those  fabrics 
in  which  we  are  abundantly  able  to  compete 
with  the  manufacturing  nations  of  Europe. 

To  attain  the  second  object  the  first  must 
be  accomplished.  It  would  be  idle  to 
attempt  the  development  and  enlargement 
of  our  trade  with  the  countries  of  North 
and  South  America  if  that  trade  were 
liable  at  any  unforeseen  moment  to  be 
violently  interrupted  by  such  wars  as  that 
which  for  three  years  has  engrossed  and 
almost  engulfed  Chili,  Peru,  and  Bolivia  ; 
as  that  which  was  barely  averted  by  the 
friendly  offices  of  the  United  States  be 
tween  Chili  and  the  Argentine  Republic  ; 
as  that  which  has  been  postponed  by  the 
same  good  offices,  but  not  decisively 
abandoned,  between  Mexico  and  Guate 
mala;  as  that  which  is  threatened  between 
Brazil  and  Uruguay  ;  as  that  which  is  even 
now  foreshadowed  between  Brazil  and  the 
Argentine  States.  Peace  is  essential  to 
commerce,  is  the  very  life  of  honest  trade, 
is  the  solid  basis  of  international  pros 
perity  ;  and  yet  there  is  no  part  of  the 
world  where  a  resort  to  arms  is  so  prompt 
as  in  the  Spanish  American  Republics. 
Those  Republics  have  grown  out  of  the 
old  Colonial  divisions,  formed  from  capri 
cious  grants  to  favorites  by  Royal  charter, 
and  their  boundaries  are  in  many  cases 
not  clearly  defined,  and  consequently 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


89 


afford  the  basis  of  continual  disputes, 
breaking  forth  too  often  in  open  war.  To 
induce  the  Spanish  American  States  to 
adopt  some  peaceful  mode  of  adjusting 
their  frequently  recurring  contentions  was 
regarded  by  the  late  President  as  one  of 
the  most  honorable  and  useful  ends  to 
which  the  diplomacy  of  the  United  States 
could  contribute — useful  especially  to  those 
States  by  securing  permanent  peace  within 
all  their  borders,  and  useful  to  our  own 
country  by  affording  a  coveted  opportunity 
for  extending  its  commerce  and  securing 
enlarged  fields  for  our  products  and  manu 
factures. 

Tlie   Motive  for  Calling  a  Peace  Congress. 

Instead  of  friendly  intervention  here 
and  there,  patching  up  a  treaty  between 
two  countries  to-day,  securing  a  truce  be 
tween  two  others  to-morrow,  it  was  appa 
rent  to  the  President  that  a  more  compre 
hensive  plan  should  be  adopted  if  war  was 
to  cease  in  the  Western  Hemisphere.  It 
was  evident  that  certain  European  Powers 
had  in  the  past  been  interested  in  promot 
ing  strife  between  the  Spanish  American 
countries,  and  might  be  so  interested  in 
the  future,  while  the  interest  of  the  United 
States  was  wholly  and  always  on  the  side 
of  peace  with  all  our  American  neighb  ors, 
and  peace  between  them  all. 

It  was  therefore  the  President's  belief 
that  mere  incidental  and  partial  adjust 
ments  failed  to  attain  the  desired  end,  and 
that  a  common  agreement  of  peace,  per 
manent  in  its  character  and  continental  in 
its  extent,  should,  if  possible,  be  secured. 
To  effect  this  end  it  had  been  resolved, 
before  the  fatal  shot  of  July  2,  to  invite  all 
the  independent  governments  of  North  and 
South  America  to  meet  in  a  Peace  Con 
gress  at  Washington.  The  date  to  be  as 
signed  was  the  I5th  of  March,  1882,  and 
the  invitations  would  have  been  issued  di 
rectly  after  the  New  England  tour,  which 
the  President  was  not  permitted  to  make. 
Nearly  six  months  later,  on  November  22, 
President  Garfield's  successor  issued  the 
invitations  for  the  Peace  Congress  in  the 
same  spirit  and  scope  and  with  the  same 
limitations  and  restrictions  that  had  been 
originally  designed. 

As  soon  as  the  project  was  understood 
in  South  America  it  received  a  most  cor 


dial  approval,  and  some  of  the  countries, 
not  following  the  leisurely  routine  of  diplo 
matic  correspondence,  made  haste  to  ac 
cept  the  invitation.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  within  a  brief  period  all  the 
nations  invited  would  have  formally  sig 
nified  their  readiness  to  attend  the  Con 
gress  ;  but  in  six  weeks  after  the  invitations 
had  gone  to  the  several  countries,  President 
Arthur  caused  them  to  be  recalled,  or  at 
least  suspended.  The  subject  was  after 
ward  referred  to  Congress  in  a  special 
message,  in  which  the  President  ably  vin 
dicated  his  Constitutional  right  to  assemble 
the  Peace  Congress,  but  expressed  a  desire 
that  the  legislative  department  of  the  Gov 
ernment  should  give  an  opinion  upon 
the  expediency  of  the  step  before  the 
Congress  should  be  allowed  to  convene. 
Meanwhile  the  nations  that  received  the 
invitations  were  in  an  embarrassing  situa 
tion  ;  for  after  they  were  asked  by  the  Pre 
sident  to  come,  they  found  that  the  matter 
had  been  reconsidered  and  referred  to 
another  department  of  the  Government. 
This  change  was  universally  accepted  as  a 
practical  though  indirect  abandonment  of 
the  project,  for  it  was  not  from  the  first 
probable  that  Congress  would  take  any 
action  whatever  upon  the  subject.  The 
good  will  and  welcome  of  the  invitation 
would  be  destroyed  by  a  long  debate  in  the 
Senate  and  House,  in  which  the  question 
would  necessarily  become  intermixed  with 
personal  and  party  politics,  and  the  pro 
ject  would  be  ultimately  wrecked  from  the 
same  cause  and  by  the  same  process  that 
destroyed  the  usefulness  of  the  Panama 
Congress  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  when 
Mr.  Clay  was  Secretary  of  State.  The 
time  for  Congressional  action  would  have 
been  after  the  Peace  Conference  had 
closed  its  labors.  The  conference  could 
not  agree  upon  anything  that  would  be 
binding  upon  the  United  States,  unless 
assented  to  as  a  treaty  by  the  Senate,  or 
enacted  into  a  law  by  both  branches.  The 
assembling  of  the  Peace  Conference,  as 
President  Arthur  so  well  demonstrated,  was 
not  in  derogation  of  any  right  or  preroga 
tive  of  the  Senate  or  House.  The  money 
necessary  for  the  expenses  of  the  confer 
ence — which  would  not  have  exceeded 
$10,000 — could  not,  with  reason  or  proprie- 


40 


JAMES   G.   ELAINE. 


ty,  have  been  refused  by  Congress.  If  it 
had  been  refused,  patriotism  and  philan 
thropy  would  have  promptly  supplied  it. 

The  Necessity  of  Friendly  Intervention. 

The  Spanish  American  States  are  in 
special  need  of  the  help  which  the  Peace 
Congress  would  afford  them.  They  re 
quire  external  pressure  to  keep  them  from 
war.  When  at  war  they  require  external 
pressure  to  bring  them  to  peace.  Their 
outbreaks  are  not  only  frequent,  but  are 
sanguinary  and  sometimes  cruel.  The  in 
habitants  of  those  countries  are  a  brave 
people,  belonging  to  a  race  that  have 
always  been  brave,  descended  of  men  that 
have  always  been  proud.  They  are  of  hot 
temper,  quick  to  take  affront,  ready  to 
avenge  a  wrong,  whether  real  or  fancied. 
They  are  at  the  same  time  generous  and 
chivalrous,  and  though  tending  for  years 
to  past  estrangement  and  alienation  from 
us,  they  would  promptly  respond  to  any 
advance  made  by  the  Great  Republic  of 
the  North,  as  they  have  for  two  genera 
tions  termed  our  Government.  The  moral 
influence  upon  the  Spanish  American 
people  of  such  an  international  assembly 
as  the  Peace  Congress,  called  by  the  invi 
tation  and  meeting  under  the  auspices  of 
the  United  States,  would  have  proved 
beneficent  and  far-reaching.  It  would  have 
raised  the  standard  of  their  civilization. 
It  would  have  turned  their  attention  to  the 
things  of  peace  ;  and  the  continent,  whose 
undeveloped  wealth  amazed  Humboldt, 
might  have  had  a  new  life  given  to  it,  a 
new  and  splendid  career  opened  to  its  in 
habitants. 

Such  friendly  interventions  as  the  pro 
posed  Peace  Congress,  and  as  the  attempt 
to  restore  peace  between  Chili  and  Peru, 
fell  within  the  line  of  both  duty  and 
interest  on  the  part  of  the  United  States. 
Nations  like  individuals  often  require  the 
aid  of  a  common  friend  to  restore  relations 
of  amity.  Peru  and  Chili  are  in  deplora 
ble  need  of  a  wise  and  powerful  mediator. 
Though  exhausted  by  war,  they  are  unable 
to  make  peace,  and,  unless  they  shall  be 
aided  by  the  intervention  of  a  friend,  po 
litical  anarchy  and  social  disorder  will 
come  to  the  conquered,  and  evil  scarcely 
less  serious  to  the  conqueror.  Our  own  Gov 
ernment  cannot  take  the  ground  that  it  will 


not  offer  friendly  intervention  to  settle 
troubles  between  American  countries, 
unless  at  the  same  time  it  freely  concedes 
to  European  governments  the  right  of  such 
intervention,  and  thus  consents  to  a  prac 
tical  destruction  of  the  Monroe  doctrine 
and  an  unlimited  increase  of  European  and 
monarchical  influence  on  this  continent. 
The  late  special  envoy  to  Peru  and  Chili, 
Mr.  Trescot,  gives  it  as  his  deliberate  and 
published  conclusion  that  if  the  instruc 
tions  under  which  he  set  out  upon  his  mis 
sion  had  not  been  revoked,  peace  between 
those  angry  belligerents  would  have  be^n 
established  as  the  result  of  his  labors — 
necessarily  to  the  great  benefit  of  the 
United  States.  If  our  Government  does 
not  resume  its  efforts  to  secure  peace  in 
South  America,  some  European  govern 
ment  will  be  forced  to  perform  that  friendly 
office.  The  United  States  cannot  play 
between  nations  the  part  of  the  dog  in  the 
manger.  We  must  perform  the  duty  of 
humane  intervention  ourselves,  or  give 
way  to  foreign  governments  that  are  will 
ing  to  accept  the  responsibility  of  the  great 
i  trust  and  secure  the  enhanced  influence 
and  numberless  advantages  resulting  from 
such  a  philanthropic  and  beneficent 
course. 

Its  Commercial  Value. 

A  most  significant  and  important  result 
would  have  followed  the  assembling  of  the 
Peace  Congress.  A  friendship  and  an  in 
timacy  would  have  been  established  be 
tween  the  States  of  North  and  South 
America,  which  would  have  demanded 
and  enforced  a  closer  commercial  connec 
tion.  A  movement  in  the  near  future,  as 
the  legitimate  outgrowth  of  assured  peace, 
would,  in  all  probability,  have  been  a  great 
commercial  conference  at  the  city  of 
Mexico  or  Rio  Janeiro,  whose  delibera 
tions  would  be  directed  to  a  better  system 
of  trade  on  the  two  continents.  To  such 
a  conference  the  Dominion  of  Canada  could 
properly  be  asked  to  send  representatives, 
as  that  government  is  allowed  by  Great 
Britain  a  very  large  liberty  in  regulating 
its  commercial  relations.  In  the  Peace 
Congress,  to  be  composed  of  independent 
governments,  the  Dominion  could  not 
I  have  taken  any  part,  and  was  consequent- 
1  ly  not  invited.  From  this  trade  confer- 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


41 


ence  of  the  two  continents  the  United 
States  could  hardly  have  failed  to  gain 
great  advantages.  At  present  the  com 
mercial  relations  of  this  country  with  the 
Spanish-American  countries,  both  conti 
nental  and  insular,  are  unsatisfactory  and 
unprofitable — indeed,  those  relations  are 
absolutely  oppressive  to  the  financial  inter 
ests  of  the  Government  and  people  of  the 
United  States.  In  our  current  exchanges  it 
requires  about  $120,000,000  to  pay  the 
balance  which  Spanish  America  brings 
against  us  every  year.  This  amount  is  50 
per  cent,  more  than  the  average  annual 
product  of  the  gold  and  silver  mines  of  the 
United  States  during  the  past  five  years. 
This  vast  sum  does  not  of  course  go  to 
Spanish  America  in  coin,  but  itgoes  across 
the  ocean  in  coin  or  its  equivalent,  to  pay 
European  countries  for  manufactured  ar 
ticles  which  they  furnish  to  Spanish 
America — a  large  proportion  of  which 
should  be  furnished  by  the  manufacturers 
of  the  United  States. 

The  Tariff  and  Smith  American  Trade. 

At  this  point  of  the  argument  the  free 
trader  appears  and  declares  that  our  pro 
tective  tariff  destroys  our  power  of  compe 
tition  with  European  countries,  and  that 
if  we  will  abolish  protection,  we  shall  soon 
have  South  American  trade.  The  answer 
is  not  sufficient,  for  to-day  there  are  many 
articles  which  we  can  send  to  South  Ame 
rica,  and  sell  as  cheaply  as  European 
manufacturers  can  furnish  them.  It  is 
idle,  of  course,  to  make  this  statement  to 
the  genuine  apostle  of  free  trade  and  the 
implacable  enemy  of  protection,  for  the 
great  postulate  of  his  argument,  the  foun 
dation  of  his  creed,  is  that  nothing  can  be 
made  as  cheaply  in  America  as  in  Europe. 
Nevertheless  facts  are  stubborn,  and  the 
hard  figures  of  arithmetic  cannot  be  satis 
factorily  answered  by  airy  figures  of  speech. 
The  truth  remains  that  the  coarser  descrip 
tions  of  cottons  and  cotton  prints,  boots 
and  shoes,  ordinary  household  furniture, 
harness  for  draft  animals,  agricultural  im 
plements  of  all  kinds,  doors,  sashes  and 
blinds,  locks,  bolts  and  hinges,  silver 
ware,  plated  ware,  wooden  ware,  ordinary 
paper  and  paper-hangings,  common  vehi 
cles,  ordinary  window-glass  and  glass 


ware,  rubber  goods,  coal  oils,  lard  oils, 
kerosenes,  white  lead,  lead  pipe,  and  arti 
cles  in  which  lead  is  a  chief  component, 
can  be  and  are  produced  as  cheaply  in 
the  United  States  as  in  any  other  part  of 
the  world.  The  list  of  such  articles  might 
be  lengthened  by  the  addition  of  those 
classed  as  "notions;"  but  enough  only 
are  given  to  show  that  this  country  would, 
with  proper  commercial  arrangements,  ex 
port  much  more  largely  than  it  now  does 
to  Spanish  America. 

In  the  trade  relations  of  the  world,  it 
does  not  follow  that  mere  ability  to  pro 
duce  as  cheaply  as  another  nation  insures 
a  division  of  an  established  market,  or, 
indeed,  any  participation  in  it.  France 
manufactures  many  articles  as  cheaply  as 
England — some  articles  at  even  less  cost. 
Portugal  lies  nearer  to  France  than  to 
England,  and  the  expense  of  transporting 
the  French  fabric  to  the  Portuguese  mar 
ket  is  therefore  less  than  the  transportation 
of  English  fabric.  And  yet  Great  Britain 
has  almost  a  monopoly  in  the  trade  of 
Portugal.  The  same  condition  applies, 
though  in  a  less  degree,  in  the  trade  of 
Turkey,  Syria  and  Egypt,  which  England 
holds  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  any  of 
the  other  European  nations  that  are  able  to 
produce  the  same  fabric  as  cheaply.  If  it 
be  said  in  answer,  that  England  has  spe 
cial  trade-relations  by  treaty  with  Portugal 
and  special  obligations  binding  the  other 
countries,  the  ready  answer  is,  that  she 
has  no  more  favorable  position  with  regard 
to  those  countries  than  can  be  readily  and 
easily  acquired  by  the  United  States  with 
respect  to  all  the  countries  of  America. 
That  end  will  be  reached  whenever  the 
United  States  desires  it,  and  wills  it,  and 
is  ready  to  take  the  steps  necessary  to  se 
cure  it.  At  present  the  trade  with  Spanish 
America  runs  so  strongly  in  channels  ad 
verse  to  us,  that,  besides  our  inability  to 
furnish  manufactured  articles,  we  do  not 
get  the  profit  on  our  own  raw  products 
that  are  shipped  there.  Our  petroleum 
reaches  most  of  the  Spanish-American 
ports  after  twice  crossing  the  Atlantic, 
paying  often  a  better  profit  to  the  European 
middle  man,  who  handles  it,  than  it  does 
to  the  producer  of  the  oil  in  the  north 
western  counties  of  Pennsylvania.  Flour 


42 


JAMES   G.   ELAINE. 


and  pork  from  the  West  reach  Cuba  by 
way  of  Spain,  and  though  we  buy  and 
consume  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  total  pro 
ducts  of  Cuba,  almost  that  proportion  of 
her  purchases  are  made  in  Europe — made, 
of  course,  with  money  furnished  directly 
from  our  pockets. 

The  ominous  adverse  Balance  of  Trade. 

.  As  our  exports  to  Spanish  America  grow 
less,  as  European  imports  constantly  grow 
large,  the  balance  against  us  will  show  an 
annual  increase,  and  will  continue  to  ex 
haust  our  supply  of  the  precious  metals. 
We  are  increasing  our  imports  from  South 
America,  and  the  millions  we  annually  pay 
for  coffee,  wool,  hides,  guano,  cinchona, 
caoutchouc,  cabinet  woods,  dye  woods  and 
other  articles,  go  for  the  ultimate  benefit 
of  European  manufacturers  who  take  the 
gold  from  us  and  send  their  fabrics  to 
Spanish  America.  If  we  could  send  our 
fabrics,  our  gold  would  stay  at  home  and 
our  general  prosperity  would  be  sensibly 
i  creased.  But  so  long  as  we  repel 
Spanish  America,  so  long  as  we  leave  her 
to  cultivate  intimate  relations  with  Europe 
alone,  so  long  our  trade  relations  will  re 
main  unsatisfactory  and  even  embarras 
sing.  Those  countries  sell  to  us  very  heavy. 
They  buy  from  us  lightly.  And  the  amount 
they  bring  us  in  debt  each  year  is  larger 
than  the  heaviest  aggregate  balance  of 
trade  we  ever  have  against  us  in  the 
worst  of  times.  The  average  balance 
against  us  in  the  whole  world  in  the  five 
most  adverse  years  we  ever  experienced, 
was  about  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars. 
This  plainly  shows  that  in  our  European 
exchanges  there  is  always  a  balance  in 
our  favor  and  that  our  chief  deficiency 
arises  from  our  mal-adjusted  commercial 
relations  with  Spanish  America.  It  fol 
lows  that  if  our  Spanish  America  trade 
were  placed  on  a  better  and  more  equita 
ble  foundation,  it  would  be  almost  im 
possible  even  in  years  most  unfavorable 
to  us,  to  bring  us  in  debt  to  the  world. 

With  such  heavy  purchases  as  we  are 
compelled  to  make  from  Spanish  America, 
it  could  hardly  be  expected  that  we  should 
be  able  to  adjust  the  entire  account  by  ex 
ports.  But  the  balance  against  us  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  millions  in  gold  coin 


is  far  too  large,  and  in  time  of  stringency  is 
a  standing  menace  of  final  disaster.  It 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  every  million 
dollars  of  products  or  fabrics  that  we  sell  in 
Spanish  America  is  a  million  dollars  in 
gold  saved  to  our  own  country.  The  im 
mediate  profit  is  to  the  producer  and  ex 
porter,  but  the  entire  country  realizes  a 
gain  in  the  ease  and  affluence  of  the  money 
market  which  is  insured  by  keeping  our 
gold  at  home.  The  question  involved  is 
so  large,  the  object  to  be  achieved  is  so 
great,  that  no  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Go 
vernment  to  accomplish  it  could  be  too 
earnest  or  too  long  continued. 

It  is  only  claimed  for  the  Peace  Con 
gress,  designed  under  the  administration 
of  Garfield,  that  it  was  an  important  and 
impressive  step  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  toward  closer  relationship  with  our 
continental  neighbors.  The  present  ten 
dency  in  those  countries  is  toward  Europe, 
and  it  is  a  lamentable  fact  that  their  peo 
ple  are  not  so  near  to  us  in  feeling  as  they 
were  sixty  years  ago  when  they  threw  off 
the  yoke  of  Spanish  tyranny.  We  were 
then  a  weak  republic  of  ten  millions,  but 
we  did  not  hesitate  to  recognize  the  in 
dependence  of  the  new  governments,  even 
at  the  risk  of  war  with  Spain.  Our  foreign 
policy  at  that  time  was  specially  designed 
to  extend  our  influence  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere,  and  the  statesmen  of  that 
era — the  era  of  DeWitt  Clinton  and  the 
younger  Adams,  of  Clay  and  of  Crawford, 
of  Webster  and  Calhoun,  of  Van  Buren  and 
Benton,  of  Jackson  and  of  Edward  Liv 
ingston — were  always  courageous  in  the 
inspiring  measures  which  they  advocated 
for  the  expansion  of  our  commercial  do 
minion. 

The  Peril  to  be  Avoided  by  the  Union. 

Three-score  years  have  passed.  The 
power  of  the  Republic  in  many  directions 
has  grown  beyond  all  anticipation,  but  we 
have  relatively  lost  ground  in  some  great 
fields  of  enterprise.  We  have  added 
thousands  of  miles  to  our  ocean  front,  but 
our  commerce  has  fallen  off,  and  from 
ardent  friendship  with  Spanish  America 
we  have  drifted  into  indifference  if  not 
into  coldness.  It  is  but  one  step  further 
to  reach  a  condition  of  positive  unfriend 
liness,  which  may  end  in  what  would  be 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


43 


equivalent  to  a  commercial  alliance  against 
us.  Already  one  of  the  most  dangerous 
of  movements — that  of  a  European  guar 
antee  and  guardianship  of  the  Interoceanic 
Canal — is  suggested  and  urged  upon  the 
Great  Foreign  Powers  by  representatives 
of  a  South  American  country.  If  these 
tendencies  are  to  be  averted,  if  Spanish- 
American  friendship  is  to  be  regained,  if 
the  commercial  empire  that  legitimately 
belongs  to  us  is  to  be  ours,  we  must  not  be 
idle  and  witness  its  transfer  to  others.  If  we 
would  reconquer  it,  a  great  first  step  is  to  be 
taken.  It  is  the  first  step  that  costs.  It  is 
also  the  first  step  that  counts.  Can  there 
be  suggested  a  wiser  step  than  the  Peace 
Congress  of  the  two  Americas,  that  was 
devised  under  Garfield,  and  had  the  weight 
of  his  great  name  ? 

In  no  event  could  harm  have  resulted 
in  the  assembling  of  the  Peace  Congress  ; 
failure  was  next  to  impossible.  Success 
might  be  regarded  as  certain.  The  sub 
ject  to  be  discussed  was  peace,  and  how  it 
can  be  permanently  preserved  in  North 
and  South  America.  The  labors  of  the 
Congress  would  have  probably  ended  in  a 
well-digested  system  of  arbitration,  under 
which  all  troubles  between  American 
States  could  be  quickly,  effectually  and 
satisfactorily  adjusted.  Such  a  consum 
mation  would  have  been  worth  a  great 
struggle  and  a  great  sacrifice.  It  could 
have  been  reached  without  any  struggle 
and  would  have  involved  no  sacrifice.  It 
was  within  our  grasp.  It  was  ours  for  the 
asking.  It  would  have  been  a  signal  vic 
tory  of  philanthropy  over  the  selfishness 
of  human  ambition  ;  a  complete  triumph 
of  Christian  principles  as  applied  to  the 
affairs  of  Nations.  It  would  have  reflected 
enduring  honor  on  our  new  country,  and 
would  have  imparted  a  new  spirit  and  a 
new  brotherhood  to  all  America.  Nor 
would  its  influence  beyond  the  sea  have 
been  small.  The  example  of  seventeen 
independent  Nations  solemnly  agreeing  to 
abolish  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword,  and 
to  settle  every  dispute  by  peaceful  methods 
of  adjudication,  would  have  exerted  an  in 
fluence  to  the  utmost  confines  of  civiliza 
tion,  and  upon  generations  of  men  yet  to 
come. 

JAMES  G.  ELAINE. 


But  whatever  might  have  been  the  ulti 
mate  result  of  his  foreign  policy,  and  what 
ever  he  might  have  accomplished  to  ren 
der  the  administration  to  which  he  was  at 
tached  popular  and  prosperous,  was  pre 
vented  by  the  assassination  of  the  Presi 
dent,  just  four  months  from  the  day  of  his 
inauguration.  His  policy  had  been  formu 
lated  and  its  details  duly  specified,  and  no 
doubt  the  President  and  his  first  officer 
were  anticipating  additional  prosperity  for 
the  people. 

The  Assassination  [of  President  Garfleld. 

On  the  bright  Saturday  morning  of  July 
2nd  the  President  prepared  to  leave  the 
National  Capital  for  New  York,  and  thence 
to  New  England  to  join  in  the  reunion  of 
his  classmates  at  the  Commencement  of 
Williams  College.  Secretary  Elaine  ac 
companied  him  to  the  station  and  observed 
the  almost  boyish  delight  with  which  he 
anticipated  this  meeting  with  his  fellow 
students  of  former  days.  Passing  into  the 
station  through  the  ladies'  waiting  room, 
they  were  about  to  pass  to  the  train,  when 
that  fiend  in  human  form,  Guiteau,  fired 
the  fatal  shot  which  finally  after  weeks  and 
months  of  suffering,  and  during  which  not 
only  our  nation  but  the  world,  watched  in 
spirit  by  his  bedside,  ended  in  his  death. 
The  people  of  the  country  will  not  forget 
the  noble  devotion  showed  by  Mr.  Elaine 
to  his  dying  superior  officer — how  be 
watched  at  his  bedside,  and  amidst  his 
and  his  nation's  sorrows  discharged  all  the 
responsible  duties  of  his  position. 

Garfleld's  Death. 

On  September  6  the  President  was  re 
moved  fromWashington  to  Elberon,  whith 
er  he  was  followed  the  same  day  by  Mr. 
Elaine  and  the  rest  of  the  Cabinet.  The 
apparent  improvement  in  the  President's 
condition  warranted  the  belief  that  he 
would  continue  to  gain,  and  Mr.  Elaine 
went  for  a  short  rest  to  his  home  in  Au 
gusta.  He  was  on  his  way  back  to  Elberon 
on  the  nineteenth  day  of  September 
when  the  fatal  moment  came  and  reached 
there  the  next  morning.  It  is  the  univer 
sal  testimony  of  press  and  people  that,  du 
ring  the  weary  weeks  which  intervened 
between  the  President's  injury  and  death, 
Mr.  Elaine's  every  action  and  constant 
demeanor  were  absolutely  faultless. 


44 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


Selected  by  Congress  to  .  pronounce  a 
formal  eulogy  (which  is  given  in  another 
place,)  upon  President  Garfield,  Mr.  Elaine 
on  February  19,  1882,  before  President 
Arthur  and  his  Cabinet,  both  Houses  of 
Congress,  the  Supreme  Court,  the  foreign 
legations,  and  an  audience  of  ladies  and 
gentlemen  which  crowded  the  Hall  of  Re 
presentatives,  delivered  a  most  just,  com 
prehensive  and  admirable  address  upon 
the  martyr's  great  career  and  character. 
The  orator,  with  entire  self-abnegation 
and  reserve,  but  with  a  firm  touch  and  in 
a  style  which  rose  at  times  to  easy  elo 
quence,  assigned  to  President  Garfield  his 
true  place  in  history. 

The  diplomatic  career  of  Mr.  Elaine, 
which  commenced  with  Garfield's  admin 
istration,  ended  with  his  resignation  on 
December  19,  just  three  months  after  the 
death  of  the  President.  He  desired  to  re 
tire  to  private  life  at  once,  but  remained  at 
the  urgent  solicitation  of  President  Arthur. 

His  next  appearance  in  public  life  will 
be  his  inauguration  as  President  of  the 
United  States,  when  the  people  have  de 
clared  for  "  the  WHITE  PLUMED  KNIGHT  " 
OF  MAINE,  and  the  "DARK  EAGLE  OF 
THE  PRAIRIE." 

Blaine  as  a  Historian. 

After  his  resignation  as  Secretary  of 
State,  he  removed  to  his  home  in  Maine, 
and  at  once  commenced  his  "Twenty  Years 
in  Congress,"  the  first  volume  of  which 
was  published  in  April.  It  covers  the 
most  important  part  of  our  history,  extend 
ing  from  Lincoln  to  Garfield,  with  a  glance 
at  the  events  that  led  to  the  rebellion. 
Apart  from  the  general  tenor  of  the  work 
from  a  historical  standpoint,  it  is  a  biogra 
phy  of  the  American  people,  a  review  of 
general  issues,  a  picture  of  the  progress  of 
a  fifth  of  a  century,  and  a  panorama  of 
the  historic  events  belonging  to  that  period. 
It  shows  the  great  pulsations  of  the  nation 
during  its  struggle,  its  hopes,  its  fears,  and 
its  efforts  for  success,  or  as  is  said  by  a 
writer  in  reviewing  the  work :  the  thoughts 
of  the  people,  as  they  varied  from  year  to 
year,  their  times  of  indecision  and  dark 
ness,  of  swift  insight  and  heroic  resolution ; 
their  days  of  timidity  and  weak  compro 
mising  with  wrong,  and  their  grand  endu 
rance  and  unflinching  fidelity  when  the 


crisis  at  last  brought  duty  clearly  before 
them;  their  singular  sagacity  in  decisions 
of  vital  moment — all  these  are  portrayed 
in  Mr.  Elaine's  narrative  with  clearness 
and  power.  The  story  he  tells  in  his  first 
volume  is  given  with  the  simplicity  and 
compactness  of  a  trained  journalist,  and 
yet  with  sufficient  fullness  to  make  the  pic 
ture  distinct  and  clear  in  almost  every 
detail.  The  book  is  as  easy  to  read  as  a 
well-written  novel ;  it  is  clear  and  interest 
ing,  and  commands  the  attention  through 
out,  the  more  for  the  absence  of  anything 
like  oratorical  display  or  forensic  combat- 
iveness. 

His  Candidacy  in  1884:. 

The  popularity  which  had  placed  Mr. 
Blaine  before  the  nominating  Conventions 
of  1876,  and  1880,  still  remained,  notwith 
standing  he  was  defeated.  That  he  was 
the  favorite  of  the  masses  on  each  of  those 
occasions  is  generally  conceded,  and  the 
tenacity  with  which  they  held  to  him, 
showed  that  his  magnetism  could  retain 
friends  as  well  as  make  them.  The  peo 
ple  love  James  G.  Blaine.  They  do  not 
rally  around  him  for  the  dispensation  of 
favors,  or  the  spoils  of  office — such  persons 
always  flock  to  a  victorious  banner.  They 
are  for  him,  not  as  a  politician  but  as  a  man 
who  has  sympathy  with  the  masses.  They 
admire  his  genius,applaudhis  actions,  exult 
at  his  advancement,  and  trust  in  his  integ 
rity,  but  over  and  above  all  these  they  love 
the  man.  And  so  when  another  nominat 
ing  year  came  around,  the  same  vital  in 
fluences  or  forces  that  pressed  him  forward 
on  two  former  occasions,  brought  him 
again  to  the  forefront,  and  without  any  ef 
fort  of  his — without  any  apparent  desire  to 
again  contest  for  the  place,  they  placed 
him  in  nomination  before  the  people  and 
prepared  to  do  battle  for  him  in  the  Chi 
cago  Convention.  Apart  from  his  great 
personal  popularity,  the  fact  that  he  had 
been  defeated  through  intriguing  combina 
tions  at  a  former  Convention  still  more 
closely  cemented  his  allies  and  multiplied 
the  number  of  his  followers.  His  princi 
pal  competitor  was  the  Executive  of  the 
Nation  armed  with  the  power  of  his  posi 
tion,  and  fortified  by  the  patronage  of  the 
government,  while  he,  a  private  citizen,  had 
no  sceptre  to  wield,  no  places  to  bestow. 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


45 


He  must  be  more  than  human  who  could 
calmly  behold  such  a  contest  without  tak 
ing  an  active  part  therein.  It  must  have 
required  a  vast  amount  of  "  retaining 
power ''  for  one  so  ready  to  fight  the  bat 
tles  of  his  friends  to  remain  inactive,  and 
refuse  to  help  himself.  As  has  been  said : 

"  The  office  has  been  taken  to  Mr. 
Blaine  ;  he  did  not  go  after  it.  No  man, 
not  even  his  most  intimate  associate,  can 
say  with  truth  that  Mr.  Blaine  has  unduly 
pressed  the  recognition  of  himself.  Dur 
ing  the  long  and  anxious  struggle  of  the 
many  candidates  for  the  honor  he  has  won, 
Mr.  Blaine  has  stood  all  aloof.  He  has 
not  put  himself  in  a  position  to  wrest  the 
office  or  to  solicit  it  from  the  Convention. 
With  most  wise  and  commendable  dignity 
he  went  before  the  Convention  met,  to  his 
distant  home  in  Maine,  there  to  await 
events  ;  to  accept  the  trust  and  responsi 
bility  of  the  highest  place  of  honor  of  all 
if  it  were  offered  him,  but  saying  nothing, 
doing  nothing  to  gain  it.  He  simply  kept 
himself  in  readiness  to  obey  his  country's 
call.  It  has  called  him  and  he  will  answer 
it." 

The  Candidate  and  the  Man. 

It  must  have  been  a  proud  hour  for  him, 
when,  after  the  preliminary  battles  had 
been  fought,  after  the  representatives  of 
the  people's  will  had  been  selected,  when 
the  army  of  delegates,  with  another  army 
of  unofficial  followers,  met  at  Chicago  on 
the  3d  of  June,  and  balloted  for  a  candi 
date,  to  find  that  the  friends  who  had  stood 
by  him  at  other  Conventions,  were  still 
loyal,  and  that  as  on  former  occasions,  he 
led  the  list.  The  banner  of  the  "  PLUMED 
KNIGHT"  was  still  in  the  front,  and  the 
promise  of  victory  was  engrafted  on  the 
first  vote.  Another  feature  which  added 
to  his  strength  was  this.  His  votes  repre 
sented  three-fourths  of  the  entire  Repub 
lican  vote,  and  more  than  two-thirds  of 
the  votes  in  the  Electoral  College.  That 
his  party  was  with  him  was  apparent  to  all, 
and  with  such  a  backing,  could  the  Con 
vention  (if  it  wished)  or  the  party  afford  to 
sacrifice  him  to  any  combination  ?  From 
the  first  it  was  evident  that  no  such  thing 
could  be  accomplished.  The  day  for 
"  dark  horses  "  had  passed  away — the 
people  had  too  often  been  defeated  in  their 


expressed  wishes.  The  Convention  felt 
this,  the  people  demanded  that  their  ver 
dict  should  be  recorded ;  this  was  no  time 
for  political  juggling,  and  they  knew  it. 
Amongst  the  delegates  not  positively  com 
mitted  to  him  were  a  host  of  friends  who 
were  ready  whenever  it  became  necessary 
to  abandon  their  candidates,  to  rush  to  his 
standard.  So  the  first  ballot  indicated  that 
the  field  was  won,  and  that  James  G. 
Blaine  would  be  our  standard  bearer. 
The  second  ballot  added  to  his  strength — 
the  third  ballot  was  still  more  fruitful  in 
additions  to  his  strength,  and  on  the  fourth 
ballot,  state  after  state  recorded  its  vote 
for  him,  making  a  grand  total  of  541  votes, 
or  more  than  100  more  than  necessary  to 
elect.  The  battle  had  been  fought  and 
won,  and  the  "PLUMED  KNIGHT,"  amidst 
the  thunders  of  cannon,  and  the  plaudits 
of  thousands  of  people,  was  declared  the 
nominee.  All  over  the  land,  men  forgot 
their  callings,  and  gathered  about  the  tel 
egraph  centres  to  hear  the  result,  and  all 
over  the  land  went  the  tidings  to  the  peo 
ple,  until  they  took  up  the  applause  of  the 
Convention  and  made  it  ring  throughout 
the  entire  country. 

The  Receipt  of  the  New«. 
Never  was  a  nomination  received  with 
such  enthusiasm  as  that  made  at  Chicago 
on  Friday,  July  5th,  and  if  that  can  be 
taken  as  any  indication  of  the  result  in 
November,  it  points  most  unequivocally 
to  the  success  of  the  Republican  candi 
dates.  If  popularity  augurs  success,  then 
James  G.  Blaine  gives  the  ticket  a  strength 
beyond  that  of  any  other  man. 

To  quote  from  the  same  writer  as  before : 
"  Can  Mr.  Blaine  be  elected  ?  Yes,  if 
any  Republican  can.  The  popular  en 
thusiasm  which  his  name  evokes  proves 
that.  He  can  carry  New  York  and  Ohio, 
the  crucial  States,  and  he  is  probably  the 
one  Republican  leader  who,  being  nomi 
nated,  could  be  elected  without  the  vote  of 
New  York.  There  were  enough  doubtful 
States,  before  the  Convention  met,  without 
New  York.  They  are  so  few  now  as  to 
make  the  vote  of  New  York  no  longer 
necessary.  The  States  of  the  Pacific 
Slope  and  of  the  Southwest,  which  were 
all  doubtful,  are  now  all  certain  for  Blaine 
and  victory.  No  party's  convention  could 


46 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


do  better  than  the  National  Republican 
Convention  of  Chicago  did  when  it  nomi 
nated  James  G.  Elaine;  it  obeyed  the  will 
of  the  people,  which  is  what  all  such  rep 
resentative  bodies  should  do.  The  Con 
vention  having  nominated  Mr.  Elaine 
Republican  candidate  for  President  of  the 
United  States,  the  people  will  triumphantly 
elect  him.  His  is  a  name  to  win  with. 
The  campaign  will  be  as  a  crusade ;  the 
election  a  triumphal  march  of  the  first, 
best-found  choice  of  the  people  to  the 
Presidency  of  the  great  Republic." 

Personal  Description. 

Mr.  Elaine  has  a  phenomenal  memory. 
He  remembers  circumstances,  dates, 
names,  and  places  readily,  and  it  is  this 
wonderfully-available  memory  that  makes 
him  such  a  ready  speaker  and  such  a 
charming  companion.  He  has  also  great 
quickness  and  accuracy  of  judgment.  He 
writes  as  readily  and  as  strongly  as  he 
speaks,  and  very  rapidly.  In  many  re 
spects  he  resembles  Mr.  Greeley  as  a 
writer — he  goes  straight  to  the  point  and 
wastes  no  time  in  painting  with  pretty 
words  a  background  for  his  thoughts. 
Mr.  Elaine  is  of  imposing  height  and  burly 
in  form.  His  hair  is  nearly  white  and  thin 
on  top,  and  his  beard  is  not  heavy.  He 
has  a  fair,  imposing  head.  His  figure  is 
well  preserved,  he  dresses  with  care,  and 
is  of  handsome  personnel.  He  has  made 
use  of  no  means  to  conceal  the  ravages 
time  and  anxieties  have  made  on  his  hair, 
and  wears  it  close  cut,  the  color  making 
all  the  more  noticeable  his  dark  eyes, 
which  glitter  and  flash  with  temper  or  glow 
lustrous  and  beam  forth  amiably,  as  the 
mood  is  on  him.  He  is  full  of  activity  and 
quick  thought,  has  more  magnetism  than 
nine-tenths  of  his  colleagues ;  has  an 
irascible  disposition,  and  in  debate  is  irri 
tating  beyond  all  powers  of  endurance, 
but  is,  nevertheless,  personally  popular 
with  his  political  opponents.  He  has 
long  been  a  resident  of  Washington, 
where  his  house  has  been  the  resort  for 
bright  people  of  every  kind  of  degree. 
There  is  nothing  of  that  assumption  of 
aristocratic  exclusiveness  so  common 
among  public  men.  His  home  is  well  and 
even  elegantly  furnished,  but  it  is  all 


made  for  use  and  not  for  mere  dis 
play.  It  is  there  that  he  is  seen  at  his  best 
and  his  power  comes  largely  from  his 
faculty  of  winning  the  affection  of  men  by 
epigrammatic  speech,  his  easy  manners 
and  his  uniform,  unaffected  good  nature. 
He  knows  how  to  unbend  at  all  times, 
without  any  of  those  patronizing  -airs  so 
common  in  society  with  men  who  have 
succeeded.  Few  men  in  either  party  have 
left  his  presence  without  strong  and  pleas 
ant  memories  of  the  vigorous  character 
which  is  now  to  bear  the  heat  and  burden 
of  a  five  months'  bitter  political  campaign. 

felaine'g  Home. 

His  home  in  Augusta,  near  the  State 
House  is  a  plain  two-story  house.  Seve 
ral  institutions  in  the  State  have  received 
benefactions  from  him,  and  his  charity 
and  generosity  are  appreciated  at  home. 
In  his  own  house  he  is  a  man  of  culture 
and  refinement,  a  genial  host,  a  courteous 
gentleman.  No  man  in  public  life  is  more 
fortunate  in  his  domestic  relations.  He  is 
the  companion  and  confidant  of  every  one 
of  his  six  children,  and  they  fear  him  no 
more  than  they  fear  one  of  their  own 
number.  Mrs.  Elaine  is  the  model  wife 
and  mother,  and  more  is  due  to  her  strong 
judgment,  quick  perception  and  heroic 
courage  than  the  world  will  ever  know. 

His  Family. 

The  eldest  son,  Walker  Elaine,  is  a 
graduate  of  Yale  College  and  of  the  Law 
School  of  Columbia  College.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  bar  of  several  States,  and 
has  been  creditably  engaged  in  public  life 
in  Washington.  The  second  son,  Em- 
mons  Elaine,  is  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
College  and  the  Cambridge  Law  School. 
The  third  is  James  G.  Elaine,  jr.,  a  lad  of 
fourteen.  The  three  daughters  are  named 
Alice,  Margaret  and  Harriet.  The  eldest 
was  married  more  than  a  year  ago  to 
Brevet-Colonel  J.  J.  Coppinger,  U.  S.  A. 

A  Visitor  thus  describes  Mrs.  Blaiue. 

Mrs.  Elaine  is  fair-haired,  tall,  rather 
stout,  with  dignified  carriage,  and  a  man 
ner  earnest  and  practical.  Sincerely  con 
scientious,  Mrs.  Elaine  seems  to  belong  to 
a  race  of  New  England  women  not  always 
to  be  met  with  even  among  the  rugged 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


47 


hills,  and  rarely  seen  elsewhere.  A  beau- 1 
tiful  home  life  is  the  result  of  her  wise 
management.  Already  her  sons  are  in 
business,  and  popular  in  society;  and 
Alice,  the  eldest  daughter,  now  a  beautiful 
woman  of  twenty-two,  was  married,  in 
February,  1883,  to  Colonel  John  J.  Cop- 
pinger,  of  the  regular  army.  Mrs.  Elaine 
ever  sympathizes  most  deeply  with  her 
brilliant  husband  in  political  exploits  and 
ambitions,  yet  would  -gladly  persuade  him 
to  retire  to  private  life. 

A  Just  tribute  to  Mr.  Blaine. 

The  following  editorial  in  the  Buffalo 
Express  (Edmunds'  Republican)  pub 
lished  a  week  before  the  nominating  Con 
vention,  pays  a  just  tribute  to  his  ability. 

The  Greatest  Political  Leader  of  the 
Generation. 

It  is  clear  that  the  one  name  upon  which 
interest  chiefly  centres  in  Chicago  is  that 
of  James  G.  Blaine.  He  is  the  one  man 
mentioned  there  who,  as  a  political  leader, 
can  be  justly  called  great.  There  are 
many  politicians  and  a  few  statesmen,  but 
there  is  only  one  candidate  who,  by  virtue 
of  his  personal  attractions,  his  innate  j 
qualities  of  mind  and  of  heart,  attracts  a 
large  following.  He  is  the  one  man  for 
whom  his  friends  and  supporters  can  ac 
cept  no  substitute. 

The  Express  has  not  been  a  supporter 
of  Mr.  Elaine's  candidacy.  It  does  not 
now  believe  his  nomination  to  be  wise.  It 
still  hopes  Mr.  Edmunds  will  be  nominated. 
But  Mr.  Elaine's  wonderful  personal 
qualities  and  his  amazing  hold  upon  the 
affections  of  the  great  mass  of  Republican 
voters  of  this  country  have  been  so  empha 
sized  in  the  preliminary  contest  that  they 
cannot  any  longer  be  a  matter  of  dispute, 
if,  indeed,  they  ever  have  been  disputed. 
For  the  third  time  in  eight  years  he  is  a 
candidate  before  a  Republican  National 
Convention.  Each  time  he  has  been  op 
posed  by  the  powerful  lever  of  political 
patronage.  But,  though  twice  beaten  by 
combinations  against  him,  he  appears  the 
third  time  stronger  than  ever.  He  has  not 
only  held  his  own  under  adverse  ciicum- 
stances,  but  he  has  grown  in  the  popular 
mind — becomes  yearly  a  greater  favorite 
— and  to-day  fulfils  more  nearly  than  ever 
before  Colonel  Ingersoll's  wonderful  pic 


ture  of  "  a  man  who  is  the  grandest  com 
bination  of  heart,  conscience,  and  brain 
beneath  the  flag." 

Political  leaders,  like  poets,  are  born, 
not  made.  Mr.  Blaine  is  inferior  to  Mr. 
Edmunds  in  the  higher  qualities  of  states 
manship,  and  inferior  to  Mr.  Sherman  as 
apolitical  manipulator  ;  but  in  all  that  con 
stitutes  real  political  leadership  he  is  in 
finitely  above  even  comparison  with  them. 
Mr.  Edmunds  makes  no  pretense,  and  has 
no  ambition  in  that  direction.  Mr.  Sher 
man  has  tried  to  be  a  leader  and  tailed. 
Mr.  Blaine  was  born  for  chieftainship  as 
surely  as  the  great  Napoleon  was  born  to 
lead  armies.  Under  the  British  system  Mr. 
Blaine  would  certainly  be  Premier.  In  the 
popular  branch  of  our  National  Legislature 
his  leadership  was  undisputed.  Even  Gar- 
field — able,  popular,  fully  equipped  for 
any  intellectual  combat — was  content  in 
the  House  to  look  up  to  Blaine  as  the 
leader. 

It  is  no  wonder  the  Republicans  of  the 
United  States  look  upon  Blaine  with  ad 
miration  and  cling  to  him  with  devotion. 
It  is  no  wonder  the  mass  of  voters  excuse 
some  things  which  the  more  thoughtful 
cannot  excuse  and  lose  their  heads  be 
cause  their  hearts  are  moved.  Mr.  Blaine 
is  a  man  to  challenge  admiration  and  se 
cure  devotion.  He  is,  first  of  all,  an  Ameri 
can,  of  the  most  pronounced  type.  He 
embodies  many  of  the  characteristics 
which  we  like  to  regard  as  distinctively 
American.  His  career  would  perhaps  be 
possible  in  no  other  country.  A  Penn 
sylvania  boy,  a  student,  a  teacher,  an 
editor ;  at  25  one  of  the  foremost  men  of 
Maine  ;  at  39  Speaker  of  our  House  cf 
Representatives ;  a  little  later  United 
States  Senator ;  then  Secretary  of  State  ; 
then  eulogist  of  the  martyred  president ;  and 
finally  the  writer  of  a  history  which,  de 
spite  foreign  prejudice,  extorts  admiring 
notice  from  the  London  Times.  There 
has  been  no  pause  in  his  career,  no  time 
when  his  resources  were  crippled.  He 
seems  even  yet  not  to  have  reached  the 
zenith  of  his  fame,  for  he  never  stops 
working.  At  the  age  of  54  he  is  still 
twenty  years  younger  than  Gladstone  and 
with  every  prospect  of  a  long  and  vigorous 
life. 


48 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


It  is  not  manly,  it  is  not  patriotic,  to  de 
cry  Mr.  Elaine's  true  greatness.  One  need 
not  be  his  political  supporter  to  recognize 
his  splendid  qualities,  nor  his  eulogist  to 
admit  them.  He  was  once  characterized 
by  an  earnest  opponent  as  4<  a  brilliant  but 
tainted  man."  We  know  that  he  is  bril 
liant.  His  brilliancy  is  of  that  sort  which 
the  taint  upon  his  character  cannot  dim. 
It  is  not  a  flash  but  a  steady  glow.  All 
his  old  competitors  have  disappeared, 
while  he  remains  the  leader  still,  abler  and 
greater  than  when  his  "audacity  of  genius" 
was  first  recognized,  or  when  he  had 
freshly  "torn  from  the  throat  of  treason 
the  tongue  of  slander." 

WHAT  OUR  ENGLISH  COUSINS  THINK 
AND  SAY  : 

Blaine  a  Beaconsfleld. 

Under  the  heading,  "A  Beaconsfield 
Beyond  the  Sea,"  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette 
says :  "  Mr.  Elaine's  nomination  is  the 
most  notable  event  for  England  since  Pre 
sident  Lincoln  was  assassinated.  Wher 
ever  Mr.  Blaine  can  oust  the  British  from 
the  position  they  hold  on  the  American 
Continent  he  will  endeavor  to  replace 
English  influence  and  trade  by  American. 


His  menacing  intimation  that  he  would 
disregard  the  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  is  an 
evil  augury  for  the  future  relations  ot 
England  and  America.  His  intervention 
in  Peru  was  most  ominous  when  declared 
that  he  disliked  England  to  win  com 
mercial  triumphs  in  fields  which  legiti 
mately  belong  to  America.  England  will 
watch  with  extreme  solicitude  the  pro 
gress  of  the  electoral  campaign." 

In  a  leading  article  discussing  the  re 
sults  of  the  Chicago  Convention  the  Times 
this  morning  says :  "  Mr.  Elaine's  nomina 
tion  will  be  received  with  general  satisfac 
tion.  Not  only  has  he  been  the  most 
popular  candidate  from  the  outset,  but  he 
is  beyond  all  question  the  most  conspicuous 
and  respected  politician  in  the  ranks  of 
the  Republican  party,  which  has  done 
itself  honor  by  the  nomination  of  so  well 
known  and  distinguished  a  man.  If  the 
Democrats  could  make  up  their  mind  to 
a  definite  and  reasonable  Free-trade  policy 
they  would  certainly  secure  more  sym 
pathy  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  than  has 
hitherto  been  accorded  them.  Meantime 
we  must  congratulate  the  Republic  on  the 
choice  of  a  candidate  so  eminently  suited 
as  Mr.  Blaine  to  represent  and  uphold  the 
dignity  of  the  United  States."  * 


(*  The  writer  is  indebted  to  the  NEW  YORK  TRIBUNE  and  the  PHILADELPHIA  PRESS  for  valuable 
aid  in  the  preparation  of  this  article. 


JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 


GENERAL  JOHN  A  LOGAN,  the  Republi 
can  nominee  for  Vice-President,  is  perhaps 
second  to  Elaine  only  in  general  popularity 
with  the  masses  of  the  people.  His  ex 
tensive  following,  embracing  almost  the 
entire  soldier  element  of  the  country, 
pushed  him  for  the  first  place  on  the 
ticket,  satisfied  that  his  record  as  a  soldier 
and  as  a  statesman  would  not  only  carry 
the  party  to  victory  in  November,  but  that 
his  sterling  integrity  and  devotion  to  the 
principles  of  the  party  would  ensure  an 
administration  loyal  to  party,  safe  to  per 
son,  and  devoted  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
country.  The  man  who  "  never  lost  a 
battle  nor  disobeyed  the  orders  of  a  supe 
rior  officer,"  has  a  prestige  that  is  seldom 
reached,  and  his  double  claim  to  the  re 
gard  of  the  people  as  soldier  and  states 
man,  exhibit  him  as  valuable  in  the  one 
as  he  was  valiant  in  the  other.  Like  his 
great  commander,  General  Grant,  he  knew 
no  path  but  duty  when  in  the  field — had 
no  platform  but  patriotism,  and  no  object 
but  a  victory  that  would  cement  the  union 
of  the  States. 

It  was  therefore  but  reasonable  to  pre 
sume  that  his  own  great  State,  which  he 
had  so  ably  represented  in  the  field  and 
in  the  Senate,  with  others  following  its 
train,  should  send  their  delegates  to  the 
Convention  to  support  him  for  the  Presi 
dential  nomination.  It  was  perfectly  natu 
ral  that  the  men  he  had  led,  and  those 
with  whom  he  fought,  should  cling  to  their 
general  and  comrade,  and  ask  a  recogni 
tion  of  his  services  to  his  country.  Grant 
had  been  so  honored ;  Garfield  had  also 
been  chosen ;  Hayes  had  been  rewarded 
by  the  elevation  to  Chief  Magistrate  of 
the  nation,  and  it  was  only  following  the 
usages  of  the  party  to  ask  the  Convention 
to  add  another  military  name  to  the  roll  of 
Presidents.  Washington,  Jackson,  Har 
rison  and  Taylor  had  been  given  this  post 
of  honor  because  of  their  military  services, 


making  in  all  seven  distinguished  men 
who  won  their  honors  by  fighting  for  their 
country,  and  whose  administrations  cover 
quite  a  portion  of  our  history.  Gen 
eral  Logan's  friends  failed  to  secure  the 
first  place,  not  because  of  his  unfitness 
for  it,  but  simply  because  the  people 
desired  to  elevate  Mr.  Elaine,  who 
for  the  third  time  had  been  pre 
sented  to  the  National  Conven 
tions  and  had  twice  been  put  aside  for 
the  same  reasons  that  operated  against 
General  Logan.  As  James  G.  Elaine, 
twice  defeated,  recognized  the  supremacy 
of  the  people  by  their  verdict  in  the  con 
ventions,  and  gave  his  hearty  support  to 
those  who  outstripped  him  in  the  race,  so 
this  gallant  soldier  and  unwavering  Re 
publican  will  throw  all  the  weight  of  his 
influence  to  his  successful  competitor. 
General  Logan  was  reared  in  a  school  of 
discipline,  and  as  soldier  or  statesman  he 
will  carry  out  the  principle. 

The  enthusiasm  for  him  at  Chicago  was 
as  sincere  as  it  was  demonstrative,  and 
when  Senator  Cullom  arose  and  placed 
him  in  nomination  the  cheers  of  ten 
thousand  spectators  rang  over  the  vast 
building.  The  tribute  paid  to  General 
Logan  by  the  senators  was  a  just  tribute 
to  the  general,  and  is  a  true  and  vivid 
picture  of  the  soldier-statesman. 

As  soon  as  the  storm  of  applause  had 
subsided  and  an  approach  to  order  was 
reached,  Senator  Cullom  rose  and  said : 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF 
THE  CONVENTION:  Twenty-four  years 
ago  the  second  National  Convention  of 
the  Republican  party  met  in  this  city  and 
nominated  their  first  successful  candidate 
for  President  of  the  United  States — 
Abraham  Lincoln.  [Cheers.]  Abraham 
Lincoln  led  the  Republican  party  to  its 
first  great  victory.  He  stands  to-day  in 
the  estimation  of  the  world  as  the  grandest 
and  the  most  majestic  figure  in  all  mod- 

49 


50 


JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 


ern  times.  [Applause.]  Again  in  1868 
another  Republican  Convention  came  to 
gether  in  this  city  and  nominated  as  its 
candidate  for  President  of  the  Unitec 
States  another  eminent  citizen  of  Illinois 
General  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  [Loud  cheers 
and  waving  of  fans  and  other  demonstra 
tions  of  approval]  and  the  Republican 
party  was  again  victorious.  Still  again  in 
1880  the  Republican  party  turned  its  face 
towards  this  political  Mecca,  where  two 
successes  had  been  organized,  and  the 
murdered  Garfield  led  the  Republican 
party  to  victory.  [Loud  and  continuing 
applause.] 

Mr.  President  and  fellow-citizens,  it  is 
good  for  us  to  be  here.  There  are  omens 
of  victory  in  the  way  history  repeats  itself. 
There  are  premises  of  triumph  to  the  Re 
publican  party  in  holding  its  Convention 
in  this  great  emporium  of  the  Northwest. 
[Applause.]  The  commonwealth  of  Illi 
nois,  which  has  never  wavered  in  its  adher 
ence  to  Republican  principles  since  it  gave 
to  the  nation  and  to  the  world  the  illus 
trious  Lincoln,  now  presents  to  this  conven 
tion  for  its  consideration  as  the  standard 
bearer  of  the  Republican  party  another 
son  of  Illinois,  one  whose  name  will  be 
recognized  from  one  end  of  this  land  to 
the  other  as  an  able  statesman,  a  brilliant 
solder,  and  an  honest  man — General  John 
A.  Logan.  [The  announcement  of  General 
Logan's  name  was  received  with  a  wild 
burst  of  applause,  a  great  many  persons 
rising  to  their  feet  waving  their  hats  and 
handkerchiefs,  and  the  thousands  of 
people  in  the  gallery  joining  in  the  roar  of 
applause.  The  cheers  were  renewed  again 
and  again.] 

{          Logan's  Services  to  liis  Country. 

A  native  of  the  State  which  he  represents 
in  the  council  of  the  Nations,  reared  among 
the  youth  of  a  section  where  every  ele 
ment  of  manhood  is  early  brought  into 
play,  he  is  eminently  a  man  of  the  people. 
[Applause.]  The  safety,  the  permanency 
and  the  prosperity  of  the  Nation  depend 
upon  the  courage,  the  integrity,  and  the 
loyalty  of  its  citizens.  When  yonder 
storied  flag  was  assailed  by  enemies  in 
arms,  when  the  integrity  of  the  Union  was 
imperilled  by  organized  treason,  when  the 


storm  of  war  threatened  the  very  life  of 
this  Nation,  this  gallant  son  of  the  Prairie 
State  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  returned  to  his  home, 
and  was  among  the  first  of  our  citizens  to 
raise  a  regiment  and  to  march  to  the  front 
in   defence   of  his  country.     [Applause.] 
Like  Douglas,  he  believed  that  in  time  of 
war    men    must    be     either    patriots     or 
traitors,  and  he  threw  his  mighty  influence 
on  the  side  of  union,  and  Illinois  made  a 
record  second  to  none  in  the  history  of 
States  in  the  struggle  to  preserve  this  Gov- 
ernment.     [Applause.]     His  history  is  the 
record  of  the  battles  of  Belmont,  Donelson, 
Shiloh,    Vicksburg,    Lookout    Mountain, 
Atlanta  and  of  the  famous  march  to  the 
sea.     [Great  applause.]     He  never  lost  a 
battle.  [Applause].     J   repeat  again  Mr. 
Chairman  and  fellow  citizens  [applause], 
he  never  lost  a  battle  in  all  the  war.    [Ap 
plause].     When  there  was  fighting  to  be 
done  he  did  not  wait  for  others,  nor  did 
he  fail  to  obey  orders  when  they  were  re 
ceived.      His  plume,  the  white  plume  of 
Henry  of  Navarre,  was  always  to  be  seen 
at  the  point  where  the  battle  raged  the  hot 
test,  [Applause.]  During  the  long  struggle 
of  four  years,  he  commanded,  under  the 
authority  of  the  Government,  first  a  regi 
ment,  then  a  brigade,    then   a   division, 
then     an    army   corps,    and     finally  an 
army.     He  remained  in  the  service  until 
the  war  closed.      When,     at     the     head 
of    his  army,  with    the    scars   of    battle 
upon      him,      he     marched      into     the 
Capital      of      the      Nation     and,     with 
brave  men   with  whom  he  had  bled  on  a 
hundred  hard-fought  fields,  was  mustered 
out  of  the  service  under  the  very  shadow 
of  the  capitol  building  which  he  had  left, 
four  years  before  as  a  member  of  Congress 
to  go  and  fight  the  battles  of  his  country. 
When  the  war    was    over    and  general 
peace  victoriously  returned,  he  was  again 
nvited  by  his  fellow  citizens  to  take  his 
Dlace  in  the  councils  of  the  Nation.     In  a 
service  of  twenty  years  in  both  houses  of 
Congress,  he  has  shown  himself  to  be  no 
ess  able  and  distinguished  as  a  citizen 
han  he  was  renowned  as  a  soldier.     Con 
servative  in  the  advocacy  of  measures  in- 
olving  the  public  welfare,  ready  and  elo 
quent  in    debate,   fearless — yes,  I  repeat 


JOHN  A.   LOGAN. 


51 


again,  fearless — in  defense  of  the  rights  of 
the  weak  against  the  oppressions  of  the 
strong,  he  stands  to-day,  and  I  say  it 
without  disposition  to  take  one  laurel  from 
the  brow  of  those  men  whose  names  may 
be  presented  to  this  convention  ;  I  say  he 
stands  to-day,  in  my  judgment,  closer  to 
the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  this 
country  than  almost  any  other  man  now 
engaging  public  attention.  [Applause. 
No  man  has  done  more  in  defense  ol 
those  principles  which  have  given  life  and 
spirit  and  victory  to  the  Republican  party 
than  has  John  A.  Logan,  of  Illinois.  [Ap 
plause.]  In  all  that  goes  to  make  up  a 
brilliant  military  and  civil  career,  and  to 
commend  a  man  to  the  favor  of  the  peo 
ple,  he  whose  name  we.  have  presented 
here  to-night  has  shown  himself  to  be  the 
peer  of  the  best. 

His  Early  Life. 

It  is  difficult  in  a  short  sketch  to  give  a 
satisfactory  biography  of  one  whose  life 
has  been  so  eventful,  so  replete  with  in 
cident,  and  so  identified  with  the  history 
of  the  country,  as  his  life  has  been ;  one  of 
such  activity,  such  rapid  transitions,  and 
historic  situations.  It  is  impossible  under 
such  situations  to  do  justice  to  the  man, 
to  his  motives,  to  his  reputation,  or  to  pro 
perly  present  even  an  abstract  of  his  pub 
lic  record.  We  can  only  refer  to  the 
exalted  position  he  has  attained,  the  effect 
of  his  labors  in  behalf  of  his  country,  in 
the  halls  of  legislation  and  on  the  field  of 
battle. 

To  fully  abstract  the  story  of  his  life 
would  require  volumes,  to  speak  from  even 
the  impulse  of  popular  feeling  and  per 
sonal  admiration  would  be  a  eulogy  too 
flattering  for  the  cold  pages  of  a  biogra 
phical  sketch.  Hence  we  can  only  glance 
rapidly  at  the  boy,  the  rising  man,  the 
soldier  as  he  is  known  to  his  comrades 
and  his  friends,  and  the  statesman  as 
shown  by  the  records  of  that  august  body 
where  his  voice  has  been  heard  and  his 
votes  recorded. 

IliH  Early  History. 

General  John  A.  Logan,  the  Republican 
candidate  for  Vice  President  of  the  United 
States  is  now  in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his 
age,  having  been  born  in  Jackson  County. 


Illinois  on  the  9th,  of  February,  1826. 
His  parents  were  Irish,  or  at  least  were  so 
reputed  but  his  massive  face,  high  cheek 
bones,  dark  complexion  and  straight  black 
hair  give  him  so  typical  an  appearance  of 
an  Indian,  that  it  is  generally  supposed 
that  some  of  their  blood  courses  through  his 
veins.  His  father,  Dr.  John  Logan,  emi 
grated  from  Ireland  in  1823,  and  settled 
as  a  country  practitioner  near  Murphys- 
boro,  111.  He  prospered  in  what  was  then 
a  wild  country  and  in  1824  married  Eliza 
beth  Jenkins,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  who, 
two  years  later,  on  the  night  of  February  9, 
1826,  became  the  mother  of  the  present 
Republican  candidate  for  vice-president. 

Illinois  was  not  then  as  you  now  behold 
it,  dotted  over  with  splendid  cities, 
adorned  with  pregnant  fields,  and  check 
ered  with  railroads.  Half  a  century  has 
changed  it  from  a  wild  and  unsettled 
country  to  one  of  the  first  states  in  the 
union.  Hence  the  means  of  obtaining  an 
education  were  very  limited,  and  John 
was  taught  to  read  and  write  by  his  parents. 
His  father  was  a  practising  physician  and 
a  conspicuous  member  of  the  community 
in  which  he  lived,  and  the  stern  and  de 
termined  manner  of  General  Logan  is 
inherited  from  him. 

During  his  boyhood  he  was  given  such 
opportunities  for  an  education  as  were 
available,  so  that  by  the  time  he  was  ap 
proaching  his  majority  he  had  received  a 
fair  education,  and  had  read  many  of  the 
best  authors.  Works  of  history  and  biog 
raphy  were  his  favorites,  and  this  prefer 
ence  probably  led  him  to  devote  himself 
to  his  country,  and  to  emulate  the  great 
men  with  whose  lives  he  was  familiar. 
He  showed  an  individuality  of  character, 
and  a  disposition  to  push  things  at  an 
early  age,  and  he  became  an  acknowledged 
leader  amongst  boys  of  his  own  time.  That 
self-reliance  and  independence  of  action 
joined  with  a  personal  bravery  which 
have  made  him  a  name  in  his  manhood, 
showed  themselves  in  his  early  years. 
The  history  of  his  country  was  a  favorite 
study,  and  the  story  of  the  Revolutionary 
war  filled  him  with  youthful  valor,  so  emi 
nently  displayed  in  later  years. 

The  sparsely  settled  country  at  that 
early  day  furnished  very  limited  means  of 


52 


JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 


education.  The  now  splendid  system  of 
schools  in  the  State  was  then  in  its  infan 
cy,  and  the  future  warrior  and  statesman 
must  indeed  have  seen,  as  through  a 
glass,  darkly,  the  fruition  of  any  ambi 
tious  dreams  of  power  or  greatness,  honor 
or  fame  that  early  stirred  his  heart.  But 
in  his  case,  if  never  in  another,  the  boy 
was  truly  father  to  the  man.  With  the 
earnestness  of  purpose  and  the  never-ac 
knowledging  defeat  that  has  ever  charac 
terized  his  actions,  aided  by  natural  abil 
ity  of  the  highest  order,  he  set  his  mark 
and  struggled  unflinchingly  until  he 
reached  it — reached  beyond  it.  Thus,  he 
soon  became  noted  for  his  scholastic  tri 
umphs,  and  those  days  became  a  true  in 
dex  of  his  after  life. 

Strange  indeed  are  the  criticisms  in  re 
ference  to  his  education :  he  is  a  fair  lin 
guist,  having  studied  Greek,  Latin  and 
Spanish,  speaking  the  latter  fluently.  Pro 
ficient  in  his  studies,  he  would  have  won 
still  greater  honor  therein  had  not  "  the 
rustling  of  a  banner  and  the  rolling  of  a 
drum"  caught  eye  and  ear,  stirred  the 
positive  nature  to  its  very  centre  and 
awoke  still  more  enthusiastically  within  his 
breast  the  love  of  the  old  flag  which  in  late 
years  he  defended  through  many  a  danger, 
never  faltering,  never  wavering,  never 
doubtful  of  final  success  and  a  glorious 
vindication  of  the  equal  rights  of  man  and 
the  God-given  blessings  of  freedom  to  all. 

Service  in  the  Mexican  War. 

When  the  United  States  declared  war 
with  Mexico,  he  was  in  his  nineteenth 
year,  strong  and  robust  for  his  age,  and 
full  of  patriotic  fervor.  It  was  no  wonder 
then  that  he  responded  to  the  call  for 
men,  and  left  the  parental  home  to  battle 
for  his  country. 

The  very  first  important  movement  fired 
the  blood  of  JOHN  A.  LOGAN  and  quicken 
ed  resolution  into  action.  With  the  hardy 
and  loyal  sons  of  the  West,  with  full 
statured  men  both  in  body  and  mind,  he 
swung  into  line  as  a  private  soldier. 

His  first  public  service  was  in  the  war 
with  Mexico,  when  he  left  home  and  en 
listed  as  a  private  and  marched  to  the 
"  Halls  of  the  Montezumas."  Subse 
quently  he  was  promoted  to  the  lieuten 
ancy,  and  served  as  Adjutant  of  the  First 


Illinois  regiment.  From  this  position  he 
was  made  quartermaster,  in  which  capac 
ity  he  served  until  the  end  of  the  war.  He 
returned  with  his  regiment  to  his  native 
State,  where  he  was  mustered  out  of  the 
service,  and  became  a  private  citizen. 

It  is  not  unfitting  here  to  mention  an  in 
cident  of  his  early  life,  proving  as  it  does 
his  mental  stamina  and  firmness  of  pur 
pose.  Soon  after  he  had  been  elected 
Clerk  of  the  County  Court  he  entered  the 
office  of  his  uncle  one  day  and  surprised 
him  by  the  declaration  that  he  was  going 
to  resign.  From  this  purpose  he  could  not 
be  swerved.  He  had  already  mapped  out 
his  future,  the  study  of  law  included,  and 
determined  upon  a  full  term  of  scholar 
ship  at  Louisville,  Ky. 

Thus  much  of  generalities  and  statistical 
dates,  rather  than  of  the  man  and  his 
works ;  and  the  story  of  his  life  and  deeds 
naturally  separate  into  two  distinctive 
channels  though  pulsed  by  the  same 
springs  of  action  and  controlled  by  the 
same  motives,  cannot  be  described  to 
gether,  albeit  harmonious  in  love  of  coun 
try,  her  flag,  her  honor  and  her  laws,  and 
stretching  away  into  the  vast  fields  of 
public  comity,  cohesion,  jurisprudence, 
liberty,  reputation,  national  honor  and  na 
tional  greatness. 

Soon  after  he  commenced  the  study  of 
law  in  the  office  of  his  uncle,  Lieutenant 
Governor  Jenkins  of  Illinois.  Here  he 
proved  an  apt  and  careful  student.  He 
attended  law  lectures  at  Louisville  and  re 
ceived  his  diploma,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1851,  just  when  he  had  reached 
his  twenty-fifth  year.  He  at  once  entered 
into  practice,  and  his  ability  soon  attracted 
public  attention,  and  so  popular  did  he  be 
come,  that  he  had  followed  his  profession 
only  about  a  year  when  he  was  nominated 
and  elected  to  the  State  legislature,  where 
he  served  for  one  term,  and  was  then 
elected  prosecuting  attorney  for  the  Third 
Judicial  District  of  Illinois. 

He  was  re-elected  to  the  State  Legisla 
ture  in  1853,  1856,  and  1857,  and  was  pre 
sidential  elector  on  the  Buchanan  and 
Breckenridge  ticket. 

Mr.  Logan  was  a  leading  Democrat  when 
he  was  chosen  a  Presidential  Elector  in 
the  Buchanan  campaign. 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 


53 


His  record  in  the  state  legislature  gave 
him  a  still  greater  popularity, and  as  he  had 
served  his  constituents  so  well  in  that  ca 
pacity,  they  thought  him  worthy  of  a  wider 
and  more  honorable  field  of  labor.  Two 
years  later  he  was  sent  to  congress,  at  the 
same  time  Roscoe  Conkling  first  entered 
that  body.  Mr.  Logan  was  re-elected  in 
1860.  In  that  year  he  was  an  ardent  ad 
vocate  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas ;  and  he  ad 
dressed  a  mass  meeting  in  Cooper  Insti 
tute,  in  New-York  City,  in  behalf  of  the 
"  Little  Giant."  When  trouble  was  threat 
ened  in  the  South,  however,  he  openly 
avowed  his  intention  to  see  Mr.  Lincoln 
inaugurated  if  elected,  even  if  he  was  ob 
liged  to  shoulder  a  musket  and  go]  to 
Washington. 

'  As  a  Speaker. 

The  school  in  which  John  A.  Logan  was 
trained  for  the  bloodless  battles  of  the 
forum  that  have  made  his  name  famous  as 
a  debater  ;  for  the  striking  of  heavy  blows  ; 
for  impassioned,  and  at  times  ornate  elo 
quence,  clear  logic  and  exhaustive  argu 
ment  was  no  ordinary  one,  but  that  of  re 
markable  men. 

The  capital  of  Illinois  was  famous  even 
at  that  early  day  for  the  strength  and 
learning  of  its  bar ;  its  far-sighted  poli 
ticians  :  its  wit  keen  as  a  Toledo  blade. 
Men  since  known  in  every  land  and 
spoken  of  with  intense  admiration  and 
deepest  reverence  by  every  tongue,  had 
their  homes  there  and  in  their  future  wan 
derings  never  had  to  bow  the  knee  to  in 
tellectual  masters  ;  men  who  lived  in  the 
times  that  tested  manhood  to  the  utter 
most; 

"Men  who  their  duties  know, 

But  knoro  their  rights,  and  knowing,  dare  main 
tain" 

Lincoln,  the  ever-to-be-remembered  and 
mourned ;  the  man  of  iron  will,  but 
woman's  tender  heart ;  the  man  possessed 
of  the  rare  gift  and  knowledge  of  common 
sense,  though  "not  a  soldier  of  the  classics ;" 
the  sound  lawyer  ;  the  honest  advocate ;  the 
impressive  speaker ;  the  breaker  of  bonds 
and  the  apostle  of  Emancipation  was 
there. 

Douglas,  powerful,  self-reliant,  massive 
in  eloquence,  in  fact,  argument  and  illus 
tration  ;  dauntless  in  his  championship 


of  what  he  considered  right ;  unswerving 
in  his  love  for  the  law  and  the  Union, 
though  he  saw  ahead  the  political  ship 
wreck  of  his  most  cherished  ambition  ;  the 
cool,  clear-headed  defender  of  the  Consti 
tution  and  its  most  able  interpreter  since 
Webster,  was  there. 

Stephen  T.  Logan,  the  living  lexicon  of 
law  and  logic ;  who  fully  comprehended 
that  "  reason  is  the  life  of  the  law :  nay, 
the  common  law  itself  is  nothing. else  but 
reason ;"  the  man  bitter  in  sarcasm,  with 
lips  to  thunder  anathema  or  melt  to  tears 
of  pity,  regret  and  remorse  ;  the  lawyer  to 
whom  the  Bench  could  give  no  new  honors 
was  there,  grand  in  the  firmness  and  purity 
of  his  character  and  with  integrity  never 
challenged. 

And  others  well  worthy  of  the  bright 
companionship  were  there,  but  we  cannot 
call  the  roll.  It  would  be  a  summoning 
the  dead  and  making  the  halls  of  Spring 
field  ring  with  eloquence  as  it  is  never 
likely  to  do  again.  It  was  a  gathering  of 
giants ;  of  men  of  learning,  nerve,  prin 
ciple  and  stern  devotion  to  their  country 
and  its  laws,  as  later  years  brightly,  but 
sadly  proved.  It  was  a  school  where  none 
but  the  fittest  could  survive  and  genius, 
study  and  eloquence  were  strained  to  the 
utmost  to  "keep  the  pace  :"  where  the  en 
counters  were  fierce  and  he  who  kept  his 
shield  unbeaten  down,  who  fell  not  in  the 
struggle,  must  possess  all  the  best  and 
most  brilliant  elements  of  manhood  and 
would  be  forearmed  for  anything  that 
might  come  in  the  forensic  arena  of  the 
future. 

It  was  surrounded  by  such  men  and 
with  their  precepts  and  examples  before 
him,  that  John  A.  Logan  grew  into  the  full 
stature  of  manhood  mentally  and  phy 
sically  and  learned  "that  chastity  of 
honor  which  felt  a  stain  like  a  blow,"  and 
arly  in  life  (as  previously  remarked)  he 
was  called  to  serve  client  and  country  in 
court  and  legislative  hall.  Early,  too,  he 
revealed  the  metal  of  which  he  was  made 
and  the  temper  of  the  blade  he  used  for 
attack  and  defense  as  occasion  required 
and  which  his  enemies  have  learned  bears 
a  keen  and  a  cutting  edge. 

To  gather  his  speeches  and  from  them 
massed,   form   any  judgment  of  his   ca- 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 


pability,  truth,  justice,  inflexibility  of  pur 
pose,  correctness  of  judgment  and  claim 
to  far  more  than  ordinary  elocutionary 
gifts,  is  beyond  our  power  or  purpose.  He 
accomplished  the  end  in  view  when  deliv 
ered,  were  the  inspiration  of  the  hour 
and  their  echoes  (for  the  most  part)  have 
become  lost  save  as  they  are  now  and  then 
awakened  in  the  chambers  of  some  reten 
tive  memory. 

Private  at  Bull  Ron. 

During  the  year  1858  Mr.  Logan  was 
elected  member  of  Congress  from  the  Ninth 
district  of  Illinois,  in  the  Thirty-sixth  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States,  and  took  his 
seat  in  December,  1859.  His  term  of 
office  expired  March  3,  1861,  and,  having 
obtained  a  re-election  during  1860,  he  was 
entitled  to  take  his  seat  during  the  Thirty- 
seventh  Congress,  but  resigned  to  take 
part  in  putting  down  the  great  rebellion. 

He  attended  the  extra  session  of  Con 
gress  called  in  July,  1861,  to  meet  the  exi 
gencies  of  the  hour.  Troops  had  been 
called  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  rebel 
lion,  and  the  75,000  men  called  for  by 
President  Lincoln  were  marching  to  the 
.field.  An  army  had  already  reached  Wash 
ington  and  were  crossing  the  Potomac. 

Logan  could  no  longer  restrain  his  pa 
triotic  feeling  and  so  in  July,  1861,  he 
left  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Representives 
and  joined  the  Union  Army  on  its  way 
to  the  Initial  Battle  of  the  war  at  Bull  Run. 
He  took  a  hand  in  that  disastrous  conflict 
and  was  one  of  the  last  men  to  leave  the 
bloody  field. 

Filled  with  patriotic,  zeal,  he  returned  to 
Congress  after  that  battle,  and  urged  upon 
the  government  the  necessity  of  raising  a 
sufficient  force  to  put  down  the  rebels  in 
arms.  He  then,  at  the  close  of  the  session, 
went  to  his  native  State  and  energetically 
called  upon  his  countrymen  to  rally  around 
the  flag  of  their  country  and  to  put  down 
the  rebellion.  The  citizens  of  his  district 
readily  responded  to  the  call,  and  the 
Thirty-first  regiment  of  Illinois  volunteers 
was  raised  and  organized  at  Cairo  on  Sep 
tember  1 8,  1861.  Mr.  Logan  was  chosen 
as  the  colonel  of  his  regiment,  with  a  com 
mission  dating  from  August  10,  1861. 
Shortly  after  its  organization  his  regiment 


figured  in  the  sanguinary  battle  of  Bel- 
mont.  He  was  at  the  capture  of  Fort 
Henry,  and  with  several  hundred  cavalry 
pursued  and  captured  eight  of  the  enemy's 
guns.  He  also  took  an  active  part  in  the 
reduction  of  Fort  Donelson.  In  this  en 
gagement  Colonel  Logan  was  severely 
wounded  in  the  left  arm  and  shoulder,  but 
held  his  position  until  reinforcements  ar 
rived.  Shortly  after  he  was  attacked  with 
a  serious  illness,  and  for  some  time  hopes 
of  his  recovery  were  given  up. 

General. 

On  the  5th  of  March,  1883,  he  was  con 
firmed  brigadier-general,  and  soon  after 
reported  to  General  Grant  at  Pittsburg 
Landing.  Since  then  he  figured  in  all 
important  movements.  On  August  26  he 
was  placed  in  command  of  the  forces  at 
Jackson,  Tenn.  In  the  movement  into 
Mississippi  he  commanded  a  division  in 
the  right  wing,  and  afterward  one-  in  the 
Seventeenth  corps  under  General  McPher- 
son.  In  the  spring  of  1863  he  was  con 
firmed  a  major-general  of  volunteers,  with 
rank  from  November  29,  1862.  During 
General  Grant's  rapid  movements  from 
Grand  Gulf  to  Jackson  in  May,  1863,  he 
was  continually  in  the  advance,  and 
occupied  the  Mississippi  capital.  Again, 
at  Champion  Hills  he  distinguished  him 
self,  and  also  at  the  storming  of  Vicks- 
burg,  May  22,  1863.  When  the  rebel 
stronghold  was  surrendered  General 
Logan's  forces  had  awarded  to  them  the 
post  of  honor — namely,  the  occupying  of 
the  surrendered  city — and  General  Logan 
was  made  Military  Governor  from  July  4, 
1863.  He  afterward  returned  North,  where 
he  addressed  large  assemblies,  stating 
that  he  had  always  been  a  democrat,  but 
as  the  peace  of  the  country  could  not  be 
restored  without  the  extinction  of  slavery 
he  advocated  that  policy.  Having  ad 
ministered  the  duties  of  his  position  at 
Vicksburg  for  some  time  longer,  he,  at 
his  own  request  for  more  active  duty,  was 
once  more  placed  in  the  field.  On  the 
2/th  of  October,  1863,  the  President  ap 
pointed  Major-General  John  A.  Logan  to 
the  command  of  the  Fifteenth  Army 
Corps,  thereby  relieving  Major-General 
Francis  P.  Blair,  who  was  sent  to  take  his 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 


55 


seat  in  Congress  as  the  representative  of 
the  First  District  of  Illinois.  He  suc 
ceeded  Sherman  at  the  head  of  the  Fif 
teenth  Army  Corps  in  November,  1863, 
and  when  McPherson  lost  his  life  on  the 
22d  of  July,  Logan  succeeded  him  and 
commanded  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee 
with  the  same  ability  and  success  which 
had  characterized  his  command  of  smaller 
numbers.  He  was  with  Sherman  on  his 
"  March  to  the  Sea,"  remaining  with  him 
until  Johnston's  surrender.  From  the 
close  of  the  war  until  1871  he  occupied 
various  positions  of  honor,  which  attended 
his  frequent  elections  as  Representative 
in  his  State  and  at  Washington.  In  1871, 
and  again  in  1879,  ^e  was  Senator  from 
Illinois.  Senator  Logan  has  played  a 
brilliant  part  in  the  political  history  of  the 
United  States  during  the  last  twenty-five 
years. 

A   Pen.  Picture  of   Logan. 

In  manners  and  demeanor,  General 
Logan  is  a  true  type  of  a  gentleman.  He 
is  quick  in  speech  and  motion,  and  exhibits 
a  brightly  nervous  temperament,  and  yet 
when  called  upon  to  decide  or  express  an 
opinion,  he  is  cool,  cautious  and  exceed 
ingly  guarded  in  his  expressions.  Having 
once  formed  an  opinion  he  formulates  in 
sentences  so  clear,  bold  and  positive,  that 
no  man  can  doubt  their  meaning.  His 
military  training  has  given  him  a  discipline 
of  mind  and  action  that  in  all  his  posi 
tions,  shows  the  soldier.  He  is  always 
punctual  to  his  appointments,  and  though 
slow  to  promise,  he  makes  it  a  point  to  keep 
those  made,  He  has  a  regard  for  time, 
and  when  a  particular  hour  is  suggested 
it  means  "sharp"  to  the  minute.  In  the 
Senate  he  is  deliberate  and  dignified, 
courteous  and  affable,  and  probably  no 
member  of  that  body  is  more  popular  with 
his  fellow  Senators  than  General  Logan. 

In  the  heat  of  debate  he  is  bold  and  ag 
gressive,  striking  his  adversaries  with  his 
heaviest  blows,  but  when  the  contest  is 
ended,  whether  in  victory  or  defeat,  he  re 
laxes  into  the  genial  man  as  though  noth 
ing  had  brought  him  into  contact  with  his 
peers.  Outside  of  his  official  position  he  is 
a  most  companionable  gentleman,  and  he 
ornaments  the  social  circle  with  his  flashes  of 
wit  and  versatile  powers  of  entertainment. 


Logan  a*  a  Democrat. 

General  Logan  was  a  Democrat,  and 
held  his  seat  by  virtue  of  a  Democratic 
constituency.  He  had  been  reared  in  that 
school  of  political  faith,  and  honestly  advo 
cated  its  principles.  He  could  not  believe 
that  the  mutterings  that  threatened  a  com 
ing  danger  would  really  come  to  a  bloody 
crisis.  But  when  the  overt  act  was  com 
mitted — when  a  part  of  the  nation  stood 
committed  to  break  asunder  the  bond  of 
national  unity,  and  when  the  call  rang 
throughout  the  country  to  defend  and  pro 
tect  the  constitution  and  the  government, 
he  broke  the  bonds  of  party,  renounced 
his  allegiance  to  Democratic  policy,  and  ex 
changing  the  politician  for  the  patriot  states 
man,  he  stood  forth  for  the  national  cause. 

He  entered  the  army  in  August,  1861, 
and  at  once  repaired  to  his  native  state  to 
raise  a  regiment.  He  had  been  com 
missioned  as  Colonel  for  this  purpose,  and 
he  lost  no  time  in  accomplishing  his  missior. 
With  the  prestige  of  Mexican  renown, 
Colonel  Logan  had  little  difficulty  in  gath 
ering  hardy  and  brave  men  around  his 
standard.  The  same  patriotic  spirit  fired 
their  hearts  as  when  the  second  call  for 
three  hundred  thousand  soldiers  was 
issued  and  Illinois  filled  her  quota  within 
thirteen  days,  notwithstanding  she  had  to 
her  credit  sixteen  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  seventy-eight  men  in  excess  of  former 
demands. 

The  movements  of  "the  'war  were  rapid 
and  incisive.  But  it  is  not  our  province 
to  follow  them  save  as  they  throw  light 
upon  the  career  of  the  brave  soldier  whose 
history  we  are  briefly  relating  and  which, 
at  the  best  must  be  fragmentary  and  do 
ing  little  justice  to  one  who  has  long  filled 
the  public  eye  and  won  the  heart  alike  of 
soldier  and  of  civilian. 

The  battle  of  Fort  Henry  resulted  in 
the  first  decisive  victory  of  Union  troops 
upon  Western  waters,  and  the  cry  of 
"On  to  Donelson "  rang  from  every 
lip.  Logan  was  then  with  his  daunt 
less  3 ist,  and  his  heart  thrilled  with  joy  at 
beholding  the  evidences  of  loyalty  among 
the  people  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky, 
and  he  hailed  as  a  bright  omen  the  tears 
of  gladness  shed  at  the  sight  of  the  dear 
old  flag. 


56 


JOHN  A.   LOGAN. 


The  attack  upon  and  surrender  of  Fort 
Donelson  have  been  too  often  and  faith 
fully  pictured,  and  are  too  fresh  in  mem 
ory  to  be  repainted  here.  It  was  a  wild 
and  bloody  contest  and  fought  without 
thought  of  self.  Stubbornly,  gallantly, 
enthusiastically  was  the  battle  waged,  each 
taking  a  fallen  comrade's  place  until  the 
end  came  with  a  surging  bayonet  charge, 
and  above  the  Rebel  ramparts  the  Union 
banner  was  flung  to  the  breeze.  The  terms 
of  "  unconditional  and  immediate  sur 
render  "were  forced  to  acceptance,  and 
upon  Sunday  morning,  February  16,  1862, 
Donelson,  of  boasted  strength,  was  given 
over  to  the  boys  in  blue. 

The  annals  of  the  war  speak  of  General 
Logan  as  being  where  danger  was  the 
greatest  and  the  blows  of  death  the  thick 
est  and  most  heavy,  and  no  name  is  in 
scribed  more  brightly  upon  the  roll  of 
honor  of  Donelson. 

The  first  engagement  in  which  he  and 
his  command  participated  was  the  battle  of 
Belmont,  in  November  of  the  same  year, 
when  his  ability  as  a  commander,  and  his 
dash  and  intrepidity,  foreshadowed  the 
fact  that  he  was  to  play  a  conspicuous 
part  in  the  operations  of  the  army.  He 
participated  in  the  movements  at  Fort 
Henry,  and  was  present  at  the  battle  of 
Fort  Donelson,  where  he  received  a 
severe  wound,  and  did  not  rejoin  his  com 
mand  until  some  weeks  afterwards,  on  the 
evening  of  the  last  day  of  the  battle  of 
Shiloh.  On  March  3,  1862,  he  was  made 
Brigadier  General  and  participated  in  the 
siege  of  Corinth  as  commander  of  the 
First  Brigade  in  General  Judah's  division 
or  the  right  wing  of  the  army,  and  for  his 
valiant  services  was  publicly  thanked  by 
General  Sherman  in  his  official  report. 

Logan's  Popularity,  and  What  Made  It. 

The  following  presentation  of  General 
Logan  to  his  people,  is  both  deserved  and 
eloquent : 

"  And  then  the  soldier  vote — that  vote 
which  is  cast  not  alone  by  the  soldiers 
themselves,  but  by  their  relatives  and  all 
whom  they  can  influence  as  well — that 
prodigious  vote  which  safely  goes  into  the 
millions — do  we  not  know  that  it  would  all 
be  brought  out  and  go  solidly  for  Logan, 
the  soldiers'  friend  par  excellence.  How 


they  would  come  out  and  work  in  a  cam 
paign  with  him  for  their  leader !  Not  a 
soul  of  them  will  forget  how  he  has 
worked  year  in  and  year  out  for  them  in 
both  branches  of  Congress  in  the  matter 
of  pensions,  arrears  of  pensions,  and 
equalization  of  bounties;  nor  how,  regard 
less  of  time,  trouble  and  expense,  he  has 
corresponded  with  them  and  urged  their 
cases  to  prompt  settlement;  nor  how  no 
crippled  soldier  nor  soldier's  widow  nor 
orphan  has  ever  appealed  to  him  for  help, 
so  far  as  it  was  possible  for  him  to  help,  in 
vain.  Letters  by  the  hundreds — not  from 
Illinois  only,  but  from  all  parts  of  the 
Union — come  in  his  daily  mail  from  the 
soldiers  or  their  survivors,  and  force  him 
to  keep  several  clerks  to  attend  to  them. 
These  things  will  not  be  forgotten  by  the 
old  soldiers.  They  will  remember,  if  no 
one  else  does,  how  he  fought  in  the 
Mexican  War:  how,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  rebellion,  he  left  his  seat  of  safety  in 
Congress,  joined  the  troops  on  their  way 
to  the  first  Bull  Run  as  a  private,  and  was 
among  the  last  to  leave  that  disastrous 
field ;  how,  as  Colonel  of  the  31  st  Illinois, 
during  a  successful  bayonet  charge  on  the 
Rebel  position  at  Belmont,  his  horse  was 
shot  from  under  him ;  how,  at  Fort  Donel 
son,  where  he  led  the  victorious  charge — 
and  out  of  606  men  of  his  regiment  who 
shared  in  it,  but  303  answered  to  their 
names  the  next  morning — he  was  severely 
wounded;  how,  with  wounds  still  un- 
healed,  having  joined  General  Grant  at 
Pittsburgh  Landing  as  a  Brigadier-General, 
he  declined  a  renomination  for  Congress 
in  these  memorable  words:  "I  have  en 
tered  the  field  to  die,  if  need  be,  for  this 
Government,  and  never  expect  to  return 
to  peaceful  pursuits  until  the  object  of  thin 
war  of  preservation  has  become  a  fact  es 
tablished  ;"  how,  in  Grant's  Northern  Mis 
sissippi  campaign,  he  commanded  a  divi 
sion  of  McPherson's  Seventeenth  Army 
Corps  with  such  conspicuous  military 
prowess  and  ability  as  to  earn  the  stars  of 
a  Major-General ;  how  his  military  renown 
grew  with  each  of  the  many  marches 
through  scorching  sun  and  over  burning 
sands,  and  each  of  the  many  bloody 
battles  before  Vicksburg  ;  how  in  the  ter 
rible  assaults  upon  that  "  Gibraltar  of  the 


JOHN  A.   LOGAN. 


57 


Mississippi" — whose  bluffs  were  "stud 
ded  with  batteries  and  seamed  with  rifle- 
pits  " — his  signal  valor  was  known  of  all ; 
and  how  it  was  Logan's  column  that  was 
the  first  to  enter  that  great  conquered  fort 
ress.  They  will  remember  his  succeeding 
General  Sherman  in  the  command  of  the 
Fifteenth  Army  Corps — the  corps  which 
Grant  himself  had  commanded — the  corps 
which  by  Logan's  order  adopted  as  their 
corps-badge  a  cartridge-box  with  the  sig 
nificant  legend  "Forty  Rounds  '? — and 
how  gallantly  he  led  the  advance  of  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee  at  Resaca,  re 
pulsed  Hardee  at  Dallas,  and  dislodged 
the  enemy  from  his  fortifications  at  Kene- 
saw  Mountain,  amid  blood  and  sweat,  and 
slaughter.  He  was  no  carpet-knight — no 
knight  of  the  white  feather — but  ever  in 
the  thickest  of  the  fray  his  victorious 
raven  plume  was  seen.  *' 

At  Hit   Battle    of  Atlanta. 

The  battle  of  Atlanta  (or  Peachtree 
Creek),  the  bloodiest  fought  in  the  West, 
was  one  of  the  decisive  battles  of  the  war. 
Those  of  them  who  were  there  will  never 
forget  it — nor  Logan,  their  triumphant 
chieftain.  It  was  the  22d  of  July,  1864. 
Hood  had  succeeded  Johnston,  and  Mc- 
Pherson,  finding  himself  flanked,  was  rid 
ing  to  the  left,  when  he  met  his  death. 
The  command  of  the  flanked  Army  of  the 
Tennessee  at  once  devolved  on  Logan. 
Surgeon  Welch,  of  the  53d  Illinois,  de 
scribes  the  panic  which  at  once  seized  the 
Seventeenth  Army  Corps,  and  continues : 
"General  Logan,  who  then  took  com 
mand,  on  that  famous  black  stallion  of  his, 
became  a  flame  of  fire  and  fury,  yet  keep 
ing  wondrous  methods  in  his  inspired 
madness.  He  was  everywhere  ;  his  horse 
covered  with  foam,  and  himself  hatless 
and  begrimed  with  dirt;  perfectly  com 
prehending  the  position ;  giving  sharp 
orders  to  officers  as  he  met  them,  and 
planting  himself  firmly  in  front  of  fleeing 
columns,  with  revolver  in  hand,  threaten 
ing,  in  tones  not  to  be  mistaken,  to  fire 
into  the  advance  did  they  not  instantly 
halt  and  form  in  order  of  battle.  '  He 
spake,  and  it  was  done.'  .  .  .  The  battle 
was  resumed  in  order  and  with  fury — a 
tempest  of  thunder  and  fire — a  hailstorm 
of  shot  and  shell.  And  when  night  closed 


down  the  battle  was  ended,  and  we  were 
masters  of  the  field."  Some  of  the  regi 
ments  that  went  into  that  sanguinary  con 
flict  strong  came  out  with  but  thirty  men, 
and  another  which  went  in  in  the  morning 
with  200  men  came  out  with  but  fifteen  ! 
But  thousands  of  the  enemy  bit  the  dust 
that  day,  and  though  compelled  to  fight  in 
front  and  rear  our  arms  were  crowned  with 
victory.  Then  came  Jonesboro  and  com 
plete  route  for  the  enemy,  the  blowing  up 
of  his  magazines,  and  the  evacuation  of 
Atlanta,  "the  last  stronghold  of  the  West." 
His  corps,  also  under  Sherman,  participa 
ted  in  the  famous  "March  to  the  Sea." 
His  military  record  would  fill  a  volume. 
In  all  his  brilliant  career  he  never  suffered 
defeat.  It  has  been  well  said  of  him  that 
to  his  soldiers  he  was  "  an  inspiration — a 
prophecy  of  success ;  they  believed  him 
invincible." 

His  Promotion. 

Another  point  in  the  military  career  of 
General  Logan  stands  out  in  bold  relief, 
greatly  to  his  credit,  and  showing  the  esti 
mation  in  which  he  was  held  by  those  in 
authority  who  sou  ght  for  the  best  possible 
material  to  place  in  command  when  the 
dismemberment  of  the  Union  was  threat 
ened  and  the  speedy  ending  of  the  fratri 
cidal  and  unnatural  war  was  a  "  consum 
mation  most  devoutly  to  be  wished."  It 
is  this  :  General  Logan  was  the  one  and 
only  exception  to  the  rule  :  was  the  single 
instance  in  which  a  volunteer  officer, 
who  had  risen  from  a  private  to  the  rank 
of  Major- General,  ever  commanded  an 
army. 

General  Summary. 

The  following  summary  exhibits  in  one 
paragraph,  the  political  and  military  posi 
tions  held  by  General  John  A.  Logan,  and 
they  illustrate  what  an  amount  can  be  per 
formed  by  one  man. 

In  the  fall  of  the  year  (1852)  he  was 
chosen  to  represent  the  counties  of  Frank 
lin  and  Jackson  in  the  legislature  and  re- 
elected  in  1856.  He  was  in  1853  appointed 
Prosecuting  Attorney,  retaining  the  office 
until  the  fall  of  1856  ;  the  same  year  was 
chosen  a  Presidential  elector  and  elected 
to  the  XXXVIth  and  XXXVIIth  Cong- 
resses,  resigning  to  enter  the  Union  Army, 
carrying  a  musket  in  the  first  battle  of  Bull 


58 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 


Run  ;  fighting  through  the  war  of  the  Re 
bellion  and  reaching  the  rank  of  Major- 
General  and  commanded  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee  at  the  close  of  the  war ;  he  was 
appointed  in  1865  Minister  to  Mexico,  but 
declined;  was  elected  in  1866  Congress- 
man-at- Large  ;  was  elected  to  this  position 
three  times,  then  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate  to  succeed  the  Hon.  Richard 
Yates  from  March  4,  1871  to  March  3, 
1877.  He  resumed  the  practice  of  his  pro 
fession  for  a  time,  and  was  replaced  in  the 
United  States  Senate  to  succeed  the  Hon. 
R.  J.  Oglesby,  and  took  his  seat  March 
1 8,  1879,  m's  term  °f  service  expiring 
March  3,  1885. 

As  chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee 
on  Military  Affairs,  an  influential  member 
of  the  Judiciary  and  Appropriation  Com 
mittees  he  has  more  than  enough  to  oc 
cupy  his  time  even  were  the  hours  quad 
rupled.  But  this  is  very  far  from  being 
all.  Early  and  late  his  house  is  crowded 
with  people  seeking  advice  and  aid  in 
every  possible  shape — seeking  position  and 
money.  And  to  those  in  the  ordinary  walks 
of  business  his  daily  mail  would  not  only 
be  a  wonder,  but  a  terror,  when  the  labor 
of  answering  became  apparent.  The  word 
"  immense  "  (comparatively  used)  is  the 
most  fitting  to  convey  an  idea  of  its  mag 
nitude.  And  the  replying  is  not  simply  a 
matter  of  aye  or  nay.  It  frequently  in 
volves  intricate  points  of  law  and  practice 
before  the  various  departments  ;  the  min 
ute  searching  of  records ;  involves  thought, 
study,  investigation,  abstruse  calculations, 
personal  attention  and  monied  expense — 
never  repaid.  But  with  General  LOGAN 
nothing  suffers  neglect.  The  poor  man  is 
as  welcome  as  he  who  conies  "  clad  in 
purple  and  fine  linen,"  and  his  cause  held 
even  more  sacred. 

Yet  there  is  another  point  so  clearly 
demonstrated  by  these  masterly  efforts  that 
we  cannot  pass  it  unnoticed.  It  is  the  per 
fectly  clean  life-record  of  the  man.  During 
all  his  years  the  honesty  of  General  LOGAN 
has  never  been  questioned  or  slurred 
Politically  or  privately  there  has  never 
been  found  stain  or  blemish,  and  none 
have  even  been  hinted  at.  No  public 
trust  has  ever  been  betrayed  by  him.  He 
has  stood  sternly  and  completely  aloof 


rom  all  of  public  or  private  jobbery.  His 
statesmanship  and  his  personal  character 
iave  alike  been  pure,  and  his  every 
official  act  done  for  the  benefit  of  his  con 
stitution  and  his  country.  His  labors  have 
been  excessive,  heavy,  engrossing.  He 
tias  given  the  best  of  his  years  and  talents 
to  the  end  for  which  he  was  elected,  not 
the  accumulation  of  wealth  by  question 
able  methods,  and  stands  to-day  with  un- 
defiled  hands  and  untarnished  honor,  a 
living  and  a  striking  proof  of  the  power  to 
resist  sordid  temptation,  rise  superior  to 
selfish  ends  and  to  live  for  the  greatest 
good  and  the  highest  glory  of  his  native 
land  and  mankind. 

That  this  statement  is  true  in  its  fullest 
and  most  comprehensive  sense,  those  who 
have  the  entre  of  his  home  and  share 
his  confidence  will  attest.  Very  few  have 
such  privileges  and  therefore  very  few  are 
in  a  situation  to  rightly  judge  how  arduous 
has  been  his  toil,  and  how  unrepaid,  ex 
cept  in  that  reward  which  follows  the 
doingjof  good  deeds  and  the  keeping  of  the 
golden  rule.  • 

Fitz  John  Porter  Case. 

No  matter  brought  before  the  XLVIIth 
and  XLVIIIth  Congresses  attracted  more 
attention  than  the  bill  to  reinstate  Fitz 
John  Porter ;  had  in  it  more  the  sugges 
tions  of  discord,  and  aroused  more  of  pas 
sionate  feeling.  It  was  a  question  that  had 
been  discussed  by  all  prominent  men, 
polititicians  especially ;  every  soldier  from 
the  commander-in-chief  to  the  rank-and- 
file  had  made  it  a  study  ;  every  newspaper 
in  the  land  had  advocated  one  side  or  the 
other  ;  the  great  majority  were  committed 
by  strongly  expressed  opinions  and  poli 
tics  becoming  involved,  the  action  of  one 
party  was  as  a  unit  in  favor  of  the  passage 
of  the  bill  on  the  other,  with  but  a  few 
remarkable  and  scarcely-to-be-accounted- 
for  exceptions,  opposed^to  it. 

And  farther  than  any  merely  local  or 
personal  bearing,  it  contained  the  decision 
of  a  court-martial ;  of  the  right  of  Con 
gress  to  decide  whether  or  no  the  said 
court-martial  had  exceeded  its  powers  and 
jurisdiction,  and,  if  so,  what  authority  Con 
gress  could  confer  upon  the  President  of 
the  United  States  to  restore  tarnished 


JOHN  A.   LOGAN. 


honor  and  pay  for  pecuniary  losses  sus 
tained. 

And  still  further  it  reopened,  as  it  were, 
the  history  of  the  latest  war,  and  touched 
again  with  bitterness  the  causes  and  effects 
that  had  been  laid  to  rest ;  re-venomed 
many  an  unpoisoned  sting  ;  tore  asunder 
scarcely  healed  wounds,  and  forced  men 
into  partisanship  from  which  they  would 
gladly  have  withdrawn  and  totally  ignored. 

It  was  when  the  pulse  of  the  country 
was  thus  beating  at  fever  heat  that  General 
Logan  defended  a  principle  ;  opposed  the 
establishment  of  a  dangerous  and  wrong 
precedent ;  upheld  the  decree  of  justice, 
even  if  stern  ;  fortified  the  high  position 
of  every  honest  and  brave  soldier  and, 
indirectly,  but  gloriously  and  with  reverend 
homage,  upheld  the  name  and  deeds  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  the  man  who  had  "  as 
cended  the  ladder  of  fame  so  high,  from 
the  round  at  the  top  he  stepped  to  the 
sky,"  and  won  a  crown  immortal  by  a 
martyr's  baptism.  (Also  the  sacred  mem 
ory  of  the  lamented  Garfield,  who  was  a 
member  of  the  court-martial.) 

Arrayed  against  General  LOGAN  were 
talent,  learning,  eloquence,  rank,  and 
wealth.  He  swept  them  aside  with  a 
breath  ;  silenced  into  the  lowest  of  mur 
murs  malicious  insinuations  and  false  testi 
mony  ;  overturned  the  most  carefully  con 
structed  theories;  exposed  the  fallacy  of 
worn-thread-bare  arguments;  winnowed 
the  false  from  the  true,  and  won  greater 
renown  than  ever  before. 

He  knew  better  than  any  man.  for  he 
had  the  best  opportunity  for  so  doing,  the 
magnitude  of  the  task  he  had  undertaken  ; 
the  target  he  made  of  himself  for  those  who 
stab  in  the  back  and  dark,  and  who  shoot 
venomed  arrows  from  behind  ambushes. 
Yet  he  shrank  not  and  was  more  than 
equal  to  the  emergency.  More  because  a 
far  less  powerful  and  testimony-sustained 
argument  at  every  point  would  have  made 
him  triumphant,  and  caused  him  to  be 
fully  sustained  (as  he  was)  by  the  verdict 
of  all  unbiased,  thinking  people. 

The  corner-stones  upon  which  the  entire 
elaborate  speech  was  constructed  were  but 
two,  and  contained  the  simple  proposi 
tions:  "First,  what  is  the  law;  second 
what  is  the  evidence  applicable  to  that 


law  for  this  tribunal  to  examine."  These 
were  the  words  of  General  Logan  ;  his 
brief,  but  comprehensive  statement  of  the 
case,  and  upon  them  was  builded  the  or 
thographic  structure  that  for  five  days  held 
Congress,  as  is  rarely  done  in  the  first  in 
stance  and  hours  in  the  second.  And  the 
closing  of  the  latter  is  so  eloquent  and 
true  that  we  cannot  refrain  from  repro 
ducing  it  here  : 

"  If  this  act  of  wrong,  as  I  deem  it,  shall 
be  perpetrated  by  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  it  will  be  declaring  that 
those  who  failed  in  the  hour  of  trial  are 
those  who  shall  be  honored  in  the  hour 
of  triumph ;  it  will  be  declaring  to  the 
world  that  the  record  of  those  in  the 
Army  who  failed  at  the  important  time  is 
as  good  as  those  who  sustained  the  Gov 
ernment  ;  that  the  honor  and  glory  of  the 
whole  Army  of  the  United  States  shall  not 
be  maintained  alone  by  the  honors  it  won, 
but  shall  be  maintained  by  the  honors  lost 
by  its  unworthy  members.  When  we  re 
turned  to  our  homes  and  our  peaceful  pur 
suits,  when  the  armies  of  a  million  of 
men  melted  away  into  the  paths  of  peace, 
we  then  expected,  and  ought  to  expect 
now,  that  nothing  would  be  done  by  Con 
gress  at  least  that  would  mar  that  thought 
that  should  be  in  every  man's  mind,  that 
equality  and  justice  should  be  done  to  all 
according  to  the  laws  and  Constitution  of 
our  land,  that  justice  should  be  done  the 
living  and  that  justice  also  should  be 
meted  out  to  the  reputation  of  the  dead. 

"  So,  then,  for  the  honor  of  this  Nation 
let  not  its  representatives  mar  the  re 
cord  that  loyalty  made  in  behalf  of  this 
Government  and  for  the  benefit  of  this 
people. 

"  I  have  deemed  it  to  be  my  duty  as  a 
member  of  this  body  to  oppose  at  all 
times  a  proposition  of  this  character,  be 
cause  I  believe  it  to  be  wrong  in  theory 
and  certainly  wrong  in  practice.  I  be 
lieve  it  will  demoralize  the  Army  and  have 
a  demoralizing  effect  upon  the  country. 

I  say  in  all  kindness  to  the  other  side  ot 
this  chamber  (it  will  perhaps  have  no  ef 
fect,)  your  course,  assisted  by  a  few  of  our 
side  in  this  case,  will  prevent  the  people  of 
this  country,  as  long  as  they  shall  proceed 
in  this  way,  from  having  confidence  that 


60 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 


you  intend  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the 
Government  fairly.  The  opening  of  the 
doors  for  Fitz-John  Porter  does  not  mean 
Fitz-John  Porter.  It  means  breaking  down 
the  barrier,  the  wall  between  the  good  and 
the  bad  and  those  who  failed  in  time  of 
trial  and  those  who  did  their  duty.  It 
means  opening  the  door  on  the  retired-list 
to  Porter  and  to  other  men  who  failed  us 
in  our  trials  who  shall  follow  in  his  wake. 
It  means  more.  I  do  not  care  what  a  few 
gentlemen  who  were  in  the  Union  Army 
may  say,  I  do  not  care  what  a  few  gentle 
men  who  were  not  in  the  Union  Army 
may  say  ;  but  the  great  body  of  the  Ame 
rican  people  do  not  believe  in  breaking 
down  the  barriers  between  the  men  who 
failed  in  time  of  need  and  the  men  who 
stood  at  their  posts. 

When  I  say  that  I  am  speaking  of  our' 
.  loyal  people,  I  mean  that  the  people  do 
not  believe  in  your  coming  here  to  re 
gulate  courts-martial  for  us  during  the  war. 
They  do  not  believe  it  just ;  they  do  not 
believe  it  is  right.  I  am  speaking  in  truth 
to  you,  and  the  people  will  emphasize  it 
to  you  hereafter.  Let  your  confederacy 
regulate  its  own  courts-martial  while  it  ex 
isted  in  opposition  to  this  Union,  but  do 
not  come  here  from  under  the  flag  with 
numbers  sufficient  to  put  disgraced  men 
back  in  the  army,  to  cast  slurs  upon  our 
men  who  did  their  duty,  to  trample  in  the 
dust  the  authority  that  suppressed  your 
confederacy.  Let  not  your  feelings  go 
that  far.  If  they  do,  I  tell  you  that  more 
years  than  you  think  will  pass  over  your 
heads  before  you  will  have  the  confidence 
of  the  American  people. 

There  are  some  friends  on  this  side  of 
the  Chamber  who  join  with  the  other  side. 
They  are  entitled  to  their  views.  I  say  to 
them,  you  will  open  the  doors  to  danger 
in  this  country  when  you  do  this  act.  It  is 
not  an  act  of  kindness  to  this  man  ;  it  is 
an  act  of  injustice  to  the  Army;  it  is  an 
act  of  injustice  to  the  loyal  people  of  this 
country;  it  an  act  of  injustice  to  the 
memory  of  Lincoln  and  those  who  were 
associated  with  him  at  the  time ;  it  is 
trampling  under  foot  the  law  and  the  facts. 
You  were  the  friends  in  the  hour  of  trial, 
you  who  stood  by  then,  should  not  falter 
now.  You  are  to-day  doing  that  which 


you  would  not  have  done  ten  years  ago« 
But  to-day  the  consciences  of  some  people 
are  getting  so  easy  that  we  must  do  every 
thing  that  is  asked  for  men  who  failed  us 
in  the  hour  of  our  greatest  danger,  for 
men  who  are  entitled  to  nothing  except 
what  they  received.  We  are  asked  in 
charity  which  is  no  charity  to  violate  the 
law,  to  violate  the  proper  rules  of  conduct, 
to  violate  the  judgment  of  a  court,  to 
violate  the  order  of  a  President  made  ac 
cording  to  law  and  in  justice,  as  shown  at 
that  time  and  now.  I  hope  at  least  that 
men  who  have  stood  by  the  country  in  the 
hour  of  trial  will  not  weaken  in  the  hour 
of  triumph  in  the  interests  of  those  whose 
triumph  would  have  proved  disastrous  to 
the  country. 

The  conscientious  feeling  that  I  have 
performed  my  duty  according  to  my  honest 
convictions  to  my  country,  to  the  honor  of 
our  now  faithful  little  Army,  to  my  com 
rades  in  arms  during  the  war,  to  the  living 
and  the  dead  that  took  part  in  the  judg 
ment  of  the  court,  to  the  loyal  people  that 
loved  this  country  and  helped  to  save  it, 
shall  be  in  my  own  breast  through  life  my 
reward  for  my  action  in  this  case." 

But  dry  detail  and  statistics  were  supple 
mented  and  interwoven  with  flashes  that 
controlled  attention  and  compelled  admi 
ration.  Beyond  all  quibbling,  they  were 
the  speech  of  the  sessions  ;  not  an  ex  parte 
one,  for  the  records  of  both  the  Northern 
and  Southern  Army  had  been  made  to 
yield  up  everything  bearing  upon  the 
question  at  issue.  They  were  exhaustive. 
Not  only  were  eye-witnesses,  soldiers  and 
officers  (theoretically)  placed  upon  the 
stand,  but  geography,  topography,  engi 
neering,  were  summoned  and  the  secret 
whispers  of  the  lightning  became  audi 
ble. 

Upon  the  merits  of  the  case  it  is  not  our 
province  to  express  an  opinion.  From 
the  Congress  of  the  nation  General  LOGAN 
appealed  to  the  Congress  of  the  world  and 
the  verdict  was  pronounced  and  favorable. 
With  the  speeches  as  speeches  we  have  a 
right  to  deal.  When  given  to  the  public, 
such  things  become  their  property  and 
nothing  of  private  or  personal  right  is  out 
raged  by  free  discussion  and  critical 
analysis.  The  eyes  of  time  are  sharp  and 


JOHN  A.   LOGAN. 


61 


On  Self-Governntent  in  Louisiana.  January  /?  and  14- 


look  through  powerful  microscopic  lenses  I  upon  which  General  LOGAN,  or^any  man, 
and  are  as  quick  to  discover  faults  as  might  safely  rest  his  reputation,  his  name 
enemies  are  to  magnify  a  grain  of  sand  and  his  fame. 

into  a  mountain.  In  order  that  the  readers  of  this  book 

That  these  speeches  were  perfection   in    may  form  an  estimate  of  General  LOGAN  as 
all  the   elements  of  diction,  eloquence  of  an  orator,  we  give  portions  of  his  speech 
expression  and  the  inevitably  best  words  at   on  self-government. 
all  times   claimed,    could  not    be  expect-  Speech  of  Hon.  Jolm  A. 

(•-.  -j 

ed  when  extemporaneous.  Some  one  said 
that  "  no  man  dare  to  be  reported  as  the  The  Senate  having  under  consideration 
words  fell  from  his  lips,"  and  the  saying  is  the  resolution  submitted  by  Mr.  Schurz 
a  true  one.  In  the  heat  of  debate  men  are  on  the  8th  of  January,  directing  the  Corn- 
carried  beyond  the  mere  "padding"  of  mittee  of  the  Judiciary  to  inquire  what 
words  by  the  thought  to  be  enforced,  legislation  is  necessary  to  secure  to  the 
They  have  in  view  more  the  end  to  be  ob-  people  of  the  State  of  Louisiana  their  rights 
tained  than  the  leading  flowers  growing  of  Self-government  under  the  Constitution, 
along  the  path  to  it,  and  in  the  "  torrent,  Mr.  Logan  said  :  — 

tempest,  and  wind  of  passion  "  it  is  very  MR.  PRESIDENT  :  I  believe  it  is  consid- 
hard  to  "  beget  a  temperance  that  may  give  ered  the  duty  of  a  good  sailor  to  stand  by 
it  smoothness."  his  ship  in  the  midst  of  a  great  storm.  We 

Strength  and  truth,  we  fancy,  were  have  been  told  in  this  Chamber  that  a 
more  the  purpose  of  General  LOGAN  than  great  storm  of  indignation  is  sweeping 
any  oratorical  display,  and  that  he  sue-  over  this  land,  which  will  rend  asunder 
ceeded  most  admirably  in  these  particulars  and  sink  the  old  Republican  craft.  We  have 
is  beyond  dispute.  The  great  majority  of  listened  to  denunciations  of  the  President, 
the  press  declared  :  have  praised  in  no  of  the  Republicans  in  this  Chamber,  of  the 
measured  or  feeble  terms,  and  their  de-  Republican  party  as  an  organization,  their 
cision  is  final  as  to  the  future,  for  "  after  acts  heretofore  and  their  purposes  in  refer- 
your  death  you  were  better  to  have  a  bad  ence  to  acts  hereafter,  of  such  a  character 
epitaph  than  their  ill  report  while  you  as  has  seldom  been  listened  to  in  this  or 
live."  in  any  other  legislative  hall.  Every  fact 

Looking    at  these    speeches  after  the   on  the  side  of  the  Republican  party  has 
lapse  of  time,  and  when  the  waves  of  pas-   been  perverted,  every  falsehood  on  the 
sion  are  at  rest,  there  can  be  but  one  view   part  of  the  opposition  has  been  exagge- 
taken  of  them  save  when  some  all-con-   rated,  arguments  have  been  made  here 
trolling  interest  sways  judgment  and  em-   calculated  tQ  inflame  and  arouse  a  certain 
bitters   and  warps  reason.     Setting  these   class  of  the  people  of  this  country  against 
aside  the  careful  reader  will  find  them  brist-   the  authorities  of  the  Government,  based 
ling  with  points  sharp  as  a  bayonet  ;  fair  in    not  upon  truth  but  upon   manufactured 
statement  and  deduction  ;  free  from  all  of  statements  which  were  utterly  false.     The 
vulgar  personality  ;    free  from  it  entirely    Republican  party  has  been  characterized 
except  where   the  necessity  of  the  case   as  despotic,  as  tyrannical,  as  oppressive. 
imperatively  forces  such  mention;  free  from   The  course  of  the  Administration  and  the 
all  of  low  prejudice  ;  free  from  intolerant   party  toward  the  Southern  people  has  been 
partisanship  ;  free  from  the   slightest  bias   denounced  as  of  the  most  tyrannical  char- 
of  sectionality  ;  non   political;  free  from    acter  by  men  who  have  received  clemency 
any  ad  captandum  or  egotistical  ipse  dixit  at  the  hands  of  this  same  party. 
style;  a  bald,  even  if  bold  statement   of       Now,  sir,  what  is  the  cause  of  all  this 
fact  and  circumstance  ;  the  collated  testi-   vain  declamation  ?    What  is  the  cause  of 
mony  of  others  rather  than  the  opinions    all  this  studied  denunciation  ?  What  is  the 
of  self  ;  speeches  in  defense  of  the  army    reason   for   all    these    accusations   made 
of  the  past  and  sustaining  the   high  code    against  a  party  or  an  administration  ?     1 
in  the  future  ;  plain,   logical,  convincing  ;    may  be  mistaken,  but,  if  I  am  not,  this  is 
covering  all  possible     points  ;    speeches  |  the  commencement  of  the  campaign   of 


62 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 


1876.  It  has  been  thought  necessary  o 
the  part  of  the  opposition  Senators  here  t 
commence,  if  I  may  use  a  homely  phrase 
a  raid  upon  the  Republican  party  and  upo 
this  Administration,  and  to  base  that  upo 
false  statements  in  reference  to  the  conduc 
of  affairs  in  the  State  of  Louisiana. 

I  propose  in  this  debate,  and   I   hope 
shall  not  be  too  tedious,  though  I  may  b 
somewhat  so  to  discuss  the   question   tha 
should  be  presented  to  the  American  peo 
pie.     I  propose   to   discuss  that  questior 
fairly,  candidly,  and  truthfully.    I  propos 
to  discuss  it  from  a  just,  honest,  and  lega 
stand-point.     Sir,  what  is  that  question 
There  was   a  resolution   offered    in    thi 
Chamber  calling  on  the  President  to   fur 
nish^certain  information.     A  second  reso 
lution   was  introduced,  (whether  for  the 
purpose    of  hanging  on   it  an  elaborate 
speech  or  not  I  am  not  aware,)  asking  the 
Committee  on  the  Judiciary  to   report  a 
once    some    legislation    in    reference    to 
Louisiana.     Without  any  facts  presentee 
officially  arguments  have  been  made,  the 
country  has  been  aroused,  and  some  peo 
pie  have  announced  themselves  in  a  man 
ner  calculated  to  produce  a  very  sore  feel 
ing  against  the  course  and  conduct  of  the 
party  in  power.    I  say  this  is  done  withou 
the  facts;    without  any   basis  whatever 
without  any  knowledge  officially  commu 
nicated  to  them  in  reference  to  the  conduct 
of  any  of  the  parties  in  the  State  of  Louisi 
ana.     In  discussing  this  question  we  ought 
to   have  a  beginning ;  some  point  from 
which  we  may  all  reason  and  see  whether 
or  not  any  great  outrage  has  been  perpe 
trated  against  the  rights  of  the  American 
people  or  any  portion  of  them. 

I  then  propose  to  start  at  this  point,  that 
there  is  a  government  in  the  State  of  Loui 
siana.  Whether  that  government  is  a 
government  of  right  or  not  is  not  the  ques 
tion.  Is  there  a  government  in  that  State 
against  which  treason,  insurrection,  or  re 
bellion,  may  be  committed  ?  Is  there  such 
a  government  in  the  State  of  Louisiana  as 
should  require  the  maintenance  of  peace 
and  order  among  the  citizens  of  that  State  ? 
Is  there  such  a  government  in  the  State  of 
Louisiana  as  requires  the  exercise  of  Exec 
utive  authority  for  the  purpose  of  preserv 
ing  peace  and  order  within  its  borders  ?  I 


ask  any  Senator  on  this  floor  to-day  if  he 
can  stand  up  here  as  a  lawyer,  as  a  Sena 
tor,  as  an  honest  man,  aud  deny  the  fact 
that  a  government  does  exist?  Whether 
he  calls  it  a  government  de  jure  or  a  gov 
ernment  de  facto,  it  is  immaterial.  It  is 
such  an  organization  as  involves  the  lib 
erties  and  the  protection  of  the  rights  of 
the  people  of  that  State.  It  will  not  do  for 
Senators  to  talk  about  the  election  of  1872. 
The  election  of  1872  has.  no  more  to  do 
with  this  "  military  usurpation  "  that  you 
speak  of  to-day  than  an  election  of  a  hun 
dred  years  ago.  It  is  not  a  question  as  to 
whether  this  man  or  that  was  elected.  The 
question  is,  is  there  such  a  government 
there  as  can  be  overturned,  and  has  there 
been  an  attempt  to  overturn  it?  If  so,  then 
what  is  required  to  preserve  its  status  or 
preserve  the  peace  and  order  of  the  peo 
ple  ? 

But  the  other  day  when   I   asked  the 
question  of  a  Senator  on  the  other  side, 
who  was  discussing  this  question,  whether 
or  not  he  endorsed  the  Penn  rebellion,  he 
answered  me  in  a  playful  manner  that 
excited  the  mirth  of  people  who  did  not 
understand  the  question,  by  saying  that  I 
had  decided  that  there   was  no  election, 
and  that  therefore  there  was  no  govern 
ment  to  overturn.     Now  I  ask  Senators,  I 
ask  men  of  common  understanding  if  that 
s  the  way  to  treat  a  question  of  this  kind  ; 
when  asked  whether  insurrection  against 
a  government  recognized  is  not  an  insur 
rection   and  whether  he  endorses  it,  he 
ays  there  is  no  government  to  overturn, 
f  there  is   no  government  to   overturn, 
why  do  you  make  this  noise  and  confusion 
about  a   Legislature  there  ?     If  there  is 
10  State  Government,  there  is  no  State 
Legislature.      But   I   will  not  answer  in 
hat  manner.      I  will  not  avoid  the  issue  ; 
will  not  evade  the  question.     I  answer 
here  is  a  Legislature,  as  there  is  a  State 
Government,  recognized  by  the  President, 
ecoguized  by  the  Legislature,  recognized 
y  the  courts,  recognized  by  one.branch  of 
Congress,  and  recognized  by  the  majority 
f  the  citizens  by  their  recognition  of  the 
aws  of  the  State;  and  it  will  not  do   to 
ndertake     to  avoid    questions    in    this 
nanner. 
Let  us  see,  then,  starting  from  that  stand- 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 


point,  what  the  position  of  Louisiana  is 
now,  and  what  it  has  been.  On  the  I4th 
day  of  September  last  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Penn,  as  to  whom  we  have  official  in 
formation  this  morning,  with  some  seven 
or  ten  thousand  white-leaguers  made  war 
against  that  government,  overturned  it,  dis 
persed  it,  drove  the  governor  from  the  ex 
ecutive  chamber,  and  he  had  to  take  refuge 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  on  the  soil  occupied 
by  the  United  States  custom-house,  where 
the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States  Government  extends,  for  the  purpose 
of  protecting  his  own  life. 

This  then  was  a  revolution  ;  this  then 
was  a  rebellion  ;  this  then  was  treason 
against  the  State,  for  which  these  men 
should  have  been  arrested,  tried,  and  pun 
ished.  Let  gentlemen  dodge  the  question 
as  they  may  ;  it  may  be  well  for  some  men 
there  who  engaged  in  this  treasonable  act 
against  the  government  that  they  had  Mr. 
Kellogg  for  governor.  It  might  not  have 
been  so  well  for  them,  perhaps,  had  there 
been  some  other  man  in  his  place.  I  tell 
the  Senator  from  Maryland  if  any  crowd 
of  armed  men  should  undertake  to  disperse 
the  government  of  the  State  of  Illinois, 
drive  its  governor  from  the  executive 
chamber,  enter  into  his  private  drawers, 
take  his  private  letters,  and  publish  them, 
and  act  as  those  men  did,  some  of  them 
would  pay  the  penalty  either  in  the  peni 
tentiary  or  by  dancing  at  the  end  of  a  rope. 

But  when  this  rebellion  was  going  on 
against  that  State,  these  gentlemen  say  it 
was  a  State  affair  ;  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  has  nothing  to  do  with  it ! 
That  is  the  old-fashioned  secession  doctrine 
again.  The  government  of  the  United 
States  has  nothing  to  do  with  it !  This 
national  government  is  made  up  of  States, 
and  each  State  is  a  part  of  the  Government, 
each  is  a  part  of  its  life,  of  its  body.  It 
takes  them  all  to  make  up  the  whole  ;  and 
treason  against  any  part  of  it  is  treason 
against  the  whole  of  it,  and  it  became  the 
duty  of  the  President  to  put  it  down,  as  he 
did  do  ;  and,  in  putting  down  that  treason 
against  the  Kellogg  government,  the  whole 
country  almost  responded  favorably  to  his 
action. 

But  our  friend  from  Maryland,  not  in 


his  seat  now,  [Mr.  Hamilton]  said  that 
that  was  part  of  the  cause  of  the  elections 
going  as  they  did.  In  other  words,  my 
friend  from  Maryland  undertook  in  a  round 
about  way  to  endorse  the  Penn  rebellion, 
and  claim  that  people  of  the  country  did 
the  same  thing  against  the  government  of 
the  State  of  Louisiana,  and  on  this  floor 
since  the  discussion  has  been  going  on, 
not  one  Senator  on  that  side  of  the  cham 
ber  has  lisped  one  word  against  the  rebel 
lion  against  the  government  of  the  State 
of  Louisiana,  and  all  who  have  spoken  of 
it  have  passed  it  by  in  silence  so  as  to  indi 
cate  clearly  that  they  endorse  it,  and  I  be 
lieve  they  do. 

Then,  going  further,  the  President  issued 
his  proclamation  requiring  those  insurgents 
to  lay  down  their  arms  and  to  resume  their 
peaceful  pursuits.  This  morning  we  have 
heard  read  at  the  clerk's  desk  that  these 
men  have  not  yet  complied  fully  with  that 
proclamation.  Their  rebellious  organiza 
tion  continued  up  to  the  time  of  the  elec 
tion  and  at  the  election.  When  the  elec 
tion  took  place,  we  are  told  by  some  of 
these  Senators  that  the  election  was  a 
peaceable,  and  a  fair  election,  that  a  major 
ity  of  democrats  were  elected.  That  is  the 
question  we  propose  to  discuss  as  well  as 
we  are  able  to  do  it.  They  tell  us  that 
there  was  no  intimidation  resorted  to  by 
any  one  in  the  State  of  Louisiana.  I  dis 
like  very  much  to  follow  out  these  state 
ments  that  are  not  true  and  attempt  to 
controvert  them  because  it  does  seem  to 
me  that  we  ought  to  act  fairly  and  candidly 
in  this  Chamber  and  discuss  questions 
without  trying  to  pervert  the  issue  or  the 
facts  in  connection  with  it. 

****** 

Now,  Mr.  President,  I  want  to  ask  can 
did,  honest,  fair-minded  men,  after  read 
ing  the  report  of  General  Sheridan  show 
ing  the  murder,  not  for  gain,  not  for 
plunder,  but  for  political  opinions  in  the 
last  few  years  of  thirty-five  hundred  per 
sons  in  the  State  of  Louisiana,  all  of  them 
republicans,  not  one  of  them  a  democrat 
— I  want  to  ask  if  they  can  stand  here  be 
fore  this  country  and  defend  the  democratic 
party  of  Louisiana?  I  put  this  question  to 
them  for  they  have  been  here  for  days 
crying  against  the  wrongs  upon  the  demo- 


64 


JOHN  A.   LOGAN. 


cracy  of  Louisiana.  I  want  any  one  of 
them  to  tell  me  if  he  is  prepared  to  defend 
the  democracy  of  Louisiana.  What  is 
your  democracy  of  Louisiana?  You  are 
excited,  your  extreme  wrath  is  aroused  at 
General  Sheridan  because  he  called  your 
White  Leagues  down  there  "banditti."  I 
ask  you  if  the  murder  of  thirty-five  hun 
dred  men  in  a  short  time  for  political 
purposes  by  a  band  of  men  banded  to 
gether  for  the  purpose  of  murder  does  not 
make  them  banditti,  what  it  does  make 
them?  Does  it  make  them  democrats? 
It  certainly  does  not  make  them  republi 
cans.  Does  it  make  them  honest  men  ? 
It  certainly  does  not.  Does  it  make  them 
law-abiding  men  ?  It  certainly  does  not. 
Does  it  make  them  peaceable  citizens  ?  It 
certainly  does  not.  But  what  does  it  make 
them  ?  A  band  of  men  banded  together 
and  perpetrating  murder  in  their  own 
State  ?  Webster  says  a  bandit  is  "  a  law 
less  or  desperate  fellow ;  a  robber ;  a  bri 
gand/' and  "banditti"  are  men  banded 
together  for  plunder  and  murder  ;  and  what 
are  your  White  Leagues  banded  together  for 
if  the  result  proves  that  they  are  banded  to 
gether  for  murder  for  political  purposes  ? 
O,  what  a  crime  it  was  in  Sheridan  to 
say  that  these  men  were  banditti !  He  is  a 
wretch.  From  the  papers  he  ought  to  be 
hanged  to  a  lamp-post ;  from  the  Senators 
he  is  not  fit  to  breathe  the  free  air  of  hea 
ven  or  of  this  free  Republic ;  but  your 
murderers  of  thirty-five  hundred  people  for 
political  offenses  are  fit  to  breathe  the  air 
of  this  country  and  are  defended  on  this 
floor  to-day,  and  they  are  defended  here 
by  the  democratic  party,  and  you  cannot 
avoid  or  escape  the  proposition.  You  have 
denounced  republicans  for  trying  to  keep 
the  peace  in  Louisiana;  you  have  de 
nounced  the  Administration  for  trying  to 
suppress  bloodshed  in  Louisiana  ;  you  have 
denounced  all  for  the  same  purpose ;  but 
not  one  word  has  fallen  from  the  lips  of  a 
solitary  democratic  Senator  denouncing 
these  wholesale  murders  in  Louisiana. 
You  have  said,  "  I  am  sorry  these  things 
are  done,"  but  have  defended  the  White 
Leagues  ;  you  have  defended  Penn  ;  you 
have  defended  rebellion ;  and  you  stand 
here  to-day  the  apologists  of  murder,  of 
rebellion,  and  of  treason  in  that  State. 


I  want  to  ask  the  judgment  of  an  honest 
country,  I  want  to  ask  the  judgment  of  the 
moral  sentiments  of  the  law-abiding  people 
of  this  grand  and  glorious  Republic  to  tell 
me  wkether  men  shall  murder  by  the  score, 
whether  men  shall  trample  the  law  under 
foot,  whether  men  shall  force  judges  to  re 
sign,  whether  men  shall  force  prosecuting 
attorneys  to  resign,  whether  men  shall  take 
five  officers  of  a  State  out  and  hang  or  shoot 
them  if  they  attempt  to.  exercise  the  func 
tions  of  their  office,  whether  men  shall  ter 
rify  the  voters  and  office-holders  of  a 
State,  whether  men  shall  undertake  in  vio 
lation  of  law  to  organize  a  Legislature  for 
revolutionary  purposes,  for  the  purpose  of 
putting  a  governor  in  possession  and  tak 
ing  possession  of  the  State  and  then  ask  the 
democracy  to  stand  by  them — I  appeal  to 
the  honest  judgment  of  the  people  of  this 
land  and  ask  them  to  respond  whether  this 
was  not  an  excusable  case  when  this  man 
used  the  Army  to  protect  the  life  of  that 
State  and  to  preserve  the  peace  of  that 
people  ?  Sir,  the  man  who  will  not  use  all 
the  means  in  his  power  to  preserve  the  na 
tionality,  the  integrity  of  this  Government, 
the  integrity  of  a  State  or  the  peace  and 
happiness  of  a  people,  is  not  fit  to  govern, 
he  is  not  fit  to  hold  position  in  this  or  any 
other  civilized  age. 

Does  liberty  mean  wholesale  slaughter  ? 
Does  republican  government  mean  tyranny 
and  oppression  of  its  citizens  ?  Does  an 
intelligent  and  enlightened  age  of  civiliza 
tion  mean  murder  and  pillage,  bloodshed 
at  the  hands  of  Ku-Klux  or  White  Leagues 
or  anybody  else,  and  if  any  one  attempts 
to  put  it  down,  attempts  to  reorganize  and 
produce  order  where  chaos  and  confusion 
have  reigned,  are  they  to  be  denounced  as 
tyrants,  as  oppressors,  and  as  acting  against 
republican  institutions  ?  I  say  then  the 
happy  days  of  this  Republic  are  gone. 
When  we  fail  to  see  that  republicanism 
means  nothing,  that  liberty  means  nothing 
but  the  unrestrained  license  of  the  mobs  to 
do  as  they  please,  then  republican  govern 
ment  is  a  failure.  Liberty  of  the  citizen 
means  the  right  to  exercise  such  rights  as 
are  prescribed  within  the  limits  of  the  law 
so  that  he  does  not  in  the  exercise  of  these 
rights  infringe  the  rights  of  other  citizens. 
But  the  definition  is  not  well  made  by  our 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 


65 


friends  on  the  opposite  side  of  this  Cham 
ber.  Their  idea  of  liberty  is  license  ;  it  is 
not  liberty,  but  it  is  license.  License  to  do 
what  ?  License  to  violate  law,  to  trample 
constitutions  under  foot,  to  take  life,  to 
take  property,  to  use  the  bludgeon  and  the 
gun  or  anything  else  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  themselves  power.  What  statesman 
ever  heard  of  that  as  a  definition  of  liberty  ? 
Whatman  in  a  civilized  age  has  ever  heard 
of  liberty  being  the  unrestrained  license  of 
the  people  to  do  as  they  please  without  any 
restraint  of  law  or  of  authority  ?  No  man, 
no  not  one  until  we  found  the  democratic 
party,  would  advocate  this  proposition  and 
endorse  and  encourage  this  kind  of  license 
in  a  free  country. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  perhaps  said  more 
on  this  question  of  Louisiana  than  might 
have  been  well  for  me  to  say  on  account  of 
my  strength,  but  what  1  have  said  about  it 
1  have  said  because  1  honestly  believed  it. 
What  1  have  said  in  reference  to  it  comes 
from  an  honest  conviction  in  my  mind  and 
in  my  heart  of  what  has  been  done  to  sup 
press  violence  and  wrong.  But  I  have  a 
few  remarks  in  conclusion  to  submit  now 
to  my  friends  on  the  other  side,  in  answer 
to  what  they  have  said  not  by  way  of  ar 
gument  but  by  way  of  accusation.  You 
say  to  us — I  had  it  repeated  to  me  this 
morning  in  private  conversation — "With 
draw  your  troops  from  Louisiana  and  you 
will  have  peace."  Ah,  I  heard  it  said  on 
this  floor  once  "  Withdraw  your  troops 
from  Louisiana  and  your  State  government 
will  not  last  a  minute."  I  heard  that  said 
from  the  opposite  side  of  the  Chamber,  and 
now  you  say  "Withdraw  your  troops  from 
Louisiana  and  you  will  have  peace." 

Mr.  President,  1  dislike  to  refer  to  things 
that  are  past  and  gone;  I  dislike  to  have 
my  mind  called  back  to  things  of  the  past ; 
but  1  well  remember  the  voice  in  this 
Chamber  once  that  rang  out  and  was  heard 
throughout  tnis  land,  "  Withdraw  your 
troops  from  Fort  Sumter  if  you  want 
peace."  I  heard  that  said.  Now  it  is 
"Withdraw  your  troops  from  Louisiana 
if  you  want  peace.1'  Yes,  I  say,  withdraw 
your  troops  from  Louisiana  if  you  want  a 
revolution,  and  that  is  what  is  meant. 
But,  sir,  we  are  told,  and  doubtless  it  is  be 
lieved  by  the  Senators  who  tell  us  so,  who 


denounce  the  republican  party,  that  it  is 
tyrannical,  oppressive,  and  outrageous. 
They  have  argued  themselves  into  the  idea 
that  they  are  patriots,  pure  and  undefiled. 
They  have  argued  themselves  into  the  idea 
that  the  democratic  party  never  did  any 
wrong.  They  have  been  out  of  power  so 
long  that  they  have  convinced  themselves 
that  if  they  only  had  control  of  this  coun 
try  for  a  short  time,  what  a  glorious  coun 
try  they  would  make  it.  They  had  control 
for  nearly  forty  long  years,  and  while  they 
were  the  agents  of  this  country — I  appeal 
to  history  to  bear  me  out — they  made  the 
Government  a  bankrupt,  with  rebellion 
and  treason  in  the  land,  and  were  then 
sympathizing  with  it  wherever  it  existed. 
That  is  the  condition  in  which  they  left 
the  country  when  they  had  it  in  their  pos 
session  and  within  their  control.  But  they 
say  the  republican  party  is  a  tyrant ;  that 
it  is  oppressive.  As  I  have  said,  I  wish  to 
make  a  few  suggestions  to  my  friends  in 
answer  to  this  accusation — oppressive  to 
whom?  They  say  to  the  South,  that  the 
republican  party  has  tyrannized  over  the 
South.  Let  me  ask  you  how  has  it  tyran 
nized  over  the  South  ?  Without  speaking 
of  our  troubles  and  trials  through  which 
we  passed,  I  will  say  this  :  at  the  end  of  a 
rebellion  that  scourged  this  land,  that 
drenched  it  with  blood,  that  devastated  a 
portion  of  it,  left  us  in  debt  and  almost 
bankrupt,  what  did  the  republican  party 
do  ?  Instead  of  leaving  these  our  friends 
and  citizens  to-day  in  a  territorial  condi 
tion  where  we  might  exercise  jurisdiction 
over  them  for  the  next  coming  twenty 
years,  where  we  might  have  deprived  them 
of  the  rights  of  members  on  this  floor, 
what  did  we  do  ?  We  reorganized  them 
into  States,  admitted  them  back  into  the 
Union,  and  through  the  clemency  of  the 
republican  party  we  admitted  representa 
tives  on  this  floor  who  had  thundered 
against  the  gates  of  liberty  for  four  bloody 
years.  Is  that  the  tyranny  and  oppression 
of  which  you  complain  at  the  hands  of  the 
republican  party  ?  Is  that  a  part  of  our  op 
pression  against  you  southern  people  ? 

Let  us  go  a  little  further.  When  the 
armed  democracy,  for  that  is  what  they 
were,  laid  down  their  arms  in  the  Southern 
States,  after  disputing  the  right  of  freedom 


66 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 


and  liberty  in  this  land  for  four  years,  how 
did  the  republican  party  show  itself  in  its 
acts  of  tyranny  and  oppression  toward 
you  ?  You  appealed  to  them  for  clemency. 
Did  you  get  it  ?  Not  a  man  was  punished 
for  his  treason.  Not  a  man  ever  knocked 
at  the  doors  of  a  republican  Congress  for  a 
pardon  who  did  not  get  it.  Not  a  man 
ever  petitioned  the  generosity  of  the  repub 
lican  party  to  be  excused  for  his  crimes 
who  was  not  excused.  Was  that  oppres 
sion  upon  the  part  of  the  republicans  in 
this  land  ?  Is  that  a  part  of  the  oppression 
of  which  you  accuse  us  ? 

Let  us  look  a  little  further.  We  find  to 
day  twenty-seven  democratic  Representa 
tives  in  the  other  branch  of  Congress  who 
took  arms  in  their  hands  and  tried  to  de 
stroy  this  Government  holding  commis 
sions  there  by  the  clemency  of  the  repub 
lican  party.  We  find  in  this  chamber  by 
the  clemency  of  the  republican  party  three 
Senators  who  held  such  commissions.  Is 
that  tyranny  ;  is  that  oppression  ;  is  that 
the  outrage  of  this  republican  party  on  you 
southern  people  ?  Sir, when  Jeff.  Davis,  the 
head  of  the  great  rebellion,  who  roams  the 
land  free  as  air,  North,  South,  East,  and 
West,  makes  democratic  speeches  when 
ever  invited,  and  the  vice-president  of  the 
southern  rebellion  holds  his  seat  in  the 
other  House  of  Congress,  are  we  to  be  told 
that  we  are  tyrants,  and  oppressing  the 
southern  people  ?  These  things  may  sound 
a  little  harsh/but  it  is  time  to  tell  the  truth 
in  this  country.  The  time  has  come  to 
talk  facts.  The  time  has  come  when 
cowards  should  hide,  and  the  honest  men 
should  come  to  the  front  and  tell  you  plain, 
honest  truths.  You  of  the  South  talk  to 
us  about  oppressing  you.  You  drenched 
your  land  in  blood,  caused  weeping 
throughout  this  vast  domain,  covered  the 
land  in  weeds  of  mourning  both  North  and 
South,  widowed  thousands  and  orphaned 
many,  made  the  pension-roll  as  "long  as  an 
army-list,  made  the  debt  that  grinds  the 
poor  of  this  land  —for  all  these  things  you 
have  been  pardoned,  and  yet  you  talk  to 
us  about  oppression.  So  much  for  the  op 
pression  of  the  republican  party  of  your 
patriotic  souls  and  selves.  Next  comes  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  He  is  a 
tyrant,  too.  He  is  an  oppressor  still,  in 


conjunction  with  the  republican  party. 
Oppressor  of  what  ?  Who  has  he  oppressed 
of  your  Southern  people,  and  when,  and 
where  ?  When  your  Ku-Klux,  banded  to 
gether  for  murder  and  plunder  in  the 
Southern  States,  were  convicted  by  their 
own  confession,  your  own  representatives 
pleaded  to  the  President  and  said :  "  Give 
them  pardon,  and  it  will  reconcile  many 
of  the  southern  people."  The  President 
pardoned  them ;  pardoned  them  of  their 
murder,  of  their  plunder,  of  their  piracy 
on  land ;  and  for  this  I  suppose  he  is  a 
tyrant. 

More  than  that,  sir,  this  tyrant  in  the 
White  House  has  done  more  for  you  south 
ern  people  than  you  ought  to  have  asked 
him  to  do.  He  has  had  confidence  in  you 
until  you  betrayed  that  confidence.  He 
has  not  only  pardoned  the  offenses  of  the 
South,  pardoned  the  criminals  of  the  dem 
ocratic  party,  but  he  has  placed  in  high 
official  position  in  this  Union  some  of  the 
leading  men  who  fought  in  the  rebellion. 
He  has  put  in  his  Cabinet  one  of  your 
men;  he  has  made  governors  of  Territories 
of  some  of  your  leading  men  who  fought 
in  the  rebellion ;  he  has  sent  on  foreign 
missions  abroad  some  of  your  men  who 
warred  against  this  country  ;  he  has  placed 
others  in  the  Departments ;  and  has  tried 
to  reconcile  you  in  every  way  on  earth,  by 
appealing  to  your  people,  by  recognizing 
them  and  forgiving  them  for  their  offenses, 
and  for  these  acts  of  generosity,  for  these 
acts  of  kindness  he  is  arraigned  to-day  as 
a  Caesar,  as  a  tyrant,  as  an  oppressor. 

Such  kindness  in  return  as  the  Presi 
dent  has  received  from  these  people  will 
mark  itself  in  the  history  of  generosity.  O, 
but  say  they,  Grant  wants  to  oppress  the 
White  Leagues  in  Louisiana ;  therefore 
he  is  an  oppressor.  Yes,  Mr.  President, 
Grant  does  desire  that  these  men  should 
quit  their  every-day  chivalric  sports  of 
gunning  upon  negroes  and  republicans. 
He  asks  kindly  that  you  stop  it.  He  says 
to  you,  "  That  is  all  I  want  you  to  do  ;  "  and 
you  say  that  you  are  desirous  that  they 
shall  quit  it.  You  have  but  to  say  it  and 
they  will  quit  it.  It  is  because  you  have 
never  said  it  that  they  have  not  quit  it.  It 
is  in  the  power  of  the  democratic  party 
to-day  but  to  speak  in  tones  of  majesty,  of 


JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 


67 


honor,  of  justice  in  faver  of  human  life, 
and    your    Ku-Klux     and    murders    will 
stop.     But  you  do  not  do  it ;  and  that  is 
the   reason   they  do   not  stop.     In  States 
where  it  has  been  done  they  have  stopped. 
But  it  will  not  do  to  oppress  those  people  ; 
it  will  not  do  to  make  them  submit  and 
subject  them  to  the  law ;   it  will  not  do  to 
stop  these  gentlemen  in  their  daily  sports 
and  in  their  lively  recreations.     They  are 
White  Leagues  ;  they  are  banded  together 
as  gentlemen  ;  they  are  of  southern  blood ; 
they  are  of  old  southern  stock ;  they  are 
the  chivalry  of  days  gone  by;   they  are 
knights   of   the  bloody   shield;    and  the 
shield  must  not  be  taken  from  them.   Sirs, 
their  shield  will  be  taken  from  them  ;  this 
country  will  be  aroused  to  its  danger ;  this 
country  will  be  aroused  to  do  justice  to  its 
citizens ;  and  when  it  does,  the  perpetra 
tors  of  crime  may  fear  and  tremble.     Tyr 
anny    and    oppression  !     A    people    who 
without  one  word  of  opposition  allow  men 
who  have  been  the  enemies  of  a  govern 
ment  to  come  into  these  legislative  hall 
and  make  laws  for  that  government  to  be 
told  that  they  are  oppressors  is  a  monstro 
sity  in  declamation  and  assertion.     Who 
ever  heard  of  such  a  thing  before  ?    Who 
ever  believed  that  such  men  could  make 
such  charges  ?    Yet  we  are  tyrants  ! 

Mr.  President,  the  reading  of  the  title  of 
that  bill  from  the  House  only  reminds  me 
of  more  acts  of  tyranny  and  oppression  ol 
the  republican  party,  and  there  is  a  contin 
uation  of  the  same  great  offenses  constantly 
going  on  in  this  Chamber.  But  some  may 
say,  "  It  is  strange  to  see  Logan  defending 
the  President  of  the  United  States."  It  is  not 
strange  to  me.  I  can  disagree  with  the 
President  when  I  think  he  is  wrong ;  I  do 
not  blame  him  for  disagreeing  with  me 
but  when  these  attacks  are  made,  coming 
from  where  they  do,  I  am  ready  to  stanc 
from  the  rising  sun  in  the  morning  to  the 
setting  sun  in  the  evening,  to  defend  every 
act  of  his  in  connection  with  this  matter 
before  us. 

I  may  have  disagreed  with  Presiden 
Grant  in  many  things ;  but  I  was  calling 
attention  to  the  men  who  have  been  ac 
cusing  him  here,  on  this  floor,  on  th( 
stump,  and  in  the  other  House  ;  the  kinc 
of  men  who  do  it,  the  manner  of  its  doing 


he  sharpness  of  the  shafts  that  are  sent  at 
lim,  the  poisonous  barbs  that  they  bear 
with  them,  and  from  these  men  who,  at 
lis  hands,  have  received  more  clemency 
han  any  men  ever  received  at  the  hands 
of  any  President  or  any  man  who  governed 
a  country.  Why,  sir,  I  will  appeal  to  the 
soldiers  of  the  rebel  army  to  testify  in  be 
half  of  what  I  say  in  defense  of  President 
rant — the  honorable  men  who  fought 
against  the  country,  if  there  was  honor  in 
doing  it.  What  will  be  their  testimony  ? 
It  will  be  that  he  captured  your  armed  de 
mocracy  of  the  South,  he  treated  them 
kindly,  turned  them  loose,  with  their  pro 
visions  ;  treated  them  as  men  and  not  as 
pirates.  Grant  built  no  prison-pens  for 
the  southern  solders;  Grant  provided  no 
starvation  for  southern  men  ;  Grant  pro 
vided  no  "  dead-lines"  upon  which  to 
shoot  southern  soldiers  if  they  crossed 
them  ;  Grant  provided  no  outrageous  pun 
ishment  against  these  people  that  now  call 
him  a  tyrant.  Generous  to  a  fault  in  all 
his  actions  toward  the  men  who  were  fight 
ing  his  country  and  destroying  the  consti 
tution,  that  man  to-day  is  denounced  as  a 
very  Caesar. 

Sherman  has  not  been  denounced,  but 
the  only  reason  is  that  he  was  not  one  of 
the  actors  in  this  transaction  ;  but  I  want 
now  to  say  to  my  friends  on  the  other  side, 
especially  to  my  friend  from  Delaware, 
who  repeated  his  bitter  denunciation 
against  Sheridan  yesterday — and  I  say  this 
in  all  kindness,  because  I  am  speaking 
what  future  history  will  bear  me  out  in — 
when  Sheridan  and  Grant  and  Sherman, 
and  others  like  them  are  forgotten  in  this 
country,  you  will  have  no  country.  When 
the  democratic  party  is  rotten  for  centu 
ries  in  its  grave,  the  life,  the  course,  the 
conduct  of  these  men  will  live  as  bright  as 
the  noonday  sun  in  the  heart  of  every  pa 
triot  of  a  republic  like  the  American  Union. 
Sirs,  you  may  talk  about  tyranny,  you  may 
talk  about  oppression,  you  may  denounce 
these  men  ;  their  glory  may  fade  into  the 
darkness  of  night ;  but  that  darkness  will 
be  a  brilliant  light  compared  with  the 
darkness  of  the  democratic  party.  Their 
pathway  is  illuminated  by  glory  ;  yours  by 
dark  deeds  against  the  Government.  That 
is  a  difference  which  the  country  will 


68 


JOHN  A.   LOGAN. 


bear  witness  to  in  future  history  when 
speaking  of  the  country  and  the  actors  on 
its  stage. 

Now  Mr.  President,  I  have  a  word  to 
say  about  our  duty.  A  great  many  people 
are  asking,  what  shall  we  do  ?  Plain  and 
simple  in  my  judgment  is  the  proposition. 
I  say  to  republicans,  do  not  be  scared.  No 
man  is  ever  hurt  by  doing  an  honest  act 
and  performing  a  patriotic  duty.  If  we 
are  to  have  a  war  of  words  outside  or  in 
side,  let  us  have  them  in  truth  and  sober 
ness,  but  in  earnest.  What  then  is  our 
duty?  I  did  not  believe  that  in  1872  there 
were  official  data  upon  which  we  could  de 
cide  who  was  elected  governor  of  Louisi 
ana.  But  this  is  not  the  point  of  my  argu 
ment.  It  is  that  the  President  has  recog 
nized  Kellogg  as  governor  of  that  State,  and 
he  has  acted  for  two  years.  The  Legisla 
ture  of  the  State  has  recognized  him  ;  the 
supreme  court  of  the  State  has  recognized 
him ;  one  branch  of  Congress  has  recog 
nized  him.  The  duty  is  plain,  and  that  is 
for  this,  the  other  branch  of  Congress,  to 
do  it,  and  that  settles  the  question.  Then, 
when  it  does  it,  your  duty  is  plain  and 
simple,  and  as  the  President  has  told  you, 
he  will  perform  his  without  fear,  favor,  or 
affection.  Recognize  the  government  that 
revolution  has  been  against  and  intended 
to  overthrow,  and  leave  the  President  to 
his  duty,  and  he  will  do  it.  That  is  what 
to  do. 

Sir,  we  have  been  told  that  this  old  craft 
is  rapidly  going  to  pieces;  that  the  angry 
waves  of  dissension  in  the  land  are  lash 
ing  against  her  sides.  We  are  told  that 
she  is  sinking,  sinking,  sinking  to  the  bot 
tom  of  the  political  ocean.  Is  that  true  ? 
.  Is  it  true  that  this  gallant  old  party,  that 
this  gallant  old  ship  that  has  sailed  through 
troubled  seas  before  is  going  to  be  stranded 
now  upon  the  rock  of  fury  that  has  been 
set  up  by  a  clamor  in  this  Chamber  and  a 
few  newspapers  in  the  country  ?  Is  it  true 
that  the  party  that  saved  this  country  in 
all  its  great  crises,  in  all  its  great  trials,  is 
sinking  to-day  on  account  of  its  fear  and 
trembling  before  an  inferior  enemy?  I 
hope  not.  I  remember,  sir,  once  I  was 
toM  that  the  old  Republican  ship  was 
gone ;  but  when  I  steadied  myself  on  the 
shores  bounding  the  political  ocean  of 


strife  and  commotion,  I  looked  afar  off 
and  there  I  could  see  a  vessel  bounding 
the  boisterous  billows  with  white  sails 
unfurled,  marked  on  her  sides  "  Freighted 
with  the  hopes  of  mankind,"  while  the 
great  Mariner  above,  as  her  helmsman, 
steered  her,  navigated  her  to  a  haven  of 
rest,  of  peace,  and  of  safety.  You  have 
but  to  look  again  upon  that  broad  ocean 
of  political  commotion  to-day,  and  the 
time  will  soon  come  when  the  same  old 
craft,  provided  with  the  same  cargo,  will 
be  seen,  flying  the  same  flag,  passing 
through  these  tempestuous  waves,  anchor 
ing  herself  at  the  shores  of  honesty  and 
justice,  and  there  she  will  lie  undisturbed 
by  strife  and  tumult,  again  in  peace  and 
safety.  [Manifestations  of  applause  in  the 
galleries.] 

He  attends  to  more  wants  of  individuals 
than  any  man  ever  in  Congress.  This  is 
emphatically  and  especially  true  with  re 
gard  to  soldiers.  Their  cause  is  his  cause ; 
their  wants  his  wants  ;  their  just  recogni 
tion  and  reward  his  constant  battle.  From 
every  section  of  the  country,  from  Maine 
to  Mississippi  ;  from  the  shores  of  the 
Atlantic  to  those  of  the  Pacific  ;  from 
every  state  in  a  Union  undivided  come 
letters  to  him  from  those  who  wore  the 
blue  and  those  who  wore  the  gray,  and 
none  are  ever  rejected.  He  is  too  mag 
nanimous  to  permit  anything  of  the  past 
to  influence  his  mind  or  his  charity ;  his 
love  of  his  race  is  too  catholic  and  broad 
to  be  swayed  by  the  recollections  of 
former  years  ;  he  was  and  is  too  much  a 
good  soldier  not  to  respect  bravery  in 
others ;  too  much  of  a  man  to  harbor 
anything  of  revenge  or  become  narrow- 
minded  by  prejudice  or  petty  malice.  It 
sometimes  his  soul  is  permitted  to  speak 
through  his  lips  when  justice  and  duty 
require,  back  of  it  beats  a  warm  and  re 
sponsive  heart,  and  no  one,  friend  or  foe, 
ever  appealed  to  him  in  vain,  for  in  his 
composition  the  elements  that  mark  the 
North  and  the  South  are  strongly  blended 
— the  inflexible  honesty  and  icy  firmness 
of  the  one,  with  the  chivalry,  the  fiery 
warmth  and  the  open-handed  generosity 
of  the  other. 

Logan's  Domestic  Life. 

General  Logan  resides  in  Washington, 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 


on  Twelfth  street,  where  he  entertains  his 
friends  in  excellent  style,  and  his  hos 
pitality  is  well  known  by  the  people  of  the 
Capital.  In  his  domestic  relations  General 
Logan  has  been  one  of  the  most  happy 
and  fortunate  of  men.  In  1855  he  married 
Miss  Mary  Cunningham,  of  Shawneetown, 
111.,  and  she  has  proved  a  most  valuable 
helpmeet.  There  is  no  woman  in  public 
life  who  possesses  more  admirable  traits 
than  Mrs.  Logan,  and,  what  is  unusual, 
her  popularity  with  her  own  sex  is  quite 
as  great  as  with  the  other.  She  has  two 
children,  a  daughter,  who  is  the  wife  of 
Paymaster  Tucker,  of  the  army,  now 
stationed  at  Santa  Fe,  and  a  son,  Manning, 
who  is  a  cadet  at  West  Point,  having  in 
herited  his  father's  military  ambition. 
Both  of  them  have  been  educated  by  her, 
or  under  her  personal  supervision.  They 
appear  to  have  inherited  the  excellent 
qualities  of  both  parents,  and  they  have 
had  the  best  of  parental  instruction. 

The  country  owes  General  Logan  a  debt 
of  gratitude  for  his  valuable  services  in 
the  army,  which  it  can  never  cancel.  No 
man  stood  out  more  boldly  in  the  field 
and  in  the  national  councils  for  the  preser 
vation  of  the  Union,  than  he.  The  war 
had  broken  the  last  ties  that  bound  him 
to  party,  and  the  first  flash  of  the  enemy's 
guns  found  him  side  by  side  with  Lincoln, 
and  ready  to  devote  himself  on  field  or 
forum  to  his  country.  With  him  there 
was  no  middle  ground,  no  compromise, 
no  recognition  of  those  in  rebellion  against 
the  country — he  was  for  the  Union  under 
all  circumstances,  at  all  hazards,  and  at 
whatever  cost  of  blood  and  treasure.  If 
the  government  was  worth  living  for  it 
was  worth  dying  for,  and  so  he  supple 
mented  his  worth  as  a  statesman,  by  his 
value  as  a  soldier.  It  should  be  remem 
bered  that  he  did  not  wait  for  distinction 
or  title,  or  rank  as  a  defender  of  his  coun 
try  ;  he  did  not  wait  until  he  could  ascer 
tain  if  there  were  sufficient  men  without 
him,  but  he  shouldered  his  musket  as  a 
private  soldier,  and  took  his  place  in  the 
ranks.  He  sought  no  favored  position 
where  he  could  escape  danger  and  share 
the  honors  of  the  field  without  encounter 
ing  its  dangers,  for  his  bravery  was 
coequal  with  his  patriotism.  Instances 


are  so  rare  where  men  voluntarily  leave 
positions  of  honor,  dignity,  and  security 
for  those  of  privation  and  danger,  that 
this  act  stands  out  in  bold  relief,  stamping 
him  with  the  diadem  of  true  greatness. 

It  was  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  a  rep 
resentative  body  of  the  Republican  party 
should  give  him  recognition,  and  that  he 
should  have  such  a  respectable  following 
for  the  first  place  on  the  ticket,  a  special 
compliment,  when  one  with  the  brilliant 
genius  and  forensic  power  of  Elaine  was 
named  for  the  place.  To  poll  almost  one- 
fourth  of  the  votes  in  the  convention, 
showed  that  he  had  a  following  in  the 
nation  of  which  any  man  might  justly  be 
proud.  To  be  preferred  to  James  G.  Elaine 
was  no  empty  compliment,  and  he  could 
in  no  way  better  show  his  appreciation  of 
it  than  by  joining  his  forces  with  the 
"Plumed  Knight"  and  giving  him  the 
victory.  It  was  the  result  of  no  bargain 
and  sale ;  it  was  the  commendable  act  of 
one  great  man  aiding  in  the  elevation  of 
the  other.  He  had  shown  the  same  hon 
orable  and  fraternal  feeling  when  he 
brought  to  General  Garfield  in  the  last 
campaign,  and  a  mention  of  the  concila- 
tory  attitude  which  he  maintained  in  re 
spect  to  the  complications  of  the  brief  Gar- 
field  administration.  Reviewing  his  career 
the  writer  notes  these  additional  elements 
of  strength  :  Senator  Logan's  hands  are 
absolutely  clean ;  his  public  record  is 
consistent  and  unassailable  ;  his  personal 
magnetism  would  evoke  great  enthusiasm 
and  draw  back  to  the  party  a  host  of  old 
Douglas  War  Democrats ;  his  Irish  blood 
would  win  Irish  votes ;  his  simple,  sturdy 
character  and  his  efforts  for  the  distribu 
tion  of  the  surplus  revenue  make  him 
strong  with  the  laboring  classes  ;  his  advo 
cacy  of  the  interests  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley  has  given  him  great  popularity  in 
that  section;  and  the  colored  people  know 
that  he  would  find  a  way  under  the  Con 
stitution  and  the  laws  to  protect  them  in 
their  political  and  civil  rights. 

The  Convention  appreciated  this  act  of 
General  Logan.  It  had  the  true  ring  of  a 
true  man,  and  without  regard  to  their  pre 
ferences  in  the  selection  of  a  candidate 
for  President,  they  almost  unanimously 
resolved  that  he  should  take  his  place  on 


70 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 


the  ticket  beside  Mr.  Elaine.  The  ticket 
had  a  magnetic  head,  and  the  delegates 
resolved  that  it  should  be  magnetic 
throughout.  Logan's  name  was  no  sooner 
mentioned  for  the  place  than  it  spread 
like  wildfire  ^  through  the  building.  In  a 
moment  his  nomination  was  a  foregone 
conclusion,  and  amidst  the  booming  of 
cannon,  the  screeching  of  rockets  and 
the  shouts  of  the  enthused  multitude,  the 
"  BLACJK.  EAGLE  of  Illinois"  was  added  to 
the  ticket  headed  by  the  "  PLUMED  KNIGHT 
of  Maine." 

"  In  the  words  of  a  comrade :  It  is  not  less 
in  General  Logan  than  in  Mr.  Elaine  truly 
a  representative  ticket.  The  candidate  for 
Vice  President  is  an  ideal  soldier  and  a 
statesman  universally  respected.  He  is  a 
plain,  straightforward  man,  beloved  by  the 
great  army  of  heroes  who  survived  the  war 
of  the  Rebellion  and  who  honor  him  for  his 
courage  and  brilliancy  in  the  field  as  the 
country  honors  him  for  the  long  and  dis 
tinguished  service  he  has  rendered  it 
in  its  Senate.  General  Logan  will 
rally  to  the  support  of  the  ticket, 


with  old-time  enthusiasm  and  ear 
nestness,  the  soldiers,  who  will  now  have 
a  chance  to  vote  for  the  man  they  fought 
with,  and  who  they  remember  as  one  who 
never  turned  his  back  on  the  enemy,  and 
who  never  lost  a  battle.  General  Logan 
owes  all  that  he  is  to  his  own  industry, 
courage  and  ambition.  He  has  worked  his 
way  upward  to  the  highest  honors  and  use 
fulness  unaided.  He  planned,  laid  the 
foundation  and  builded  his  own  fortunes, 
and  is  a  conspicuous  example  of  the  sturdy 
American  growth  of  men.  His  nomination 
was  recognized  to  be  so  fit  as  to  cause  it  to 
be  made  by  acclamation.  With  equal  una 
nimity  will  Republicans  vote  for  him.  The 
great  campaign  has  been  opened,  and,  with 
such  leaders  as  Elaine  of  the  East  and 
Logan  of  the  West,  the  way  to  victory  is 
made  level  and  straight  to  the  Republican 

party. 

The  continuous  chain  of  victories  that 
have  marked  his  course  in  the  past  will 
add  another  shining  link  when  Novem 
ber's  battle  shall  have  closed  in  triumph. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  CHICAGO  CONVENTION,  1884. 


Meeting  of  the  National  Republican  Com 
mittee. 

The  National  Republican  Committee 
met  pursuant  to  adjournment  at  Chicago, 
June  2,  1884,  and  selected  a  temporary 
Chairman  to  present  to  the  Convention. 

Mr.  Morey,  of  Louisiana,  nominated  Gen 
eral  Powell  Clayton,  of  Arkansas. 

Mr.  Runnells,  of  Iowa,  nominated  Sen 
ator  Hoar,  of  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  Stone,  of  Michigan,  nominated  Con 
gressman  Horr. 

Mr.  Magee,  of  Pennsylvania,  nominated 
Hon.  Galusha  A.  Grow,  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  vote  by  States  and  Territories, 
stood  as  follows  :  For  Clayton — Califor 
nia,  Colorado,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Kansas, 
Maine,  Nebraska,  New  Jersey,  New  York, 
Ohio,  Oregon,  Wisconsin,  Louisiana,  Mis 
sissippi,  Missouri,  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  Virginia,  West  Virginia,  Arizo 
na,  Dakota,  Idaho,  Montana,  New  Mexi 
co,  Utah,  Washington  and  Wyoming — 27. 

For  Senator  Hoar — Alabama,  Connecti 
cut,  Florida,  Iowa,  Kentucky,  Maryland, 
Massachusetts,  Minnesota,  Nevada,  New 
Hampshire,  Vermont  and  the  District  of 
Columbia — 13. 

For  Congressman  Horr — Arkansas  and 
Michigan — 2. 

For  Galusha  A.  Grow — Delaware  and 
Pennsylvania — 2. 

The  members  of  the  Committee  from 
Georgia,  Tennessee  and  Texas  were  absent. 

Mr.  Clayton,  having  received  a  major 
ity  of  all  the  votes,  was  declared  elected. 

Proceeding*  of  the  National  Republican 
Convention,  at  CMiicugo. 

The  National  Republican  Convention 
was  called  to  order  at  12  25  p.m.,  June  3, 
1884,  by  Linked  States  Senator  Sabin, 
Chairman  of  the  National  Committee  of 
Minnesota. 

After  prayer  by  Rev.  F.  Bristol,  of  Chi 
cago,  the  call  for  the  Convention  was 
read,  when  the  Chairman  addressed  the 
Convention  as  follows : 


GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION  :  On 
behalf  of  the  National  Republican  Com 
mittee,  permit  me  to  Welcome  you  to  Chi 
cago.  As  chairman  of  that  Committee  it 
is  both  my  duty  and  pleasure  to  call  you 
to  order  as  a  National  Republican  Con 
vention.  This  city,  already  known  as  the 
"City  of  Conventions,"  is  among  the 
most  cherished  of  all  the  spots  of  our 
country  sacred  to  the  memories  of  a 
Republican.  It  is  the  birthplace  of  Re 
publican  victory.  On  these  fields  of  labor 
gathered  the  early  fathers  of  our  political 
faith,  and  planned  the  great  battle  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Union.  [Applause.] 
Here  they  chose  that  immortal  chief  that 
led  us  on  to  victory — Abraham  Lincoln. 
[Applause.]  Here  were  gathered  in  coun 
sel  those  gifted  men  who  secured  the 
fruits  of  that  long  trouble  by  elevating  to 
the  first  place  in  the  nation  the  foremost 
chieftain  of  that  great  contest — General 
Grant.  [Loud  applause]  Here  was 
afterward  witnessed  that  signal  triumph 
which  anticipated  the  wish  of  the  nation 
by  nominating  as  color-bearer  of  the 
party  that  honored  soldier,  that  shining 
citizen,  that  representative  American — 
James  A.  Garfield.  [Loud  applause.] 
Every  deliberation  of  Republican  forces 
on  this  historic  ground  has  been  followed 
by  signal  victory,  and  every  convention 
on  this  spot  has  carried  forward  our  line 
of  battle,  and  to-day  our  forces  overlook 
every  position  of  the  enemy.  Indeed,  so 
secure  now  is  the  integrity  of  the  Union, 
so  firmly  imbedded  in  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  the  land  are  the  safeguards  of 
individual  liberty  so  fairly  and  fully 
achieved,  that  by  general  consent  the 
time  has  now  arrived  for  the  new  disposi 
tion  of  party  forces  in  contemplation  of 
new  lines  of  operation. 

Having  compassed  the  defeat  of  our  op 
ponents  on  all  former  occasions,  the  party 
is  about  to  set  its  house  in  order  and  take 
counsel  as  to  the  direction  and  the 
management  of  its  future  course.  In  the 
comparative  lull  of  party  strife  which  dis 
tinguishes  the  present  condition  of  Nation 
al  politics  there  is  discernible  an  increas- 

71 


72 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  CONVENTION. 


ing  disposition  to  look  after  the  men  who 
are  to  execute,  and  the  methods  that  are 
to  guide  them  in  the  execution  of  the 
powers  committed  to  them  for  the  manage 
ment  of  the  affairs  of  the  Republic.  As  a 
result  of  the  rule  adopted  in  the  last  Na 
tional  Republican  Convention,  this  Con 
vention  finds  itself  constituted  bv  a  large 
majority  of  gentlemen  who  have  been 
clothed  with  the  delegated  powers  of  the 
conventions  in  their  several  Congressional 
Districts.  On  this  consideration  may  be 
grounded  a  hope  that  the  voice  of  the  peo 
ple  [applause]  will  beyond  recent  prece 
dent  .be  felt  in  moulding  the  work  you  are 
assembled  to  perform,  so  that  its  results 
may  be  such  as'  to  win  the  unhesitating 
and  undivided  support  of  every  lover  of 
those  principles  by  which  the  party  has 
heretgfore  triumphed  and  yet  will  triumph. 
[Applause].  When  we  consider  the  me 
mories  of  the  past,  so  intimately  connected 
with  this  city,  and  even  with  this  edifice 
which  the  people  of  Chicago  have  so  gene 
rously  placed  at  our  disposal :  when  we 
reflect  upon  the  deep-seated  concern 
among  all  people  in  the  result  of  your  de 
liberations  and  the  various  incentives  to 
the  abandonment  of  personal  ambitions  in 
the  interest  of  the  party  welfare,  you  can 
not  wonder  that  the  Committee,  and  be 
yond  it  the  great  Republican  masses,  ex 
tend  you  a  most  hearty  welcome  to  this 
scene  of  labor,  in  the  constant  hope  that 
your  efforts  will  result  in  such  an  exposi 
tion  of  Republican  doctrine  and  disclose 
such  a  just  appreciation  of  Republican 
men  in  the  choice  of  your  nominees  as  to 
rejoice  the  hearts  of  your  constituents  and 
keep  victory  on  the  side  of  your  ever-vic 
torious  banner. 

In  conclusion,  at  the  request  of  the  Na 
tional  Republican  Committee,  I  have  to 
propose  to  you  as  temporary  chairman  of 
this  convention,  the  Hon.  Powell  Clayton, 
of  Arkansas.  [Loud  applause.] 

The  nomination  of  General  Clayton 
gave  rise  to  an  animated  discussion,  and 
Mr.  Lodge,  of  Massachusetts,  nominated 
JOHN  R.  Lynch  of  Mississippi,  closing  his 
remarks  as  follows  : — 

With  no  view  of  introducing  any  per 
sonal  contest,  win  no  view  of  attempting 
to  make  any  test  of  the  votes  as  to  the 
strength  of  the  respective  candidates,  I 
have  the  honor  to  move,  as  it  is  certainly 
most  desirable  that  we  should  recognize, 
as  you  have  done,  Mr.  Chairman,  the 


Republicans  of  the  South  [applause],  I 
therefore  desire  to  present  the  name  of  a 
gentleman  well  known  throughout  the 
South  for  his  conspicuous  parliamentary 
ability,  for  his  courage  and  his  character. 
I  move  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  substitute 
the  name  of  the  Hon.  John  R.  Lynch,  of 
Mississippi,  and  I  ask,  sir,  that  when  the 
vote  is  taken  the  roll  may  be  called  on 
that  question. 

A  lengthy  debate  followed  the  presenta 
tion  of  the  name  of  Mr.  Lvnch  in  opposi 
tion  to  the  nominee  of  the  National  Com 
mittee.  The  friends  of  General  Clayton 
insisted  that  it  had  been  the  unbroken 
rule  for  the  Convention  to  accept  the  per 
son  presented  by  the  committee,  and  that 
no  good  reason  existed  for  departing  from 
the  established  custom,  when  the  advo 
cates  of  Mr.  Lynch  contended  that  the 
Convention  had  not  only  the  right,  but 
was  the  proper  body  to  nominate  and 
elect  a  temporary  presiding  officer. 

The  Chair  then  directed  a  call  of  the 
roll  of  delegates,  commencing  with  Ala 
bama,  which  resulted  in  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lynch.  The  vote  was;  for  Lynch, 
431  votes;  for  Clayton,  387  votes.  On 
motion  of  General  Clayton  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lynch  was  made  unanimous,  and  he 
was  escorted  to  the  platform  by  General 
Clayton,  Henry  C.  Lodge  of  Massachu 
setts,  and  Henry  Taft  of  South  Carolina. 

Mr.  Lynch  Chosen. 

On  assuming  the  chair  Mr.  Lynch  said  : 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION  :  I 
feel  that  I  ought  not  to  say  I  thank  you  for 
this  distinguished  honor  that  you  have 
conferred  upon  rne,  for  I  do  not.  Never 
theless,  from  the  standpoint  that  no  patriot 
should  fail  to  respond  to  his  country's  call, 
and  that  no  loyal  member  of  his  party 
should  fail  to  comply  with  the  demand  of 
his  party,  I  yield  with  reluctance  to  your 
decision  and  assume  the  duties  of  the 
position  to  which  you  have  assigned  me. 
Every  member  of  this  convention  who  ap 
proached  me  on  this  subject  within  the  last 
two  hours  knows  that  this  position  was 
neither  expected  nor  desired  by  me.  If, 
therefore,  there  is  anything  like  a  man 
having  honors  thrust  upon  him,  you  have 
an  exemplification  of  it  in  this  instance. 
[Laughter  and  applause.]  I  came  to  this 
Convention,  not  for  the  purpose  of  secur 
ing  the  defeat  of  any  man  or  the  success  of 
any  man,  but  for  the  purpose  of  contribut 
ing  (to  the  extent  of  my  vote  and  influence) 
to  make  Republican  success  in  November 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  CONVENTION. 


73 


next  an  assured  fact.  (Cheers.]  I  hope 
and  believe  that  the  assembled  wisdom  of 
the  Republican  party  of  this  Nation, 
through  its  chosen  representatives  in  this 
hall,  will  so  shape  its  platform  and  will 
present  such  candidates  before  the  Ameri 
can  people  as  will  make  that  victory  be 
yond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt.  So  far  as 
the  candidates  for  the  Presidential  nomina 
tion  are  concerned,  I  do  not  wish  any  gen 
tleman  to  feel  that  my  election  (by  your 
vote)  is  indicative  of  anything  relative  to 
the  preference  of  one  candidate  over 
another.  I  am  prepared,  and  I  hope  that 
every  member  of  this  Convention  is  pre 
pared  to  give  to  the  candidates  of  this 
Convention  a  loyal  and  hearty  sup 
port,  whoever  they  may  be.  [Cheers.] 
I  am  satisfied  in  my  own  mind 
that  when  we  go  before  the  people  of  this 
country  our  action  will  be  ratified,  because 
the  great  heart  of  the  American  people 
will  never  consent  to  have  a  political  party 
gain  the  ascendency  in  this  Government, 
whose  chref  reliance  is  on  a  fraudulent 
ballot  and  on  violence  at  the  polls.  [Ap 
plause.]  I  am  satisfied  that  the  people  of 
this  country  are  too  loyal  ever  to  allow  a 
man  to  be  inaugurated  President  whose 
title  to  the  position  is  brought,  forth  in 
fraud. 

I  am  satisfied  that  trie  American  people 
will  ratify  our  action  because  they  will 
never  consent  to  have  a  revenue  system 
for  the  government  other  than  one  that 
will  not  only  raise  the  necessary  revenue 
for  its  support,  but  will  also  be  sufficient  to 
protect  every  American  citizen  in  his  busi 
ness.  [Cheers.] 

Gentlemen,  not  for  myself  but  perhaps 
in  the  obedience  to  custom,  I  thank  you 
for  the  honor  you  have  conferred  upon  me. 

The  several  delegations  then  presented 
three  candidates  for  places  on  the  several 
committees. 

Mr.  Williams,  Chairman  ot  the  Com 
mittee  on  Permanent  Organization,  re 
ported  as  permanent  Chairman  of  the 
Convention  General  J.  B.  Henderson,  of 
Missouri,  who  was  elected  and  escorted  to 
the  chair  amidst  the  applause  of  the  mul 
titude  : 

General  Henderson's  Speech. 

On  taking  the  chair,  General  Hender 
son  said  : 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION  : — 
We  have  assembled  to  survey  the  past 


history  of  the  party ;  to  rejoice,  as  we 
may,  because  of  the  good  it  has  done  ;  to 
correct  its  errors,  if  errors  there  be ;  to 
discover,  if  possible,  the  wants  of  the 
present,  and  with  patriotic  firmness,  pro 
vide  for  the  future 

Our  past  history  is  the  Union  preserved, 
slavery  abolished,  and  its  former  victims 
equally  and  honorably  by  our  sides  in  this 
Convention  ;  the  public  faith  maintained, 
unbounded  credit  at  home  and  abroad,  a 
currency  convertible  into  coin,  and  the 
pulses  of  industry  throbbing  with  renewed 
health  and  vigor  in  every  section  of  a 
prosperous  and  peaceful  country.  These 
are  the  fruits  of  triumphs  over  adverse 
policies,  gained  in  the  military  and  civil 
conflicts  of  the  last  twenty-four  years. 

Out  of  these  conflicts  has  come  a  race 
of  heroes  and  statesmen  challenging  con 
fidence  and  love  at  home,  respect  and  ad 
miration  abroad.  And  now,  when  we 
come  to  select  a  standard-bearer  for  the 
approaching  conflict,  our  chief  embarrass 
ment  is  not  in  the  want  but  in  the  abun 
dance  of  Presidential  material.  New 
York  has  her  true  and  tried  statesman, 
upon  whose  administration  the  fierce  and 
even  unfriendly  light  of  public  scrutiny 
has  been  turned,  and  the  universal  verdict 
is  "  Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful 
servant."  Vermont  has  her  great  states 
man  whose  mind  is  as  clear  as  the  crys 
tal  springs  of  his  native  State,  and  whose 
virtue  is  as  firm  as  its  granite  hills.1''  Ohio 
can  come  with  a  name  whose  history  is 
the  history  of  the  Republican  party  itself. 
Illinois  can  come  with  one  who.  never 
failed  in  the  discharge  of  public  duty, 
whether  in  council  chamber  or  on  field  of 
battle.  Maine  has  her  honored  favorite 
whose  splendid  abilities  and  personal  qual 
ities  have  endeared  him  to  the  hearts  of 
his  friends,  and  the  brilliancy  of  whose 
genius  challenges  the  admiration  of  all. 
Connecticut  and  Indiana  may  come  with 
names  scarcely  less  illustrious  than  these. 

And  now,  in  conclusion,  if  because  of 
personal  disagreements  in  the  emergen 
cies  of  the  occasion  another  name  is 
sought,  there  remained  that  grand  old 
hero  of  Kenesaw  Mountain  and  Atlanta. 
When  patriotism  calls  he  cannot,  if  he 
would,  be  silent,  but  grasping  that  banner 
to  him  so  dear,  which  he  has  already  borne 
in  triumph,  he  will  march  to  a  civic  vic 
tory  no  less  renowned  than  those  of  war. 

I  thank  you,  gentlemen,  for  this  distin 
guished  mark  of  your  confidence. 


74 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  CONVENTION. 


The  Convention  then  took  a  recess  until 
7  o'clock,  P.  M. 

Evening  Session. 

General  Henderson  called  the  Conven 
tion  to  order  at  7:35,  and  made  the  follow 
ing  announcements: 

GENTLEMEN — There  is  a  communication 
in  the  hands  of  the  Secretary  from  the 
Committee  on  Credentials,  which  will  be 
read  to  the  Convention. 

The  Secretary  read  the  communication 
as  follows : 

"  To  THE  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN 

NATIONAL  CONVENTION  : — 

"The  Committee  on  Credentials  have 
the  honor  to  notify  the  Convention  that  as 
important  business  is  occupying  the  time 
of  the  Committee,  the  Committee  will  not 
be  able  to  report  to  the  Convention  this 
evening." 

After  a  proposition  to  issue  500  extra 
tickets  of  admission  to  the  hall  to  veteran 
soldiers  had  been  voted  down  the  Conven 
tion  adjourned  to  ten  o'clock  to-morrow. 

Third  Day's  Proceedings. 

THURSDAY. — Chairman  Henderson 
called  the  Convention  to  order  at  ten  min 
utes  to  eleven  A.  M.  The  delegates  and 
audience  dropped  into  their  seats  with 
commendable  alacrity,  when  the  Chair 
said  : — "  The  Convention  this  morning 
will  be  opened  with  prayer  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Fallows." 

Bishop  Fallows  made  the  opening 
prayer. 

Contests  Decided. 

The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Creden 
tials  was  presented.  It  contained  the  fol 
lowing  recommendations : — 

In  the  case  of  the  First  district  of  Ala 
bama  your  Committee  find  the  sitting 
members,  James  E.  Slaughter,  Frank  H. 
Threet,  and  their  alternates,  as  on  the  roll 
of  the  National  Committee,  entitled  to 
their  seats. 

In  the  case  of  the  Seventh  district  of 
Alabama  the  committee  find  the  sitting 
members,  Robert  A.  Moseley,  Jr.,  and 
Arthur  Bingham,  and  their  alternates,  as 
on  the  roll  of  the  National  Committee  en 
titled  to  their  seats. 

In  the  case  of  the  Fourth  district  of 
Texas  the  committee  find  the  sitting 
members,  A.  G.  Malioy  and  J.  R.  Carter, 
and  their  alternates,  entitled  to  their  seats. 


In  the  case  of  the  First  district  of  Geor 
gia  the  committee  find  the  s;tting  mem- 
beis,  A.  W.  Wilson  and  James  Blue,  and 
their  alternates,  entitled  to  their  seats. 

In  the  case  of  the  Second  district  of 
Illinois  the  committee  find  the  sitting 
members,  W.  H.  Ruger,  C.  E.  Piper,  and 
their  alternates,  entitled  to  their  seats. 

In  the  case  of  the  First  district  of  Ken 
tucky  the  committee  find  the  sitting  mem 
bers,  Edwin  Farley  and  A.  C.  Bragg,  with 
their  alternates,  entitled  to  their  seats. 

In  the  case  of  the  Fourth  district  of 
Maryland  the  committee  find  the  sitting 
members,  James  J.  W.  Jordan  and  Henry 
W.  Rogers,  with  their  alternates,  entitled 
to  their  seats. 

In  the  case  of  the  Sixth  district  of  New 
York  the  committee  find  the  sitting  mem 
bers,  John  J.  O'Brien  and  John  H.  Brady, 
with  their  alternates,  entitled  to  their  seats. 

In  the  case  of  the  Nineteenth  district  of 
New  York  the  committee  recommend  that 
sitting  delegates  George  Campbell  and 
Hiram  Griggs,  with  their  alternates, 
Andrew  S.  Draper  and  Madison  .Covert, 
and  the  contestants  James  Lamb  and 
James  A.  Houck,  with  their  alternates, 
William  H.  Haskell  and  Nathan  B.  Wen 
dell,  be  each  admitted  to  seats  in  the  con 
vention,  with  a  half  vote  to  each  delegate. 
(Applause.) 

In  the  case  of  the  Twenty-first  district 
of  Pennsylvania  the  committee  find  the 
sitting  '  member — there  was  only  a  contest 
as  to  one  member — James  E.  Sayres,  with 
his  alternate,  entitled  to  his  seat. 

In  the  case  of  the  contest  of  the  State 
of  Virginia  the  committee  by  unanimous 
vote,  find  that  the  delegation  from  said 
State  headed  by  Senator  William  Mahone 
are  each  and  all  entitled  to  their  seats  in 
this  Convention,  in  accordance  with  the 
roll  of  delegates  and  alternates  as  made  up 
by  the  National  Republican  Committee. 

In  the  case  of  the  Fifth  district  of  Ken 
tucky  the  committee  make  the  unanimous 
recommendation  that  the  sitting  members, 
Silas  F.  Miller  and  John  Mason  Brown, 
with  their  alternates,  J<-hn  Barrett  and 
George  W.  Brown  and  the  contestants. 
Augustus  E.  Wilson  and  M.  Minton  and 
their  alternates,  Hugh  Mulholland  and 
August  Kahlert,  be  each  admitted  as  dele 
gates  and  alternates  to  this  Convention, 
with  a  right  to  cast  a  half  vote  each.  This 
recommendation  is  consented  to  by  the 
sitting  members  and  by  the  contestants. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  CONVENTION. 


75 


The  report  was  adopted  with  but  one 
member  voting  against  the  proposition. 

The  Convention  took  a  recess  until  six 
o'clock. 

EVENING  SESSION. 

The  Nomination  of  Candidates. 

Connecticut  Presents  Hawlcy — Speeches  for  Logan  and 
Elaine — Arthur  Named  by  Townsend. 

Chairman  Henderson  called  the  conven 
tion  to  order  at  7:35  p.  m.,  and  announced 
that  the  presentation  of  candidates  for 
President  was  in  order.  Mr.  Dutcher,  of 
New  York,  offered  the  following,  which 
was  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  Seats 
be  directed  to  issue  five  hundred  tickets  of 
admission  to  veteran  soldiers  and  sailors, 
to  be  distributed  through  the  chairmen  of 
the  several  State  delegations. 

The  National  Committee. 

The  roll  was  then  called  for  members 
of  the  National  Committee,  with  the  fol 
lowing  result : — 

Alabama William  Youngblood. 

Arkansas Powell  Clayton. 

California Horace  Davis. 

Colorado J.  B.  Chaffee. 

Connecticut Samuel  Fessenden. 

Delaware Daniel  J.  Leighton. 

Florida Jesse  G.  Cole. 

Georgia F.  F.  Putney. 

Illinois David  T.  Littler. 

Indiana John  C.  New. 

Jowa J.  S.  Clarkson. 

Kansas John  A.  Martin. 

Kentucky E.  Moore. 

Louisiana Frank  Morey. 

Maine J.  Manchester  Haden. 

Maryland J.  E.  Geary. 

Massachusetts W.  W.  Crapo. 

Michigan John  B.  Sanborn. 

Minnesota M.  J.  Norton. 

Mississippi J.  R.  Lynch. 

Missouri Robert  T.Van  Home. 

Nebraska Church  Howe. 

Nevada Thomas  Wren. 

New  Hampshire.. .Edwin  H.  Follett. 

New  Jersey Garrett  A.  Hobart. 

New  York John  D.  Lawson. 

North  Carolina. ...Scott  M   Humphrey. 

Ohio A.  L.  Conger. 

Oregon J.  T.  Apperson. 

Pennsylvania B.  F.  Jones. 

Rhode  Island H.  A.  Jenckes. 

South  Carolina  ...John  B.  Johnston. 

Tennessee W.  D.  Brownlow. 

Texas C.  C.  Binckley. 

Vermont George  W    Hooker. 

Virginia F.  S.  Blair. 

West  Virginia John  W.  Mason 

Wisconsin  ..        ...  Edward  Saunderson. 


Dakota Judge  Bennett. 

District  of  Columbia,  Col.  Perry  Carson. 

Idaho Sherman  A   Coffin. 

Montana James  A.  Mill. 

New  Mexico William  H.  Ryners. 

Utah Charles  W.  Bennett. 

Washington P.  W.  Miner 

Wyoming Joseph  F.  Carey. 

The  Beginning  of  the  End. 

When  the  call  of  States  for  nominations 
was  had  and  Maine  was  called,  the  Chair 
man  sank  into  his  seat  knowing  what 
would  follow.  There  was  an  instant,  clear, 
loud,  wild  burst  of  applause  that  seemed 
to  come  from  the  throat  of  every  man  in 
the  hall.  To  describe,  in  its  fullness  of  en 
thusiasm,  in  its  spontaneity  of  sentiment, 
in  its  fervor  of  devotion,  the  scene  that  fol 
lowed — a  scene  such  as  was  never  before 
witnessed  in  a  national  convention — is 
well  nigh  impossible. 

First  came  the  cheer  rattling  through  the 
hall  like  a  volley  of  infantry  ;  then  deepen 
ing  as  it  grew  in  force,  like  a  roar  of  can 
non,  and  swelling  as  it  progressed  like  the 
crash  of  a  thunderbolt  across  the  skies. 
From  the  stage  to  the  end  of  the  hall,  a 
distance  of  the  eighth  of  a  mile,  the  cheer 
ing,  rolling  in  dense  waves  of  sound, 
hoarse  and  shrill,  sharp  and  clear,  com 
mingling  in  a  wild  tumult  of  applause, 
which,  in  the  minds  of  all  who  heard  it  and 
of  those  who  witnessed  the  great  scene, 
meant  the  nomination  of  James  G.  Blaine. 

Looking  over  the  human  sea  from  the 
stage  to  the  balconies,  there  was  a  surging 
mob  of  men  and  women  waving  hats,  um 
brellas,  parasols  and  flags.  Against  the 
dark  background  a  thousand  white  hand 
kerchiefs  swung  over  the  heads  of  the  ex 
cited  audience,  dotted  the  hall  with  specks 
of  white,  like  the  caps  of  the  breakers  on  a 
stormy  sea.  Men  put  their  hats  on  the 
tops  of  canes  and  waved  them  high  over 
their  heads.  Women  tore  their  bright 
fichus  and  laces  from  around  their  snowy 
necks,  and,  leaning  far  forward  over  the 
galleries,  frantically  swung  them  to  and 
fro  to  give  emphasis  to  their  shrill  screams 
of  joy. 

From  outside  the  glass  windows  under 
the  dome  of  the  hall,  where  an  adventur 
ous  crowd  of  men  and  boys  had  gathered 
to  witness  the  proceedings,  loud  cat-calls 
and  screams  were  heard  above  the  roar 


76 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   CONVENTION. 


beneath.  Men  hung  dangerously  over  the 
front  of  the  galleries  and  waved  the  ends 
of  the  banners  that  had  been  fastened  there 
as  decorations  to  the  hall. 

The  following  candidates  were  placed  in 
nomination  : 

JAMES  G.  BLAINE,  of  Maine. 

CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR,  of  New  York. 

JOHN  SHERMAN,  of  Ohio. 

GEORGE  F.  EDMUNDS,  of  Vermont. 

JOHN  A.  LOGAN,  of  Illinois. 

JOSEPH  R.  HAWLEY,  of  Connecticut. 
Each  candidate  was  introduced  by  an 
eloquent  eulogy,  which  consumed  the  en 
tire  evening  session.  (The  speeches  nom 
inating  Elaine  and  Logan  are  given  else 
where.) 

The  nominations  being  completed  the 
convention  adjourned  until  Friday  morn 
ing,  at  10  o'clock. 


FOURTH  DAY. 

The  interest  and  excitement  culmina 
ted  on  Friday,  as  the  convention  had 
made  its  nominations,  and  the  deciding 
ballots  were  to  be  cast. 

At  11:20  A.  M.,  Senator  Henderson 
called  the  convention  to  order. 

After  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Henry  Martin 
Scudder,  pastor  of  Plymouth  Church,  the 
chairman  directed  the  secretary  to  call  the 
roll,  so  that  the  States  and  Territories 
which  were  passed  yesterday  could  hand 
in  the  names  of  their  members  of  the 
National  Committee.  A  delegate  from 
California  at  this  point  asked  to  offer  a  reso 
lution  without  comment,  but  Mr.  Davis  of 
Illinois,  demanded  the  regular  order. 

The  First  Ballot. 

The  delegate  from  California  above 
mentioned  then  announced  that  at  the  re 
quest  of  his  delegation  he  withdrew  the 
resolution  he  had  not  been  permitted  to 
offer.  The  chairman  then  directed  that  the 
roll  be  called  for  a  ballot  on  candidates  for 
the  Presidency.  The  ballot  resulted  as 
follows : 

James  G    Blaine 334^ 

Chester  A.  Arthur 278 

George  F.  Edmunds 93 

John  Sherman 30 

John  A.  Logan 63^ 

Joseph  R.  Hawley 13 

Robert  T.  Lincoln 4 

William  T.   Sherman... 


Total 818 

Necessary  to  a  choice 410 


The  Second  Ballot. 

The  second  ballot  was  commenced  at 
12:23. 

During  the  roll  call  much  delay  was 
caused  by  frequent  calls  for  a  poll  of  the 
Delegates  in  certain  States.  As  the  first 
ballot  resulted  in  no  choice,  the  chairman 
directed  that  another  one  be  taken.  It 
resulted  as  follows  : 

Whole  number  of  votes  cast 819 

Necessary  to  a  choice 410 

For  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Maine 349 

For  Chester  A.  Arthur,  of  New  York... 27 5 
For  George  F.  Edmunds,  of  Vermont.  85 

For  John  A.  Logan,  of  Illinois 61 

For  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio 28 

For  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  of  Connecticut  13 

For  Robert  T.  Lincoln,  of  Illinois 4 

For  William  T.  Sherman  of  Missouri...     2 

The  result  of  the  ballot  showed  a  gain 
for  Blaine,  and  wild  cheering  greeted  its 
announcement.  When  order  was  restored, 
the  convention  proceeded  to  a  third  ballot 
with  the  following  result : 

Whole  number  of  votes  cast 820 

Necessary  to  a  choice 411 

For  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Maine 375 

For  Chester  A.  Arthur,  of  New  York... 274 
For  George  F.  Edmunds,  of  Vermont..  69 

For  John  A.  Logan,  of  Illinois 53 

For  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio 25 

For  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  of  Connecticut  13 

For  Robert  T.  Lincoln,  of  Illinois 8 

For  William  T.  Sherman,  of  Missouri..     2 

During  the  roll  call  the  count  in  Ken 
tucky  and  Massachusetts  was  challenged  ; 
but  when  dissatisfaction  was  expressed, 
the  delegates  making  the  challenges  with 
drew  them.  When  Michigan  cast  eighteen 
votes  for  Blaine,  there  was  tremendous 
cheering.  The  ten  votes  of  Nebraska  for 
Blaine  were  received  with  much  cheering. 
After  Nevada  had  been  called,  delegates 
were  seen  rushing  through  the  aisles  in 
every  direction.  The  confusion  and  noise 
was  so  great  by  the  time  North  Carolina 
was  reached,  that  the  Chairman  directed 
the  sergeant-at-arms  to  see  that  the  dele 
gates  took  their  seats. 

A  Motion  to  Adjourn  Lost. 

When  the  result  of  the  third  ballot  was 
announced,  there  was  a  scene  of  wild  con 
fusion.  When  an  opportunity  offered, 
Judge  Foraker,  of  Ohio,  moved  to  take  a 
recess  until  7  P.  M.  Mr.  Dutcher,  of  New 
York,  seconded  the  motion. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  CONVENTION. 


77 


Mr.  McKinley  of  Ohio  said: — 
I  hope  no  friend  of  James  G.  Elaine 
will  object  to  having  the  roll  call  of  States 
made.  [Cries  of  "  Good,  good,''  and 
cheers.]  Let  us  raise  no  technical  objec 
tion.  [Cries  of  "  That's  right,"  and 
cheers.]  And,  as  a  friend  of  James  G. 
Blaine  I  insist  that  all  his  friends  shall 
unite  in  having  the  roll  of  States  called 
and  voting  against  adjournment.  [Loud 
cheers.] 

Mr.  Conger  accepted  Mr.  McKinley's 
proposition,  and  the  vote  on  adjournment 
was  taken.  The  result,  364  to  450,  was  re 
ceived  with  wild  cheering. 

Fourth  and  Final  Ballot. 

Judge  Foraker  then  moved  that  the  rules 
be  suspended  and  James  G.  Blaine  be 
nominated  by  acclamation.  This  was  re 
ceived  with  applause  and  objections,  and 
Mr.  Roosevelt  declared  that  it  could  not 
be  done.  Motions  of  various  kinds  fol 
lowed,  and  at  last  Judge  Foraker  withdrew 
his  motion.  During  the  confusion  that 
followed  the  chairman  directed  that  the 
roll  be  called  for  the  fourth  ballot.  It  re 
sulted  as  follows  : 

Whole  number  of  votes  cast 813 

Necessary  to  a  choice 407 

For  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Maine 541 

For  Chester  A.  Arthur,  of  New  York...  207 
For  George  F.  Edmunds,  of  Vermont,     41 

For  John  A.  Logan,  of  Illinois 7 

For  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  of  Connecticut,     1 5 

Blaine's  Nomination  made  Unanimous. 

The  announcement  of  the  result  of  the 
fourth  ballot  was  received  with  a  whirl 
wind  of  applause.  Every  person  in  the 
audience — delegates  and  visitors — rose  to 
their  feet  simultaneously  and,  all  being 
Blaine  men  now,  shouted  and  sang  their 
delight  at  the  success  of  the  man  from 
Maine.  It  took  nearly  thirty  minutes  to 
get  to  business.  The  chairman  then  asked 
if  the  nomination  should  be  made  unani 
mous.  Mr.  Burleigh,  of  New  York,  took 
the  platform  and  said : 

In  behalf  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  at  his  request,  I  move  to  make 
the  nomination  of  James  G.  Blaine,  of 
Maine,  unanimous,  and  I  promise  for  the 
friends  of  President  Arthur,  who  are 
always  loyal  at  the  polls,  and  for  Northern 
New-York,  20,000  Republican  majority ; 


and  I  promise  you  all  that  we  will  do  all 
we  can  for  the  ticket  and  for  the  nominee, 
and  will  show  you  in  November  next  that 
New-York  is  a  Republican  State.  It 
elected  James  A.  Garfield,  and  it  will  elect 
James  G.  Blaine,  of  Maine.  [Applause.] 
Mr.  Sabin,  of  Minnesota,  said  : 
Four  years  ago,  in  this  very  hall  and  as 
a  delegate  to  the  National  Republican 
Convention,  I  was  opposed  to  Chester  A. 
Arthur  and  to  the  elements  with  which  he 
then  associated.  Since  then  he  has  been 
called,  under  the  most  trying  circumstan 
ces,  to  fill  the  first  place  in  the  gift  of  the 
people  of  this  country.  So  well,  so  nobly, 
so  faithfully  has  he  fulfilled  that  trust,  and 
so  happily  has  he  disappointed  not  only 
those  of  his  opponents  but  his  friends,  so 
fully  has  he  filled  the  position  of  the 
scholar  and  the  gentleman,  that  he  is  pos 
sessed  of  that  great,  good  common  sense 
which  has  made  his  administration  a  great 
and  pronounced  success,  that  he  has  grown 
upon  me  until  to-day,  I  honor  and  revere 
Chester  A.  Arthur.  [Applause.]  As  a  friend 
of  his,  I  no  less  honor  and  revere  that 
prince  of  gentlemen,  that  scholar,  that 
gifted  statesman  James  G.  Blaine,  whose 
nomination  it  affords  me  the  greatest 
pleasure  to  second,  with  the  prediction 
that  his  name  before  this  country  in  No 
vember  will  produce  that  same  spontane 
ous  enthusiasm  which  will  make  him  Pre 
sident  of  the  United  States  on  the  4th  of 
March  next.  [Loud  and  prolonged  ap 
plause,  and  cries  of  "Curtis."] 

Mr.  Plumb,  of  Kansas,  said  : 

This  convention  has  discharged  two  ot 
its  most  important  trusts  and  is  now, 
notwithstanding  the  length  of  time  it  has 
been  in  session  and  the  exciting  scenes 
through  which  it  has  passed,  in  thorough 
good  humor,  and  I  believe  we  are  ready 
to  go  on  and  conclude  the  business  which 
brought  us  all  here.  [Mr.  Houck,  of  Ten 
nessee,  here  called  for  the  regular  order — 
the  question  on  making  the  nomination 
unanimous.]  Before  proceeding  wiih 
that  I  desire  to  respond  to  the  sentiment 
which  pervades  the  entire  convention.  I 
move  that  the  nomination  be  made  unani 
mous,  and  I  hope  there  will  not  be  a  dis 
senting  voice  in  all  this  vast  assemblage. 


78 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   CONVENTION. 


Fourth  Ballot. 

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PROCEEDINGS  OF  CONVENTION. 


79 


The  chairman  then  read  the  following 
dispatch : 

The  President  has  sent  the  following 
dispatch  to  Mr.  Elaine:  "As  the  candidate 
of  the  Republican  party,  you  will  have  my 
earnest  and  cordial  support.1' 

The  nomination  was  then  rnade  unani 
mous,  and,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Husted,  of 
New- York,  the  Convention  adjourned 
until  8  p.  m. 

EVENING  SESSION. 
Logan  Nominated,  for   Vice-president. 

Nominated    by  Acclamation — Xo    other     Candidates. 

The  convention  was  called  to  order  at 
8:15  p.m.,  when  prayer  was  offered  by  the 
Rev  Dr.  Charles  O'Reilly,  of  Detroit.  Dr. 
O'Reilly  is  the  treasurer  of  the  Irish  Na 
tional  League  of  America,  and  is  the  first 
Catholic  to  open  a  Republican  National 
Convention  with  prayer.  The  chairman 
called  for  the  names  of  members  of  the 
National  Committee  which  had  not  been 
already  sent  up.  Florida  announced 
the  name  of  Jesse  G.  Coles,  and  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  Colonel  Perry  Carson. 
A  resolution  was  passed  permitting  the 
late  Central  Committees  to  fill  vacancies 
in  the  National  Committee. 

Logan  put  in  Nomination. 

The  resolution  limiting  speeches  of 
nomination  to  ten  minutes,  passed,  and 
the  clerk  proceeded  to  call  the  roll  of 
States  for  nominations.  No  response  was 
received  till  Illinois  was  reached,  when 
Senator  Plumb,  of  Kansas,  came  forward 
and  said,  in  substance  : 

The  convention  had  completed  two  of 
its  most  serious  duties,  the  adoption  of  a 
platform  and  the  nomination  of  a  candi 
date  for  President.  The  platform  was  one 
on  which  all  good  Republicans  could 
unite,  and  the  candidate  was  one  who  could 
beat  any  Democrat,  living  or  dead.  But 
it  was  still  important  that  the  best  possible 
man  bhould  be  nominated  for  the  second 
place.  It  was  but  a  matter  of  just  recog 
nition  to  the  great  body,  of  the  soldiers  of 
the  war  for  the  Union  that  a  representative 
from  their  number  should  be  placed  as 
the  second  name  on  the  ticket.  The 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  had  enrolled 
more  than  three  quarters  of  a  million  men 
who  lately  wore  the  blue.  In  presenting  a 


name  from  their  ranks  the  speaker  would 
mention  a  man  fitted  in  every  way  for  the 
first  place  ;  a  man  who  would  add  strength 
to  the  ticket  and  justify  the  hopes  and  ex 
pectations  of  the  party.  That  man  was 
General  John  A.  Logan.  [Loud,  long  and 
renewed  applause.]  The  sp'eaker  said  he 
did  not  present  him  in  behalf  of  Illinois 
or  any  other  State,  but  of  the  whole 
United  States.  He  belonged  no  more  to 
Illinois  than  to  Kansas,  whose  75,000  sol 
diers  would  receive  the  news  of  his  nomi 
nation  with  shouts  of  gladness.  The 
speaker  was  commissioned  by  the  State  of 
Kansas  to  make  this  nomination.  [Ap 
plause.] 

Judge  Houck,  of  Tennessee,  in  second 
ing  the  nomination  said  in  substance  : 

While  the  convention  had  not  chosen 
his  first  choice,  it  had  done  well,  and  the 
speaker  proceeded  to  pay  a  tribule  to  the 
"  Plumed  Knight''  of  Maine.  He  hoped  the 
convention  would  come  to  a  common 
understanding  and  agreement  for  the  sec 
ond  place  on  the  ticket.  When  the  wires 
should  transmit  the  news  of  the  nomina 
tion  of  General  Logan  t©  the  so.dier  boys 
of  East  Tennessee  there  would  be  rejoicing 
among  them  as  there  would  be  every 
where.  On  the  Presidential  nominee  his 
delegation  was  somewhat  divided,  but 
when  they  came  to  name  John  A.  Logan 
they  were  united  24  strong. 

Mr.  Thurston,  of  Nebraska,  Mr.  Lee,  ot 
Pennsylvania,  Congressman  Horr,  of  Mich 
igan,  and  Mr.  Clancy  (colored),  of  North 
Carolina,  also  seconded  the  nomination. 

A  motion  was  made  to  suspend  the  rules 
and  make  the  nomination  of  Logan  by 
acclamation.  It  was  put  to  vote,  and  a 
majority  voted  for  it,  but  as  a  two-third 
vote  was  necessary,  the  chair  ordered  the 
roll  called,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether 
the  necessary  two-thirds  voted  for  it. 

The  rules  were  then  suspended  and  sev 
eral  delegates  made  speeches  in  favor  of 
Logan.  On  motion  of  Congressman 
Davis  the  roll  was  called  with  the  follow 
ing  result  :  Logan  779  ;  Gresham  6";  For- 
aker,  I.  The  nomination  was  then  made 
unanimous.  Before  the  convention  had  ad 
journed  Emery  A.  Storrs  took  the  platform 
and  spoke  for  an  hour. 

The  convent. on  then  adjourned  sine  dif. 


THE  ISSUES  OF  1884. 


The  cardinal  principles  of  the  Repub 
lican  Party  have  been  so  long  enunciated, 
and  are  so  well  known  to  the  people  of  the 
country  that  a  full  exposition  of  them 
would  seem  to  be  an  act  of  supererogation. 
The  exigencies  of  the  times  that  called  it 
into  existence  necessarily  made  it  a  par 
ticipant  in  the  vital  current  issues,  and  its 
advanced  and  frank  position  on  all  na 
tional  questions  has  become  a  part  of  the 
history  of  the  country.  In  its  incipiency 
it  gathered  around  it  the  devoted,  union- 
loving  statesmen  of  the  day,  and  ignoring 
old  platforms,  unmeaning  platitudes,  and 
dead  issues,  it  boldly  launched  out  as 
the  party  of  progress  and  national  ad 
vancement.  It  had  no  ancient  landmarks 
to  define  its  limits  or  to  resist  its  expansion 
and  development.  As  a  party  of  the  people 
it  grew  with  the  rapidly  expanding  nation, 
and  by  precept  and  practice  it  fostered 
legitimate  industries  of  every  class,  devel 
oped  the  country's  resources,  promoted 
personal  liberty,  advanced  civilization, 
and  protected  national  honor. 

Its  First  Great  Efforts. 

The  herculean  task  of  conquering*  a  re 
bellion  which  involved  the  cost  of  thou 
sands  of  lives  and  the  expenditure  of  almost 
countless  millions  of  money,  for  which  a 
loyal  people  accepted  its  promise  of  pay 
ment,  a  pledge  which  has  been  faithfully 
kept,  gave  it  a  prestige  abroad,  and  a  po 
tency  at  home  never  attained  by  any  other 
political  organization.  In  patriotism,  in 
statesmanship,  and  in  financial  ability  it  is 
without  a  peer  in  the  long  role  of  historic 
revolutions  ;  as  it  sprung  from  the  people, 
by  the  fiat  of  the  people,  for  the  protection 
of  the  people  and  the  preservation  of  their 
nation,  developing  at  once  into  a  vigorous 
and  stalwart  manhood,  so  it  has  remained, 
their  motor  in  the  calm,  and  their  anchor 
in  the  storm.  Under  its  beneficent  ad 
ministrations  the  nation  has  made  such 
80 


rapid  strides  in  the  path  of  progress  as  to 
surprise  even  its  most  enthusiastic  sup 
porters — for  the  development,  increased 
freedom,  and  prosperous  growth  of  the 
nation  during  the  past  quarter  of  a  cen 
tury  is  but  the  result  of  the  benign  policy 
of  the  Republican  Party. 

The  stars  in  its  galaxy  represent  every 
sphere  and  calling  of  life — they  have  been 
gathered  from  the  camp  of  the  soldier,  the 
cloister  of  the  student,  the  study  of  the 
political  economist,  the  portals  of  finance, 
the  broad  and  elevated  dais  of  statesman 
ship  and  the  blood-stained  bannerette  ot 
patriotism. 

A  common  danger  which  involved  the 
country  cemented  its  followers  into  a 
common  faith,  and,  pledging  that  faith  to 
the  people,  and  true  to  its  glorious  birth 
right,  it  won  its  victories,  cemented  the 
union  of  the  States,  and  made  its  name 
before  the  world. 

Tlie  Grand  Mission  of  the  Party. 

Its  Mission  has  been,  and  is,  to  elevate 
the  nation  by  protecting  its  industries  and 
enlarging  the  freedom  of  the  masses,  re 
garding  capital  as  the  plant  of  labor,  and 
giving,  by  legal  enactments,  each  a  com 
mon  and  undivided  interest  with  the  other. 
The  money  which  moves  the  giant  wheels 
of  machinery,  and  the  fingers  that  manipu 
late  the  delicate  tissues,  are  nature's  co 
partners  and  common  workers. 

As  expressed  by  President  Lincoln  it  is 
a  party  "  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and 
for  the  people,"  and  it  has  been  so  closely 
allied  with  their  interests  both  as  a  nation 
and  as  individuals  as  to  give  it  the  well- 
earned  name  of  "  The  Peoples'  Party." 

It  is  a  true  maxim  that  whatever  contrib 
utes  to  the  national  prosperity,  contributes 
alike  to  the  welfare  of  the  individuals  com 
posing  the  nation — that  public  good  is  pri 
vate  weal — and  that  national  disaster 
brings  individual  ruin.  When  you  destroy 


THE   ISSUES   OF   1884. 


81 


the  tree's  roots  its  trunk  and  branches  will 
perish.  Recognizing  industry  as  not  only 
the  source  of  wealth,  but  as  the  actual 
wealth  of  a  nation,  the  policy  of,  the  Re 
publican  Party  has  been  to  throw  around 
that  industry  such  guards  and  protection, 
as  would  promote  its  growth,  insure  its 
permanency,  and  make  it  remunerative. 

A  party  that  has  proven  so  true  to  na 
tional  permanency  and  national  honor, 
could  not  do  otherwise  than  protect  and 
defend  its  citizens  in  all  the  legitimate  call 
ings  of  life. 

Its  Cardinal  Principle  is  to  Protect  Labor. 

The  policy  of  the  party  is  to  bring  into 
prosperous  harmony  and  speedy  develop 
ment,  on  its  own  territory,  the  great 
branches  of  industry,  without  which  na 
tional  life  cannot  be  sustained,  as  our  trade 
interests  rest  largely  on  internal  circum 
stances.  The  same  condition  of  nature 
which  brings  individuals  into  competition 
also  leads  to  conflict  between  nations  and 
renders  legal  enactments  necessary  to  pro 
tect  each  from  the  encroachments  of  the 
other.  Protection  is  a  broad  field,  and 
governments  recognize  it  in  many  ways 
outside  of  the  mere  question  of  revenue,  or 
tariff  restrictions.  They  organize  and  keep 
in  discipline  standing  armies  and  expen 
sive  navies,  not  to  quell  insurrections  at 
home  nor  to  repel  an  existing  foreign  in 
vasion,  but  in  the  midst  of  profound  peace 
— to  prevent  them.  They  enact  laws,  to 
prevent  the  spread  of  contagious  diseases, 
and  the  influx  of  paupers  and  criminals. 
They  pass  naturalization  laws  to  protect 
the  ballot  box  homestead  laws  to  protect 
the  settlers,  usury  laws  to  protect  the  man 
who  needs  from  he  who  advances  money. 
Protection  is  engraved  in  the  Constitution 
and  written  all  over  the  statute  book. 

Governments  are  for  I  lie  Protection  of  the 
People. 

Protection  to  capital  and  labor  is  quite 
as  necessary  for  the  common  good  of  the 
people.  Governments  are  formed  for  the 
protection  of  their  people,  just  as  corpora 
tions  are  conducted  for  the  benefit  of  their 
stockholders.  The  general  common  wel 
fare  of  nations  is  had  through  treaty 
stipulations,  or  is  arbitrated  in  a  congress 
of  the  nations.  Governments  protect  and 


defend  their  people  by  the  same  rights  that 
men  defend  their  households — first,  under 
the  law,  lastly,  when  that  fails,  vi  et  armis. 

We    Cannot  Regulate  other  Labor    than 
our  Own. 

We  should  remember  that  labor  and 
trade  in  other  nations  cannot  be  regulated 
by  our  laws,  and  have  no  interest  in  our 
institutions  other  than  that  we  may  be  com 
pelled  to  purchase  their  surplus  goods, 
at  prices  which  we  cannot  regulate.  Our 
poverty  adds  to  their  wealth,  and  vice 
versa.  The  working  world  abroad  is  only 
benefited  by  our  prosperity  when  it 
emigrates  to  our  shores.  It  has  taken  a 
century  of  our  history,  and  thousands  of 
millions  of  capital  to  establish  our  indus 
trial  interests  and  place  us  in  our  present 
attitude  before  the  world,  and  this  has  been 
done  by  protective  legislation  whereby 
the  capitalist  could  receive  an  equitable 
interest  on  his  investment,  and  the  laborer 
fully  compensated  for  his  toil.  This  has 
been  done  for  the  sole  benefit  of  our  own 
people — of  those  who  develop  our  resour 
ces,  pay  no  taxes,  fight  our  battles,  and 
change  our  forests  into  pregnant  fields, 
flourishing  towns  and  villages.  Shall  we 
blot  out  all  the  labor  of  the  past,  and 
destroy  the  industries  of  the  nation  through, 
a  "  tariff  for  revenue  only?". 

Protection  a  Constitutional  Right  and 
Liberty. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
as  construed  by  the  ablest  statesmen 
expressly  authorizes  protection  to  labor. 
The  power  to  impose  duties  on  importations^ 
originally  was  exercised  by  the  several 
States.  Subsequently  the  States  delegated 
their  whole  authority  to  the  general  gov 
ernment,  without  restriction  or  reservation, 
except  what  related  to  inspection  laws. 
Having  passed  from  State  authority,  it: 
must  exist  with  the  general  government,, 
or  be  extinct.  It  is  simply  absurd  to  sup 
pose  the  latter,  as  it  would  present  the 
strange  status  of  a  nation  of  people  de 
prived  of  the  power  to  increase  or  protect 
its  own  industries.  Every  administration 
since  the  formation  of  the  government 
has  recognized  this  right  under  the  Consti 
tution,  and  a  century's  acceptance  of  the 
fact  should  be  sufficient.  But  the  advo- 


82 


THE  ISSUES   OF   1884. 


cates  of  Free  Trade,  fearful  of  a  discussion 
of  its  merits,  affect  to  deny  the  constitu 
tional  right  to  pass  tariff  laws  except  for 
revenue  alone,  and  every  man  of  ordinary 
information  knows  that  "  a  tariff  for  rev 
enue  only,"  would  be  as  disastrous  to  our 
industries  as  the  most  open  and  avowed 
free  trade.  They  are  homogeneous  and 
cannot  be  separated  in  their  effect  on  the 
country. 

The  Republican  Party  declares  that 
Congress  has  plenary  power  under  the 
Constitution  to  enact  such  tariff  laws  as  it 
deems  proper,  and  that  this  power  coupled 
with  the  obligation  to  provide  for  the  com 
mon  defence  and  general  welfare,  without 
any  restriction  as  to  revenue,  makes  it  self- 
evident  that  those  who  framed  the  Consti 
tution  not  only  gave  the  power,  but  made 
it  mandatory  on  them  to  exercise  it.  "To 
regulate  Commerce1'  is  a  phrase  in  the 
Constitution  that  was  not  carelessly  framed 
or  vaguely  understood  by  its  framers.  Its 
true  meaning  had  been  given  in  the  re 
peated  discussions  between  the  colonies 
and  the  mother  country,  and  is  precisely 
as  interpreted  in  the  platforms  of  the  Re 
publican  Party. 

The  first  tariff  law  passed  by  Congress, 
July  4th,  1798,  declared  that  one  of  its 
objects  was  to  encourage  and  protect 
manufactures ;  and  when  at  the  next 
session  the  duties  were  increased,  the  same 
principle  was  enunciated. 

It  Re-Affirms  the  Policy  of  Early  Legis 
lation. 

All  the  leading  statesmen  of  the  early 
•days  of  the  Republic,  so  construed  it,  and 
many  of  those  who  framed  and  de 
liberated  upon  the  Constitution  were  sub 
sequently  chosen  to  execute  its  provisions 
— all  of  whom  gave  it  this  construction  and 
meaning.  It  cannot  for  a  moment  be 
supposed  that  they  were  ignorant  of  their 
own  work,  or  that  when  called  on  to  act 
under  its  provisions  that  they  would  per 
vert  its  true  meaning,  and  yet  those  who 
deny  the  constitutional  power  to  protect 
home  labor  must  arrive  at  one  or  the  other 
of  these  conclusions. 

The  several  functions  of  the  government, 
legislative,  judicial  and  executive  are 
directed  to  protect  the  rights  of  persons 


and  property.  It  is  for  this  that  they  are 
instituted.  Different  nations  have  different 
interests,  just  as  individuals  have  under 
the  same  form  of  government,  but  at  the 
same  time  all  have  a  common  welfare  in 
the  general  national  prosperity.  When 
one  is  affected,  the  others  suffer  corre 
spondingly. 

Upon  this  great  question  of  capital  and 
labor,  political  parties  always  have  and 
probably  always  will  be  at  issue. 

The  advocates  of  Free  Trade  strive  to 
have  such  a  revision  of  the  tariff  laws  as 
will  enable  this  foreign  element  to  have 
the  preference  over  our  own  people  simply 
to  procure  from  abroad  what  we  now  pro 
duce  at  home,  and  thus  to  reduce  the  com 
pensation  of  labor  to  such  a  standard  as 
will  ultimately  destroy  it. 

What  is  meant  by  Free  Trade. 

Free  Trade  in  the  unlimited  sense  of  the 
word  has  a  comparatively  small  following 
— the  term  as  generally  used  does  not  im 
ply  actual  free  trade  between  different 
nations.  The  Free  Trade  theory  is  to 
collect  sufficient  revenue  from  duties  on 
imports  to  maintain  the  government  to 
the  utter  rejection  of  incidental  protection 
— in  a  word,  to  open  our  ports  as  mere 
collection  agencies,  and  to  fill  the  national 
coffers  at  the  expense  of  our  own  in 
dustries.  Great  Britain  is  the  head  centre 
of  what  is  known  as  free  trade,  and  the 
celebrated  Cobden  Club  of  England  that 
represents  it,  has  its  plants  in  free  trade 
organizations  in  this  country.  But  Eng 
land  with  its  ostensible  free  trade  policy, 
fosters  its  industries  to  a  greater  extent 
than  any  other  nation  by  laying  excessive 
duties  on  certain  items  of  manufacture, 
and  permitting  free  trade  on  those  which 
it  can  produce  at  lower  prices  than  any 
other  nation.  Its  tariff  policy  is  one  of 
ultra-protection  to  its  industries,  and  to 
enable  its  people  to  sell  their  surplus 
goods  abroad. 

Comparison  between    Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States. 

Great  Britain  and  the  United  States, 
although  of  a  common  stock,  do  not  have 
a  common  interest  as  nations.  England 
strives  to  manufacture  for  the  world,  to 
monopolize  the  productive  power,  and 


THE   ISSUES   OF   1884. 


83 


through  its  cheap  labor,  to  undersell  other 
nations  in  their  own  markets.  She 
willingly  permits  competition  at  home  in 
all  raw  materials,  so  that  she  can  procure 
them  at  her  own  price,  and  to  have  com 
petition  in  her  home  market  for  manu 
factured  goods  to  enable  her  to  name  the 
selling  price,  and  thus  through  this  in 
strumentality  to  control  the  markets  abroad. 

How  tlie  Tariff  i»  made  Protective. 

At  the  present  time  England  pays  about 
one  half,  and  the  rest  of  Europe  about  one 
third  of  the  rates  that  prevail  here,  so  that 
when  this  shield  of  protection  is  removed, 
and  the  products  of  their  cheap  labor  flood 
our  market  they  would  easily  be  able  to 
undersell  our  own  people.  Hence,  a 
tariff  to  protect,  must  be  regulated  by  a 
comparison  of  the  relative  cost  of  materials 
and  price  of  labor.  To  ascertain  the  in 
trinsic  value  of  anything,  we  must  compare 
it  with  our  unit  of  value,  just  as  we  do  with 
the  sovereign  of  England,  or  the  franc  of 
France,  when  estimated  by  our  own  dol 
lar.  It  is  just  as  reasonable,  and  equitable 
to  value  these  coins  at  their  purchasing 
power  in  their  own  countries  without  any 
reference  to  their  intrinsic  value  here. 
Labor  is  the  intrinsic  value  of  manufac 
tured  goods  and  it  is  valued  under  a  protec 
tive  tariff  by  a  comparison  with  our  home 
labor.  For  example  five  francs  repre 
sent  the  value  of  a  day's  labor  by  an 
artisan  in  Paris,  and  $3.00,  that  of  one  in 
the  United  States.  Shall  we  increase 
the  value  of  the  franc  in  this  country 
to  threefold  its  value  at  home,  and  conse 
quently  depreciate  the  true  value  of  our 
dollar  to  one-third  its  value  as  defined  by 
law  ?  Or  shall  we  declare  that  a  day's 
labor,  all  over  the  world  shall  be  valued  at 
a  day's  labor  in  the  United  States,  upon  all 
articles  of  industry  sent  from  abroad  to 
sell  in  our  market  ?  If  this  is  not  done, 
our  labor  must  compete  with  foreign  labor, 
and  our  men  be  paid  at  foreign  prices. 
As  has  been  said  by  an  able  expounder  of 
the  question  : 

"  Persons  who  denounce  tariff  protec 
tion  are  therefore  compelled  to  take  the 
untenable  position  that  they  are  unwilling 
to  permit  the  existence  of  natural  prices 
for  American  products;  or,  to  state  the 


case  in  another  form,  are  opposed  to  the 
continuance  of  all  domestic  industries 
which  can  be  undersold  in  our  market  by 
foreign  competition." 

We  believe  in  the  dignity  of  labor  and 
strive  to  elevate  it,  instead  of  debasing  it 
into  a  miserable  servitude  but  little  above 
that  of  human  slavery.  The  true  policy  of 
government  is  not  to  sacrifice  labor  in 
order  to  have  cheap  production.  Abandon 
the  doctrine  of  protection,  open  our  ports 
to  the  market  of  the  world,  let  revenue 
only  be  the  cry,  and  Shylock-like,  insist  only 
for  the  pound  of  flesh,  and  whilst  we  would 
manufacture  goods  as  cheaply,  and  furnish 
products  at  as  low  rates,  labor  would  be 
degraded,  and  wages  would  be  as  low  as 
it  is  across  the  ocean.  Under  such  circum 
stances  we  can  compete  with  the  world, 
but  do  we  desire  to  pay  such  a  price  for  its 
great  market  ?  Our  gain  would  be  a  loss, 
which  would  not  only  destroy  our  in 
dustries  but  would  break  up  our  nation. 
In  the  words  of  a  celebrated  writer  on  this 
question  : 

"  This  would,  to  begin  with,  treat  men  as 
made  for  trade,  not  trade  as  made  for  men. 
Our  laborers  deprived  of  justly  high,  or 
comfort,  or  freedom  of  wages,  would 
quickly  sink  in  the  scale  of  civilization. 
Within  a  few  generations  they  would  cease 
to  be  intelligent,  and  become  ignorant, 
debased,  superstitious,  servile,  and  unfit  to 
be  trusted  with  the  ballot.  No  longer 
having  chances  to  improve  their  condition, 
or  to  arise  above  it  they  would  lose  their 
present  incentives  to  self-respect,  to 
courage,  to  ambition,  to  enterprise,  to  hope. 
The  spirit  of  man  falls  with  his  wages — • 
declines  as  declines  the  reward  of  his  in 
dustry,  toil  and  care.  Crush  this  and  he 
is  crushed.  Take  away  from  the  labor  in 
the  United  States  the  elevated,  important 
and  commanding  position  which  it  novr 
occupies,  and  let  its  wages  and  its  situa 
tion  sink  to  the  European  level,  then  its 
descent  would  drag  down  the  edifice  of 
republican  institutions,  and  of  human 
freedom.  These  cannot  long  exist  where 
the  rights  of  labor  are  not  respected. 
Would  general  cheapness  in  the  price  of 
commodities  be  any  compensation  for  this 
tremendous  sacrifice  of  all  we  hold  dear  and 
sacred  as  the  results  of  American  liberty  ?" 


84 


THE  ISSUES  OF  1884. 


\VImt  a  Judicious  Scale   of  Duties  will 
Effect. 

Fully  satisfied  with  the  truth  of  this 
proposition,  the  Republican  Party  has 
stood  between  the  people,  and  those  who 
would  destroy  their  industries,  and  by 
means  of  a  judicious  tariff  warded  off  these 
disasters.  Cheap  goods  can  be,  and  are 
manufactured  through  home  competition, 
which  is  in  the  main,  healthful.  The  manu 
facturer  who  charges  more  than  a  fair 
profit  on  his  goods  offers  an  inducement 
for  another  to  furnish  them  at  a  less  cost, 
and  thus  home  competition  will  always 
give  our  people  goods  at  the  lowest  figures 
at  which  they  can  be  made.  There  can  be 
no  monopoly  of  manufacture  or  prices 
where  capital  has  an  open  field,  and, 
skilled  labor  is  ever  ready  to  develop  it.  On 
the  contrary,  open  the  doors  to  Free  Trade, 
until  our  industries  shall  have  been  driven 
from  their  posts  by  foreign  goods,  and  as 
soon  as  the  market  is  controlled  by  them 
the  prices  will  be  advanced  beyond  our  own 
standard,  to  be  reduced  only  when  protec 
tion  shall  again  stand  between  home  and 
foreign  labor. 

We  must  eith  er  Protect  Home  or  Foreign 
Labor. 

If  we  do  not  protect  our  own  people  in 
their  industries  we  are  protecting  those 
under  other  governments.  Omission  in 
the  first  case  is  equivalent  to  a  direct  action 
in  the  other.  In  our  governmental  action 
we  are  compelled  to  chose  between  home 
and  foreign  labor,  and  if  we  refuse  it  to 
our  own  people  we  confer  it  on  others  to 
their  exclusion.  In  the  words  of  the 
writer  already  quoted  : 

"  To  repeal  the  laws  which  punish  crime 
is  to  protect  criminals  ;  and  to  legislate  out 
of  existence  the  protection  which  guards 
and  sustains  American  industry,  is  to 
transfer  the  protection  to  European  indus 
try.  A  tariff  too  low  for  home  Protection, 
thus  becomes  a  law  to  protect  transatlantic 
manufacturers  against  the  rivalry  of  our 
own  manufacturers  in  the  latter's  domestic 
market.  The  issue  between  the  protec 
tionists  and  the  Free  Traders,  when 
reduced  to  its  seminal  principle,  dwindles 
to  simply  this,  whether  we  shall  protect 
our  own  labor  and  capital  or  that  of 


other  nations.  Doing  the  latter  may  be 
symbolized  as  dismantling  our  forts,  level 
ing  our  breastwork,  and  disarming  our 
troops,  in  the  face  of  an  invading  enemy, 
leaving  him  at  his  leisure  to  reap  all  the 
fruits  of  unopposed  conquest.'' 

Tariff  History. 

The  revision  of  existing  tariff  laws,  in 
order  to  protect  the  industries  of  the 
country,  and  to  inaugurate  what  was  then 
known  as  "  The  American  System,"  came 
up  before  Congress  at  the  session  of  1823 
and  24,  and  the  heated  debate  that  en 
sued  matured  into  a  serious  conflict  of 
authority  between  the  general  government, 
and  a  few  of  the  slave-holding  States.  So 
prominent  did  the  question  become  at 
that  time,  it  entered  very  largely  into  the 
presidential  issue  and  party  lines  were 
drawn  accordingly. 

The  protection  of  home  industry  had 
not  been  recognized  among  the  powers 
granted,  was  looked  for  in  the  incidental ; 
and  denied  by  the  strict  constructionists 
to  be  a  substantive  term,  to  be  exercised 
for  the  direct  purpose  of  protection  ;  but 
admitted  by  all  at  that  time  and  ever 
since  the  first  tariff  act  of  1789,  to  be  an 
incident  to  the  revenue  raising  power,  and 
an  incident  to  be  regarded  in  the  exercise 
of  that  power.  Revenue  the  object,  pro 
tection  the  incident,  had  been  the  rule  in 
the  earlier  tariffs  j  now  that  rule  was  sought 
to  be  reversed,  and  to  make  protection  the 
object  of  the  law,  and  revenue  the  inci 
dent.  Henry  Clay  was  the  leader  in  the 
proposed  revision  and  the  champion  of 
the  American  system ;  he  was  ably  sup 
ported  in  the  House  by  many  able  and 
effective  speakers,  who  based  their  argu 
ment  on  the  general  distress  then  alleged 
to  be  prevalent  in  the  country. 

When  a  measure  becomes  oppressive  or 
odious  or  destructive  of  the  interests  of 
the  masses,  it  soon  becomes  a  matter  of 
public  complaint,  and  the  right  of  petition 
to  Congress  for  redress  is  freely  and  fully 
exercised. 

In  the  face  of  our  Industrial  Prosperity, 
the  Democrats  insist  on  a  Repeal  of  the 
Protective  Tariff  Laws. 

No  such  reason  appears  to  have  existed 
for  the  effort  to  change  existing  tariff  laws, 


THE  ISSUES  OF  1884. 


85 


so  as  to  open  the  door  for  foreign  compe 
tition.  The  Morrison  bill,  which  was  only 
defeated  by  Republican  votes,  is  a  fair  ex 
hibit  of  the  opinion  and  policy  of  the 
Democratic  party  on  the  issue,  having 
been  prepared  for  that  special  purpose. 
Not  a  single  petition  was  presented  to  the 
House,  or  referred  to  the  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means  even  suggesting  the  re 
duction  of  duties  proposed  by  this  bill,  or 
any  other  reduction  of  customs  duties. 
On  the  contrary,  the  petitions  have  all 
been  in  direct  opposition  to  such  legisla 
tion.  Outside  of  a  majority  of  Democratic 
members,  and  the  Free  Trade  Clubs  or 
ganized  in  the  interests  of  English  capital 
ists  there  has  been  no  expressed  sentiment 
in  favor  of  such  a  measure. 

The  measure  was  a  blow  at  the  farmers 
of  the  country.  Mr.  Hewitt  of  New  York, 
in  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  March  2yth  last,  said: — 

How  Mr.  Hewitt  Views  It. 

"  Now  how  can  the  farmer  be  benefited  ? 
What  does  he  want  ?  He  wants  to  sell 
his  productions  at  a  higher  price.  And 
how  is  he  going  to  sell  his  products  at  a 
higher  price  as  the  grain  trade  stands  to 
day  ?  The  markets  of  Europe  are  over 
crowded  with  food  products.  To-day  the 
farmer  is  met  at  Liverpool  and  London 
by  the  food  products  of  India,  and  that 
competition  so  far  from  being  less  is  going 
to  increase.  Therefore  the  farmer  has 
reached  the  limit  of  the  demand  for  his 
products  in  foreign  lands.  Where  then, 
is  he  to  find  his  market  for  them  ?  He 
must  find  his  market  at  home,  and  how  is 
he  going  to  get  it  at  home  ?  Why,  only 
by  one  method— manufactures  must  be 
fostered  and  grow  and  not  be  diminished. 

This  foreign  market,  for  which  every 
tariff  idealist  and  every  Democratic  free 
trader  longingly  sighs,  is  only  mythical  in 
the  present  condition  of  our  country.  We 
should  capture  the  home  market,  first  get 
control  of  it,  before  we  seek  the  foreign 
one.  We  can  not  command  a  foreign 
market  until  we  can  control  our  own.  It 
seems  to  me  that  proposition  is  so  plain 
and  palpable  that  it  must  commend  itself 
to  every  intelligent  man. 


Duty  on  Raw  Material. 

It  is  probable  that  free  raw  material  has 
nothing  to  commend  it  to  legislative  favor 
which  is  not  common  to  every  other  Amer 
ican  product.  The  same  necessity  for 
protection,  within  reasonable  limits,  ap 
plies  to  what  are  commonly  called  raw 
materials  as  to  the  finished  or  more  ad 
vanced  manufacture.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  raw  materials  distinguished  from 
other  products  of  labor.  Labor  enters  into 
all  productions,  the  commonest  as  well  as 
the  higher  forms. 

The  ore  costs  something  to  mine  it ;  the 
coal,  to  take  it  from  the  ground  ;  the  stone, 
to  quarry  it ;  much  labor  enters  into  the 
production  of  wool ;  leather  costs  some 
thing  to  tan  ;  and  to  the  extent  that  labor 
enters  into  their  preparation,  what  are 
usually  termed  raw  materials  should  have 
ratable  protection  with  the  completed  pro 
duct.  Pig-iron  is  the  raw  material  for  bar- 
iron,  and  yet  no  one  has  been  heard  to 
advocate  free  pig-iron.  Cloth  is  the  raw 
material  for  the  tailor,  the  finest  steel  is 
the  crude  material  of  the  watch  maker, 
and  so  on  interminably.  There  can  be  no 
just  line  drawn,  and  no  reason  exists  for 
such  a  discrimination.  When  the  country 
is  ready  for  free  trade  let  us  have  it  in  all 
things  without  exception  or  restriction. 

Facts  are  more  potent  than  Theories. 

What  has  been  accomplished  during 
the  period  when  a  protective  tariff  has 
been  in  operation  is  a  stronger  argument 
in  its  favor  than  all  the  thin  spun  theories 
of  so  called  political  economists,  or  the 
prophecies  of  visionary  enthusiasts,  and 
although  the  Democracy  has  called  it  ex 
tortion  and  robbery,  and  declared  that  it 
obstructed  the  progress  and  permanency 
of  our  industries,  and  the  development  of 
our  growth  to  wealth  and  national  great 
ness,  still  the  actual  result  has  become  a 
record  for  all  to  read,  so  that  no  man 
need  go  astray. 

How  it  contrasts  with  the  low  tariff  pe 
riod  from  1847  to  1860,  when  we  had  prac 
tically  a  revenue  tariff,  such  as  is  advocated 
by  the  Democratic  party  of  to-day  !  It  was 
a  period  of  universal  business  depression, 
deficiencies  in  the  public  Treasury,  when 
both  nation  and  individuals  were  compelled 


86 


THE  ISSUES  OF  1884. 


to  borrow  money  at  the  most  exorbitant 
rates  of  interest ;  and  it  was  in  this  condition 
that  the  Republican  party  foundthe  country 
when  it  came  into  power  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1861.  The  Democratic  policy  of 
the  tariff  was  immediately  reversed  ;  and 
the  splendid  achievements  in  every  de 
partment  of  industrial  activity,  the  large 
revenues  of  the  Government,  its  improved 
credit,  and  its  present  flourishing  monetary 
conditions  are  the  highest  vindication  of  its 
policy.  Every  class  in  the  country  has 
been  benefited.  The  necessities  of  life 
have  been  cheapened  to  the  consumer. 
Every  article  of  merchandise  that  has  been 
made  possible  of  manuracture  in  this 
country  by  reason  of  protective  duties  has 
been  cheapened,  instead  of  being  en 
hanced  in  price. 

Democratic  Tariff  from  a  British  Stand 
point. 

The  Democratic  party  is  legislating  for 
England's  interests  rather  than  those  of 
America — for  the  protection  of  foreign 
labor  instead  of  home  industry. 

The  London  Iron  and  Coal  Trades  Re 
view  for  December  1883  says: 

"Our  best  customer  for  iron,  steel, 
hardwares,  and  many  other  goods,  has 
long  been  the  United  States,  notwithstand 
ing  the  very  heavy  duties  that  are  there 
levied,  and  the  greatest  interest  is  always 
manifested  by  our  businessmen  in  Ameri 
can  politics  where  they  are  likely  to  affect 
the  tariff.  It  is  pretty  evident  that  the  pro 
tectionists  are  no  longer  to  have  it  all 
their  own  way.'' 

In  addition  to  this,  the  following  ex 
tracts  from  British  labor  periodicals  puts 
the  whole  case  in  its  true  light : 

"The  year  is  likely  to  see  important 
political  changes  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic  which  will  have  their  influence 
here.  Events  move  rapidly  in  America, 
and  the  coming  triumph  of  the  Democratic 
party  there  means  the  triumph  of  the  free- 
trade  movement  in  the  States.  It  is  not  to 
be  supposed  that  there  will  be  free  imports 
into  the  States,  but  "  a  tariff  for  revenue 
only,''  which  is  the  leading  cry  of  De 
mocrats,  will  open  an  immense  additional 
field  for  the  sale  of  English  manufactured 
goods  in  the  States." 

The  same  journal  said  in  March  last : 


"  It  appears,  therefore,  that  we  are  buy 
ing  nearly  as  much  in  the  way  of  manufac 
tures  in  iron  and  steel,  machinery,  &c., 
from  the  States  as  we  are  selling  to  them. 
The  result  must  be  looked  upon  as  miser 
able,  and  is  not  equal  to  our  position  as  a 
manufacturing  country.  The  United  States 
is  a  producing  country,  not  a  manufactur 
ing,  in  the  sense  to  which  we  apply  this 
term  to  ourselves.  It  is  high  time  we  turned 
our  attention  actively  elsewhere  for  a  better 
customer,  not  forgetting  all  the  same  to 
watch  the  opportunities  which  the  tariff 
reduction  in  the  States  will  open  out 
to  us." 

The  London  Iron  and  Coal  Trades  Re 
view  for  February  8,  1884,  says: 

"  Though  our  trade  with  the  Uniied  States 
has  fallen  off  very  much  of  late,  that 
country  still  occupies  the  position  of  our 
leading  customer,  and  every  change  in 
its  condition  yet  has  its  influence  upon 
our  market.  It  is,  therefore,  important  to 
notice  that  the  intelligence  from  the  other 
side  has  been  of  a  rather  more  encouraging 
character  during  the  last  few  days." 

The  Pall  Mall  Gazette  published  the 
following : 

"  The  progress  of  the  Morrison  bill  will 
be  watched  with  considerable  interest  by 
English  exporters  to  the  American  mar 
ket,  inasmuch  as  it  can  hardly  fail  to  tend 
in  their  favor." 

Hon.  Major  Mt  Kin  ley's  Views. 

Hon.  William  McKinley  of  Ohio,  who 
has  recently  been  ousted  from  his  seat  in 
the  House,  and  a  Democrat  put  in  his 
place,  gives  this  vivid  presentation  of  the 
case  : 

Importers  Celebrate  Democratic  Victories. 

One  firm  of  importers  celebrated  that  free- 
trade  victory  by  christening  a  line  of 
English  goods  with  the  significant  trade 
mark,  "  The  Carlisle  shape,"  and  pub 
lished  it  as  "the coming  thing"  [applause], 
named  in  honor  of  Speaker  CARLISLE,  to 
whom  the  country  looked  to  reduce  the 
present  outrageous  tariff  on  crockery. 
This  Democratic  House  is  now  employed 
under  the  leadership  of  the  distinguished 
Mr.  MORRISON.  This  line  of  goods  named 
for  one  of  the  ablest  and  purest  Democrats 
in  the  House  or  the  country  comes  from 
his  representative  capacity.  He  stands  at 


THE  ISSUES  OF  1884. 


87 


the  head  of  a  great  political  organization 
committed  to  the  English  system,  which  all 
^England  believes  will  increase  her  pros 
perity  and  enrich  her  manufacturers. 

These  goods,  made  in  a  foreign  pottery 
with  foreign  materials,  foreign  labor,  and 
foreign  capital,  are  fittingly  crowned  with 
the  head  of  the  British  lion.  Pass  this  bill 
and  you  will  all  have  shapes  and  be 
honored  with  like  manifestations  of  ap 
proval.  I  know  my  honored  friend  the 
Speaker  craves  no  such  distinction  ;  I  know 
he  would  shrink  from  such  public  demon 
strations  of  approval,  and  I  believe  he  will 
not  feel  nattered  by  this  well-intentioned 
compliment;  but  they  could  not  avoid 
expression  in  some  public  way  their  appre 
ciation  of  his  victory.  This  is  but  an 
advance  manifestation  of  the  joy  which 
will  be  felt  on  the  other  side  should  the  bill 
pass. 

American  Wages  the  t>e*t  in  the  World. 

Our  wages  are  higher  here  than  in  any 
other  nation  of  the  world,  and  we  are  all 
proud  and  grateful  that  it  is  so.  I  know  it 
is  denied,  but  experience  outweighs  theo 
ries  or  misleading  statistics.  One  thing 
we  do  know  is  that  our  work  people  do  not 
go  abroad  for  better  wages,  and  every 
other  nationality  comes  here  for  increased 
wage»>  and  gets  them.  In  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States  the  rate  of  wages  is 
on  the  average  about  50  per  cent,  higher 
here  than  there." 

We  are  confronted  with  this  problem  at 
the  very  threshold  of  this  discussion,  and 
we  must  meet  it.  The  proposition  of  the 
chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and 
Means  will  result  in  reducing  the  wages  of 
labor  or  the  destruction  of  many  of  our 
most  valuable  industries,  and  the  depriva 
tion  of  employment  to  thousands.  The 
one  or  the  other  alternative  must  come ; 
either  will  be  most  disastrous  and  attended 
by  business  depression  and  individual 
suffering. 

We  must  not  reduce  the  price  paid  to 
labor ;  it  is  already  sufficiently  low.  We 
can  only  prevent  it  by  defeating  this  bill, 
and  it  should  be  done  without  unnecessary 
delay.  The  sooner  the  better,  and  remove 
this  menace  which  hangs  over  all  of  our 
industrial  life  and  threatens  the  comfort 


and  independence  of  millions  of  American 
workingman. 

How  Henry  Clay,  the  Father  of  Protec 
tion  Presents  it. 

Henry  Clay,  whose  reputation  as  a 
statesman,  and  whose  life  was  devoted  to 
the  great  question  of  political  economy, 
came  from  the  same  state  which  is  now 
represented  by  the  Champion  of  Free 
Trade,  and  where  the  demand  is  made  by 
the  Democracy  to  wipe  all  laws  for  the 
protection  of  American  Industry  from  the 
statute  book.  So  fully  was  he  convinced 
that  protection  should  form  a  prominent 
part  of  the  national  policy,  that  he  em 
braced  every  opportunity  to  hand  his  name 
down  to  the  future  artisans  and  laborers 
of  his  country  as  their  friend  and  champion. 

His  defence  of  the  American  system 
made  in  the  Senate  in  1832,30  fully  sus 
tains  the  position  of  the  Republican  party, 
as  to  entitle  it  to  the  careful  consideration 
of  the  American  people. 

"If  the  term  of  seven  years  were  to  be 
selected,  of  the  greatest  prosperity  which 
this  people  have  enjoyed  since  the  estab 
lishment  of  their  present  constitution,  it 
would  be  exactly  that  period  of  seven  years 
which  immediately  followed  the  passage  of 
the  tariff  of  1824." 

This  transformation  of  the  condition  of 
the  country  from  gloom  and  distress  to 
brightness  and  prosperity,  has  been  main 
ly  the  work  of  American  legislation,  foster 
ing  American  industry,  instead  of  allowing 
it  to  be  controlled  by  foreign  legislation, 
cherishing  foreign  industry.  The  foes  of 
the  American  System,  in  1824,  with  great 
boldness  and  confidence,  predicted,  ist. 
The  ruin  of  the  public  revenue,  and  the 
creating  of  a  necessity  to  resort  to  direct 
taxation.  The  gentleman  from  South 
Carolina,  (General  Hayne,)  I  believe, 
thought  that  the  tariff  of  1824  would  op 
erate  a  reduction  of  revenue  to  the  large 
amount  of  eight  millions  of  dollars.  2d. 
The  destruction  of  our  navigation.  3d. 
The  desolation  of  commercial  cities.  And; 
4th.  The  augmentation  of  the  price  of  ob 
jects  of  consumption,  and  farther  decline; 
in  that  of  the  articles  of  our  exports. 
Every  prediction  which  they  made  has> 
failed — utterly  failed.  Instead  of  the  ruim 
of  the  public  revenue,  with  which  they 


88 


THE  ISSUES  OF  1884. 


then  sought  to  deter  us  from  the  adoption 
of  the  American  System,  we  are  now 
threatened  with  its  subversion,  by  the  vast 
amount  of  the  public  revenue  produced  by 
that  system.  Every  branch  of  our  naviga 
tion  has  increased. 

Why,  sir,  there  is  scarcely  an  interest, 
scarcely  a  vocation  in  society,  which  is  not 
embraced  by  the  beneficence  of  this  sys 
tem. 

It  comprehends  our  coasting  tonnage  and 
trade,  from  which  all  foreign  tonnage  is 
absolutely  excluded. 

It  includes  all  our  foreign  tonnage,  with 
the  inconsiderable  exception  made  by 
treaties  of  reciprocity  with  a  few  foreign 
powers. 

It  embraces  our  fisheries,  and  all  our 
hardy  and  enterprising  fishermen. 

It  extends   to  almost  every  mechanic 

an .  *  *  *  *  * 

Its  History. 

The  subject  of  the  American  system  was 
again  brought  up  in  1820,  by  the  bill  re 
ported  by  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
of  manufactures,  now  a  member  of  the 
bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  principle  was  successfully 
maintained  by  the  representatives  of  the 
people  ;  but  the  bill  which  they  passed  was 
defeated  in  the  Senate.  It  was  revived  in 
1824;  the  whole  ground  carefully  and  de 
liberately  explored,  and  the  bill  then  in 
troduced,  receiving  all  the  sanctions  of  the 
constitution,  became  the  law  of  the  land. 
An  amendment  of  the  system  was  proposed 
in  1828,  to  the  history  of  which  I  refer 
with  no  agreeable  recollections.  The  bill 
of  that  year,  in  some  of  its  provisions,  was 
framed  on  principles  directly  adverse  to 
the  declared  wishes  of  the  friends  of  the 
policy  of  protection.  I  have  heard,  with 
out  vouching  for  the  fact,  that  it  was  so 
framed  upon  the  advice  of  a  prominent 
citizen  now  abroad,  with  the  view  of  ulti 
mately  defeating  the  bill,  and  with  assur 
ances  that,  being  altogether  unacceptable 
to  the  friends  of  the  American  system,  the 
bill  would  be  lost.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the 
most  exceptional  features  of  the  bill  were 
stamped  upon  it,  against  the  earnest  re 
monstrances  of  the  friends  of  the  system, 
by  the  votes  of  southern  members,  upon  a 
principle,  I  think,  as  unsound  in  legisla 


tion  as  it  is  reprehensible  in  ethics.  The 
bill  was  passed,  notwithstanding  all  this,  it 
having  been  deemed  better  to  take  the  bad 
along  with  the  good  which  it  contained, 
than  reject  it  altogether.  Subsequent  le 
gislation  has  corrected  the  error  then  per 
petrated,  but  still  that  measure  is  vehe 
mently  denounced  by  gentlemen  who  con 
tributed  to  make  it  what  it  was. 

Thus,  sir,  has  this  great  system  of  pro 
tection  been  gradually  built,  stone  upon 
stone,  and  step  by  step,  from  the  Fourth  of 
July,  1789,  down  to  the  present  period.  In 
every  stage  of  its  progress  it  has  received 
the  deliberate  sanction  of  Congress.  A 
vast  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  has  approved  and  continue  to  ap 
prove  it.  Every  chief  magistrate  of  the 
United  States,  from  Washington  to  the 
present,  in  some  form  or  other,  has  given 
to  it  the  authority  of  his  name ;  and  how 
ever  the  opinions  of  the  existing  President 
are  interpreted  south  of  Mason's  and  Dix- 
on's  line,  in  the  north  they  are  at  least 
understood  to  favor  the  establishment  of  a 
judicious  tariff. 

Gentlemen  deceive  themselves.  It  is  not 
free  trade  that  they  are  recommending  to 
our  acceptance.  It  is  in  effect,  the  British 
colonial  system  that  we  are  invited  to 
adopt ;  and,  if  their  policy  prevail,  it  will 
lead  substantially  to  the  re-colonization  of 
these  States,  under  the  commercial  domin 
ion  of  Great  Britain.  And  whom  do  we 
find  some  of  the  principal  supporters,  out 
of  Congress,  of  this  foreign  system  ?  Mr. 
President,  there  are  some  foreigners  who 
always  remain  exotics,  and  never  become 
naturalized  in  our  country ;  whilst,  happily, 
there  are  many  others  who  readily  attach 
themselves  to  our  principles  and  our  insti 
tutions.  The  honest,  patient  and  indus 
trious  German  readily  unites  with  our  peo 
ple,  establishes  himself  upon  some  of  our 
fat  land,  fills  his  capacious  barn,  and  enjoys 
in  tranquillity  the  abundant  fruits  which 
his  diligence  gathers  around  him,  always 
ready  to  fly  to  the  standard  of  his  adopted 
country,  or  of  its  laws,  when  called  -by 
the  duties  of  patriotism.  The  gay,  the 
versatile,  the  philosophic  Frenchman,  ac 
commodating  himself  cheerfully  to  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  life,  incorporates  himself 
without  difficulty  in  our  society.  But,  of 


THE  ISSUES  OF  1884. 


89 


all  foreigners,  none  amalgamate  themselves 
so  quickly  with  our  people  as  the  natives 
of  the  Emerald  Isle.  In  some  of  the  vis 
ions  which  have  passed  through  my  im 
agination,  I  have  supposed  that  Ireland 
was  originally  part  and  parcel  of  this  con 
tinent,  and  that,  by  some  extraordinary 
convulsion  of  nature,  it  was  torn  from 
America,  and  drifting  across  the  ocean, 
was  placed  in  the  unfortunate  vicinity  of 
Great  Britain.  The  same  open-hearted- 
ness;  the  same  generous  hospitality;  the 
same  careless  and  uncalculating  indiffer 
ence  about  human  life,  characterize  the 
inhabitants  of  both  countries. 

;Tlie  Law  of  Labor. 

The  great  law  of  price  is  determined  by 
supply  and  demand.  Whatever  affects 
either,  affects  the  price..  If  the  supply  is 
increased,  the  demand  remaining  the 
same,  the  price  declines  ;  if  the  demand  is 
increased,  the  supply  remaining  the  same, 
the  price  advances  ;  if  both  supply  and  de 
mand  are  undiminished,  the  price  is  sta 
tionary,  and  the  price  is  influenced  exactly 
in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  disturbance 
to  the  demand  or  supply.  It  is  therefore 
a  great  error  to  suppose  that  an  existing  or 
new  duty  necessarily  becomes  a  component 
element  to  its  exact  amount  of  price.  If 
the  proportion  of  demand  and  supply  are 
varied  by  the  duty,  either  in  augmenting 
the  supply,  or  diminishing  the  demand,  or 
vice  versa,  price  is  affected  to  the  extent  of 
that  variation.  But  the  duty  never  becomes 
an  integral  part  of  the  price,  except  in  the 
instances  where  the  demand  and  the  supply 
remain  after  the  duty  is  imposed,  precisely 
what  they  were  before,  or  the  demand  is 
increased  and  the  supply  remains  station 
ary. 

Gentlemen  have  allowed  to  the  manu 
facturing  portions  of  the  community  no 
peace  ;  they  have  been  constantly  threat 
ened  with  the  overthrow  of  the  American 
System.  From  the  year  1820,  if  not 
from  1816,  down  to  this  time,  they  have 
been  held  in  a  condition  of  constant  alarm 
and  insecurity.  Nothing  is  more  prejudi 
cial  to  the  great  interests  of  a  nation  than 
unsettled  and  varying  policy. 

Let  the  country  breathe,  let  its  vast  re 
sources  be  developed,  let  its  energies  be 
fully  put  forth,  let  it  have  tranquillity,  and 


my  word  for  it,  the  degree  of  perfection  in  the 
arts  which  it  will  exhibit,  will  be  greater  than 
that  which  has  been  presented,  astonishing 
as  our  progress  has  been.  Although  some 
branches  of  our  manufactures  might,  and 
in  foreign  markets  now  do,  fearlessly  con 
tend  with  similar  foreign  fabrics,  there  are 
many  others  yet  in  their  infancy,  struggling 
with  the  difficulties  which  encompass  them. 

Tariff  makes  a  Home  Market. 

That  under  the  operation  of  the  Amer 
ican  System,  the  products  of  our  agricul 
ture  command  a  higher  price  than  they 
would  do  without  it,  by  the  creation  of  a 
home  market;  and  by  the  augmentation 
of  wealth  produced  by  manufacturing  in 
dustry,  which  enlarges  our  powers  of  con 
sumption  both  of  domestic  and  foreign 
articles.  The  importance  of  the  home 
market  is  among  the  established  maxims 
which  are  universally  recognized  by  all 
writers  and  all  men.  It  is  nearer  to  us  ; 
beyond  the  control  of  foreign  legislation  ; 
and  undisturbed  by  those  vicissitudes  to 
which  all  international  intercourse  is  more 
or  less  exposed.  The  most  stupid  are  sen 
sible  of  the  benefit  of  a  residence  in  the 
vicinity  of  a  large  manufactory,  or  of  a 
market  town,  of  a  good  road,  or  of  a  navi 
gable  stream,  which  connects  their  farms 
with  some  great  capital.  It  is  only  in  the 
diversity  of  the  vocations  of  the  members 
of  a  community  that  the  means  can  be 
found  for  those  salutary  exchanges  which 
conduce  to  the  general  prosperity.  And 
the  greater  that  diversity,  the  more  exten 
sive  and  the  more  animating  is  the  circle 
of  exchange.  I  conclude  this  part  of  the 
argument  with  the  hope  that  my  humble 
exertions  have  not  been  altogether  unsuc 
cessful  in  showing — 

1.  That  the  policy  which  we  have  been 
considering  ought  to  continue  to  be   re 
garded  as  the  genuine  American  System. 

2.  That  the  Free  Trade  System,  which 
is  proposed  as  its  substitute,  ought  really 
to  be  considered  as  the  British  Colonial 
System. 

3.  That  the  American  System  is  bene 
ficial  to  all  parts  of  the  Union,  and  abso 
lutely    necessary     to     much     the    larger 
portion. 

4.  That  the  price  of  the  great  staple  of 
cotton,  and  of  all  our  chief  productions  of 


90 


THE  ISSUES  OF  1884. 


agriculture,  has  been  sustained  and  up 
held,  and  a  decline  averted  by  the  Protec 
tive  System. 

5.  That  if  the  foreign   demand  for  cot 
ton  has  been   at  all   diminished  by  the 
operation  of  that  system,  the  diminution 
has  been  more  than  compensated  in  the 
additional  demand  created  at  home. 

6.  That    the    constant  tendency  of  the 
system,   by    creating    competition  among 
ourselves,  and  between  American  and  Eu 
ropean  industry,  reciprocally  acting  upon 
each  other,  is  to  reduce  prices  of  manufac 
tured  objects. 

7.  That  in  point  of  fact,   objects  within 
the  scope  of  the  policy  of  protection  have 
greatly  fallen  in  price. 

8.  That  if,  in  a  season  of  peace,  these 
benefits  are  experienced,  in  a  season   of 
war,    when  the  foreign   supply  might  be 
cut  off,  they  would  be  much  more  exten 
sively  felt. 

9.  And  finally,  that  the  "substitution  of 
the  British  Colonial  System  for  the  Ameri 
can   System,  without  benefiting  any  sec 
tion  of  the  Union,  by  subjecting  us  to  a 
foreign   legislation,   regulated  by  foreign 
interest,  would  lead  to  the  prostration   of 
our  manufactures,  general  impoverishment, 
and  ultimate  ruin." 

Horace  Greeley  stated  the  question  in 
his  succinct  and  masterly  way  under  the 
following  propositions : 

Horace  Greeley's  Proposition. 

1.  "A  Nation  which  would  be  prosper 
ous,   must  prosecute  various  branches  of 
Industry,    and    supply  its    vital    Wants 
mainly  by  the  Labor  of  its  own  Hands. 

2.  There  is  a  natural   tendency    in    a 
comparatively  new  Country  to  become  and 
continue  an  Exporter  of  Grain  and  other 
rude  Staples  and  an  Importer  of  Manu 
factures. 

3.  //  is  injurious  to  the  New    Country 
thus  to  continue  dependent  for  its  supplies 
of  Clothing  and  Manufactured  Fabrics  on 
the  Old. 

4.  That  Equilibrium  between  Agricul 
ture,  Manufactures  and  Commerce,  which 
we  need,  can  only  be  maintained  by  Pro 
tective  Duties. 

5.  Protection  is  necessary  and  proper  to 


sustain  as  well  as  to  create  a   beneficent 
adjustment  of  our  National  Industry." 

Diversity  of  Labor. 

That  the  United  States  is  a  nation  of 
marked  progress  is  due  mainly  to  two 
causes,  the  area  of  undeveloped  territory 
to  allow  expansion  and  the  diversity  of  its 
industries.  Any  nation  or  people,  or  com 
munity  that  depends  upon  a  single  indus 
try  cannot  have  a  sound  basis  of  prosperity , 
for  when  that  industry  is  affected  it 
seriously  affects  its  all — when  it  is  des 
troyed,  all  is  destroyed.  The  larger  the 
scale  of  diversity  the  greater  is  the  sus 
taining  power,  and  vice  versa.  A  diversi 
fied  industry  constitutes  the  foundation  of 
all  true  progress,  as  it  increases  the 
avenue  of  labor  and  trade,  and  provides 
an  increased  market  for  our  commodities 
whether  the  products  of  the  soil,  or  the 
handiwork  of  machinery  under  the  defty 
skill  of  the  artisan. 

Nations  like  individuals  have  to  pass 
through  the  steps  of  infancy,  childhood 
and  youth,  to  attain  their  full  vigor  of 
manhood,  and  governments  are  the 
parental  guardians  to  sustain,  advance, 
protect  and  defend,  restrain  and  punish 
their  people. 

The  Republican  Party's  Consistency. 

Having  hastily  glanced  at  the  protec 
tive  issue,  as  presented  by  the  Republican 
party,  and  given  a  brief  abstract  of  some 
of  the  reasons  in  favor  of  protecting 
American  home  industry  it  is  proper  to 
observe  its  devotion  to  its  faith  ever  since 
its  organization. 

The  convention  held  at  Chicago  May 
17,  1860  imbodied  in  its  platform  the 
following  tariff  plank. 

"That  while  providing  revenue  for  the 
support  of  the  general  government  by 
duties  upon  imports,  sound  policy  requires 
such  an  adjustment  of  these  imports  as  to 
encourage  the  industrials  interest  of  the 
whole  country ;  and  we  commend  that 
policy  of  national  exchanges  which  secures 
to  the  working  men  liberal  wages,  to 
agriculture  remunerative  prices,  to 
mechanics  and  manufacturers  an  adequate 
reward  for  their  skill,  labor  and  enterprise, 
and  to  the  nation  commercial  prosperity 
and  independence.'* 


THE  ISSUES  OF  1884. 


91 


In  1872,  the  Republication  national 
convention  which  convened  June  5th,  at 
Philadelphia,  incorporated  into  its  platform 
the  following  continuation  of  the  same 
doctrine  announced  twelve  years  before  : 

"  Among  the  questions  which  press  for 
attention  is  that  which  concerns  the  rela 
tions  of  capital  and  labor,  and  the  Repub 
lican  party  recognizes  the  duty  of  so 
shaping  legislation  as  to  secure  full  pro 
tection  and  the  amplest  field  for  capital, 
and  for  labor,  the  creator  of  capital  the 
largest  opportunities  and  a  just  share  of 
the  mutual  profits  of  these  two  great 
servants  of  civilization." 

"  Revenue  except  so  much  as  may  be 
derived  from  a  tax  upon  tobacco  and 
liquors,  should  be  raised  by  duties  on  im 
portations,  the  details  of  which  should  be 
so  adjusted  as  to  aid  in  securing  remunera 
ting  wages  to  labor,  and  promote  the  in 
dustries,  prosperity  and  growth  of  the 
whole  country.'' 

It  is  both  proper  and  instructive  to  con 
trast  the  policy  of  the  two  parties,  at  the 
same  periods  of  time,  and  under  the  same 
conditions  of  exigency.  Thus  in  1860, 
when  the  Republican  party  declared  un 
equivocally  in  favor  of  Protection,  the 
Democrats  in  their  national  convention 
reaffirmed  the  position  they  took  four  years 
before,  as  follows  : 

"  The  time  has  come  for  the  people  of 
the  United  States  to  declare  themselves  in 
favor  of  *  *  progressive  free  trade 
throughout  the  world.'' 

In  1872,  when  the  question  of  protection 
was  discussed  throughout  the  country,  and 
the  previous  record  of  the  Democratic 
party  was  damaging  its  prospects,  it  fled 
from  the  position  taken  in  1856,  and  re 
affirmed  in  1860,  and  inserted  the  follow 
ing  plank  in  its  platform  to  straddle  the 
issue : 

"  Recognizing  that  there  are  in  our 
midst,  honest  but  irreconcilable  differences 
of  opinion  with  regard  to  the  respective 
systems  of  protection  and  free  trade,  we 
remit  the  discussion  of  the  subject  to  the 
people  in  their  congressional  districts  and 
to  the  decision  of  the  Congress  thereon, 
wholly  free  from  executive  interference  or 
dictation." 

June  14,  1876,  the   Republican  conven 


tion  held  at  Cincinnati  again  endorsed  its 
previous  policy,  as  follows  : 

"  The  revenue  necessary  for  current  ex 
penditures,  and  the  obligations  of  the 
public  debt,  must  be  largely  derived  from 
duties  on  importations,  which,  so  far  as 
possible,  should  be  adjusted  to  promote  the 
interests  of  American  labor  and  advance 
the  prosperity  of  the  whole  country." 

In  the  same  year  the  Democratic  Con 
vention  placed  in  its  platform  the  following 
ultimatum,  ignoring  the  claims  of  labor, 
insulting  the  sons  of  toil,  and  opening  the 
doors  of  competition  with  pauper  labor  : 

"WE  DEMAND  that  all  custom  house 
taxation  shall  be  for  revenue  ONLY." 

Both  parties  re-affirmed  their  former 
position  on  the  tariff  question  in  1880,  and 
hence  they  now  stand  before  the  people  of 
the  country  as  shown  by  their  acts  as 
above  given  from  official  records.  This 
so  clearly  demonstrates  that  the  prosperity 
and  even  the  very  life  of  our  industries  is 
in  the  hands  of  the  Republican  party,  and 
that  ultimate  Free  Trade  with  all  its  con 
comitant  evils  will  follow  Democratic 
success,  that  no  intelligent  man  need  be 
led  astray  by  specious  platitudes. 

He  closes  Ills  Argument  for  Protection  In 
tlie  following  words. 

"You  will  understand  me,  then,  to  be 
utterly  hostile  to  that  idol  of  Free  Trade 
worship,  known  as  free  or  unlimited  com 
petition.  The  sands  of  my  hour  are  run 
ning  low,  and  I  cannot  ask  time  to  ex 
amine  this  topic  more  closely  ;  yet  I  am 
confident  I  could  show  that  this  Free  Com 
petition  is  a  most  delusive  and  dangerous 
element  of  political  economy.  Bear  with 
a  brief  illustration  :  At  this  moment  com 
mon  shirts  are  made  in  London  at  the 
incredibly  low  price  of  three  cents  a  pair. 
Should  we  admit  these  articles  free  of  duty, 
and  buy  them  because  they  are  so  cheap  ? 
Free  Trade  says  yes  ;  but  I  say  no  !  Sound 
Policy  as  well  as  Humanity  forbids  it.  By 
admitting  them  we  simply  reduce  a  large 
and  worthy  and  suffering  class  of  our 
population  from  the  ability  they  now  pos 
sess  of  procuring  a  bare  subsistence  by 
their  labor  to  unavoidable  destitution  and 
pauperism.  They  must  now  subsist  upon 
the  charity  of  relatives  or  of  the  com- 


92 


THE  ISSUES  OF  1884. 


munity, — unless  we  are  ready  to  adopt  the 
demoniac  doctrine  of  the  Free  Trade 
philosopher  Malthus,  that  the  dependent 
poor  ought  to  be  rigorously  starved  to 
death.  Then  what  have  we  gained  by 
getting  these  articles  so  exorbitantly 
cheap  ?  or,  rather,  what  have  we  not  lost  ? 
The  labor  which  formerly  produced  them 
is  mainly  struck  out  of  existence ;  the  poor 
widows  and  seamstresses  among  us  must 
still  have  a  subsistence  ;  and  the  imported 
garments  must  be  paid  for :  where  are  the 
profits  of  our  speculation  ? '' 

Still  Worse  Feature*  of  the  Case. 

"But  even  this  is  not  the  worst  feature 
of  the  case.  The  labor  which  we  have 
here  thrown  out  of  employment  by  the 
cheap  importation  of  this  article  is  now 
ready  to  be  employed  again  at  any  price, 
— if  not  one  that  will  afford  bread  and 
straw,  then  it  must  accept  one  that  will 
produce  potatoes  and  rubbish ;  and  with 
the  product  some  Free  Trader  proceeds 
to  break  down  the  price  and  destroy  the 
reward  of  similar  labor  in  some  other 
portion  of  the  earth.  And  thus  each  de 
pression  of  wages  produces  another,  and 
that  a  third,  and  so  on,  making  the  circuit 
of  the  globe, — the  aggravated  necessities 
of  the  Poor  acting  and  reacting  upon  each 
other,  increasing  the  omnipotence  of 
Capital  and  deepening  the  dependence  of 
Labor,  swelling  and  pampering  a  bloated 
and  factitious  commerce,  grinding  down 
and  grinding  down  the  destitute,  until 
Malthus's  remedy  for  Poverty  shall  become 
a  grateful  specific,  and,  amid  the  splendors 
and  luxuries  of  an  all-devouring  Com 
mercial  Feudalism,  the  squalid  and 
famished  Millions,  its  dependents  and 
victims,  shall  welcome  death  as  a  de 
liverer  from  their  sufferings  and  despair." 

Tlie  Inconsistency  of  Free  Trade  Leaders. 

"  I  wish  time  permitted  me  to  give  a  hasty 
glance  over  the  doctrines  and  teachings  of 
the  Free  Trade  sophists  who  esteem  them 
selves  the  Political  Economists,  christen 
their  own  views  liberal  and  enlightened, 
and  complacently  put  ours  aside  as  be 
nighted  and  barbarous.  I  should  delight 
to  show  you  how  they  mingle  subtle  fal 
lacy  with  obvious  truth,  how  they  reason 


acutely  from  assumed  premises,  which, 
being  mistaken  or  incomplete,  lead  to 
false  and  often  absurd  conclusions ;  how 
they  contradict  and  confound  each  other, 
and  often,  from  Adam  Smith,  their  patri 
arch,  down  to  McCulloch  and  Ricardo, 
either  make  admissions  which  undermine 
their  whole  fabric,  or  confess  themselves 
ignorant  or  in  the  dark  on  points  the  most 
vital  to  a  correct  understanding  of  the 
subject  they  profess  to  have  reduced  to  a 
science.  Yet,  even  Adam  Smith,  himself, 
expressly  approves  and  justifies  the  British 
Navigation  Act,  the  most  aggressively 
Protective  measure  ever  enacted ;  a  mea 
sure  which,  not  being  understood  and 
seasonably  counteracted  by  other  nations, 
changed  for  centuries  the  destinies  of  the 
world ;  which  silently  sapped  and  over 
threw  the  commercial  and  political  great 
ness  of  Holland;  which  silenced  the  thunder 
of  Van  Tromp,  and  swept  the  broom  from 
his  masthead.  But  I  must  not  detain  you 
longer.  I  do  not  ask  you  to  judge  of  this 
matter  by  authority,  but  from  facts  which 
come  home  to  your  reason  and  your  daily 
experience.  There  is  not  an  observing 
and  strong-fninded  mechanic  in  our  city 
who  could  not  set  any  one  of  those  doctors 
of  the  law  right  on  essential  points.  I 
beg  you  to  consider  how  few  great  practi- 
tical  statesmen  they  have  ever  been  able 
to  win  to  their  standards — I  might  almost 
say  none ;  for  Huskisson  was  but  a  nomi 
nal  disciple,  and  expressly  contravened 
their  whole  system  upon  an  attempt  to 
apply  it  to  the  corn  laws ;  and  Calhoun  is 
but  a  Free  Trader  by  location,  and  has 
never  yet  answered  his  own  powerful  ar 
guments  in  behalf  of  protection.1' 

The  Roll  of  the  Friend*  of  Protection. 

"On  the  other  hand,  we  point,  you  to 
the  long  array  of  mighty  names  which 
have  illustrated  the  annals  of  statesman 
ship  of  modern  times — to  Chatham,  Pitt 
and  the  great  Frederick  of  Prussia  ;  to  the 
whole  array  of  memorable  French  states 
men,  including  Napoleon  the  first  of  them 
all ;  to  our  own  WASHINGTON,  HAMILTON, 
JEFFERSON  and  MADISON  ;  to  our  two 
CLINTONS,  TOMPKINS,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  eagle-eyed  and  genial-hearted  living 
master-spirit,  HENRY  CLAY,  of  our  time. 


THE  ISSUES  OF  1884. 


93 


The  opinions  and  the  arguments  of  all 
these  are  on  record ;  it  is  by  hearkening 
to  and  heeding  their  counsels  that  we 
shall  be  prepared  to  walk  in  the  light  of 
experience  and  look  forward  to  a  glorious 
National  destiny. t} 

Platform    unanimously    adopted    at    the 

Republican  Nominating  Convention 

at  Chicago,  June  5,  1884:. 

The  Republicans  of  the  United  States, 
in  Convention  assembled,  renew  their  al 
legiance  to  the  principles  upon  which  they 
have  triumphed  in  six  successive  presi 
dential  elections,  and  congratulate  the 
American  people  on  the  attainment  of  so 
many  results  in  legislation  and  adminis 
tration  by  which  the  Republican  Party 
has,  after  saving  the  Union,  done  so  much 
to  render  its  institutions  just,  equal  and 
beneficent — the  safeguard  of  liberty  and 
the  embodiment  of  the  best  thought  and 
highest  purposes  of  our  citizens.  The  Re 
publican  Party  has  gained  its  strength  by 
quick  and  faithful  response  to  the  demands 
of  the  people  for  the  freedom  and  the 
equality  of  all  men ;  for  a  united  nation 
assuring  the  rights  of  all  citizens ;  for  the 
elevation  of  labor ;  for  an  honest  currency ; 
for  purity  in  legislation,  and  for  integrity 
and  accountability  in  all  departments  of 
the  Government,  and  it  accepts  anew  the 
duty  of  leading  in  the  work  of  progress 
and  reform. 

We  lament  the  death  of  President  Gar- 
field,  whose  sound  statesmanship,  long 
conspicuous  in  Congress,  gave  promise  of 
a  strong  and  successful  administration,  a 
promise  fully  realized  during  the  short 
period  of  his  office  as  President  of  the 
United  States,  His  distinguished  success 
in  war  and  in  peace  has  endeared  him  to 
the  hearts  of  the  American  people. 

In  the  administration  of  President  Ar 
thur,  we  recognize  a  wise,  conservative 
and  patriotic  policy  under  which  the  coun 
try  has  been  blessed  with  remarkable 
prosperity,  and  we  believe  his  eminent 
services  are  entitled  to  and  will  receive 
the  hearty  approval  of  every  citizen.  It 
is  the  first  duty  of  a  good  government  to 
protect  the  rights  and  promote  the  inte 
rests  of  its  own  people ;  the  largest  diver 
sity  of  industry  is  most  productive  of 


general  prosperity  and  of  the  comfort  and 
independence  of  the  people. 

The  Tariff  Plank. 

We,  therefore,  demand  that  the  imposi 
tion  of  duties  on  foreign  imports  shall  be 
made  not  for  "  revenue  only  "  but  that,  in 
raising  the  requisite  revenues  for  the  Gov 
ernment,  such  duties  shall  be  so  levied  as 
to  afford  security  to  our  diversified  indus 
tries  and  protection  to  the  rights  and 
wages  of  the  laborer,  to  the  end  that  active 
and  intelligent  labor  as  well  as  capital, 
may  have  its  just  reward,  and  the  laboring 
man  his  full  share  in  the  national  pros 
perity. 

Against  the  so-called  economical  system 
of  the  Democratic  party,  which  would  de 
grade  our  labor  to  the  foreign  standard, 
we  enter  our  earnest  protest ;  the  Demo 
cratic  party  has  failed  completely  to  re 
lieve  the  people  of  the  burden  of  unneces 
sary  taxation  by  a  wise  reduction  of  the 
surplus. 

The  Republican  party  pledges  itself  to 
correct  the  inequalities  of  the  tariff  and  to 
reduce  the  surplus,  not  by  the  vicious  and 
indiscriminate  process  of  horizontal  reduc 
tion,  but  by  such  methods  as  will  relieve 
the  taxpayer  without  injuring  the  laborer 
or  the  great  productive  interests  of  the 
country. 

We  recognize  the  importance  of  sheep 
husbandry  in  the  United  States,  the  serious 
depression  which  it  is  now  experiencing 
and  the  danger  threatening  its  future  pros 
perity  ;  and  we,  therefore,  respect  the  de 
mands  of  the  representatives  of  this  im 
portant  agricultural  interest  for  a  readjust 
ment  of  duty  upon  foreign  wool  in  view 
that  such  industry  shall  have  full  and  ad 
equate  industry. 

We  have  always  recommended  the  best 
money  known  to  the  civilized  world,  and 
we  urge  that  an  effort  be  made  to  unite  all 
commercial  nations  in  the  establishment 
of  the  international  standard,  which  shall 
fix  for  all  the  relative  value  of  gold  and 
silver  coinage. 

The  regulation  of  commerce  with  for 
eign  nations  and  between  the  states  is  one 
of  the  most  important  prerogatives  of  the 
general  Government,  and  the  Republican 
party  distinctly  announces  its  purpose  to 


94 


THE  ISSUES  OF  1884. 


support  such  legislation  as  will  fully  and 
efficiently  carry  out  the  constitutional 
power  of  Congress  over  inter-state  com 
merce.  The  principle  of  the  public  regu 
lation  of  railway  corporations  is  a  wise 
and  salutary  one  for  the  protection  of  all 
classes  of  people,  and  we  favor  legislation 
that  shall  prevent  unjust  discrimination 
and  excessive  charges  for  transportation, 
and  that  shall  secure  to  the  people  and  to 
the  railroads  alike  the  fair  and  equal  pro 
tection  of  the  laws, 

Protection  to  Labor. 

We  favor  the  establishment  of  a  nation 
al  bureau  of  labor,  the  enforcement  of  the 
eight-hour  law,  a  wise  and  judicious  sys 
tem  of  general  education  by  adequate  ap 
propriation  from  the  national  revenues 
wherever  the  same  is  needed. 

We  believe  that  everywhere  the  protec 
tion  to  a  citizen  of  American  birth  must  be 
secured  to  citizens  by  American  adoption, 
and  we  favor  the  settlement  of  national 
differences  by  international  arbitration. 

The  Republican  party,  having  its  birth 
in  a  hatred  of  slave  labor,  and  in  a  desire 
that  all  men  may  be  free  and  equal,  is  un 
alterably  opposed  to  placing  our  working- 
men  in  competition  with  any  form  of  servile 
labor,  whether  at  home  or  abroad.  In  this 
spirit  we  denounce  the  importation  of  con 
tract  labor,  whether  from  Europe  or  Asia, 
as  an  offence  against  the  spirit  of  Ameri 
can  institutions,  and  we  pledge  ourselves 
to  sustain  the  present  law  restricting  Chi 
nese  immigration,  and  to  provide  such 
further  legislation  as  is  necessary  to  carry 
out  its  purposes. 

Civil  Service  Reform. 

The  reform  of  the  civil  service  auspicious 
ly  begun  under  Republican  administration 
should  be  completed  by  the  further  exten 
sion  of  the  reform  system  already  establish 
ed  by  law — to  all  the  grades  of  the  service 
to  which  it  is  applicable.  The  spirit  and 
purpose  of  the  reform  should  be  observed 
in  all  executive  appointments,  and  all  laws 
at  variance  with  the  objects  of  existing  re 
formed  legislation  should  be  repealed,  to 
the  end  that  the  dangers  of  free  institu 
tions  which  lurk  in  the  power  of  official 
patronage  may  be  wisely  and  effectively 
avoided. 


The  public  lands  are  a  heritage  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  and  should  be 
reserved  as  far  as  possible  for  small  hold 
ings  by  actual  settlers.  We  are  opposed 
to  the  acquisition  of  large  tracts  of  these 
lands  by  corporations  or  individuals,  es 
pecially  where  such  holdings  are  in  the 
hands  of  non-resident  aliens,  and  we  will 
endeavor  to  obtain  such  legislation  as  will 
tend  to  correct  this  evil. 

We  demand  of  Congress  the  speedy  for 
feiture  of  all  land  grants  which  have  lapsed 
by  reason  of  non-compliance  with  acts  of 
incorporation,  in  all  cases  where  there  has 
been  no  attempt  in  good  faith  to  perform 
the  conditions  of  such  grants. 

The  grateful  thanks  of  the  American 
people  are  due  to  the  Union  solders  and 
sailors  of  the  late  war,  and  the  Republican 
party  stands  pledged  to  suitable  pensions 
to  all  who  were  disabled  and  for  the  wid 
ows  and  orphans  of  those  who  died  in  the 
war.  The  Republican  party  pledges  itself 
to  the  repeal  of  the  limitation  contained  in 
the  Arrears  act  of  1879,  so  that  a11  invalid 
soldiers  shall  share  alike,  and  their  pen 
sions  shall  begin  with  the  date  of  disability 
or  discharge  and  not  with  the  date  of  the 
application. 

Regarding  a  Foreign  Policy. 

The  Republican  party  favors  a  policy 
which  shall  keep  us  from  entangling  alli 
ances  with  foreign  nations,and  which  shall 
give  the  right  to  expect  that  foreign  nations 
shall  refrain  from  meddling  in  America, 
and  the  policy  which  seeks  peace  can 
trade  with  all  powers,  but  especially  with 
those  of  the  Western  Hemisphere.  We 
demand  the  restoration  of  our  navy  to  its 
old-time  strength  and  efficiency,  that  it 
may  in  any  sea  protect  the  rights  of  Amer 
ican  citizens  and  the  interest  of  American 
commerce,  and  we  call  upon  Congress  to 
remove  the  burdens  under  which  American 
shipping  has  been  depressed,  so  that  it 
may  again  be  true  that  we  have  a  com 
merce  which  leaves  no  sea  unexplored, 
and  a  navy  which  takes  no  law  from  su 
perior  force. 

Resolved,  That  apppointments  by  the 
President  to  offices  in  the  territories  should 
be  made  from  the  bona  fide  citizens  and 
residents  of  the  territories  wherein  they 
are  to  serve. 


THE  ISSUES  OF  1884. 


95 


Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress 
to  enact  such  laws  as  shall  promptly  and 
effectually  suppress  the  system  of  po 
lygamy  within  our  territory  and  divorce 
the  political  from  the  ecclesiastical  power 
of  the  so-called  Mormon  Church  and  that 
the  law  so  enacted  should  be  rigidly  en 
forced  by  the  civil  authorities  if  possible, 
and  by  the  militaiy  if  need  be. 

Denouncing  "Southern  Outrages. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  in  their 
organized  capacity  constitute  a  nation  and 
not  a  mere  confederacy  of  states.  The 
National  Government  is  supreme  within 
the  sphere  of  its  national  duty,  but  the 
states  have  reserved  rights  which  should 
be  faithfully  maintained  ;  each  should  be 
guarded  with  jealous  care  so  that  the  har 
mony  of  our  system  of  government  may 
be  preserved  and  the  Union  kept  inviolate. 
The  perpetuity  of  our  institutions  rests 
upon  the  maintenance  of  a  free  ballot,  an 
honest  count  and  a  correct  return.  We 
denounce  the  fraud  and  violence  prac 


ticed  by  the  Democratic  party  in  Southern 
States,  by  which  the  will  of  the  voter  is 
defeated,  as  dangerous  to  the  preservation 
of  free  institutions,  and  we  solemnly  ar 
raign  the  Democratic  party  as  being  the 
guilty  recipient  of  the  fruit  of  such  fraud 
and  violence. 

We  extend  to  the  Republicans  of  the 
South,  regardless  of  their  former  party 
affiliations,  our  cordial  sympathy,  and 
pledge  them  our  most  earnest  efforts  to 
promote  the  passage  of  such  legislation  as 
will  secure  to  every  citizen,  of  whatever 
race  and  color,  the  full  and  complete  re 
cognition,  possession  and  exercise  of  all 
civil  and  political  rights. 

Mr.  Bush,  of  California — I  move  the 
adoption  of  the  resolutions. 

The  Chair — The  gentleman  from  Cali 
fornia  moves  the  adoption  of  the  resolu 
tions.  The  question  is  upon  the  adoption 
of  the  resolutions.  Those  in  favor  of  the 
same  will  say  yea,  and  contrary  nay. 

The  resolutions  were  adopted  unani 
mously. 


THE  ISSUES  OF  1884. 


<NVT  .ei- 


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'N     *i-H 


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2 


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c"          ust^rf   • 

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*  In  Connecticut,  the  vote  for  Sheriff  is  taken.  In  New  York,  the  'average  vote  on  four  of  the  five 
State  officers  chosen,  excluding  Secretary  of  State.  In  Nebraska,  Democratic  and  Anti-Monopoly  vote 
combined  on  Judge,  f  American,  707 ;  scattering,  989.  J  Scattering,  106.  §  In  these  States  the  vole  on 
Lieutenant-Governor  was  taken,  as  being,  from  special  causes,  a  fairer  test  of  party  strength.  In  the 
others  the  principal  State  officer  was  taken.  Where  State  officers  were  not  elected,  the  Congressional 
vote  was  taken.  In  Georgia,  Congressmen  at-Large  was  taken.  ||  The  vote  for  Chief  Judge,  f  The 
Regular  and  Independent  Republican  vote  is  combined.  **  Vote  of  the  two  Democratic  candid  ates  is 
combined. 


PART  II. 


OP 

POLITICAL  PARTIES, 


HISTORY 


OF  THE 


POLITICAL  PARTIES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Colonial  Parties— Whig  and  Tory. 

The  parties  peculiar  to  pur  Colonial 
times  hardly  have  a  place  in  American 
politics.  They  divided  people  in  senti 
ment  simply,  as  they  did  in  the  mother 
country,  but  here  there  was  little  or  no 
power  to  act,  and  were  to  gather  results 
from  party  victories.  Men  were  then 
Whigs  or  Tories  because  they  had  been 
prior  to  their  emigration  here,  or  because 
their  parents  had  been,  or  because  it  has 
ever  been  natural  to  show  division  in  in 
dividual  sentiment.  Political  contests, 
however,  were  unknown,  for  none  enjoyed 
the  pleasures  and  profits  of  power;  the 
crown  made  and  unmade  rulers.  The 
local  self-government  which  our  fore 
fathers  enjoyed,  were  secured  to  them  by 
their  charters,  and  these  were  held  to  be 
contracts  not  to  be  changed  without  the 
consent  of  both  parties.  All  of  the  inhabi 
tants  of  the  colonies  claimed  and  were 
justly  entitled  to  the  rights  guaranteed  by 
the  Magna  Charta,  and  in  addition  to 
these  they  insisted  upon  the  supervision  of 
all  internal  interests  and  the  power  to  levy 
and  collect  taxes.  These  claims  were  con 
ceded  until  their  growing  prosperity  and 
England's  need  of  additional  revenues 
suggested  schemes  of  indirect  taxation. 
Against  these  the  colony  of  Plymouth  pro 
tested  as  early  as  1636,  and  spasmodic  pro 
tests  from  all  the  colonies  followed.  These 
increased  in  frequency  and  force  with  the 
growing  demands  of  King  George  III.  In 
1651  the  navigation  laws  imposed  upon  the 
colonies  required  both  exports  and  imports 
to  be  carried  in  British  ships,  and  all  who 


traded  were  compelled  to  do  it  with  Eng 
land.  In  1672  inter-colonial  duties  were 
imposed,  and  when  manufacturing  sought 
to  flank  this  policy,  their  establishment 
was  forbidden  by  law. 

The  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act  in  1765 
caused  high  excitement,  and  for  the  first 
time  parties  began  to  take  definite  shape 
and  manifest  open  antagonisms,  and  the 
words  Whig  and  Tory  then  had  a  plainer 
meaning  in  America  than  in  England. 
The  Stamp  Act  was  denounced  by  the 
Whigs  as  direct  taxation,  since  it  provided, 
that  stamps  previously  paid  for  should  be 
affixed  to  all  legal  papers.  The  colonies 
resented,  and  so  general  were  the  protests 
that  for  a  time  it  seemed  that  only  those 
who  owed  their  livings  to  the  Crown,  or 
expected  aid  and  comfort  from  it,  re 
mained  with  the  Tories.  The  Whigs  were 
the  patriots.  The  war  for  the  rights  of 
the  colonies  began  in  1775,  and  it  was 
supported  by  majorities  in  all  of  the  Co 
lonial  Assemblies.  These  majorities  were 
as  carefully  organized  then  as  now  to  pro 
mote  a  popular  cause,  and  this  in  the  face 
of  adverse  action  on  the  part  of  the  sev 
eral  Colonial  Governors.  Thus  in  Vir 
ginia,  Lord  Dunmore  had  from  time  to 
time,  until  1773,  prorogued  the  Virginia 
Assembly,  when  it  seized  the  opportunity 
to  pass  resolves  instituting  a  committee  of 
correspondence,  and  recommending  joint 
action  by  the  legislatures  of  the  other 
colonies.  In  the  next  year,  the  same  body, 
under  the  lead  of  Henry,  Randolph,  Lee, 
Washington,  Wythe  and  other  patriots, 
officially  deprecated  the  closing  of  the 

3 


AMERICAN    POLITICS, 


port  of  Boston,  and  set  apart  a  day  to  im 
plore  Divine  interposition  in  behalf  of  the 
colonies.  The  Governor  dissolved  the 
House  for  this  act,  and  the  delegates,  89  in 
number,  repaired  to  a  tavern,  organized 
themselves  into  a  committee,  signed  arti 
cles  of  association,  and  advised  with  other 
colonial  committees  the  expediency  of 
"  appointing  deputies  to  meet  in  a  general 
correspondence" — really  a  suggestion  for 
a  Congress.  The  idea  of  a  Congress,  how 
ever,  originated  with  Doctor  Franklin  the 
year  before,  and  it  had  then  been  approved 
oy  town  meetings  in  Providence,  Boston 
and  New  York.  The  action  of  Virginia 
lifted  the  proposal  above  individual  advice 
and  the  action  of  town  meetings,  and 
called  to  it  the  attention  of  all  the  colo 
nial  legislatures.  It  was  indeed  fortunate 
in  the  incipiency  of  these  political  move 
ments,  that  the  people  were  practically 
unanimous.  Only  the  far-seeing  realized 
the  drift  and  danger,  while  nearly  all  could 
join  their  voices  against  oppressive  taxes 
and  imposts. 

The  war  went  on  for  colonial  rights,  the 
Whigs  wisely  insisting  that  they  were  wil 
ling  to  remain  as  colonists  if  their  rights 
should  be  guaranteed  by  the  mother  coun 
try  ;  the  Tories,  chiefly  fed  by  the  Crown, 
were  willing  to  remain  without  guarantee 
— a  negative  position,  and  one  which  in 
the  high  excitement  of  the  times  excited 
little  attention,  save  where  the  holders  of 
such  views  made  themselves  odious  by  the 
enjoyment  of  high  official  position,  or  by 
harsh  criticism  upon,  or  treatment  of  the 
patriots. 

The  first  Continental  Congress  assembled 
in  Philadelphia  in  September,  1774,  and 
there  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Republic. 
While  its  assemblage  was  first  recom 
mended  by  home  meetings,  the  cause,  as 
already  shown,  was  taken  up  by  the  as 
semblies  of  Massachusetts  and  Virginia. 
Georgia  alone  was  not  represented.  The 
members  were  called  delegates,  who  de 
clared  in  their  official  papers  that  they 
were  "  appointed  by  the  good  people  of 
these  colonies."  It  was  called  the  "  revo- 
•  lutionary  government,"  because  it  derived 
its  power  from  the  people,  and  not  from 
the  functionaries  of  any  existing  govern 
ment.  In  it  each  colony  was  allowed  but 
a  single  vote,  regardless  of  the  number  of 
delegates,  and  here  began  not  only  the 
unit  rule,  but  the  practice  which  obtains 
in  the  election  of  a  President  when  the 
contest  reaches,  under  the  constitution  and 
law,  the  National  House  of  Representa 
tives.  The  original  object  was  to  give 
equality  to  the  colonies  as  colonies. 

In  1775,  the  second  Continental  Con 
gress  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  all  the 
colonies  being  again  represented  save 
Georgia.  The  delegates  were  chosen  prin 
cipally  by  conventions  of  the  people, 


though  some  were  sent  by  the  popular 
branches  of  the  colonial  legislatures.  In 
July,  and  soon  after  the  commencement 
of  hostilities,  Georgia  entered  the  Con 
federacy. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence,  passed 
in  1776,  drew  yet  plainer  lines  between  the 
Whigs  and  Tories.  A  gulf  of  hatred  sepa 
rated  the  opposing  parties,  and  the  Tory 
was  far  more  despised  than  the  open  foe, 
when  he  was  not  such,  and  was  the  first 
sought  when  he  was.  Men  who  contend 
for  liberty  ever  regard  those  who  are  not 
for  them  as  against  them — a  feeling  which 
led  to  the  expression  of  a  political  maxim 
of  apparent  undying  force,  for  it  has  since 
found  frequent  repetition  in  every  earnest 
campaign.  After  the  adoption  of  the  De 
claration  by  the  Continental  Congress,  the 
Whigs  favored  the  most  direct  and  abso 
lute  separation,  while  the  Tories  supported 
the  Crown.  On  the  7th  of  June,  1776, 
Richard  Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia,  moved 
the  Declaration  in  these  words: 

"Resolved,  That  these  united  colonies  are, 
and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  indepen 
dent  states ;  that  they  are  absolved  from 
all  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown,  and 
that  all  political  connection  between  them 
and  the  State  of  Great  Britain  is,  and 
ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved." 

Then  followed  preparations  for  the  for 
mal  declaration,  whicn  was  adopted  on  the 
4th  of  July,  1776,  in  the  precise  language 
submitted  by  Thomas  Jefferson.  All  of 
the  state  papers  of  the  Continental  Con 
gress  evince  the  highest  talent,  and  the 
evils  which  led  to  its  exhibition  must  have 
been  long  but  very  impatiently  endured  to 
impel  the  study  of  the  questions  involved. 
Possibly  only  the  best  lives  in  our  memory 
invite  our  perusal,  but  certain  it  is  that 
higher  capacity  was  never  called  to  the 
performance  of  graver  political  duties  in 
the  history  of  the  world. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  Declaration  is 
in  imitation  of  that  published  by  the  Uni 
ted  Netherlands,  but  whether  this  be  true 
or  false,  the  liberty-loving  world  has  for 
more  than  a  century  accepted  it  as  the 
best  protest  against  oppression  known  to 
political  history.  A  great  occasion  con 
spired  with  a  great  author  to  make  it 
grandly  great. 

Dr.  Franklin,  as  early  as  July,  1775,  first 
prepared  a  sketch  of  articles  of  confedera 
tion  between  the  colonies,  to  continue  until 
their  reconciliation  with  Great  Britain, 
and  in  failure  thereof  to  be  perpetual. 
John  Quincy  Adams  says  this  plan  was 
never  discussed  in  Congress.  June  11, 
1776,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  pre 
pare  the  force  of  a  colonial  confederation, 
and  the  day  following  one  member  from 
each  colony  was  appointed  to  perform  the 
dutv.  The  report  was  submitted,  laid 
aside  August  20,  1776,  taken  up  April  7, 


PARTICULARISTS— STRONG   GOVERNMENT    WHIGS. 


1777,  and  debated  from  time  to  time  until 
November  15th,  of  the  same  year,  when 
the  report  was  agreed  to.  It  was  then 
submitted  to  the  legislatures  of  the  several 
states,  these  being  advised  to  authorize 
their  delegates  in  Congress  to  ratify  the 
same.  On  the  26th  of  June,  1778,  the  rat 
ification  was  ordered  to  be  engrossed  and 
signed  by  the  delegates.  Those  of  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts  Bay,  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  Penn 
sylvania,  Virginia  and  South  Carolina 
signed  July  9th,  1778  ;  those  of  North  Car 
olina  July  21st ;  Georgia  July  24th ;  Jersey 
November  26th,  same  year;  Delaware 
February  22d  and  May  5th,  1779.  Mary 
land  refused  to  ratify  until  the  question  of 
the  conflicting  claims  of  the  Union  and 
of  the  separate  States  to  the  property  of 
the  crown-lands  should  be  adjusted.  This 
was  accomplished  by  the  cession  of  the 
lands  in  dispute  to  the  United  States,  and 
Maryland  signed  March  1st,  1781.  On 
the  2d  of  March,  Congress  assembled  un 
der  the  new  powers,  and  continued  to  act 
for  the  Confederacy  until  the  4th  of  March, 
1789,  the  date  of  the  organization  of  the 
government  under  the  Federal  constitu 
tion.  Our  political  life  has  therefore  three 
periods,  "  the  revolutionary  government," 
*'  the  confederation,"  and  that  of  the  "  fed 
eral  constitution,"  which  still  obtains. 

The  federal  constitution  is  the  result  of 
the  labors  of  a  convention  called  at  Phila 
delphia  in  May,  1787,  at  a  time  when  it 
was  feared  by  many  that  the  Union  was 
in  the  greatest  danger,  from  inability  to 
pay  soldiers  who  had,  in  1783,  been  dis 
banded  on  a  declaration  of  peace  and  an 
acknowledgment  of  independence  ;  from 
prostration  of  the  public  credit  and  faith 
of  the  nation ;  from  the  neglect  to  provide 
for  the  payment  of  even  the  interest  on 
the  public  debt  ;  and  from  the  disappoint 
ed  hopes  of  many  who  thought  freedom 
did  not  need  to  face  responsibilities.  A 
large  portion  of  the  convention  of  1787 
still  clung  to  the  confederacy  of  the  states, 
and  advocated  as  a  substitute  for  the  con 
stitution  a  revival  of  the  old  articles  of 
confederation  with  additional  powers  to 
Congress.  A  long  discussion  followed, 
and  a  most  able  one,  but  a  constitution  for 
the  people,  embodying  a  division  of  legis 
lative,  judicial  and  executive  powers  pre 
vailed,  and  the  result  is  now  daily  wit 
nessed  in  the  federal  constitution.  While 
the  revolutionary  war  lasted  but  seven 
years,  the  political  revolution  incident  to, 
identified  with  and  directing  it,  lasted 
thirteen  years.  This  was  completed  on 
the  30th  of  April,  1789,  the  day  on  which 
Washington  was  inaugurated  as  the  first 
President  under  the  federal  constitution. 

The  Particnlarists. 

As  questions  of  government  were  evolved 


by  the  struggles  for  independence,  the 
Whigs,  who  of  course  greatly  outnumbered 
all  others  during  the  Revolution,  naturally 
divided  in  sentiment,  though  their  divi 
sions  were  not  sufficiently  serious  to  excite 
the  establishment  of  rival  parties — some 
thing  which  the  great  majority  of  our  fore 
fathers  were  too  wise  to  think  of  in  time  of 
war.  When  the  war  closed,  however,  and 
the  question  of  establishing  the  Union  was 
brought  clear  to  the  view  of  all,  one  class 
of  the  Whigs  believed  that  state  govern 
ment  should  be  supreme,  and  that  no  cen 
tral  power  should  have  sufficient  authority 
to  coerce  a  state,  or  keep  it  to  the  com 
pact  against  its  will.  All  accepted  the 
idea  of  a  central  government ;  all  realized 
the  necessity  of  union,  but  the  fear  that 
the  states  would  lose  their  power,  or  sur 
render  their  independence  was  very  great, 
and  this  fear  was  more  naturally  shown  by 
both  the  larger  and  the  smaller  states.  This 
class  of  thinkers  were  then  called  Partic- 
ularists.  Their  views  were  opposed  by 
the 


Strong  Government  Whigs 

who  argued  that  local  self-government  was 
inadequate  to  the  establishment  and  per 
petuation  of  political  freedom,  and  that  it 
afforded  little  or  no  power  to  successfully 
resist  foreign  invasion.  Some  of  these 
went  so  far  as  to  favor  a  government  pat 
terned  after  that  of  England,  save  that  it 
should  be  republican  in  name  and  spirit. 
The  essential  differences,  if  they  can  be  re 
duced  to  two  sentences,  were  these :  The 
Particularist  Whigs  desired  a  government 
republican  in  form  and  democratic  in 
spirit,  with  rights  of  local  self-government 
and  state  rights  ever  uppermost.  The 
Strong  Government  Whigs  desired  a  gov 
ernment  republican  in  form,  with  checks 
upon  the  impulses  or  passions  of  the  peo 
ple  ;  liberty,  sternly  regulated  by  law,  and 
that  law  strengthened  and  confirmed  by? 
central  authority — the  authority  of  the  na-r 
tional  government  to  be  final  in  appeals. 
As  we  have  stated,  the  weakness  of  the 
confederation  was  acknowledged  by  many 
men,  and  the  majority,  as  it  proved  to  be 
after  much  agitation  and  discussion 
thought  it  too  imperfect  to  amend.  The 
power  of  the  confederacy  was  notacknow- 
edged  by  the  states,  its  congress  not  re 
spected  by  the  people.  Its  requisitions 
were  disregarded,  foreign  trade  could  not 
be  successfully  regulated ;  foreign  nations 
refused  to  bind  themselves  by  commercial 
treaties,  and  there  was  a  rapid  growth  of 
very  dangerous  business  rivalries  and 
jealousies  between  the  several  states. 
Those  which  were  fortunate  enough,  in 
dependent  of  congress,  to  possess  or  se 
cure  ports  for  domestic  or  foreign  com 
merce,  taxed  the  imports  of  their  'J 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


states.  There  was  confusion  which  must 
noon  have  approached  violence,  for  no 
authority  beyond  the  limits  of  the  state 
was  respected,  and  Congress  was  notably 
powerless  in  its  attempts  to  command  aid 
from  the  states  to  meet  the  payment  of 
the  war  debt,  or  the  interest  thereon.  In 
stead  of  general  respect  for,  there  was  al 
most  general  disregard  of  law  on  the  part 
of  legislative  bodies,  and  the  people  were 
not  slow  in  imitating  their  representatives. 
Civil  strife  became  imminent,  and  Shay's 
Rebellion  in  Massachusetts  was  the  first 
warlike  manifestation  of  the  spirit  which 
was  abroad  in  the  land. 

Alive  to  the  new  dangers,  the  Assembly 
of  Virginia  in  1786,  appointed  commis 
sioners  to  invite  all  the  states  to  take  part 
in  a  convention  for  the  consideration  of 
questions  of  commerce,  and  the  propriety 
of  altering  the  Articles  of  Confederation. 
This  convention  met  at  Annapolis,  Sept. 
llth,  1786.  But  five  states  sent  representa 
tives,  the  others  regarding  the  movement 
with  jealousy.  This  convention,  however, 
adopted  a  report  which  urged  the  appoint 
ment  of  commissioners  by  all  the  states, 
"to  devise  such  other  provisions  as  shall, 
to  them  seem  necessary  to  render  the  con 
dition  of  the  Federal  government  adequate 
to  the  exigencies  of  the  Union ;  and  to  re 
port  such  an  act  for  that  purpose  to  the 
United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  as, 
when  agreed  to  by  them  and  afterwards 
confirmed  by  the  legislatures  of  every  state, 
will  effectually  provide  for  the  same." 
Congress  approved  this  action,  and  passed 
resolutions  favoring  a  meeting  in  conven 
tion  for  the  "  sole  and  express  purpose  of 
revising  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  and 
report  to  Congress  and  the  State  legisla 
tures."  The  convention  met  in  Philadel 
phia  in  May,  1787,  and  continued  its  ses 
sions  until  September  17th,  of  the  same  year. 
The  Strong  Government  Whigs  had  previ 
ously  made  every  possible  effort  for  a  full 
and  able  representation,  and  the  result  did 
not  disappoint  them,  for  instead  of  simply 
revising  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  the 
convention  framed  a  constitution,  and  sent 
it  to  Congress  to  be  submitted  to  that  body 
and  through  it  to  the  several  legislatures. 
The  act  submitting  it  provided  that,  if  it 
should  be  ratified  by  nine  of  the  thirteen 
.states,  it  should  be  binding  upon  those 
ratifying  the  same.  Just  here  was  started 
the  custom  which  has  since  passed  into 
law,  that  amendments  to  the  national  con 
stitution  shall  be  submitted  after  approval 
by  Congress,  to  the  legislatures  of  the  sev 
eral  states,  and  after  approval  by  three- 
fourths  thereof,  it  shall  be  binding  upon  all 
— a  very  proper  exercise  of  constitutional 
authority,  as  it  seems  now,  but  which 
would  not  have  won  popular  approval 
when  Virginia  proposed  the  Annapolis 
convention  in  1786.  Indeed,  the  reader  of 


our  political  history  must  ever  be  impressed 
with  the  fact  that  changes  and  reforms 
ever  moved  slowly,  and  that  those  of  slow 
est  growth  seem  to  abide  the  longest. 


The  Federal  and  Anti-Federal  Parties. 

The  Strong  Government  Whigs,  on  the 
submission  of  the  constitution  of  1787  to 
Congress  and  the  legislatures,  and  indi 
rectly  through  the  latter  to  the  people,  who 
elect  the  members  on  this  issue,  became 
the  Federal  party,  and  all  of  its  power  was 
used  to  promote  the  ratification  of  the  in 
strument.  Its  ablest  men,  headed  by 
Alexander  Hamilton  and  James  Madison, 
advocated  adoption  before  the  people,  and 
their  pens  supplied  much  of  the  current 
political  literature  of  that  day.  Eighty- 
five  essays,  still  noted  and  quoted  for  their 
ability,  under  the  nom  deplume  of  "Pub- 
lius,"  were  published  in  "  The  Federalist." 
They  were  written  by  Hamilton,  Madison 
and  Jay,  and  with  irresistible  force  advo 
cated  the  Federal  constitution,  which  was 
ratified  by  the  nine  needed  states,  and 
Congress  was  officially  informed  of  the  fact 
July  2d,  1788,  and  the  first  Wednesday  in 
March,  1789,  was  fixed  as  the  time  "  for 
commencing  proceedings  under  the  con 
stitution." 

This  struggle  for  the  first  time  gave  the 
Federalists  an  admitted  majority.  The 
complexion  of  the  State  legislature  prior 
to  it  showed  them  in  fact  to  be  in  a  mi 
nority,  and  the  Particularist  Whigs,  or 
Anti-Federals  opposed  every  preliminary 
step  looking  to  the  abandonment  of  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  and  the  adoption 
of  a  Federal  constitution.  They  were 
called  Anti-Federals  because  they  opposed 
a  federal  government  and  constitution  and 
adhered  to  the  rights  of  the  States  and 
those  of  local  self-government.  Doubtless 
party  rancor,  then  as  now,  led  men  to  op 
pose  a  system  of  government  which  it 
seems  they  must  have  approved  after  fight 
ing  for  it,  but  the  earlier  jealousies  of  the 
States  and  the  prevailing  ideas  of  liberty 
certainly  gave  the  Anti-Federals  a  popu 
larity  which  only  a  test  so  sensible  as  that 
proposed  could  have  shaken.  They  were 
not  without  popular  orators  and  leaders. 
Patrick  Henry,  the  earliest  of  the  pa 
triots,  and  "  the-old-man-eloquent,"  Samuel 
Adams,  took  special  pride  in  espousing 
their  cause.  The  war  questions  between 
Whig  and  Tory  must  have  passed  quickly 
away,  as  living  issues,  though  the  news 
papers  and  contemporaneous  history  show 
that  the  old  taunts  and  battle  cries  were 
applied  to  the  new  situation  with  a  pJain- 
ness  and  virulence  that  must  still  be  envied 
by  the  sensational  and  more  bitterly  parti 
san  journals  of  our  own  day.  To  read 
these  now,  and  some  of  our  facts  are  gath 


FEDERALS    AND    ANTI-FEDERALS. 


ered  from  such  sources,  is  to  account  for 
the  frequent  use  of  the  saying  touching 
"  the  ingratitude  of  republics,"  for  when 
partisan  hatred  could  deride  the  still  re 
cent  utterances  of  Henry  before  the  startled 
assembly  of  Virginians,  and  of  Adams  in 
advocating  the  adoption  of  the  Declaration, 
there  must  at  least  to  every  surface  view 
have  been  rank  ingratitude.  Their  good 
names,  however,  survived  the  struggle,  as 
good  names  in  our  republic  have  ever  sur 
vived  the  passions  of  the  law.  In  politics 
the  Americans  then  as  now,  hated  with 
promptness  and  forgave  with  generosity. 

The  Anti-Federals  denied  nearly  all  that 
the  Federals  asserted.  The  latter  had  for 
the  first  time  assumed  the  aggressive,  and 
had  the  advantage  of  position.  They 
showed  the  deplorable  condition  of  the 
country,  and  their  opponents  had  to  bear 
the  burdens  of  denial  at  a  time  when  nearly 
all  public  and  private  obligations  were  dis 
honored  ;  when  labor  was  poorly  paid,  work 
men  getting  but  twenty-five  cents  a  day,with 
little  to  do  at  that ;  when  even  the  rich  in 
lands  were  poor  in  purse,  and  when  com 
merce  on  the  seas  was  checked  by  the  cold 
ness  of  foreign  nations  and  restricted  by 
the  action  of  the  States  themselves  ;  when 
manufactures  were  without  protection  of 
any  kind,  and  when  the  people  thought 
their  struggle  for  freedom  was  about  to  end 
in  national  poverty.  Still  Henry,  and 
Adams  and  Hancock,  with  hosts  of  others, 
claimed  that  the  aspirations  of  the  Anti- 
Federals  were  the  freest,  that  they  pointed 
to  personal  liberty  and  local  sovereignty. 
Yet  many  Anti-Federals  must  have  accept 
ed  the  views  of  the  Federals,  who  under 
the  circumstances  must  have  presented  the 
better  reason,  and  the  result  was  as  stated, 
the  ratification  of  the  Federal  constitution 
of  1787  by  three-fourths  of  the  States  of 
the  Union.  After  this  the  Anti-Federalists 
were  given  a  new  name,  that  of  "  Close 
Obstructionists,"  because  they  naturally 
desired  to  interpret  the  new  instrument  in 
such  a  way  as  to  bend  it  to  their  views. 
The  Federalists  became  "  Broad  Construc- 
tionists,"  because  they  interpreted  the  con 
stitution  in  a  way  calculated  to  broaden 
the  power  of  the  national  government. 

The  Confederacy  once  dissolved,  the 
Federal  party  entered  upon  the  enjoy 
ment  of  full  political  power,  but  it  was  not 
without  its  responsibilities.  The  govern 
ment  had  to  be  organized  upon  the  basis 
of  the  new  constitution,  as  upon  the  suc 
cess  of  that  organization  would  depend  not 
alone  the  stability  of  the  government  and 
the  happiness  of  its  people,  but  the  repu 
tation  of  the  party  and  the  fame  of  its 
leaders  as  statesmen. 

Fortunately  for  all,  party  hostilities  were 
not  manifested  in  the  Presidential  election. 
All  bowed  to  the  popularity  of  Washing 
ton,  and  he  was  unanimously  nominated 


by  the  congressional  caucus  and  appointed 
by  the  electoral  college.  He  selected  hia 
cabinet  from  the  leading  minds  of  both 
parties,  and  while  himself  a  recognized 
Federalist,  all  felt  that  he  was  acting  for 
the  good  of  all,  and  in  the  earlier  years  of 
his  administration,  none  disputed  this 
fact. 

As  the  new  measures  of  the  government 
advanced,  however,  the  anti-federalists  or 
ganized  an  opposition  to  the  party  in 
power.  Immediate  danger  had  passed. 
The  constitution  worked  well.  The  laws 
of  Congress  were  respected;  its  calls  for 
revenue  honored,  and  Washington  de 
voted  much  of  his  first  and  second  mes 
sages  to  showing  the  growing  prosperity 
of  the  country,  and  the  respect  which  it 
was  beginning  to  excite  abroad.  But 
where  there  is  political  power,  there  is 
opposition  in  a  free  land,  and  the  great 
leaders  of  that  day  neither  forfeited  their 
reputations  as  patriots,  or  their  characters 
as  statesmen  by  the  assertion  of  honest  dif 
ferences  of  opinion.  Washington,  Adams, 
and  Hamilton  were  the  recognized  leaders 
of  the  Federalists,  the  firm  friends  of  the 
constitution.  The  success  of  this  instru 
ment  modified  the  views  of  the  anti- 
Federalists,  and  Madison  of  Virginia,  its 
recognized  friend  when  it  was  in  prepara 
tion,  joined  with  others  who  had  been  its 
friends — notably,  *  Doctor  Williamson,  of 
North  Carolina,  and  Mr.  Langdon,  of 
Georgia,  in  opposing  the  administration, 
and  soon  became  recognized  leaders  of  the 
anti-Federalists.  Langdon  was  the  Presi 
dent  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate.  Jeiferson  was 
then  on  a  mission  to  France,  and  not  until 
some  years  thereafter  did  he  array  himself 
with  those  opposed  to  centralized  power  in 
the  nation.  He  returned  in  November, 

1789,  and    was    called    to   Washington's 
cabinet  as  Secretary  of  State  in  March, 

1790.  It  was  a  great  cabinet,  with  Jeffer 
son  as  its  premier  (if  this  term  is  suited  to 
a  time  when  English  political  nomenclature 
was  anything  but  popular  in  the  land;) 
Hamilton,    Secretary    of    the    Treasury; 
Knox,  Secretary  of  War,  and  Edmund 
Randolph,  Attorney-General.    There  was 
no  Secretary  of  the  Navy  until  the  ad 
ministration  of  the  elder  Adams,  and  no 
Secretary  of  the  Interior. 

The  first  session  of  Congress  under  the 
Federal  constitution,  held  in  New  York, 
sat  for  nearly  six  months,  the  adjournment 
taking  place  September  29th,  1789.  Nearly 
all  the  laws  framed  pointed  to  the  organi 
zation  of  the  government,  and  the  discus 
sions  were  able  and  protracted.  Indeed, 
these  discussions  developed  opposing  views, 
which  could  easily  find  separation  on  much 
the  same  old  lines  as  those  which  separated 
the  founders  of  constitutional  government 

*  Ed  win  Williams  in  Statesman's  ManHal. 


8 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


from  those  who  favored  the  old  confederate 
methods.  The  Federalists,  on  pivotal 
questions,  at  this  session,  carried  their 
measures  only  by  small  majorities. 

Much  of  the  second  session  was  devoted 
to  the  discussion  of  the  able  reports  of 
Hamilton,  and  their  final  adoption  did 
much  to  build  up  the  credit  of  the  nation 
and  to  promote  its  industries.  He  was 
the  author  of  the  protective  system,  and  at 
the  first  session  gave  definite  shape  to  his 
theories.  He  recommended  the  funding 
of  the  war  debt,  the  assumption  of  the 
state  war  debts  by  the  national  government, 
the  providing  of  a  system  of  revenue  from 
the  collection  of  duties  on  imports,  and  an 
internal  excise.  His  advocacy  of  a  pro 
tective  tariif  was  plain,  for  he  declared  it 
to  be  necessary  for  the  support  of  the  gov 
ernment  and  the  encouragemvnt  of  manu 
factures  that  duties  be  laid  on  goods,  wares, 
and  merchandise  imported. 

The  third  session  of  the  same  Congress 
was  held  at  Philadelphia,  though  the  seat 
of  the  national  government  had,  at  the 
previous  one,  been  fixed  on  the  Potomac 
instead  of  the  Susquehanna — this  after  a 
compromise  with  Southern  members,  who 
refused  to  vote  for  the  Assumption  Bill 
until  the  location  of  the  capital  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  had  been  agreed 
upon ;  by  the  way,  this  was  the  first  exhi 
bition  of  log-rolling  in  Congress.  To 
complete  Hamilton's  financial  system,  a 
national  bank  was  incorporated.  On  this 
project  both  the  members  of  Congress  and 
of  the  cabinet  were  divided,  but  it  passed, 
and  was  promptly  approved  by  Washing 
ton.  By  this  time  it  was  well  known  that 
Jefferson  and  Hamilton  held  opposing 
views  on  many  questions  of  government, 
and  these  found  their  way  into  and  influ 
enced  the  action  of  Congress,  and  passed 
naturally  from  thence  to  the  people,  who 
were  thus  early  believed  to  be  almost 
equally  divided  on  the  more  essential  po 
litical  issues.  Before  the  close  of  the  ses 
sion,  Vermont  and  Kentucky  were  ad 
mitted  to  the  Union.  Vermont  was  the 
first  state  admitted  in  addition  to  the 
original  thirteen.  True,  North  Carolina 
and  Rhode  Island  had  rejected  the  consti 
tution,  but  they  reconsidered  their  action 
and  came  in — the  former  in  November, 
1789,  and  the  latter  in  May,  1790. 

The  election  for  members  of  the  Second 
Congress  resulted  in  a  majority  in  both 
branches  favorable  to  the  administration. 
It  met  at  Philadelphia  in  October,  1791. 
The  exciting  measure  of  the  session  was 
the  excise  act,  somewhat  similar  to  that  of 
the  previous  year,  but  the  opposition 
wanted  an  issue  on  which  to  rally,  they 
accepted  this,  and  this  agitation  led  to  vio 
lent  and  in  one  instance  warlike  opposi 
tion  on  the  part  of  a  portion  of  the  people. 
Those  <ff  western  Pennsylvania,  largely 


interested  in  distilleries,  prepared  for 
armed  resistance  to  the  excise,  but  at  the 
same  session  a  national  militia  law  had 
been  passed,  and  Washington  took  ad 
vantage  of  this  to  suppress  the  "  Whisky 
Rebellion"  in  its  incipiency.  It  was  a 
hasty,  rash  undertaking,  yet  was  dealt  with 
so  firmly  that  the  action  of  the  authorities 
strengthened  the  law,  and  the  respect  for 
order.  The  four  counties  which  rebelled 
did  no  further  damage  than  to  tar  and 
feather  a  government  tax  collector  and  rob 
trim  of  his  horse,  though  many  threats 
were  made  and  the  agitation  continued 
until  1794,  when  Washington's  threatened 
appearance  at  the  head  of  fifteen  thousand 
militia  settled  the  whole  question. 

The  first  session  of  the  Second  Congress 
also  passed  the  first  methodic  apportion 
ment  bill,  which  based  the  congressional 
representation  on  the  census  taken  in  1790, 
the  basis  being  33,000  inhabitants  for  each 
representative.  The  second  session  which 
sat  from  November,  1792,  to  March,  1793, 
was  mainly  occupied  in  a  discussion  of  the 
foreign  and  domestic  relations  of  the  coun 
try.  No  important  measures  were  adopted. 


The  Republican  and  Federal  Parties. 

The  most  serious  objection  to  the  con 
stitution  before  its  ratification  was  the  ab 
sence  of  a  distinct  bill  of  rights,  which 
should  recognize  "the  equality  of  all 
men,  and  their  rights  to  life,  liberty  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness,"  and  at  the  first 
session  of  Congress  a  bill  was  framed  con 
taining  twelve  articles,  ten  of  which  were 
afterwards  ratified  as  amendments  to  the 
constitution.  Yet  state  sovereignty,  then 
imperfectly  defined,  was  the  prevailing 
idea  in  the  minds  of  the  Anti- Federalists, 
and  they  took  every  opportunity  to  oppose 
any  extended  delegation  of  authority  from 
the  states  of  the  Union.  They  contended 
that  the  power  of  the  state  should  be 
supreme,  and  charged  the  Federalists  with 
monarchical  tendencies.  They  opposed 
Hamilton's  national  bank  scheme,  and 
Jefierspn  and  Randolph  plainly  expressed 
the  opinion  that  it  was  unconstitutional — 
that  a  bank  was  not  authorized  by  the 
constitution,  and  that  it  would  prevent  the 
states  from  maintaining  banks.  But  when 
the  Bill  of  Rights  had  been  incorporated 
in  and  attached  to  the  constitution  as 
amendments,  Jefferson  with  rare  political 
sagacity  withdrew  all  opposition  to  the  in 
strument  itself,  and  the  Anti-Federalists 
gladly  followed  his  lead,  for  they  felt  that 
they  had  labored  under  many  partisan  dis 
advantages.  The  constitution  was  from 
the  first  too  strong  for  successful  resistance, 
and  when  opposition  was  confessedly 
abandoned  the  party  name  was  changed, 
also  at  the  suggestion  of  Jefferson,  to  that 


REPUBLICANS  AND  FEDERALS. 


9 


of  Republican.  The  Anti-Federalists  were 
at  first  disposed  to  call  their  party  the 
Democratic-Republicans,  but  finally  called 
it  simply  Republican,  to  avoid  the  opposite 
of  the  extreme  which  they  charged  against 
the  Federalists.  Each  party  had  its  taunts 
in  use,  the  Federalists  being  denounced  as 
monarchists,  the  Anti-Federalists  as  Dem 
ocrats;  the  one  presumed  to  be  looking 
forward  to  monarchy,  the  other  to  the  rule 
of  the  mob. 

By  1793  partisan  lines  under  the  names 
of  Federalists  and  Republicans,  were  plain 
ly  drawn,  and  the  schism  in  the  cabinet 
was  more  marked  than  ever.  Personal 
ambition  may  have  had  much  to  do  with 
it,  for  Washington  had  previously  shown 
his  desire  to  retire  to  private  life.  While 
he  remained  at  the  head  of  affairs  he  was 
unwilling  to  part  with  Jefferson  and  Ham 
ilton,  and  did  all  in  his  power  to  bring 
about  a  reconciliation,  but  without  suc 
cess.  Before  the  close  of  the  first  consti 
tutional  Presidency,  however,  Washington 
had  become  convinced  that  the  people  de 
sired  him  to  accept  a  re-election,  and  he 
was  accordingly  a  candidate  and  unani 
mously  chosen.  John  Adams  was  re-elect 
ed  Vice-President,  receiving  77  votes  to 
50  for  Geo.  Clinton,  (5  scattering)  the  Re 
publican  candidate.  Soon  after  the  inau 
guration  Citizen  Genet,  an  envoy  from  the 
French  republic,  arrived  and  sought  to 
excite  the  sympathy  of  the  United  States 
and  involve  it  in  a  war  with  Great  Britain. 
Jefferson  and  his  Republican  party  warmly 
sympathized  with  France,  and  insisted 
that  gratitude  for  revolutionary  favors 
commanded  aid  to  France  in  her  struggles. 
The  Federalists,  under  Washington  and 
Hamilton,  favored  non-intervention,  and 
insisted  that  we  should  maintain  friendly 
relations  with  Great  Britain.  Washington 
showed  his  usual  firmness,  and  before  the 
expiration  of  the  month  in  which  Genet 
arrived,  had  issued  his  celebrated  procla 
mation  of  neutrality.  This  has  ever  since 
been  the  accepted  foreign  policy  of  the 
nation. 

Genet,  chagrined  at  the  issuance  of  this 
proclamation,  threatened  to  appeal  to  the 
people,  and  made  himself  so  obnoxious  to 
Washington  that  the  latter  demanded  his 
recall.  The  French  government  sent  M. 
Fauchet  as  his  successor,  but  Genet  con 
tinued  to  reside  in  the  United  States,  and 
under  his  inspiration  a  number  of  Demo 
cratic  Societies,  in  imitation  of  the  French 
Jacobin  clubs,  were  founded,  but  like  all 
such  organizations  in  this  country,  they 
were  short-lived.  Secret  political  societies 
thrive  only  under  despotisms.  In  Repub 
lics  like  ours  they  can  only  live  when  the 
great  parties  are  in  confusion  and  greatly 
divided.  They  disappear  with  the  union 
of  sentiment  into  two  great  parties.  If 
there  were  many  parties  and  factions,  as  in 


Mexico  and  some  of  the  South  American 
republics,  there  would  be  even  a  wider 
field  for  them  here  than  there. 

The  French  agitation  showed  its  impress 
upon  the  nation  as  late  as  1794,  when  a 
resolution  to  cut  off  intercourse  with  Great 
Britain  passed  the  House,  and  was  de 
feated  in  the  Senate  only  by  the  casting 
vote  of  the  Vice-President.  Many  people 
favored  France,  and  to  such,  silly  heights 
did  the  excitement  run  that  these  insisted 
on  wearing  a  national  cockade.  Jefferson 
had  left  the  cabinet  the  December  pre 
vious,  and  had  retired  to  his  plantation  in 
Virginia,  where  he  spent  his  leisure  in 
writing  political  essays  and  organizing  the 
Republican  party,  of  which  he  was  the  ac 
knowledged  founder.  Here  he  escaped  the 
errors  of  his  party  in  Congress,  but  it  was 
a  potent  fact  that  his  friends  in  official 
station  not  only  did  not  endorse  the  non 
intervention  policy  of  Washington,  but 
that  they  actively  antagonized  it  in  many 
ways.  The  Congressional  leader  in  these 
movements  was  Mr.  Madison.  The  policy 
of  Britain  fed  this  opposition.  The  forts 
on  Lake  Erie  were  still  occupied  by  the 
British  soldiery  in  defiance  of  the  treaty  of 
1783;  American  vessels  were  seized  on 
their  way  to  French  ports,  and  American 
citizens  were  impressed.  To  avoid  a  war, 
Washington  sent  John  Jay  as  special  en 
voy  to  England.  He  arrived  in  June, 
1794,  and  by  November  succeeded  in  mak 
ing  a  treaty.  It  was  ratified  in  June,  1795,  by 
the  Senate  by  the  constitutional  majority 
of  two-thirds,  though  there  was  much  de 
clamatory  opposition,  and  the  feeling  be 
tween  the  Federal  and  Republican  parties 
ran  higher  than  ever  before.  The  Republi 
cans  denounced  while  the  Federals  con 
gratulated  Washington.  Under  this  treaty 
the  British  surrendered  possession  of  all 
American  ports,  and  as  Gen'l  Wayne  dur 
ing  the  previous  summer  had  conquered 
the  war- tribes  and  completed  a  treaty  with 
them,  the  country  was  again  on  the  road 
to  prosperity. 

In  Washington's  message  of  1794,  he 
plainly  censured  all  "  self-created  political 
societies,"  meaning  the  democratic  so 
cieties  formed  by  Genet,  but  this  part  of 
the  message  the  House  refused  to  endorse, 
the  speaker  giving  the  casting  vote  in  the 
negative.  The  Senate  was  in  harmony 
with  the  political  views  of  the  President. 
Party  spirit  had  by  this  time  measurably 
affected  all  classes  of  the  people,  and  as 
subjects  for  agitation  here  multiplied,  the 
opposition  no  longer  regarded  Washing 
ton  with  that  respect  and  decorum  which 
it  had  been  the  rule  to  manifest.  His  wis 
dom  as  President,  his  patriotism,  and  in 
deed  his  character  as  a  man,  were  all 
hotly  questioned  by  political  enemies.  He 
was  even  charged  with  corruption  ,in  ex 
pending  more  of  the  public  moneys  than 


10 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


had  been  appropriated — charges  which  were 
soon  shown  to  De  groundless. 

At  the  first  session  of  Congress  in  De 
cember,  1795,  the  Senate's  administration 
majority  had  increased,  but  in  the  House 
the  opposing  Republicans  had  also  in 
creased  their  numbers.  The  Senate  by  14 
to  8  endorsed  the  message ;  the  House  at 
first  refused  but  finally  qualified  its  an 
swers. 

In  March,  1796,  a  new  political  issue 
was  sprung  in  the  House  by  Mr.  Living 
stone  of  New  York,  who  offered  a  resolu 
tion  requesting  of  the  President  a  copy  of 
the  instructions  to  Mr.  Jay,  the  envoy  who 
made  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain.  Alter 
a  debate  of  several  days,  more  bitter  than 
any  which  had  preceded  it,  the  House 
passed  the  resolution  by  57  to  35,  the  Re 
publicans  voting  aye,  the  Federals  no. 
Washington  in  answer,  took  the  position 
that  the  House  of  Representatives  was  not 
part  of  the  treaty-making  power  of  the 
government,  and  could  not  therefore  be 
entitled  to  any  papers  relating  to  such 
treaties.  The  constitution  had  placed  this 
treaty  making  and  ratifying  power  in  the 
hands  of  the  Senate,  the  Cabinet  and  the 
President. 

This  answer,  now  universally  accepted 
as  the  proper  one,  yet  excited  the  House 
and  increased  political  animosities.  The 
Republicans  charged  the  Federals  with 
being  the  "British  party,"  and  in  some 
instances  hinted  that  they  had  been  pur 
chased  with  British  gold.  Indignation 
meetings  were  called,  but  after  much 
sound  and  fury,  it  was  ascertained  that  the 
people  really  favored  abiding  by  the  treaty 
in  good  faith,  and  finally  the  House,  after 
more  calm  and  able  debates,  passed  the 
needed  legislation  to  carry  out  the  treaty 
by  a  vote  of  51  to  48. 

In  August,  1796,  prior  to  the  meeting 
of  the  Congressional  caucus  which  then 
placed  candidates  for  the  Presidency  in 
nomination,  Washington  issued  his  cele 
brated  Farewell  Address,  in  which  he  gave 
notice  that  he  would  retire  from  public 
life  at  the  expiration  of  his  term.  He  had 
been  solicited  to  be  a  candidate  for  re 
election  (a  third  term)  and  told  that  all 
the  people  could  unite  upon  him — a  state 
ment  which,  without  abating  one  jot,  our 
admiration  for  the  man,  would  doubtless 
have  been  called  in  question  by  the  Re 
publicans,  who  had  become  implacably 
hostile  to  his  political  views,  and  who  were 
encouraged  to  believe  they  could  win  con 
trol  of  the  Presidency,  by  their  rapidly  in 
creasing  power  in  the  House.  Yet  the  ad 
dress  was  everywhere  received  with  marks 
of  admiration.  Legislatures  commended 
it  by  resolution  and  ordered  it  to  be  en 
grossed  upon  their  records ;  journals 
praised  it,  and  upon  the  strength  of  its 
plain  doctrines  the  Federalists  took  new 


courage,  and  prepared  to  win  in  the  Presi 
dential  battle  which  followed.  Both  parties 
were  plainly  arrayed  and  confident,  and 
so  close  was  the  result  that  the  leaders  of 
both  were  elected — John  Adams,  the  nom 
inee  of  the  Federalists,  to  the  Presidency, 
and  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  nominee  of  the 
Republicans,  to  the  Vice-Presidency.  The 
law  which  then  obtained  was  that  the 
candidate  who  received  the  highest  num 
ber  of  electoral  votes,  took  the  first  place, 
the  next  highest,  the  second.  Thomas 
Pinckney  of  South  Carolina  was  the  Fed 
eral  nominee  for  Vice-Preside  nt,  and  Aaron 
Burr  of  the  Republicans.  Adams  receh  ed 
71  electoral  votes,  Jefferson  68,  Pinckney 
59,  Burr  30,  scattering  48.  Pinckney  had 
lost  12  votes,  while  Burr  lost  38 — a  loss  of 
popularity  which  the  latter  regained  four 
years  later.  The  first  impressions  which 
our  forefathers  had  of  this  man  were  the 
best. 

John  Adams  was  inaugurated  as  Pres 
ident  in  Philadelphia,  at  Congress  Hall, 
March  4th,  1797,  and  in  his  inaugural  was 
carelul  to  deny  the  charge  that  the  Fed 
eral  party  had  any  sympathy  ior  Lngland, 
but  reaffirmed  his  endorsement  of  the 
policy  of  Washington  as  to  strict  neutral 
ity.  To  this  extent  besought  to  soften  the 
asperities  of  the  parties,  and  measurably 
succeeded,  though  the  times  wore  fctill 
stormy.  The  French  revolution  had 
reached  its  highest  point,  and  our  people 
still  took  sides.  Adams  found  he  wculd 
have  to  arm  to  preserve  neutrality  and  at 
the  same  time  punish  the  aggression  of 
either  of  the  combatants.  This  was  our 
first  exhibition  of  "armed  neutrality." 
An  American  navy  was  Cjuickly  raised,  and 
every  preparation  made  ior  defending  the 
rights  of  Americar's.  An  alliance  \\i\h 
France  was  refused,  afler  vhich  the 
American  Minister  was  dismissed  and  the 
French  navy  began  to  cripple  our  tr;;de. 
In  May,  1797,  President  Adams  felt  it  his 
duty  to  call  an  extra  session  of  Congress, 
which  closed  in  July.  The  Semite  ap 
proved  of  negotiations  for  reecnciliation 
with  France.  They  were  attempted  but 
proved  fruitless ;  in  May,  179S,  a  lull  naval 
armament  was  authorized,  and  soon  several 
French  vessels  were  captured  before  there 
was  any  declaration  of  war.  Indeed,  neith 
er  power  declared  war,  raid  as  soon  as 
France  discovered  how  earnest  the  Ameri 
cans  were  she  made  overtures  for  an  ad 
justment  of  difficulties,  and  these  resulted 
'in  the  treaty  of  1800. 

The  Republicans,  though  warmly  favor 
ing  a  contest,  did  not  heartily  support  that 
inaugurated  by  Adams,  and  contended 
after  this  that  the  militia  and  a  small  naval 
force  were  sufficient  for  internal  defense. 
They  denounced  the  position  of  the  Fed 
erals,  who  favored  the  enlargement  of  the 
ariny  and  navy,  as  measures  calculated  to 


REPUBLICANS  AND  FEDERALS. 


11 


overawe  public  sentiment  in  time  of  peace. 
The  Federals,  however,  through  their 
prompt  resentment  of  the  aggressions  of 
France,  had  many  adherents  to  their 
party.  They  organized  their  power  and 
sought  to  perpetuate  it  by  the  passage  of 
the  alien  and  sedition,  and  a  naturaliza 
tion  law. 

The  alien  and  sedition  law  gave  the 
President  authority  "  to  order  all  such 
aliens  as  he  shall  judge  dangerous  to  the 
peace  and  safety  of  the  United  States,  or 
shall  have  reasonable  grounds  to  suspect 
are  concerned  in  any  treasonable  or  secret 
machinations  against  the  government 
thereof,  to  depart  out  of  the  territory  of 
the  United  States,  within  such  time  as 
shall  be  expressed  in  such  order."  The 
provisions  which  followed  were  in  keeping 
with  that  quoted,  the  3d  section  command 
ing  every  master  of  a  ship  entering  a  port 
of  the  United  States,  immediately  on  his 
arrival,  to  make  report  in  writing  to  the 
collector  of  customs,  the  names  of  all  aliens 
on  board,  etc.  The  act  was  to  continue 
in  force  for  two  years  from  the  date  of  its 
passage,  and  it  was  approved  June  25th, 
1798. 

A  resolution  was  introduced  in  the  Sen 
ate  on  the  25th  of  April,  1798,  by  Mr. 
Hillhouse  of  Connecticut,  to  inquire  what 
provision  of  law  ought  to  be  made,  &c.,  as 
to  the  removal  of  such  aliens  as  may  be 
dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  country,  &c. 
This  resolution  was  adopted  the  next  day, 
and  Messrs.  Hill  house,  Livermore  and 
Read  were  appointed  the  committee,  and 
subsequently  reported  the  bill.  It  passed 
the  Senate  by  16  to  7,  and  the  House  by 
46  to  40,  the  Republicans  in  the  latter 
body  resisting  it  warmly.  The  leading 
opposing  idea  was  that  it  lodged  with  the 
Executive  too  much  power,  and  was  liable 
to  great  abuse.  It  has  frequently  since, 
in  arguments  against  centralized  power, 
been  used  for  illustration  by  political 
speakers. 

The  Naturalization  law,  favored  by  the 
Federalists,  because  they  knew  they  could 
acquire  few  friends  either  from  newly  ar 
rived  English  or  French  aliens,  among 
other  requirements  provided  that  an  alien 
must  reside  in  the  United  States  fourteen 
years  before  he  could  vote.  The  Republi 
cans  denounced  this  law  as  calculated  to 
check  immigration,  and  dangerous  to  our 
country  in  the  fact  that  it  caused  too 
many  inhabitants  to  owe  no  allegiance. 
They  also  asserted,  as  did  those  who  op 
posed  Americanism  later  on  in  our  history, 
that  America  was  properly  an  asylum  for 
all  nations,  and  that  those  coming  to 
America  should  freely  share  all  the  privi 
leges  and  liberties  of  the  government. 

J?hese  laws  and  the  political  resentments 
which  they  created  gave  a  new  and  what 
eventually  proved  a  dangerous  current  to 


politica.  thought  and  action.  They  were 
the  immediate  cause  of  the  Kentucky  and 
Virginia  resolutions  of  1798,  Jefferson  be 
ing  the  author  of  the  former  and  Madison 
of  the  latter. 

These  resolutions  were  full  of  political 
significance,  and  gave  tone  to  sectional  dis 
cussion  up  to  the  close  of  the  war  for  the 
Union.  They  first  promulgated  the  doc 
trine  of  nullification  or  secession,  and 
political  writers  mistake  who  point  to  Cal- 
houn  as  the  father  of  that  doctrine.  It 
began  with  the  old  Republicans  under  the 
leadership  of  Jefferson  and  Madison,  and 
though  directly  intended  as  protests  against 
the  alien  and  sedition,  and  the  naturaliza 
tion  laws  of  Congress,  they  kept  one  eye 
upon  the  question  of  slavery — rather  that 
interest  was  kept  in  view  in  their  declara 
tions,  and  yet  the  authors  of  both  were 
anything  but  warm  advocates  of  slavery. 
They  were  then  striving,  however,  to  rein 
force  the  opposition  to  the  Federal  party, 
which  the  administration  of  Adams  had 
thus  far  apparently  weakened,  and  they 
had  in  view  the  brief  agitation  which  had 
sprung  up  in  1793,  five  years  before,  on  the 
petition  to  Congress  of  a  Pennsylvania 
society  "  to  use  its  powers  to  stop  the  traffic 
in  slaves."  On  the  question  of  referring 
this  petition  to  a  committee  there  arose  a 
sectional  debate.  Men  took  sides  not  be 
cause  of  the  party  to  which  they  belonged, 
but  the  section,  and  for  the  first  time  the 
North  and  South  were  arrayed  against  each 
other  on  a  question  not  then  treated  either  as 
partisan  or  political,  but  which  most  minds 
then  saw  must  soon  become  both  partisan 
and  sectional.  Some  of  the  Southern  de 
baters,  in  their  protests  against  interfer 
ence,  thus  early  threatened  civil  war.  With 
a  view  to  better  protect  their  rights  to  slave 
property,  they  then  advocated  and  suc 
ceeded  in  passing  the  first  fugitive  slave 
law.  This  was  approved  February  12, 1793. 

The  resolutions  of  1798  will  be  found  in 
the  book  devoted  to  political  platforms. 
So  highly  were  these  esteemed  by  the  Re 
publicans  of  that  day,  and  by  the  interests 
whose  support  they  so  shrewdly  invited, 
that  they  more  than  counterbalanced  the 
popularity  acquired  by  the  Federals  in  their 
resistance  to  France,  and  by  1800  they 
caused  a  rupture  in  the  Cabinet  of  Adams. 

In  the  Presidential  election  of  1800  John 
Adams  was  the  nominee  for  President  and 
C.  C.  Pinckney  for  Vice-President.  A 
"  Congressional  Convention"  of  Republi 
cans,  held  in  Philadelphia,  nominated 
Thomas  Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr  as  can 
didates  for  these  offices.  On  the  election 
which  followed  the  Republicans  chose  73 
electors  and  the  Federalists  65.  Each 
elector  voted  for  two  persons,  and  the  Re 
publicans  so  voted  that  they  unwisely  gave 
Jefferson  and  Burr  each  73  votes.  Neither 
being  highest,  it  was  not  legally  determined 


12 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


which  should  be  President  or  Vice-Presi 
dent,  and  the  election  had  to  go  to  the 
House.  The  Federalists  threw  65  votes  to 
Adams  and  64  to  Pinckney.  The  Repub 
licans  could  have  done  the  same,  but  Burr's 
intrigue  and  ambition  prevented  this,  and 
the  result  was  a  p retracted  contest  in 
the  House,  and  one  which  put  the  country 
in  great  peril,  but  which  plainly  pointed 
out  some  of  the  imperfections  of  the  elec 
toral  features  of  the  Constitution.  The 
Federalists  proposed  to  confess  the  inabil 
ity  of  the  House  to  agree  through  the  vote 
by  States,  but  to  this  proposition  the  Re 
publicans  threatened  armed  resistance. 
The  Federalists  next  attempted  a  combina 
tion  with  the  friends  of  Aaron  Burr,  but 
this  specimen  of  bargaining  to  deprive  a 
nominee  of  the  place  to  which  it  was  the 
plain  intention  of  his  party  to  elect  him, 
really  contributed  to  Jefferson's  popularity, 
if  not  in  that  Congress,  certainly  before  the 
people.  He  was  elected  on  the  36th  ballot. 

The  bitterness  of  this  strife,  and  the 
dangers  which  similar  ones  threatened,  led 
to  an  abandonment  of  the  system  of  each 
Elector  voting  for  two,  the  highest  to  be 
President,  the  next  highest  Vice-President, 
and  an  amendment  was  offered  to  the  Con 
stitution,  and  fully  ratified  by  September 
25,  1804,  requiring  the  electors  to  ballot 
separately  for  President  and  Vice-Presi 
dent. 

Jefferson  was  the  first  candidate  nomi 
nated  by  a  Congressional  caucus.  It  con 
vened  in  1800  at  Philadelphia,  and  nomi 
nated  Jefferson  for  President  and  Burr  for 
Vice-President.  Adams  and  Pinckney 
were  not  nominated,  but  ran  and  were  ac 
cepted  as  natural  leaders  of  their  party, 
just  as  Washington  and  Adams  were  be 
fore  them. 


Downfall  of  the  Federal  Party. 

This  contest  broke  the  power  of  the 
Federal  party.  It  had  before  relied  upon 
the  rare  sagacity  and  ability  of  its  leaders, 
but  the  contest  in  the  House  developed 
such  attempts  at  intrigue  as  disgusted 
many  and  caused  all  to  quarrel,  Hamilton 
having  early  showed  his  dislike  to  Adams. 
As  a  party  the  Federal  had  been  peculiarly 
brave  at  times  when  high  bravery  was 
needed.  It  had  framed  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  and  stood  by  the  powers  given  it 
until  they  were  too  firmly  planted  for  even 
newer  and  triumphant  partisans  to  reck 
lessly  trifle  with.  It  stood  for  non-inter 
ference  with  foreign  nations  against  the 
eloquence  of  adventurers,  the  mad  impulses 
of  mobs,  the  generosity  of  new-born  free 
men,  the  harangues  of  demagogues,  and 
best  of  all  against  those  who  sought  to  fan 
these  popular  breezes  to  their  own  comfort. 
It  provided  for  the  payment  of  the  debt, 
had  the  courage  to  raise  revenues  both 


from  internal  and  external  sources,  and  to 
increase  expenditures,  as  the  growth  of  the 
country  demanded.  Though  it  passed  out 
of  power  in  a  cloud  of  intrigue  and  in  a 
vain  grasp  at  the  "  flesh-pots,"  it  yet  had  a 
glorious  history,  and  one  which  none  un- 
tinctured  with  the  better  prejudices  of  that 
day,  can  avoid  admiring. 

The  defeat  of  Adams  was  not  unexpect 
ed  by  him,  yet  it  was  greatly  regretted  by 
his  friends,  for  he  was  justly  regarded  as 
second  to  no  other  civilian  in  the  estab 
lishment  of  the  liberties  of  the  colonies. 
He  was  eloquent  to  a  rare  degree,  possessed 
natural  eloquence,  and  made  the  most 
famous  speech  in  advocacy  of  the  Declara 
tion.  Though  the  proceedings  of  the 
Revolutionary  Congress  were  secret,  and 
what  was  said  never  printed,  yet  Webster 
gives  his  version  of  the  noted  speech  of 
Adams,  and  we  reproduce  it  in  Book  III. 
of  this  volume  as  one  of  the  great  speeches 
of  noted  American  orators. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  inaugurated  the  third 
President,  in  the  new  capitol  at  Washing 
ton,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1801,  and  Vice- 
President  Burr  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate 
the  same  day.  Though  Burr  distinctly  dis 
avowed  any  participancy  in  the  House 
contest,  he  was  distrusted  by  Jefferson's 
warm  friends,  and  jealousies  rapidly 
cropped  out.  Jefferson  endeavored  through 
his  inaugural  to  smooth  factious  and  party 
asperities,and  so  well  were  his  words  chosen 
that  the  Federalists  indulged,  the  hope  that 
they  would  not  be  removed  from  office  be 
cause  of  their  political  views. 

Early  in  June,  however,  the  first  ques 
tion  of  civil  service  was  raised.  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  then  removed  Elizur  Goodrich,  a  Fed 
eralist,  from  the  Collectorship  of  New 
Haven,  and  appointed  Samuel  Bishop,  a 
Republican,  to  the  place.  Th?,  citizens  re 
monstrated,  saying  that  Goodrich  was 
prompt,  reliable  and  able,  and  showed  that 
his  successor  was  78  years  old,  and  too  in 
firm  for  the  duties  of  the  office.  To  these 
remonstrances  Mr.  Jefferson,  under  date  of 
July  12th,  replied  in  language  which  did 
not  then,  as  he  did  later  on,  plainly  assert 
the  right  of  every  administration  to  have 
its  friends  in  office.  We  quote  the  fol 
lowing  : 

"  Declarations  by  myself,  in  favor  of 
political  tolerance,  exhortations  to  har 
mony  and  affection  in  social  intercourse, 
and  respect  for  the  equal  rights  of  the 
minority,  have,  on  certain  occasions,  been 
quoted  and  misconstrued  into  assurances 
that  the  tenure  of  office  was  not  to  be  dis 
turbed.  But  could  candor  apply  such  a 
construction  ?  When  it  is  considered  that, 
during  the  late  administration,  those  who 
were  not  of  a  particular  sect  of  politics 
were  excluded  from  all  office  j  when,  by  a 
steady  pursuit  of  this  measure,  nearly  the 
whole  offices  of  the  United  States  were 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE   FEDERALS. 


13 


monopolized  by  that  sect ;  when  the  public 
sentiment  at  length  declared  itself,  and 
burst  open  the  doors  of  honor  and  confi 
dence  to  those  whose  opinions  they  ap 
proved;  was  it  to  be  imagined  that  this 
monopoly  of  office  was  to  be  continued  in 
the  hands  of  the  minority  ?  Does  it  violate 
their  equal  rights  to  assert  some  rights  in 
the  majority  also  ?  Is  it  political  intolerance 
to  claim  a  proportionate  share  in  the  direc 
tion  of  the  public  affairs  ?  If  a  due  partici 
pation  of  office  is  a  matter  of  right,  how 
are  vacancies  to  be  obtained?  Those  by 
death  are  few,  by  resignation  none.  Can 
any  other  mode  than  that  of  removal  be 
proposed  ?  This  is  a  painful  office ;  but  it 
is  made  my  duty,  and  I  meet  it  as  such.  I 
proceed  in  the  operation  with  deliberation 
and  inquiry,  that  it  may  injure  the  best 
men  least,  and  effect  the  purposes  of  justice 
and  public  utility  with  the  least  private 
distress,  that  it  may  be  thrown  as  much  as 
possible  on  delinquency,  on  oppression,  on 
intolerance,  on  ante-revolutionary  adhe- 
renoe  to  our  enemies. 

"  I  lament  sincerely  that  unessential  dif 
ferences  of  opinion  should  ever  have  been 
deemed  sufficient  to  interdict  half  the 
society  from  the  rights  and  the  blessings 
of  self-government,  to  proscribe  them  as 
unworthy  of  every  trust.  It  would  have 
been  to  me  a  circumstance  of  great  relief, 
had  I  found  a  moderate  participation  of 
office  in  the  hands  of  the  majority.  I 
would  gladly  have  left  to  time  and  accident 
to  raise  them  to  their  just  share.  But  their 
total  exclusion  calls  for  prompter  correc 
tions.  I  shall  correct  the  procedure ;  but 
that  done,  return  with  joy  to  that  state  of 
things  when  the  only  questions  concerning 
a  candidate  shall  be  ^  Is  he  honest?  Is  he 
capable?  Is  he  faithful  to  the  constitution?" 

Mr.  Adams  had  made  few  removals,  and 
none  because  of  the  political  views  held 
by  the  incumbents,  nearly  all  of  whom 
had  been  appointed  by  Washington  and 
continued  through  good  behavior.  At  the 
date  of  the  appointment  of  most  of  them, 
Jefferson's  Republican  party  had  no  exist 
ence;  so  that  the  reasons  given  in  the 
quotation  do  not  comport  with  the  facts. 
Washington's  rule  was  integrity  and  ca 
pacity,  for  he  could  have  no  regard  for 
politics  where  political  lines  had  been  ob 
literated  in  his  own  selection.  Doubtless 
these  office-holders  were  human,  and  ad 
hered  with  warmth  to  the  administration 
which  they  served,  and  this  fact,  and  this 
alone,  must  have  angered  the  Republicans 
and  furnished  them  with  arguments  for  a 
change. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  position,  however,  made 
his  later  conduct  natural.  He  was  the  ac 
knowledged  leader  of  his  party,  its  founder 
indeed,  and  that  party  had  carried  him 
into  power.  He  desired  to  keep  it  intact, 
to  strengthen  its  lines  with  whatever  pa 


tronage  he  had  at  his  disposal,  and  he  evi 
dently  regarded  the  cause  of  Adams  in  not 
rewarding  his  friends  as  a  mistake.  It 
was,  therefore,  Jefferson,  and  not  Jackson, 
who  was  the  author  of  the  theory  that  "  to 
the  victors  belong  the  spoils."  Jackson 
gave  it  a  sharp  and  perfectly  defined  shape 
by  the  use  of  these  words,  but  the  spirit 
and  principle  were  conceived  by  Jefferson, 
who  throughout  his  life  showed  far  greater 
originality  in  politics  than  any  of  the  early 
patriots.  It  was  his  acute  sense  of  just 
what  was  right  for  a  growing  political 
party  to  do,  which  led  him  to  turn  the 
thoughts  of  his  followers  into  new  and 
popular  directions.  Seeing  that  they  were 
at  grave  disadvantage  when  opposing  the 
attitude  of  the  government  in  its  policy 
with  foreign  nations;  realizing  that  the 
work  of  the  Federalists  in  strengthening 
the  power  of  the  new  government,  in  pro 
viding  revenues  and  ways  and  means  for 
the  payment  of  the  debt,  were  good,  he 
changed  the  character  of  the  opposition 
by  selecting  only  notoriously  arbitrary 
measures  for  assault — and  changed  it  even 
more  radically  than  this.  He  early  saw 
that  simple  opposition  was  not  progress, 
and  that  it  was  both  wise  and  popular  to 
be  progressive,  and  in  all  his  later  politi 
cal  papers  he  sought  to  make  his  party  the 
party  favoring  personal  freedom,  the  one 
of  liberal  ideas,  the  one  which,  instead  of 
shirking,  should  anticipate  every  change 
calculated  to  enlarge  the  liberties  and  the 
opportunities  of  citizens.  These  things 
were  not  inconsistent  with  his  strong  views 
in  favor  of  local  self-government ;  indeed, 
in  many  particulars  they  seemed  to  sup 
port  that  theory,  and  by  the  union  of 
the  two  ideas  he  shrewdly  arrayed  po 
litical  enthusiasm  by  the  side  of  politi 
cal  interest.  Political  sagacity  more  pro 
found  than  this  it  is  difficult  to  imagine. 
It  has  not  since  been  equalled  in  the  his 
tory  of  our  land,  nor  do  we  believe  in  the 
history  of  any  other. 

After  the  New  Haven  episode,  so  jealous 
was  Jefferson  of  his  good  name,  that  while 
he  confided  all  new  appointments  to  the 
hands  of  his  political  friends,  he  made  few 
removals,  and  these  for  apparent  cause. 
The  mere  statement  of  his  position  had 
proved  an  invitation  to  the  Federalists  in 
office  to  join  his  earlier  friends  in  the  sup 
port  of  his  administration.  Many  of  them 
did  it,  so  many  that  the  clamorings  of 
truer  friends  could  not  be  hushed.  With 
a  view  to  create  a  new  excuse,  Jefferson 
declared  that  all  appointments  made  by 
Adams  after  February  14th,  when  the 
House  began  its  ballotings  for  President, 
were  void,  these  appointments  belonging 
of  right  to  him,  and  from  this  act  of 
Adams  we  date  the  political  legacies  which 
some  of  our  Presidents  have  since  handed 
down  to  their  successors.  One  of  the 


14 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


magistrates  whose  commission  had  been 
made  out  under  Adams,  sought  to  compel 
Jefferson  to  sign  it  by  a  writ  of  mandamus 
before  the  Supreme  Court,  but  a  "  profound 
investigation  of  constitutional  law"  in 
duced  the  court  not  to  grant  the  motion. 
All  commissions  signed  by  Adams  after 
the  date  named  were  suppressed. 

Jefferson's  apparent  bitterness  against 
the  Federalists  is  mainly  traceable  to  the 
contest  in  the  House,  and  his  belief  that 
at  one  time  they  sought  a  coalition  with 
Burr.  This  coalition  he  regarded  as  a  vio 
lation  of  the  understanding  when  he  was 
nominated,  and  a  supposed  effort  to  ap 
point  a  provisional  office  he  regarded  as  an 
usurpation  in  fact.  In  a  letter  to  James 
Monroe,  dated  February  15th,  speaking  of 
this  contest,  he  says : 

"  Four  days  of  balloting  have  produced 
not  a  single  change  of  a  vote.  Yet  it  is 
confidently  believed  that  to-morrow  there 
is  to  be  a  coalition.  I  know  of  no  founda 
tion  for  this  belief.  If  they  could  have 
been  permitted  to  pass  a  law  for  putting 
the  government  in  the  hands  of  an  officer, 
they  would  certainly  have  prevented  an 
election.  But  we  thought  it  best  to  de 
clare  openly  and  firmly,  one  and  all,  that 
the  day  such  an  act  passed,  the  Middle 
States  would  arm,  and  that  no  such  usur 
pation,  even  for  a  single  day,  should  be 
submitted  to." 

It  is  but  fair  to  say  that  the  Federalists 
denied  all  such  intentions,  and  that  James 
A.  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  April  3,  1806, 
made  formal  oath  to  this  denial.  In  this 
he  says  that  three  States,  representing 
Federalist  votes,  offered  to  withdraw  their 
opposition  if  John  Nicholas,  of  Virginia, 
and  the  personal  friend  of  Jefferson,  would 
secure  pledges  that  the  public  credit  should 
be  supported,  the  navy  maintained,  and 
that  subordinate  public  officers,  employed 
only  in  the  execution  of  details,  established 
by  law,  should  not  be  removed  from  office 
on  the  ground  of  their  public  character, 
nor  without  complaint  against  their  con 
duct.  The  Federalists  then  went  so  far  as 
to  admit  that  officers  of  "  high  discretion 
and  confidence,"  such  as  members  of  the 
cabinet  and  foreign  ministers,  should  be 
known  friends  of  the  administration.  This 
proposition  goes  to  show  that  there  is  noth 
ing  very  new  in  what  are  called  our 
modern  politics ;  that  the  elder  Bayard,  as 
early  as  1800,  made  a  formal  proposal  to 
bargain.  Mr.  Nicholas  offered  his  assur 
ance  that  these  things  would  prove  accep 
table  to  and  govern  the  conduct  of  Jeffer 
son's  administration,  but  he  declined  to  con 
sult  with  Jefferson  on  the  points.  General 
Smith  subsequently  engaged  to  do  it,  and 
Jefferson  replied  that  the  points  given 
corresponded  with  his  views  and  inten 
tions,  and  that  Mr.  Bayard  and  his  friends 
might  confide  in  him  accordingly.  The 


opposition  of  Vermont,  Maryland  and  De 
laware  was  then  immediately  withdrawn, 
and  Mr  Jefferson  was  made  President. 
Gen'l  Smith,  twelve  days  later,  made  an 
affidavit  which  substantially  confirmed 
bhat  of  Bayard.  Latimer,  the  collector  of 
the  port  of  Philadelphia,  and  M'Lane,  col 
lector  of  Wilmington,  (Bayard's  special 
friend)  were  retained  in  office.  He  had 
cited  these  two  as  examples  of  his  opposi 
tion  to  any  change,  and  Jefferson  seemed 
to  regard  the  pledges  as  not  sacred  beyond 
the  parties  actually  named  in  Bayard's  ne 
gotiations  with  Gen'l  Smith. 

This  misunderstanding  or  misconstruc 
tion  of  what  in  these  days  would  be  plain 
ly  called  a  bargain,  led  to  considerable 
political  criticism,  and  Jefferson  felt  it  ne 
cessary  to  defend  his  cause.  This  he  did 
in  letters  to  friends  which  both  then  and 
since  found  their  way  into  the  public 
prints.  One  of  these  letters,  written  to 
Col.  Monroe,  March  7th,  shows  in  every 
word  and  line  the  natural  politician.  In 
this  he  says : 

"Some  (removals)  I  know  must  be 
made.  They  must  be  as  few  as  possible, 
done  gradually,  and  bottomed  on  some 
malversation  or  inherent  disqualification. 
Where  we  shall  draw  the  line  between  all 
and  none,  is  not  yet  settled,  and  will  not 
be  till  we  get  our  administration  together: 
and  perhaps  even  then  we  shall  proceed 
a  talons,  balancing  our  measures  according 
to  the  impression  we  perceive  them  to 
make.  This  may  give  you  a  general 
view  of  our  plan." 

A  little  later  on,  March  28,  he  wrote  to 
Elbridge  Gerry : 

"  Officers  who  have  been  guilty  of  gross 
abuses  of  office,  such  as  marshals  packing 
juries,  etc.,  I  shall  now  remove,  as  my 
predecessor  ought  in  justice  to  have  done. 
The  instances  will  be  few,  and  governed 
by  strict  rule,  not  party  passion.  The 
right  of  opinion  shall  suffer  no  invasion 
from  me." 

Jefferson  evidently  tired  of  this  subject, 
and  gradually  modified  his  views,  as  shown 
in  his  letter  to  Levi  Lincoln,  July  11, 
wherein  he  says : 

"  I  am  satisfied  that  the  heaping  of  abuse 
on  me  personally,  has  been  with  the  de 
sign  ana  the  hope  of  provoking  me  to  make 
a  general  sweep  of  all  Federalists  out  of 
office.  But  as  I  have  carried  no  passion 
into  the  execution  of  this  disagreeable 
duty,  I  shall  suffer  none  to  be  excited.  The 
clamor  which  has  been  raised  will  not  pro- 
voke  me  to  remove  one  more,  nor  deter 
me  from  removing  one  less,  than  if  not  a 
word  had  been  said  on  the  subject.  In  the 
course  of  the  summer,  all  which  is  neces 
sary  will  be  done ;  and  we  may  hope  that, 
this  cause  of  offence  being  at  an  end,  the 
measures  we  shall  pursue  and  propose  for 
the  amelioration  of  the  public  affairs,  will 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    FEDERALS. 


15 


be  so  confessedly  salutary  as  to  unite  all 
men  not  monarchists  in  principle."  In 
the  same  letter  he  warmly  berates  the 
monarchical  federalists,  saying,  "  they  are 
incurables,  to  be  taken  care  of  in  a  mad 
house  if  necessary,  and  on  motives  of 
charity." 

The  seventh  Congress  assembled.  Po 
litical  parties  were  at  first  nearly  equally 
divided  in  the  Senate,  but  eventually 
there  was  a  majority  for  the  administration. 
Jefferson  then  discontinued  the  custom  es 
tablished  by  Washington  of  delivering  in 
person  his  message  to  Congress.  The 
change  was  greatly  for  the  oetter,  as  it 
afforded  relief  from  the  requirement  of 
immediate  answers  on  the  subjects  con 
tained  in  the  message.  It  has  ever  since 
been  followed. 

The  seventh  session  of  Congress,  pursu 
ant  to  the  recommendation  of  President 
Jefferson,  established  a  uniform  system  of 
naturalization,  and  so  modified  the  law  as 
to  make  the  required  residence  of  aliens 
five  years,  instead  of  fourteen,  as  in  the  act 
of  1798,  and  to  permit  a  declaration  of  in 
tention  to  become  a  citizen  at  the  expiration 
of  three  years.  By  his  recommendation 
also  was  established  the  first  sinking  fiind 
for  the  redemption  of  the  public  debt.  It 
required  the  setting  apart  annually  for  this 
purpose  the  sum  of  seven  millions  and  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  Other  mea 
sures,  more  partisan  in  their  character, 
were  proposed,  but  Congress  showed  an 
aversion  to  undoing  what  had  been  wisely 
done.  A  favorite  law  of  the  Federalists 
establishing  circuit  courts  alone  was  re 
pealed,  and  this  only  after  a  sharp  debate, 
and  a  close  vote.  The  provisional  army 
had  been  disbanded  by  a  law  of  the  previ 
ous  Congress.  A  proposition  to  abolish  the 
naval  department  was  defeated,  as  was  that 
to  discontinue  the  mint  establishment. 

At  this  session  the  first  law  in  relation  to 
the  slave  trade  was  passed.  It  was  to  pre 
vent  the  importation  of  negroes,  mulattoes 
and  other  persons  of  color  into  any  port  of 
the  United  States  within  a  state  which  had 
prohibited  by  law  the  admission  of  any 
such  person.  The  penalty  was  one  thou 
sand  dollars  and  the  forfeiture  of  the  vessel. 
The  slave  trade  was  not  then  prohibited  by 
the  constitution,  nor  was  the  subject  then 
generally  agitated,  though  it  had  been  as 
early  as  1793,  when,  as  previously  stated, 
an  exciting  sectional  debate  followed  the 
presentation  of  a  petition  from  Pennsylva 
nia  to  abolish  the  slave  trade. 

Probably  the  most  important  occurrence 
Tinder  the  first  administration  of  Jefferson 
was  that  relating  to  the  purchase  and  ad 
mission  of  Louisiana.  There  had  been 
apprehensions  of  a  war  with  Spain,  and  with 
a  view  to  be  ready  Congress  had  passed  an 
act  authorizing  the  President  to  call  upon 
the  executives  of  such  of  the  states  as  he 


might  deem  expedient,  for  detachments  of 
militia  not  exceeding  eighty  thousand,  or 
to  accept  the  services  of  volunteers  for  a 
term  of  twelve  months.  The  disagreement 
arose  over  the  south-western  boundary  line 
and  the  right  of  navigating  the  Mississippi. 
Our  government  learned  in  the  spring  of 
1802,  that  Spain  had  by  a  secret  treaty 
made  in  October,  1800,  actually  ceded 
Louisiana  to  France.  Our  government  had 
in  1795  made  a  treaty  with  Spain  which 
gave  us  the  right  of  deposite  at  New  Or 
leans  for  three  years,  but  in  October,  1802, 
the  Spanish  authorities  gave  notice  by 
proclamation  that  this  right  was  withdrawn. 
Excitement  followed  all  along  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  it  was  increased  by 
the  belief  that  the  withdrawal  of  tRe  privi 
lege  was  made  at  the  suggestion  of  France, 
though  Spain  still  retained  the  territory,  as 
the  formalities  of  ceding  it  had  not  been 
gone  through  with.  Jefferson  promptly 
took  the  ground  that  if  France  took  pos 
session  of  New  Orleans,  the  United  States 
would  immediately  become  allies  of  Eng 
land,  but  suggested  to  Minister  Livingston 
at  Paris  that  France  might  be  induced  to 
cede  the  island  of  New  Orleans  and  the 
Floridas  to  the  United  States.  It  was  his 
belief,  though  a  mistaken  one,  that  France 
had  also  acquired  the  Floridas.  Louisiana 
then  comprised  much  of  the  territory  west 
of  the  Mississippi  and  south  of  the  Mis 
souri. 

The  Federalists  in  Congress  seized  upon 
this  question  as  one  upon  which  they  could 
make  an  aggressive  war  against  Jefferson's 
administration,  and  resolutions  were  intro 
duced  asking  information  on  the  subject. 
Jefferson,  however,  wisely  avoided  all  en 
tangling  suggestions,  and  sent  Monroe  to 
aid  Livingston  in  effecting  a  purchase. 
The  treaty  was  formed  in  April,  1803,  and 
submitted  by  Jefferson  to  the  Senate  in 
October  following.  The  Republicans  ral 
lied  in  favor  of  this  scheme  of  annexation, 
and  claimed  that  it  was  a  constitutional 
right  in  the  government  to  acquire  territory 
— a  doctrine  widely  at  variance  with  their 
previous  position,  but  occasions  are  rare 
where  parties  quarrel  with  their  administra 
tions  on  pivotal  measures.  There  was  also 
some  latitude  here  for  endorsement,  as  the 
direct  question  of  territorial  acquisition  had 
not  before  been  presented,  but  only  hypo- 
thetically  stated  in  the  constitutional  dis 
putations  then  in  great  fashion.  Jefferson 
would  not  go'so  far  as  to  say  that  the  con 
stitution  warranted  the  acquisition  to  for 
eign  territory,  but  the  scheme  was  never 
theless  his,  and  he  stood  in  with  his  friends 
in  the  political  battle  which  followed. 

The  Federalists  claimed  that  we  had  no 
power  to  acquire  territory,  and  that  the 
acquirement  of  Louisiana  would  give  the 
South  a  preponderance  which  would  "  con 
tinue  for  all  time  (poor  prophets  they  I), 


16 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


since  southern  would  be  more  rapid  than 
northern  development ;  "  that  states  cre 
ated  west  of  the  Mississippi  would  injure 
the  commerce  of  New  England,  and  they 
even  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  "  ad 
mission  of  the  Western  World  into  the 
Union  would  compel  the  Eastern  States  to 
establish  an  eastern  empire,"  Doubts 
were  also  raised  as  to  the  right  of  Louisi- 
anians,  when  admitted  to  citizenship  un 
der  our  laws,  as  their  lineage,  language 
and  religion  were  different  from  our  own. 
Its  inhabitants  were  French  and  descend 
ants  of  French,  with  some  Spanish  Cre 
oles,  Americans,  English  and  Germans — 
in  all  about  90,000,  including  40,000  slaves. 
There  were  many  Indians  of  course,  in  a 
territory  then  exceeding  a  million  of  square 
miles — a  territory  which,  in  the  language 
of  First  Consul  Napoleon,  "strengthens 
forever  the  power  of  the  United  States," 
and  which  will  give  to  England  a  mari 
time  rival  that  will  sooner  or  later  humble 
her  pride  " — a  military  view  of  the  change 
fully  justified  by  subsequent  history.  Na 
poleon  sold  because  of  needed  prepara 
tions  for  war  with  England,  and  while  he 
had  previously  expressed  a  willingness  to 
take  fifty  million  francs  for  it,  he  got  sixty 
through  the  shrewd  diplomacy  of  his  min 
isters,  who  hid  for  the  time  their  fear  of 
the  capture  of  the  port  of  New  Orleans  by 
the  English  navy. 

Little  chance  was  afforded  the  Federal 
ists  for  adverse  criticism  in  Congress,  for 
the  purchase  proved  so  popular  that  the 

ale  greatly  increased  the  majority  in 
branches  of  the  eighth  Congress,  and 
Jefferson  called  it  together  earlier  for  the 
purpose  of  ratification.  The  Senate  rati 
fied  the  treaty  on  the  20th  of  October,  1803, 
by  a  vote  of  24  to  7,  while  the  House 
adopted  a  resolution  for  carrying  the  treaty 
into  effect  by  a  vote  of  90  to  25.  Eleven 
million  dollars  of  the  purchase  money  was 
appropriated,  the  remaining  four  millions 
being  reserved  for  the  indemnity  of  Amer 
ican  citizens  who  had  sustained  losses  by 
French  assaults  upon  our  commerce — from 
which  fact  subsequently  came  what  is 
known  as  the  French  Spoliation  Bill. 

Impeachment  trials  were  first  attempted 
before  the  eighth  Congress  in  1803.  Judge 
Pickering,  of  the  district  court  of  the 
United  States  for  New  Hampshire,  was 
impeached  for  occasional  drunkenness, 
and  dismissed  from  office.  Judge  Chase 
of  the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court,  and  Judge 
Peters  of  the  district  court  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  both  Federalists,  were  charged  by  arti 
cles  proposed  in  the  House  with  illegal 
and  arbitrary  conduct  in  the  trial  of  par 
ties  charged  with  political  offenses.  The 
Federalists  took  alarm  at  these  proceed 
ings,  and  so  vehement  were  their  charges 
against  the  Republicans  of  a  desire  to  de 


stroy  the  judiciary  that  their  impeach* 
ments  were  finally  abandoned. 

The  Republicans  closed  their  first  na 
tional  administration  with  high  prestige. 
They  had  met  several  congressional  re 
verses  on  questions  where  defeat  proved 
good  fortune,  for  the  Federalists  kept  a 
watchful  defence,  and  were  not  always 
wrong.  The  latter  suffered  numerically, 
and  many  of  their  best  leaders  had  fallen 
in  the  congressional  contest  of  1800  and 
1802,  while  the  Republicans  maintained 
their  own  additions  in  talent  and  number. 

In  1804,  the  candidates  of  both  parties 
were  nominated  by  congressional  caucuses. 
Jefferson  and  Clinton  were  the  Republi 
can  nominees ;  Charles  C.  Pinckney  and 
Rufus  King,  the  nominees  of  the  Federal 
ists,  but  they  only  received  14  out  of  176 
electoral  votes. 

The  struggle  of  Napoleon  in  Europe 
with  the  allied  powers  now  gave  Jefferson 
an  opportunity  to  inaugurate  a  foreign 
policy.  England  had  forbidden  all  trade 
with  the  French  and  their  allies,  and 
France  had  in  return  forbidden  all  com 
merce  with  England  and  her  colonies. 
Both  of  these  decrees  violated  our  neutral 
rights,  and  were  calculated  to  destroy  our 
commerce,  which  by  this  time  had  become 
quite  imposing. 

Congress  acted  promptly,  and  on  the  21st 
of  December  passed  what  is  known  as  the 
Embargo  Act,  under  the  inspiration  of  the 
Republican  party,  which  claimed  that  the 
only  choice  of  the  people  lay  between  the 
emoargo  and  war,  and  that  there  was  no 
other  way  to  obtain  redress  from  England 
and  France.  But  the  promised  effects  of 
the  measure  were  not  realized,  and  so  soon 
as  any  dissatisfaction  was  manifested  by 
the  people,  the  Federalists  made  the  ques 
tion  a  political  issue.  They  declared  it 
unconstitutional  because  it  was  not  limited 
as  to  time;  that  it  helped  England  as 
against  France  (a  cunning  assertion  in 
view  of  the  early  love  of  the  Republicans 
for  the  cause  of  the  French),  and  that  it 
laid  violent  hands  on  our  home  commerce 
and  industries.  Political  agitation  in 
creased  the  discontent,  and  public  opinion 
at  one  time  turned  so  strongly  against  the 
law  that  it  was  openly  resisted  on  the 
eastern  coast,  and  treated  with  almost  as 
open  contempt  on  the  Canadian  border. 
The  bill  had  passed  the  House  by  87  to 
35,  the  Senate  by  19  to  9.  In  January, 
1809,  the  then  closing  administration  of 
Jefferson  had  to  change  front  on  the  ques 
tion,  and  the  law  was  repealed  on  the  18th 
of  March.  The  Republicans  when  they 
changed,  went  all  the  way  over,  and  advo 
cated  full  protection  by  the  use  of  a  navy, 
of  all  our  rights  on  the  high  seas.  If  the 
Federals  could  have  recalled  their  old 
leaders,  or  retained  even  a  considerable 
portion  of  their  power,  the  opportunity 


DEMOCRATS  AND  FEDERALS. 


17 


presented  by  the  embargo  issue  could 
nave  brought  them  back  to  full  politicaj 
power,  but  lacking  these  leaders,  the  op 
portunity  passed 


Democrats  and.  Federals. 

During  the  ninth  Congress,  which  as 
sembled  on  the  second  of  December,  1805, 
the  Republicans  dropped  their  name  and 
accepted  that  of  "  Democrats."  In  all 
their  earlier  strifes  they  had  been  charged 
by  their  opponents  with  desiring  to  run  to 
the  extremes  of  the  democratic  or  "  mob 
rule,"  and  fear  of  too  general  a  belief  in 
the  truth  of  the  charge  led  them  to  denials 
and  rejection  of  a  name  which  the  father 
of  their  party  had  ever  shown  a  fondness 
for.  The  earlier  dangers  which  had 
threatened  their  organization,  and  the  re 
collection  of  defeats  suffered  in  their  at 
tempts  to  establish  a  government  anti-fed 
eral  and  confederate  in  their  composition, 
had  been  greatly  modified  by  later  suc 
cesses,  and  with  a  characteristic  cuteness 
peculiar  to  Americans  they  accepted  an 
epithet  and  sought  to  turn  it  to  the  best 
account.  In  this  they  imitated  the  patriots 
who  accepted  the  epithets  in  the  British 
satirical  song  of  "Yankee  Doodle,", and 
called  themselves  Yankees.  From  the 
ninth  Congress  the  Jeffersonian  Republi 
cans  called  themselves  Democrats,  and  the 
word  Republican  passed  into  disuse  until 
later  on  in  the  history  of  our  political 
parties,  the  opponents  of  the  Democracy 
accepted  it  as  a  name  which  well  filled  the 
meaning  of  their  attitude  in  the  politics  of 
the  country. 

Mr.  Randolph  of  Roanoke,  made  the 
first  schism  in  the  Republican  party  under 
Jefferson,  when  he  and  three  of  his  friends 
voted  against  the  embargo  act.  He  resisted 
its  passage  with  his  usual  earnestness,  and 
all  attempts  at  reconciling  him  to  the  mea 
sure  were  unavailing.  Self-willed,  strong 
in  argument  and  sarcasm,  it  is  believed 
that  his  cause  made  it  even  more  desirable 
for  the  Republicans  to  change  name  in 
the  hope  of  recalling  some  of  the  more 
wayward  "  Democrats  "  who  had  advoca 
ted  Jacobin  democracy  in  the  years  gone 
by.  The  politicians  of  that  day  were 
never  short  of  expedients,  and  no  man  so 
abounded  in  them  as  Jefferson  himself. 

Randolph  improved  his  opportunities  by 
getting  most  of  the  Virginia  members  to 
act  with  him  against  the  foreign  policy  of 
the  administration,  but  he  was  careful  not 
to  join  the  Federalists,  and  quickly  denied 
any  leaning  that  way.  The  first  fruit  of 
Lis  faction  was  to  bring  forth  Monroe  as  a 
candidate  for  President  against  Madison — 
a  movement  which  proved  to  be  quite 
popular  in  Virginia,  but  which  Jefferson 
flanked  by  bringing  about  a  reconciliation 


between  Monroe  and  Madison.  The  now 
usual  Congressional  caucus  followed  at 
Washington,  and  although  the  Virginia 
Legislature  in  its  caucus  previously  held 
had  been  unable  to  decide  between  Madi 
son  and  Monroe,  the  Congressional  body 
chose  Madison  by  83  to  11,  the  minority 
being  divided  between  Clinton  and  Mon 
roe,  though  the  latter  could  by  that  time 
hardly  be  considered  as  a  candidate.  This 
action  broke  up  Randolph's  faction  in 
Virginia,  but  left  so  much  bitterness  be 
hind  it  that  a  large  portion  attached  them 
selves  to  the  Federalists.  In  the  election 
which  followed  Madison  received  122  elec 
toral  votes  against  47  for  C.  C.  Pinckney, 
of  South  Carolina,  and  6  for  Geo.  Clinton 
of  New  York. 

Before  Jefferson's  administration  closed 
he  recommended  the  passage  of  an  act  to 
prohibit  the  African  slave  trade  after  Jan 
uary  1st,  1808,  and  it  was  passed  accord 
ingly.  He  had  also  rejected  the  form  of  a 
treaty  received  from  the  British  minister 
Erskine,  and  did  this  without  the  formality 
of  submitting  it  to  the  Senate — first,  be 
cause  it  contained  no  provision  on  the  ob 
jectionable  practice  of  impressing  our  sea 
men  ;  second,  *  because  it  was  accompanied 
by  a  note  from  the  British  ministers,  by 
which  the  British  government  reserved  to 
itself  the  right  of  releasing  itself  from  the 
stipulations  in  favor  of  neutral  rights,  if 
the  United  States  submitted  to  the  British 
decree,  or  other  invasion  of  those  rights  by 
France."  This  rejection  of  the  treaty  by 
Jefferson  caused  public  excitement,  and 
the  Federalists  sought  to  arouse  the  com 
mercial  community  against  his  action,  and 
cited  the  fact  that  his  own  trusted  friends, 
Monroe  and  Pinckney  had  negotiated  it. 
The  President's  party  stood  by  him,  and 
they  agreed  that  submission  to  the  Senate 
was  immaterial,  as  its  advice  could  not 
bind  him.  This  refusal  to  consider  the 
treaty  was  the  first  step  leading  to  the  war 
of  1812,  for  embargoes  followed,  and  Britain 
openly  claimed  the  right  to  search  Amer 
ican  vessels  for  her  deserting  seamen.  In 
1807  this  question  was  brought  to  issue 
by  the  desertion  of  five  British  seamen 
from  the  Halifax,  and  their  enlistment  on 
the  U.  S.  frigate  Chesapeake.  Four  sepa 
rate  demands  were  made  for  these  men, 
but  all  of  the  commanders,  knowing  the 
firm  attitude  of  Jefferson's  administration 
against  the  practice,  refused,  as  did  the 
Secretary  of  State  refuse  a  fifth  demand 
on  the  part  of  the  British  minister.  On 
;he  23d  of  June  following,  while  the 
Chesapeake  was  near  the  capes  of  Virginia, 
Capt.  Humphreys  of  the  British  ship  Leo 
nard  attempted  to  search  her  for  deserters. 
Dapt.  Barron  denied  the  right  of  search, 
3ut  on  being  fired  i»to,  lowered  his  flag, 


*From  the  Statesman' 
Williams. 


Manual,  Vol.  1.,  by  Edwin. 


18 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Humphreys  then  took  four  men  from  the 
Chesapeake,  three  of  whom  had  previously 
entered  the  British  service,  but  were 
Americans  by  birth,  and  had  been  form 
ally  demanded  by  Washington.  The  act 
was  a  direct  violation  of  the  international 
law,  for  a  nation's  ship  at  sea  like  its  ter 
ritory  is  inviolable.  The  British  govern 
ment  disavowed  the  act  of  its  officer  and 
offered  apology  and  reparation,  which 
were  accepted.  This  event,  however, 
strengthened  Jefferson's  rejection  of  the 
Monroe-Pinckney  treaty,  and  quickly  stop 
ped  adverse  political  criticism  at  home. 
Foreign  affairs  remained,  however,  in  a 
complicated  state,  owing  to  the  wars  be 
tween  England  and  the  then  successful 
Napoleon,  but  they  in  no  wise  shook  the 
firm  hold  which  Jefferson  had  upon  the 
people,  nor  the  prestige  of  his  party.  He 
stands  in  history  as  one  of  the  best  poli 
ticians  our  land  has  ever  seen,  and  then 
as  now  no  one  could  successfully  draw  the 
line  between  the  really  able  politician  and 
the  statesman.  He  was  accepted  as  both. 
His  administration  closed  on  the  3d  of 
March,  1809,  when  he  expressed  great 
gratification  at  being  able  to  retire  to  pri 
vate  life. 

Mr.  Madison  succeeded  at  a  time  when 
the  country,  through  fears  of  foreign  aggres 
sion  and  violence,  was  exceedingly  gloomy 
and  despondent — a  feeling  not  encouraged 
in  the  least  by  the  statements  of  the  Fed 
eralists,  some  of  whom  then  thought  politi 
cal  criticism  in  hours  of  danger  not  un 
patriotic.  They  described  our  agriculture 
as  discouraged,  our  fisheries  abandoned, 
our  commerce  restrained,  our  navy  dis 
mantled,  our  revenues  destroyed  at  a  time 
when  war  was  at  any  moment  probable 
with  either  France,  England  or  Spain. 

Madison,  representing  as  he  did  the  same 
party,  from  the  first  resolved  to  follow  the 
policy  of  Jefferson,  a  fact  about  which  there 
was  no  misunderstanding.  He  desired  to 
avert  war  as  long  as  possible  with  England, 
and  sought  by  skilful  diplomacy  to  avert 
the  dangers  presented  by  ooth  France  and 
England  in  their  attitude  with  neutrals. 
England  had  declared  that  a  man  who 
was  once  a  subject  always  remained  a 
subject,  and  on  this  plea  based  her  deter 
mination  to  impress  again  into  her  service 
all  deserters  from  her  navy.  France,  be 
cause  of  refusal  to  accede  to  claims  equally 
at  war  with  our  rights,  had  authorized  the 
seizure  of  all  American  vessels  entering 
the  ports  of  France.  In  May,  1810,  when 
£he  non-intercourse  act  had  expired,  Madi 
son  caused  proposals  to  be  made  to  both 
belligerents,  that  if  either  would  revoke  its 
hostile  edict,  the  non-intercourse  act  should 
be  revived  and  enforced  against  the  other 
nation.  This  act  had  been  passed  by  the 
tenth  Congress  as  a  substitute  for  the  em 
bargo.  France  quickly  accepted  Madison's 


proposal,  and  received  the  benefits  of  the 
act,  and  the  direct  result  was  to  increase 
the  growing  hostility  of  England.  From 
this  time  forward  the  negotiations  had  more 
the  character  of  a  diplomatic  contest  than 
an  attempt  to  maintain  peace.  Both  coun 
tries  were  upon  their  mettle,  and  early  in 
1811,  Mr.  Pinckney,  the  American  minister 
to  Great  Britain,  was  recalled,  and  a  year 
later  a  formal  declaration  of  war  was  made 
by  the  United  States. 

Just  prior  to  this  the  old  issue,  made  by 
the  Republicans  against  Hamilton's 
scheme  for  a  National  Bank,  was  revived 
by  the  fact  that  the  charter  of  the  bank 
ceased  on  the  4th  of  March,  1811,  and  an 
attempt  was  made  to  recharter  it.  A  bill 
for  this  purpose  was  introduced  into  Con 
gress,  but  on  the  llth  of  January,  1811,  it 
was  indefinitely  postponed  in  the  House, 
by  a  vote  of  65  to  64,  while  in  the  Senate 
it  was  rejected  by  the  casting  vote  of  the 
Vice-President,  Geo.  Clinton,  on  the  5th 
of  February,  1811 — this  notwithstanding 
its  provisions  had  been  framed  or  approved 
by  Gallatin ,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
The  Federalists  were  all  strong  advocates 
of  the  measure,  and  it  was  so  strong  that 
it  divided  some  of  the  Democrats  who  en 
joyed  a  loose  rein  in  the  contest  so  far  as 
the  administration  was  concerned,  the 
President  not  specially  caring  for  political 
quarrels  at  a  time  when  war  was  threatened 
with  a  powerful  foreign  nation.  The  views 
of  the  Federalists  on  this  question  descend 
ed  to  the  Whigs  some  years  later,  and  this 
fact  led  to  the  charges  that  the  Whigs 
were  but  Federalists  in  disguise. 

The  eleventh  Congress  continued  the 
large  Democratic  majority,  as  did  the 
twelfth,  which  met  on  the  4th  of  Novem 
ber,  1811,  Henry  Clay,  then  an  ardent 
supporter  of  the  policy  of  Madison,  suc 
ceeding  to  the  House  speakership.  He  had 
previously  served  two  short  sessions  in  the 
U.  S.  Senate,  and  had  already  acquired  a 
high  reputation  as  an  able  and  fluent  debat 
er.  He  preferred  the  House,  at  that  period 
of  life,  believing  his  powers  better  calcu 
lated  to  win  fame  in  the  more  popular  rep 
resentative  hall.  Calhoun  was  also  in  the 
House  at  this  time,  and  already  noted  for 
the  boldness  of  his  views  and  their  asser 
tion. 

In  this  Congress  jealousies  arose  against 
the  political  power  of  Virginia,  which  had 
already  named  three  of  the  four  Presi 
dents,  each  for  two  terms,  and  De  Witt 
Clinton,  the  well-known  Governor  of  New 
York,  sought  through  these  jealousies  to 
create  a  division  which  would  carry  him 
into  the  Presidency.  His  efforts  were  for  a 
time  warmly  seconded  by  several  northern 
and  southern  states.  A  few  months  later 
the  Legislature  of  New  York  formally 
opened  the  ball  by  nominating  DeWitt 
Clinton  for  the  Presidency.  An  address 


THE  JEFFERSON  DEMOCRATS. 


19 


was  issued  by  his  friends,  August  17th,  1812, 
which  has  since  become  known  as  the  Clin- 
tonian  platform,  and  his  followers  were 
known  as  Clintonian  Democrats.  The  ad 
dress  contained  the  first  public  protest 
against  the  nomination  of  Presidential  can 
didates  by  Congressional  caucuses.  There 
was  likewise  declared  opposition  to  that 
"  official  regency  which  prescribed  tenets  of 
political  faith."  The  efforts  of  particular 
states  to  monopolize  the  principal  offices 
was  denounced,  as  was  the  continuance  of 
public  men  for  long  periods  in  office. 

Madison  was  nominated  for  a  second 
term  by  a  Congressional  caucus  held  at 
Washington,  in  May,  1812.  John  Langdon 
was  nominated  for  Vice-President,  but  as 
he  declined  on  account  of  age,  Elbridge 
Gerry  of  Massachusetts,  took  his  place. 
In  September  of  the  same  year  a  conven 
tion  of  the  opposition,  representing  eleven 
states,  was  held  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
which  nominated  De  Witt  Clinton,  with 
Jared  Ingersoll  for  Vice-President.  This 
was  the  first  national  convention,  partisan 
in  character,  and  the  Federalists  have  the 
credit  of  originating  and  carrying  out  the 
idea.  The  election  resulted  in  the  success 
of  Madison,  who  received  128  electoral 
votes  to  89  for  Clinton. 

Though  factious  strife  had  been  some 
what  rife,  less  attention  was  paid  to  poli 
tics  than  to  the  approaching  war.  There 
were  new  Democratic  leaders  in  the  lower 
House,  and  none  were  more  prominent 
than  Clay  of  Kentucky,  Calhoun,  Cheves 
and  Lowndes,  all  of  South  Carolina.  The 
policy  of  Jefferson  in  reducing  the  army 
and  navy  was  now  greatly  deplored,  and 
the  defenceless  condition  in  which  it  left 
the  country  was  the  partial  cause,  at  least  a 
stated  cause  of  the  factious  feuds  which  fol 
lowed.  Madison  sought  to  change  this 
policy,  and  he  did  it  at  the  earnest  solici 
tation  of  Clay,  Calhoun  and  Lowndes,  who 
were  the  recognized  leaders  of  the  war 
party.  They  had  early  determined  that 
Madison  should  be  directly  identified 
with  them,  and  before  his  second  nomina 
tion  had  won  him  over  to  their  more  de 
cided  views  in  favor  of  war  with  England. 
He  had  held  back,  hoping  that  diplomacy 
might  avert  a  contest,  but  when  once  con 
vinced  that  war  was  inevitable  and  even 
desirable  under  the  circumstances,  his 
official  utterances  were  bold  and  free.  In 
the  June  following  the  caucus  which  re- 
nominated  him,  he  declared  in  a  message 
that  our  flag  was  continually  insulted  on 
the  high  seas ;  that  the  right  of  searching 
American  vessels  for  British  seamen  was 
still  in  practice,  and  that  thousands  of 
American  citizens  had  in  this  way  been 
impressed  in  service  on  foreign  ships  ;  that 
peacful  efforts  at  adjustment  of  the  diffi 
culties  had  proved  abortive,  and  that  the 
British  ministry  and  British  emissaries 


had  actually  been  intriguing  for  the  dis 
memberment  of  the  Union. 

The  act  declaring  war  was  approved  by 
the  President  on  the  18th  of  June,  1812r 
and  is  remarkably  short  and  comprehen 
sive.  It  was  drawn  by  the  attorney-general 
of  the  United  States,  William  Pinckney, 
and  is  in  the  words  following : — 

"  An  act  declaring  war  between  the  United 
Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and 
the  dependencies  thereof,  and  the  United. 
States  of  America  and  their  territories. 

11  Be  it  enacted,  &c.  That  war  be,  and 
the  same  is  hereby  declared  to  exist  be 
tween  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  and  the  dependencies  thereof, 
and  the  United  States  of  America,  and  their 
territories ;  and  that  the  President  of  the 
United  States  is  hereby  authorized  to  use 
the  whole  land  and  naval  force  of  the 
United  States  to  carry  the  same  into  effect, 
and  to  issue  to  private  armed  vessels  of  the 
United  States  commissions,  or  letters  of 
marque  and  general  reprisal,  in  such  form 
as  he  shall  think  proper,  and  under  the  seal 
of  the  United  States,  against  the  vessels, 
goods,  and  effects,  of  the  government  of 
the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  and  the  subjects  thereof." 

This  was  a  soul-stirring  message,  but  it 
did  not  rally  all  the  people  as  it  should 
have  done.  Political  jealousies  were  very 
great,  and  the  frequent  defeats  of  the  Fed 
eralists,  while  they  tended  to  greatly  reduce 
their  numbers  and  weaken  their  power, 
seemed  to  strengthen  their  animosity,  and 
they  could  see  nothing  good  in  any  act  of 
the  administration.  They  held,  especially 
in  the  New  England  states,  that  the  war  had 
been  declared  by  a  political  party  simply, 
and  not  by  the  nation,  though  nearly  all  of 
the  Middle,  and  all  of  the  Southern  and 
Western  States,  warmly  supported  it. 
Clay  estimated  that  nine-tenths  of  the  peo 
ple  were  in  favor  of  the  war,  and  under  the 
inspiration  of  his  eloquence  and  the  strong 
state  papers  of  Madison,  they  doubtless 
were  at  first.  Throughout  they  felt  their 
political  strength,  and  they  just  as  heartily 
returned  the  bitterness  manifested  by  those 
of  the  Federalists  who  opposed  the  war, 
branding  them  as  enemies  of  the  republic, 
and  monarchists  who  preferred  the  reign  of 
Britain. 

Four  Federalist  representatives  in  Con 
gress  went  so  far  as  to  issue  an  address, 
opposing  the  war,  the  way  in  which  it  had 
been  declared,  and  denouncing  it  as  unjust. 
Some  of  the  New  England  states  refused 
the  order  of  the  President  to  support  it 
with  their  militia,  and  Massachusetts  sent 
peace  memorials  to  Congress. 

A  peace  party  was  formed  with  a  view  to 
array  the  religious  sentiment  of  the  coun 
try  against  the  war,  and  societies  with  sim 
ilar  objects  were  organized  by  the  more 
radical  of  the  Federalists.  To  such  an  ex- 


20 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


treme  was  this  opposition  carried,  that 
some  of  the  citizens  of  New  London,  Conn., 
made  a  practice  of  giving  information  to 
the  enemy,  by  means  of  blue  lights,  of  the 
departure  of  American  vessels. 


The  Hartford  Convention. 

This  opposition  finally  culminated  in  the 
assembling  of  a  convention  at  Hartford,  at 
which  delegates  were  present  from  all  of  the 
New  England  states.  They  sat  for  three 
weeks  with  closed  doors,  and  issued  an  ad 
dress  which  will  be  found  in  this  volume 
in  the  book  devoted  to  political  platforms. 
It  was  charged  by  the  Democrats  that  the 
real  object  of  the  convention  was  to  nego 
tiate  a  separate  treaty  of  peace,  on  behalf 
of  New  England,  with  Great  Britain,  but 
this  charge  was  as  warmly  denied.  The 
exact  truth  has  not  since  been  discovered, 
the  fears  of  the  participants  of  threatened 
trials  for  treason,  closing  their  mouths,  if 
their  professions  were  false.  The  treaty  of 
Ghent,  which  was  concluded  on  December 
14th,  1814,  prevented  other  action  by  the 
Hartford  convention  than  that  stated.  It 
had  assembled  nine  days  before  the  treaty, 
which  is  as  follows  : 


Treaty  of  Ghent. 

This  treaty  was  negotiated  by  the  Right 
Honorable  James  Lord  Gambler,  Henry 
Goulburn,  Esq.,  and  William  Adams,  Esq., 
on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  and  John 
Quincy  Adams,  James  A.  Bayard,  Henry 
Clay,  Jonathan  Russell,  and  Albert  Gal- 
latin,  on  behalf  of  the  United  States. 

The  treaty  can  be  found  on  p.  218,  vol. 
8,  of  Little  &  Brown's  Statutes  at  Large. 
The  first  article  provided  for  the  restora 
tion  of  all  archives,  records,  or  property 
taken  by  either  party  from  the  other  dur 
ing  the  war.  This  article  expressly  pro 
vides  for  the  restoration  of  "  slaves  or  other 
private  property."  The  second  article  pro 
vided  for  the  cessation  of  hostilities  and 
limitation  of  time  of  capture.  The  third 
article  provided  for  the  restoration  of 
prisoners  of  war. 

The  fourth  article  defined  the  boundary 
established  by  the  treaty  of  1783,  and  pro 
vided  for  commissioners  to  mark  the  same. 

The  fifth,  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth 
articles  established  rules  to  govera  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  commissioners. 

The  ninth  article  bound  the  United 
States  and  His  Britannic  Majesty  to  end 
all  hostilities  with  Indian  tribes,  with  whom 
they  were  then  respectively  at  war. 

The  tenth  article  reads  as  follows : — 

"  Whereas  the  traffic  in  slaves  is  irrecon 
cilable  with  the  principles  of  humanity 
and  justice ;  and,  whereas,  both  His  Ma 


jesty  and  the  United  States  are  desirous  of 
continuing  their  efforts  to  promote  its  entire 
abolition,  it  is  hereby  agreed  that  both  the 
contracting  parties  shall  use  their  best  en 
deavors  to  accomplish  so  desirable  an  ob 
ject." 

The  eleventh  and  last  article  provides  for 
binding  effect  of  the  treaty,  upon  the  ex 
change  of  ratifications. 

The  position  of  New  England  in  the  war 
is  explained  somewhat  by  her  exposed  po 
sition.  Such  of  the  militia  as  served  en 
dured  great  hardships,  and  they  were  al 
most  constantly  called  from  their  homes  to 
meet  new  dangers.  Distrusting  their  loy 
alty,  the  general  government  had  with 
held  all  supplies  from  the  militia  of  Massa- 
husetts  and  Connecticut  for  the  year  1814, 
and  these  States  were  forced  to  bear  the 
burden  of  supporting  them,  at  the  same  time 
contributing  their  quota  of  taxes  to  the 
general  government — hardships,  by  the 
way,  not  greater  than  those  borne  by  Penn 
sylvania  and  Ohio  in  the  late  war  for  the 
Union,  nor  half  as  hard  as  those  borne  by 
the  border  States  at  the  same  time.  True, 
the  coast  towns  of  Massachusetts  were  sub 
jected  to  constant  assault  from  the  British 
navy,  and  the  people  of  these  felt  that  they 
were  defenceless.  It  was  on  their  petition 
that  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  final 
ly,  by  a  vote  of  226  to  67,  adopted  the  report 
favoring  the  calling  of  the  Hartford  Con 
vention.  A  circular  was  then  addressed  to 
the  Governors  of  the  other  States,  with  a 
request  that  it  be  laid  before  their  legisla 
tures,  inviting  them  to  appoint  delegates, 
and  stating  that  the  object  was  to  deliber 
ate  upon  the  dangers  to  which  the  eastern 
section  was  exposed,  "and  to  devise,  if 
practicable,  means  of  security  and  defence 
which  might  be  consistent  with  the  preser 
vation  of  their  resources  from  total  ruin, 
and  not  repugnant  to  their  obligations  as 
members  of  the  Union.'1  The  italicized  por 
tion  shows  that  there  was  at  least  then  no 
design  of  forming  a  separate  treaty,  or  of 
promoting  disunion.  The  legislatures  of 
Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  endorsed 
the  call  and  sent  delegates.  Those  of  New 
Hampshire  and  Vermont  did  not,  but  de 
legates  were  sent  by  local  conventions. 
These  delegates,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to 
remark,  were  all  members  of  the  Federal 
party,  and  their  suspected  designs  and  ac 
tion  made  the  "  Hartford  Convention  "  a 
bye-word  and  reproach  in  the  mouths  of 
Democratic  orators  for  years  thereafter.  It 
gave  to  the  Democrats,  as  did  the  entire 
history  of  the  war,  the  prestige  of  superior 
patriotism,  and  they  profited  by  it  as  long 
as  the  memory  of  the  war  of  1812  was 
fresh.  Indeed,  directly  after  the  war,  all 
men  seemed  to  keep  in  constant  view  the 
reluctance  of  the  Federalists  to  support  the 
war,  and  their  almost  open  hostility  to  it 
in  New  England.  Peace  brought  pros- 


THE    CONGRESSIONAL    CAUCUS. 


21 


perity  and  plenty,  but  not  oblivion  of  the 
old  political  issues,  and  this  was  the  be 
ginning  of  the  end  of  the  Federal  party. 
Its  decay  thereafter  was  rapid  and  con 
stant. 

The  eleventh,  twelfth  and  thirteenth  Con 
gresses  had  continued  Democratic.  The 
fourteenth  began  Dec.  4,  1815,  with  the 
Democratic  majority  in  the  House  increased 
to  30.  Clay  had  taken  part  in  negotiating 
the  treaty,  and  on  his  return  was  again 
elected  to  the  House,  and  was  for  the  third 
time  elected  speaker.  Though  65  Feder 
alists  had  been  elected,  but  10  were  given 
to  Federal  candidates  for  speaker,  this 
party  now  showing  a  strong,  and  under  the 
circumstances,  a  very  natural  desire  to 
rub  out  party  lines.  The  internal  taxes 
and  the  postage  rates  were  reduced. 


The  Protective  Tariff. 

President  Madison,  in  his  message,  had 
urged  upon  Congress  a  revision  of  the 
tariff,  and  pursuant  to  his  recommendation 
what  was  at  the  time  called  a  protective 
tariff  was  passed.  Even  Calhoun  then 
supported  it,  while  Clay  proclaimed  that 
protection  must  no  longer  be  secondary  to 
revenue,  but  of  primary  importance.  The 
rates  fixed,  however,  were  insufficient,  and 
many  American  manufactures  were  soon 
frustrated  by  excessive  importations  of  for 
eign  manufactures.  The  position  of  Cal 
houn  and  Lowndes,  well  known  leaders 
from  South  Carolina,  is  explained  by  the 
fact  that  just  then  the  proposal  of  a  pro 
tective  tariff  was  popular  in  the  south,  in 
view  of  the  heavy  duties  upon  raw  cotton 
which  England  then  imposed.  The  Feder 
alists  in  weakness  changed  their  old  posi 
tion  when  they  found  the  Democrats  advo 
cating  a  tariff,  and  the  latter  quoted  and 
published  quite  extensively  Alexander 
Hamilton's  early  report  in  favor  of  it. 
Webster,  in  the  House  at  the  time  and  a 
leading  Federalist,  was  against  the  bill. 
The  parties  had  exchanged  positions  on 
the  question. 

Peace  brought  with  it  another  exchange 
of  positions.  President  Madison,  although 
he  had  vetoed  a  bill  to  establish  a  National 
Bank  in  1815,  was  now  (in  1816)  anxious 
for  the  establishment  of  such  an  institution. 
Clay  had  also  changed  his  views,  and 
claimed  that  the  experiences  of  the  war 
showed  the  necessity  for  a  national  curren 
cy.  The  bill  met  with  strong  opposition 
from  a  few  Democrats  and  nearly  all  of  the 
Federalists  (the  latter  having  changed  po 
sition  on  the  question  since  1811),  but  it 
passed  and  was  signed  by  the  President. 

A  bill  to  promote  internal  improvements, 
advocated  by  Clay,  was  at  first  favored  by 
Madison,  but  his  mind  changed  and  he  ve 
toed  the  measure — the  first  of  its  kind 
passed  by  Congress. 


The  Democratic  members  of  Congress, 
before  the  adjournment  of  the  first  session, 
held  a  caucus  for  the  nomination  of  can 
didates  to  succeed  Madison  and  Gerry. 
It  was  understood  that  the  retiring  officers 
and  their  confidential  friends  favored 
James  Monroe  of  Virginia.  Their  wishes 
were  carried  out,  but  not  without  a  strug 
gle,  Wm.  H.  Crawford  of  Georgia  receiv 
ing  54  votes  against  65  for  Monroe.  The 
Democrats  opposed  to  Virginia's  domina 
tion  in  the  politics  of  the  country,  made  a 
second  effort,  and  directed  it  against  Monroe 
in  the  caucus.  Aaron  Burr  denounced 
him  as  an  improper  and  incompetent  can 
didate,  and  joined  in  the  protest  then  made 
against  any  nomination  by  a  Congressional 
caucus ;  he  succeeding  in  getting  nineteen 
Democrats  to  stay  out  of  the  caucus.  Later 
he  advised  renewed  attempts  to  break 
down  the  Congressional  caucus  system,  and 
before  the  nomination  favored  Andrew 
Jackson  as  a  means  to  that  end.  Daniel 
B.  Tompkins  was  nominated  by  the  Demo 
crats  for  Vice-President.  The  Federalists 
named  Rufus  King  of  New  York,  but  in 
the  election  which  followed  he  received 
but  24  out  of  217  electoral  votes.  The 
Federalists  divided  their  votes  for  Vice- 
President. 

Monroe  was  inaugurated  on  the  14th  of 
March,  1817,  the  oath  being  administered 
by  Chief  Justice  Marshall.  The  inaugural 
address  was  so  liberal  in  its  tone  that  it 
seemed  to  give  satisfaction  to  men  of  all 
shades  of  political  opinion.  The  questions 
which  had  arisen  during  the  war  no  longer 
had  any  practical  significance,  while  the 
people  were  anxious  to  give  the  disturbing 
ones  which  ante-dated  at  least  a  season  of 
rest.  Two  great  and  opposing  policies  had 
previously  obtained,  and  singularly  enough 
each  seemed  exactly  adapted  to  the  times 
when  they  were  triumphant  The  Fed 
eral  power  had  been  asserted  in  a  govern 
ment  which  had  gathered  renewed  strength 
during  what  was  under  the  circumstances 
a  great  and  perilous  war,  and  the  exi 
gencies  of  that  war  in  many  instances 
compelled  the  Republicans  or  Democrats, 
or  the  Democratic-Republicans  as  some 
still  called  them,  to  concede  points  which 
had  theretofore  been  in  sharp  dispute,  and 
they  did  it  with  that  facility  which  only 
Americans  can  command  in  emergencies : 
yet  as  a  party  they  kept  firm  hold  of  the 
desire  to  enlarge  the  scope  of  liberty  in  its 
application  to  the  citizens,  and  just  here 
kept  their  original  landmark. 

It  is  not  singular  then  that  the  adminis 
tration  of  Monroe  opened  what  has  ever 
since  been  known  in  politics  as  the  "  Era 
of  Good  Feeling."  Party  differences  ra 
pidly  subsided,  and  political  serenity  was 
the  order  of  the  day.  Monroe  made  a  tour 
of  the  States,  with  the  direct  object  of  in 
specting  fortifications  and  means  of  de- 


22 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


fence,  and  in  this  way  spread  the  good 
feeling,  without  seeming  to  have  any  such 
object.  He  was  everywhere  favorably 
greeted  by  the  people,  and  received  by 
delegations  which  in  many  instances  were 
specially  made  up  of  all  shades  of  opinion. 

The  Cabinet  was  composed  of  men  of 
rare  political  distinction,  even  in  that  day 
of  great  men.  It  was  probably  easier  to 
be  great  then  than  now,  just  as  it  is  easier 
to  be  a  big  political  hero  in  the  little  State 
of  Delaware  than  it  is  in  the  big  States  of 
New  York  or  Pennsylvania.  Yet  these 
men  were  universally  accepted  as  great 
without  regard  to  their  localities.  All  were 
Republicans  or  Democrats,  with  John 
Quincy  Adams  as  Secretary  of  State,  Wm. 
H.  Crawford  (Monroe's  competitor  for  the 
nomination)  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
John  C.  Calhoun  as  Secretary  of  War, 
William  Wirt  as  Attorney  General.  All 
of  these  united  with  the  President  in  the 
general  desire  to  call  a  halt  upon  the 
political  asperities  which  were  then  recog 
nized  as  a  public  evil.  On  one  occasion, 
during  his  tour,  the  citizens  of  Kennebunk 
and  its  vicinity,  in  Maine,  having  in  their 
address  alluded  to  the  prospects  of  a  politi 
cal  union  among  the  people  in  support  of 
the  administration,  the  President  said  in 
reply : 

"  You  are  pleased  to  express  a  confident 
hope  that  a  spirit  of  mutual  conciliation 
may  be  one  of  the  blessings  which  may  re 
sult  from  my  administration.  This  in 
deed  would  be  an  eminent  blessing,  and  I 
pray  it  may  be  realized.  Nothing  but 
union  is  waiting  to  make  us  a  great  people. 
The  present  time  affords  the  happiest 
presage  that  this  union  is  fast  consumma 
ting.  It  cannot  be  otherwise ;  I  daily  see 
greater  proofs  of  it.  The  further  I  ad 
vance  in  my  progress  in  the  country,  the 
more  I  perceive  that  we  are  all  Americans 
— that  we  compose  but  one  family — that 
our  republican  institutions  will  be  sup 
ported  and  perpetuated  by  the  united  zeal 
and  patriotism  of  all.  Nothing  could 
give  me  greater  satisfaction  than  to  behold 
a  perfect  union  among  ourselves — a  union 
which  is  necessary  to  restore  to  social  in 
tercourse  its  former  charms,  and  to  render 
our  happiness,  as  a  nation,  unmixed  and 
complete.  To  promote  this  desirable  re 
sult  requires  no  compromise  of  principle, 
and  I  promise  to  give  it  my  continued  at 
tention,  and  my  best  endeavors." 

Even  General  Jackson,  since  held  up  to 
public  view  by  historians  as  the  most 
austere  and  "  stalwart "  of  all  politicians, 
caught  the  sweet  infection  of  peace,  and 
thus  advised  President  Monroe : — 

"  Now  is  the  time  to  exterminate  that 
monster,  called  party  spirit.  By  select 
ing  [for  cabinet  officers]  characters  most 
conspicuous  for  their  probity?  virtue, 
•apacity,  and  firmness,  without  regard  to 


party,  you  will  go  far  to,  if  not  entirely, 
eradicate  those  feelings,  which,  on  former 
occasions,  threw  so  many  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  government.  The  chief  magis 
trate  of  a  great  and  powerful  nation  should 
never  indulge  in  party  feelings.  His  con 
duct  should  be  liberal  and  disinterested  ; 
always  bearing  in  mind,  that  he  acts  for  the 
whole  and  not  a  part  of  the  community." 

This  advice  had  been  given  with  a  view 
to  influence  the  appointment  of  a  mixed 
political  Cabinet,  but  while  Monroe  pro 
fessed  to  believe  that  a  free  government 
could  exist  without  political  parties,  he 
nevertheless  sought  to  bring  all  of  the  peo 
ple  into  one  political  fold,  and  that  the 
Democratic.  Yet  he  certainly  and  plainly 
sought  to  allay  factions  in  his  own  party, 
and  with  this  view  selected  Crawford  for 
the  Treasury — the  gentleman  who  had 
been  so  warmly  supported  in  the  nomina 
ting  struggle  by  the  Clintonians  and  by  all 
who  objected  to  the  predominating  in 
fluence  of  Virginia  in  national  politics. 

Monroe,  like  his  immediate  predecessor, 
accepted  and  acted  upon  the  doctrines  of 
the  new  school  of  Republicans  as  repre 
sented  by  Clay  and  Calhoun,  both  of  whom 
still  favored  a  tariff,  .while  Clay  had  be 
come  a  warm  advocate  of  a  national  sys 
tem  of  internal  improvements.  These  two 
statesmen  thus  early  differed  on  some 
questions,  but  they  were  justly  regarded  as 
the  leading  friends  and  advisers  of  the  ad 
ministration,  for  to  both  still  clung  the 
patriotic  recollections  of  the  war  which 
they  had  so  warmly  advocated  and  sup 
ported,  and  the  issue  of  which  attested 
their  wisdom.  Clay  preferred  to  be  called 
a  Republican;  Calhoun  preferred  to  be 
called  a  Democrat,  and  just  then  the  terms 
were  so  often  exchanged  and  mingled  that 
history  is  at  fault  in  the  exact  designation, 
while  tradition  is  colored  by  the  bias  of 
subsequent  events  and  lives. 

Monroe's  first  inaugural  leaned  toward 
Clay's  scheme  of  internal  improvements, 
but  questioned  its  constitutionality.  Clay 
was  next  to  Jefferson  the  most  original  of 
all  our  statesmen  and  politicians.  He  was 
prolific  in  measures,  and  almost  resistless 
in  their  advocacy,  From  a  political  stand 
point  he  was  the  most  direct  author  of  the 
war  of  1812,  for  his  advocacy  mainly 
brought  it  to  the  issue  of  arms,  which 
through  him  and  Calhoun  were  substituted 
for  diplomacy.  And  Calhoun  then  stood 
in  broader  view  before  the  country  than 
since.  His  sectional  pride  and  bias  had 
been  rarely  aroused,  and  like  Clay  he 
seemed  to  act  for  the  country  as  an  en 
tirety.  Subsequent  sectional  issues  changed 
the  views  held  of  him  by  the  people  of 
both  the  North  and  South. 

We  have  said  that  Monroe  leaned 
toward  internal  improvements,  but  he 
thought  Congress  was  not  clothed  by  the 


THE    MONROE    DOCTRINE. 


23 


Constitution  with  the  power  to  authorize 
measures  supporting  it,  and  when  the  op 
portunity  was  presented  (May  4,  1822)  he 
vetoed  the  bill  "  for  the  preservation  and 
repair  of  the  Cumberland  road,"  and  ac 
companied  the  veto  with  a  most  elaborate 
message  in  which  he  discussed  the  consti 
tutional  aspects  of  the  question.  A  plain 
majority  of  the  friends  of  the  administra 
tion,  under  the  leadership  of  Clay,  sup 
ported  the  theory  of  internal  improve 
ments  from  the  time  the  administration 
began,  but  were  reluctant  to  permit  a  divi 
sion  of  the  party  on  the  question. 

Mississippi  and  Illinois  were  admitted 
to  the  Union  during  the  "  Era  of  Good 
Feeling,"  without  serious  political  disturb 
ance,  while  Alabama  was  authorized  to  form 
a  state  constitution  and  government,  and 
Arkansas  was  authorized  as  a  separate 
territorial  government  from  part  of  Mis 
souri.  In  1819  President  Monroe  made  a 
tour  through  the  Southern  States  to  ex 
amine  their  defenses  and  see  and  get  ac 
quainted  with  the  people.  From  the  first 
inauguration  of  Monroe  up  to  1819  party 
lines  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  existed, 
but  in  the  sixteenth  session  of  Congress, 
which  continued  until  May,  1820,  new 
questions  of  national  interest  arose,  pro 
minent  among  which  were  additional  pro 
tective  duties  for  our  manufactures ;  inter 
nal  improvements  by  the  government ; 
acknowledgments  of  the  independence  of 
the  South  American  States. 


The  Monroe  Doctrine. 

Upon  trie  question  of  recognizing  the  in 
dependence  of  the  South  American  States, 
the  President  made  a  record  which  has 
ever  since  been  quoted  and  denominated 
"  The  Monroe  Doctrine."  It  is  embodied 
in  the  following  abstract  of  his  seventh 
annual  message,  under  date  of  Dec.  2d, 
1823: 

"  It  was  stated,  at  the  commencement  of 
the  last  session,  that  a  great  eifort  was  then 
making  in  Spain  and  Portugal  to  improve 
the  condition  of  the  people  of  those  coun 
tries,  and  that  it  appeared  to  be  conduct 
ed  with  extraordinary  moderation.  It 
•need  scarcely  be  remarked  that  the  result 
has  been,  so  far,  very  different  from  what 
wus  then  anticipated.  Of  events  in  that 
quarter  of  the  globe,  with  which  we  have 
so  much  intercourse,  and  from  which  we 
derive  our  origin,  we  have  always  been 
anxious  and  interested  spectators.  The 
citizens  of  the  United  States  cherish 
sentiments  the  most  friendly  in  favor  of  the 
liberty  and  happiness  of  their  fellow  men 
on  that  side  of  the  Atlantic.  In  the  wars 
of  the  European  powers,  in  matters  relat 
ing  to  themselves,  we  have  never  taken  any 
part,  nor  does  it  comport  with  our  policy 


to  do  so.  It  is  only  when  rights  are  in 
vaded  or  seriously  menaced,  that  we  re 
sent  injuries,  or  make  preparation  for  our 
defense.  With  the  movements  in  this 
hemisphere  we  are  of  necessity  more  im 
mediately  connected,  and  by  causes  which 
must  be  obvious  to  all  enlightened  and 
impartial  observers.  The  political  system 
of  the  allied  powers  is  essentially  different 
in  this  respect  from  that  of  America.  This 
difference  proceeds  from  that  which  exists 
in  their  respective  governments.  And  to 
the  defense  of  our  own,  which  has  been 
achieved  by  the  loss  of  so  much  blood  and 
treasure,  and  matured  by  the  wisdom  of 
their  most  enlightened  citizens,  and  under 
which  we  have  enjoyed  unexampled  felici 
ty,  this  whole  nation  is  devoted.  We  owe 
it,  therefore,  to  candor,  and  to  the  amica 
ble  relations  existing  between  the  United 
States  and  those  powers,  to  declare,  that 
we  should  consider  any  attempt  on  their 
part  to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion 
of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our 
peace  and  safety.  With  the  existing  colo 
nies  or  dependencies  of  any  European 
power  we  have  not  interfered,  and  shall 
not  interfere.  But  with  the  governments 
who  have  declared  their  independence,  and 
maintained  it,  and  whose  independence  we 
have,  on  great  consideration,  and  on  just 
principles,  acknowledged,  we  could  not 
view  any  interposition  for  the  purpose  of 
oppressing  them,  or  controlling  in  any 
other  manner  their  destiny,  by  any  Euro 
pean  power,  in  any  other  light  than  as  the 
manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition 
toward  the  United  States.  In  the  war 
between  those  new  governments  and  Spain, 
we  declared  our  neutrality  at  the  time  of 
their  recognition,  and  to  this  we  have  ad 
hered,  and  shall  continue  to  adhere,  pro 
vided  no  change  shall  occur  which,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  competent  authorities  of 
this  government,  shall  make  a  corres 
ponding  change  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  indispensable  to  their  security. 

The  late  events  in  Spain  and  Portugal 
show  that  Europe  is  still  unsettled.  Of 
this  important  fact  no  stronger  proof  can 
be  adduced,  than  that  the  allied  powers 
should  have  thought  it  proper,  on  a  prin 
ciple  satisfactory  to  themselves,  to  have 
interposed  by  force  in  the  internal  con 
cerns  of  Spain.  To  what  extent  such  in 
terposition  may  be  carried,  on  the  same 
principle,  is  a  question  to  which  all  inde 
pendent  powers,  whose  governments  differ 
from  theirs,  are  interested ;  even  those  most 
remote,  and  surely  none  more  so  than  the 
United  States.  Our  policy  in  regard  to 
Europe,  which  was  adopted  at  an  early- 
stage  of  the  wars  which  have  so  long  agi 
tated  that  quarter  of  the  globe,  neverthe 
less  remains  the  same,  which  is,  not  to  in 
terfere  in  the  internal  concerns  of  any 
of  its  powers  ;  to  consider  the  government, 


24 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


de  facto,  as  the  legitimate  government  for 
us:  to  cultivate  friendly  relations  with  it, 
and  to  preserve  those  relations  by  a  frank, 
firm,  and  manly  policy ;  meeting,  in  all 
instances,  the  just  claims  of  every  power, 
submitting  to  injuries  from  none.  But  in 
regard  to  these  continents,  circumstances 
are  eminently  and  conspicuously  different. 
It  is  impossible  that  the  allied  powers 
should  extend  their  political  system  to  any 
portion  of  either  continent  without  endan 
gering  our  peace  and  happiness ;  nor  can 
any  one  believe,  that  our  southern  breth 
ren,  if  left  to  themselves,  would  adopt  it  of 
their  own  accord.  It  is  equally  impossible, 
therefore,  that  we  should  behold  such 
interposition,  in  any  form,  with  indiffer 
ence.  If  we  look  to  the  comparative 
strength  and  resources  of  Spain  and  those 
new  governments,  and  their  distance  from 
each  other,  it  must  be  obvious  that  she  can 
never  subdue  them.  It  is  still  the  true 
policy  of  the  United  States  to  leave  the 
parties  to  themselves,  in  the  hope  that 
other  powers  will  pursue  the  same  course." 
The  second  election  of  Monroe,  in  1820, 
was  accomplished  without  a  contest.  Out 
of  231  electoral  votes,  but  one  was  cast 
against  him,  and  that  for  John  Quincy 
Adams.  Mr.  Tompkins,  the  candidate  for 
Vice-President,  was  only  a  little  less  for 
tunate,  there  being  14  scattering  votes 
against  him.  Neither  party,  if  indeed 
there  was  a  Federalist  party  left  made  any 
nominations. 


The  Missouri  Compromise. 

The  second  session  of  the  17th  Con 
gress  opened  on  the  4th  day  of  March, 
1820,  with  James  Monroe  at  the  head  of 
the  Executive  Department  of  the  Govern 
ment,  and  the  Democratic  party  in  the 
majority  in  both  branches  of  the  Federal 
Legislature.  The  Cabinet  at  that  time 
was  composed  of  the  most  brilliant  minds 
of  the  country,  indeed  as  most  justly  re 
marked  by  Senator  Thomas  H.  Benton  in 
his  published  review  of  the  events  of  that 
period,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  any 
government,  in  any  country,  at  any  time, 
more  talent  and  experience,  more  dignity 
and  decorum,  more  purity  of  private  life,  a 
larger  mass  of  information,  and  more  ad 
diction  to  business,  than  was  comprised  in 
the  list  of  celebrated  names  then  consti 
tuting  the  executive  department  of  the 
government.  The  legislative  department 
was  equally  impressive.  The  exciting  and 
agitating  question  then  pending  before 
Congress  was  on  the  admission  of  the 
State  of  Missouri  into  the  Federal  Union, 
the  subject  of  the  issue  being  the  attempted 
tacking  on  of  conditions  restricting  sla 
very  within  her  limits.  She  was  admitted 
without  conditions  under  the  so-called 
compromise,  which  abolished  it  in  certain 


portions  of  the  then  province  of  Louisiana, 
In  this  controversy,  the  compromise  was 
sustained  and  carried  entirely  by  the  Dem 
ocratic  Senators  and  members  from  the 
Southern  and  slave-holding  States  aided 
and  sanctioned  by  the  Executive,  and  it 
was  opposed  by  fifteen  Senators  from  non- 
slave-holding  States,  who  represented  the 
opposite  side  on  the  political  questions  of 
the  day.  It  passed  the  House  by  a  close  vote 
of  86  to  82.  It  has  been  seriously  ques 
tioned  since  whether  this  act  was  constitu 
tional.  The  real  struggle  was  political,  and 
for  the  balance  of  power.  For  a  while  it 
threatened  the  total  overthrow  of  all  po 
litical  parties  upon  principle,  and  the  sub 
stitution  of  geographical  parties  discrimi 
nated  by  the  slave  line,  and  thus  destroy 
ing  the  proper  action  of  the  Federal  gov 
ernment,  and  leading  to  a  separation  of 
the  States.  It  was  a  federal  movement,  ac 
cruing  to  the  benefit  of  that  party,  and  at 
first  carried  all  the  Northern  democracy  in 
its  current,  giving  the  supremacy  to  their 
adversaries.  When  this  effect  was  per 
ceived,  democrats  from  the  northern  non 
slave-holding  States  took  early  opportu 
nity  to  prevent  their  own  overthrow,  by 
voting  for  the  admission  of  the  States  on 
any  terms,  and  thus  prevent  the  eventual 
separation  of  the  States  in  the  establish 
ment  of  geographical  parties  divided  by  a 
slavery  and  anti-slavery  line. 

The  year  1820  marked  a  period  of  finan* 
cial  distress  in  the  country,  which  soon 
became  that  of  the  government.  The  army 
was  reduced,  and  the  general  expenses  of 
the  departments  cut  down,  despite  which 
measures  of  economy  the  Congress  deemed 
it  necessary  to  authorize  the  President  to 
contract  for  a  loan  of  five  million  dollars. 
Distress  was  the  cry  of  the  day  ;  relief  the 
general  demand,  the  chief  demand  com 
ing  from  debtors  to  the  Government  for 
public  lands  purchased  under  the  then 
credit  system,  this  debt  at  that  time  ag 
gregating  twenty-three  millions  of  dollars. 
The  banks  failed,  money  vanished,  instal 
ments  were  coming  due  which  could  not 
be  met ;  and  the  opening  of  Congress  in 
November,  1820,  was  saluted  by  the  arrival 
of  memorials  from  all  the  new  States  pray 
ing  for  the  relief  to  the  purchaser  of  the 
public  lands.  The  President  referred  to  it 
in  his  annual  message  of  that  year,  and 
Congress  passed  a  measure  of  relief  by 
changing  the  system  to  cash  sales  instead 
of  credit,  reducing  the  price  of  the  lands, 
and  allowing  present  debtors  to  apply  pay 
ments  already  made  to  portions  of  the 
land  purchased,  relinquishing  the  remain 
der.  Applications  were  made  at  that 
time  for  the  establishment  of  the  pre 
emptive  system,  but  without  effect ;  the 
new  States  continued  to  press  the  question 
and  finally  prevailed,  so  that  now  the  pre 
emptive  principle  has  become  a  fixed  part 


THE    TARIFF— AMERICAN    SYSTEM. 


25 


of  our  land  system,  permanently  incorpo 
rated  with  it,  and  to  the  equal  advantage 
of  the  settler  and  the  government. 

The  session  of  1820-21,  is  remarkable  as 
being  the  first  at  which  any  proposition 
was  made  in  Congress  for  the  occupation 
and  settlement  of  our  territory  on  the 
Columbia  river — the  only  part  then  owned 
by  the  United  States  on  the  Pacific  coast. 
It  was  made  by  Dr.  Floyd,  a  representa 
tive  from  Virginia,  who  argued  that  the 
establishment  of  a  civilized  power  on  the 
American  coast  of  the  Pacific  could  not 
fail  to  produce  great  and  wonderful  bene 
fits  not  only  to  our  own  country,  but  to 
the  people  of  Eastern  Asia,  China  and 
Japan  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  and  that  the  valley  of  the  Colum 
bia  might  become  the  granary  of  China 
and  Japan.  This  movement  suggested  to 
Senator  Benton,  to  move,  for  the  first  time 
publicly  in  the  United  States,  a  resolution 
to  send  ministers  to  the  Oriental  States. 

At  this  time  treaties  with  Mexico  and 
Spain  were  ratified,  by  which  the  United 
States  acquired  Florida  and  ceded  Texas  ; 
these  treaties,  together  with  the  Missouri 
compromise — a  measure  contemporaneous 
with  them — extinguished  slave  soil  in  all 
the  United  States  territory  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  except  in  that  portion  which 
was  to  constitute  the  State  of  Arkansas ; 
and,  including  the  extinction  in  Texas 
consequent  upon  its  cession  to  a  non-slave- 
holding  power,  constituted  the  largest  ter 
ritorial  abolition  of  slavery  that  was  ever 
up  to  that  period  effected  by  any  political 
power  of  any  nation. 

The  outside  view  of  the  slave  question  in 
the  United  States,  at  this  time,  is  that  the 
extension  of  slavery  was  then  arrested, 
circumscribed,  and  confined  within  narrow 
territorial  limits,  while  free  States  were 
permitted  an  almost  unlimited  expansion. 

In  1822  a  law  passed  Congress  abolish 
ing  the  Indian  factory  system,  which  had 
been  established  during  Washington's  ad 
ministration,  in  1796,  under  which  the 
Government  acted  as  a  factor  or  agent  for 
the  sale  of  supplies  to  the  Indians  and  the 
purchase  of  furs  from  them ;  this  branch  of 
the  service  then  belonged  to  the  depart 
ment  of  the  Secretary  of  War.  The  abuses 
discovered  in  it  led  to  the  discontinuance 
of  that  system. 

The  Presidential  election  of  1824  was 
approaching,  the  candidates  were  in  the 
field,  their  respective  friends  active  and 
busy,  and  popular  topics  for  the  canvass  in 
earnest  requisition.  Congress  was  full  of 
projects  for  different  objects  of  internal 
improvement,  mainly  in  roads  and  canals, 
and  the  friends  of  each  candidate  exerted 
themselves  in  rivalry  of  each  other,  under 
the  supposition  that  their  opinions  would 
stand  for  those  of  their  principals.  An  act 
for  the  preservation  of  the  Cumberland 


Road,which  passed  both  houses  of  Congress, 
met  with  a  veto  from  President  Monroe, 
accompanied  by  a  state  paper  in  exposi- 
tion  of  his  opinions  upon  the  whole  sub 
ject  of  Federal  interference  in  matters  of 
inter  state  commerce  and  roads  and  canals. 
He  discussed  the  measure  in  all  its  bear 
ings,  and  plainly  showed  it  to  be  uncon- 
|  stitutional.  After  stating  the  question,  he 
j  examined  it  under  every  head  of  constitu 
tional  derivation  under  which  its  advo 
cates  claimed  the  power,  and  found  it  to 
be  granted  by  no  one  of  them  and  virtually 
prohibited  by  some  of  them.  This  was 
then  and  has  since  been  considered  to  be 
the  most  elaborate  and  thoroughly  con 
sidered  opinion  upon  the  general  question 
which  has  ever  been  delivered  by  any 
American  statesman.  This  great  state  pa 
per,  delivered  at  a  time  when  internal  im 
provement  by  the  federal  government  had 
become  an  issue  in  the  canvass  for  the 
Presidency  and  was  ardently  advocated  by 
three  of  the  candidates  and  qualified  by 
two  others,  had  an  immense  current  in  its- 
power,  carrying  with  it  many  of  the  old 
strict  constructionists. 

The  revision  of  the  tariff,  with  a  view  to 
the  protection  of  home  industry,  and  to  the 
establishment  of  what  was  then  called 
tl  The  American  System,"  was  one  of  the 
large  subjects  before  Congress  at  the  ses 
sion  of  1823-24,  and  was  the  regular  com 
mencement  of  the  heated  debates  on  that 
question  which  afterwards  ripened  into  a 
serious  difficulty  between  the  federal  gov 
ernment  and  some  of  the  Southern  States. 
The  presidential  election  being  then  de 
pending,  the  subject  became  tinctured  with 
party  politics,  in  which  so  far  as  that  in 
gredient  was  concerned,  and  was  not  con 
trolled  by  other  considerations,  members 
divided  pretty  much  on  the  line  which  al 
ways  divided  them  on  a  question  of  con 
structive  powers.  The  protection  of  do 
mestic  industry  not  being  among  the  pow 
ers  granted,  was  looked  for  in  the  inciden 
tal  ;  and  denied  by  the  strict  construction 
ists  to  be  a  substantive  term,  to  be  exer 
cised  for  the  direct  purpose  of  protection ; 
but  admitted  by  all  at  that  time  and  ever 
since  the  first  tariff  act  of  1789,  to  be  an 
incident  to  the  revenue  raising  power,  and 
an  incident  to  be  regarded  in  the  exercise 
of  that  power.  Revenue  the  object,  pro 
tection  the  incident,  had  been  the  rule  in 
the  earlier  tariffs ;  now  that  rule  was  sought 
to  be  reversed,  and  to  make  protection  the 
object  of  the  law,  and  revenue  the  inci 
dent.  Mr.  Henry  Clay  was  the  leader  in 
the  proposed  revision  and  the  champion  of 
the  American  system;  he  was  ably  sup 
ported  in  the  House  by  many  able  and 
effective  speakers ;  who  based  their  argu 
ment  on  the  general  distress  then  alleged  to 
be  prevalent  in  the  country.  Mr.  Daniel 
Webster  was  the  leading  speaker  on  the- 


26 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


other  side,  and  disputed  the  universality 
of  the  distress  which  had  been  described ; 
and  contested  the  propriety  of  high  or  pro 
hibitory  duties,  in  the  present  active  and 
intelligent  state  of  the  world,  to  stimulate 
industry  and  manufacturing  enterprise. 

The  bill  was  carried  by  a  close  vote  in 
both  Houses.  Though  brought  forward 
avowedly  for  the  protection  of  domestic 
manufactures,  it  was  not  entirely  supported 
on  that  ground ;  an  increase  of  revenue 
being  the  motive  with  some,  the  public 
debt  then  being  nearly  ninety  millions. 
An  increased  protection  to  the  products  of 
several  States,  as  lead  in  Missouri  and  Illi 
nois,  hemp  in  Kentucky,  iron  in  Pennsyl- 
Yania,  wool  in  Ohio  and  New  York,  com 
manded  many  votes  for  the  bill ;  and  the 
impending  presidential  election  had  its  in 
fluence  in  its  favor. 

Two  of  the  candidates,  Messrs.  Adams 
and  Clay,  voted  for  and  avowedly  supported 
Oeneral  Jackson,  who  voted  for  the  bill, 
was  for  it,  as  tending  to  give  a  home  sup 
ply  of  the  articles  necessary  in  time  of  war, 
And  as  raising  revenue  to  pay  the  public 
debt ;  Mr.  Crawford  was  opposed  to  it,  and 
Mr.  Calhoun  had  withdrawn  as  a  Presiden 
tial  candidate.  The  Southern  planting 
States  were  dissatisfied,  believing  that  the 
new  burdens  upon  imports  which  it  im 
posed,  fell  upon  the  producers  of  the  ex 
ports,  and  tended  to  enrich  one  section  of 
the  Union  at  the  expense  of  another. 
The  attack  and  support  of  the  bill  took 
much  of  a  sectional  aspect ;  Virginia,  the 
"two  Carolinas,  Georgia,  and  some  others, 
being  unanimous  against  it.  Pennsylva 
nia,  New  York,  Ohio,  and  Kentucky  being 
unanimous  for  it.  Massachusetts,  which 
up  to  this  time  had  no  small  influence  in 
commerce,  voted,  with  all,  except  one 
member,  against  it.  With  this  sectional 
aspect,  a  tariff  for  protection,  also  began  to 
assume  a  political  aspect,  being  taken  un 
der  the  care  of  the  party,  afterwards  de 
nominated  as  Whig.  The  bill  was  ap 
proved  by  President  Monroe;  a  proof  that 
that  careful  and  strict  constructionist  of 
the  constitution  did  not  consider  it  as  de 
prived  of  its  revenue  character  by  the  de 
gree  of  protection  which  it  extended. 

A  subject  which  at  the  present  time  is 
exciting  much  criticism,  viz:  proposed 
amendments  to  the  constitution  relative  to 
the  election  of  President  and  Vice-Presi 
dent,  had  its  origin  in  movements  in  that 
direction  taken  by  leading  Democrats  dur 
ing  the  campaign  of  1824.  The  electoral 
-college  has  never  been  since  the  early  elec 
tions,  an  independent  body  free  to  select 
a  President  and  Vice- President ;  though 
in  theory  they  have  been  vested  with  such 
powers,  in  practice  they  have  no  such  prac 
tical  power  over  the  elections,  and  have 
had  none  since  their  institution.  In  every 
<ja»e  the  elector  has  been  an  instrument, 


bound  to  obey  a  particular  impulsion,  and 
disobedience  to  which  would  be  attended 
with  infamy,  and  with  every  penalty  which 
public  indignation  could  inflict.  From  the 
beginning  they  have  stood  pledged  to  vote 
for  the  candidate  indicated  by  the  public 
will ;  and  have  proved  not  only  to  be  use 
less,  but  an  inconvenient  intervention  be 
tween  the  people  and  the  object  of  their 
choice.  Mr.  McDuffie  in  the  House  of 
Eepresentatives  and  Mr.  Benton  in  the 
Senate,  proposed  amendments ;  the  mode 
of  taking  the  direct  vote  to  be  in  districts, 
and  the  persons  receiving  the  greatest 
number  of  votes  for  President  or  Vice- 
President  in  any  district,  to  count  one  vote 
for  such  office  respectively  which  is  noth 
ing  but  substituting  the  candidates  them 
selves  for  their  electoral  representatives. 

In  the  election  of  1824  four  candidates 
were  before  the  people  for  the  office  of 
President,  General  Jackson,  John  Quincy 
Adams,  William  H.  Crawford  and  Henry 
Clay.  None  of  them  received  a  majority 
of  the  261  electoral  votes,  and  the  election 
devolved  upon  the  House  of  Representa 
tives.  John  C.  Calhoun  had  a  majority  of 
the  electoral  votes  for  the  office  of  Vice- 
President,  and  was  elected.  Mr.  Adams 
was  elected  President  by  the  House  of 
Representatives,  although  General  Jack 
son  was  the  choice  of  the  people,  having 
received  the  greatest  number  of  votes  at 
the  general  election.  The  election  of  Mr. 
Adams  was  perfectly  constitutional,  and  as 
such  fully  submitted  to  by  the  people ;  but 
it  was  a  violation  of  the  demos  krateo  prin 
ciple  ;  and  that  violation  was  equally  re 
buked.  All  the  representatives  who  voted 
against  the  will  of  their  constituents,  lost 
their  favor,  and  disappeared  from  public 
life.  The  representation  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  was  largely  changed  at 
the  first  general  election,  and  presented  a 
full  opposition  to  the  new  President.  Mr. 
Adams  himself  was  injured  by  it,  and  at 
the  ensuing  presidential  election  was  beat 
en  by  General  Jackson  more  than  two  to 
one. 

Mr.  Clay,  who  took  the  lead  in  the 
House  for  Mr.  Adams,  and  afterwards  took 
upon  himself  the  mission  of  reconciling  the 
people  to  his  election  in  a  series  of  public 
speeches,  was  himself  crippled  in  the 
effort,  lost  his  place  in  the  democratic  par 
ty,  and  joined  the  Whigs  (then  called  the 
national  republicans).  The  democratic 
principle  was  victor  over  the  theory  of  the 
Constitution,  and  beneficial  results  ensued. 
It  vindicated  the  people  in  their  right  and 
their  power.  It  re-established  parties 
upon  the  basis  of  principle,  and  drew  anew 
party  lines,  then  almost  obliterated  under 
the  fusion  of  parties  during  the  "  era  of 
good  feeling,"  and  the  efforts  of  leading 
men  to  make  personal  parties  for  them 
selves.  It  showed  the  conservative  power 


TENURE    OF    OFFICE— ELIGIBILITY. 


27 


of  our  goverment  to  lie  in  the  people,  more 
than  in  its  constituted  authorities.  It 
showed  that  they  were  capable  of  exercis 
ing  the  function  of  self-government,  and 
lastly,  it  assumed  the  supremacy  of  the  de 
mocracy  for  a  long  time,  and  until  lost  by 
causes  to  be  referred  to  hereafter.  The 
Presidential  election  of  1824  is  remarkable 
under  another  aspect — its  results  cautioned 
all  public  men  against  future  attempts  to 
govern  presidential  elections  in  the  House 
of  Representatives;  and  it  put  an  end  to 
the  practice  of  caucus  nominations  for  the 
Presidency  by  members  of  Congress.  This 
mode  of  concentrating  public  opinion  be 
gan  to  be  practiced  as  the  eminent  men  of 
the  Revolution,  to  whom  public  opinion 
awarded  a  preference,  were  passing  away, 
and  when  new  men,  of  more  equal  preten 
sions,  were  coming  upon  the  stage.  It  was 
tried  several  times  with  success  and  general 
approbation,  because  public  sentiment  was 
followed — not  led — by  the  caucus.  It  was 
attempted  in  1824  and  failed ;  all  the  op 
ponents  of  Mr.  Crawford,  by  their  joint 
efforts,  succeeded,  and  justly  in  the  fact 
though  not  in  the  motive,  in  rendering 
these  Congress  caucus  nominations  odious 
to  the  people,  and  broke  them  down. 
They  were  dropped,  and  a  different  mode 
adopted  — that  of  party  nominations  by 
conventions  of  delegates  from  the  States. 

The  administration  of  Mr.  Adams  com 
menced  with  his  inaugural  address,  in 
which  the  chief  topic  was  that  of  internal 
national  improvement  by  the  federal  gov 
ernment.  This  declared  policy  of  the  ad 
ministration  furnished  a  ground  of  opposi 
tion  against  Mr.  Adams,  and  went  to  the 
reconstruction  of  parties  on  the  old  line  of 
strict,  or  latitudinous,  construction  of  the 
Constitution.  It  was  clear  from  the  begin 
ning  that  the  new  administration  was  to 
have  a  settled  and  strong  opposition,  and 
that  founded  in  principles  of  government 
— the  same  principles,  under  different 
forms,  which  had  discriminated  parties  at 
the  commencement  of  the  federal  govern 
ment.  Men  of  the  old  school — survivors 
of  the  contest  of  the  Adams  and  Jefferson 
times,  with  some  exceptions,  divided  ac 
cordingly — the  federalists  going  for  Mr. 
Adams,  the  republicans  against  him,  with 
the  mass  of  the  younger  generation.  The 
Senate  by  a  decided  majority,  and  the 
House  by  a  strong  minority,  were  opposed 
to  the  policy  of  the  new  President. 

In  1826  occurred  the  famous  debates  in 
the  Senate  and  the  House,  on  the  proposed 
Congress  of  American  States,  to  contract 
alliances  to  guard  against  and  prevent  the 
establishment  of  any  future  European  co 
lony  within  its  borders.  The  mission 
though  sanctioned  was  never  acted  upon 
or  carried  out.  It  was  authorized  by  very 
nearly  a  party  vote,  the  democracy  as  a 
party  being  against  it  The  President,  Mr. 


Adams,  stated  the  objects  of  the  Congress 
to  be  as  follows :  "  An  agreement  between 
all  the  parties  represented  at  the  meeting, 
that  each  will  guard,  by  its  own  means, 
against  the  establishment  of  any  future 
European  colony  within  its  own  borders, 
may  oe  advisable.  This  was,  more  than 
two  years  since,  announced  by  my  prede 
cessor  to  the  world,  as  a  principle  result 
ing  from  the  emancipation  of  both  the 
American  continents.  It  may  be  so  de 
veloped  to  the  new  southern  nations,  that 
they  may  feel  it  as  an  essential  appendage 
to  their  independence." 

Mr.  Adams  had  been  a  member  of  Mr. 
Monroe's  cabinet,  filling  the  department 
from  which  the  doctrine  would  emanate. 
The  enunciation  by  him  as  above  of  this 
"Monroe  Doctrine,"  as  it  is  called,  is  very 
different  from  what  it  has  of  late  been  sup 
posed  to  be,  as  binding  the  United  States 
to  guard  all  the  territory  of  the  New  World 
from  European  colonization.  The  mes 
sage  above  quoted  was  written  at  a  time 
when  the  doctrine  as  enunciated  by  the 
former  President  through  the  then  Secre 
tary  was  fresh  in  the  mind  of  the  latter, 
and  when  he  himself  in  a  communication 
to  the  American  Senate  was  laying  it  down 
for  the  adoption  of  all  the  American  na 
tions  in  a  general  congress  of  their  depu 
ties.  According  to  President  Adams,  this 
"  Monroe  Doctrine"  (according  to  which  it 
has  been  of  late  believed  that  the  United 
States  were  to  stand  guard  over  the  two 
Americas,  and  repulse  all  intrusive  colo 
nists  from  their  shores),  was  entirely  con 
fined  to  our  own  borders ;  that  it  was  only 
proposed  to  get  the  other  States  of  the  New 
World  to  agree  that,  each  for  itself,  and  by 
its  own  means,  should  guard  its  own  terri 
tories  ;  and,  consequently,  that  the  United 
States,  so  far  from  extending  gratuitous 
protection  to  the  territories  of  other  States, 
would  neither  give,  nor  receive,  aid  in  any 
such  enterprise,  but  that  each  should  use 
its  own  means,  within  its  own  borders,  for 
its  own  exemption  from  European  colonial 
intrusion. 

No  question  in  its  day  excited  more  in 
temperate  discussion,  excitement,  and  feel 
ing  between  the  Executive  and  the  Senate, 
and  none  died  out  so  quickly,  than  this, 
relative  to  the  proposed  congress  of  Ameri 
can  nations.  The  chief  advantage  to  be 
derived  from  its  retrospect — and  it  is  a  real 
one — is  a  view  of  the  firmness  with  which 
the  minority  maintained  the  old  policy  of 
the  United  States,  to  avoid  entangling  al 
liances  and  interference  with  the  affairs  of 
other  nations ;  and  the  exposition,  by  one 
so  competent  as  Mr.  Adams,  of  the  true 
scope  and  meaning  of  the  Monroe  doc 
trine. 

At  the  session  of  1825-26  attempt  was 
again  made  to  procure  an  amendment  to 
the  Constitution,  ra  relation  to  the  mod* 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


of  election  of  President  and  Vice-Presi 
dent,  so  as  to  do  away  with  all  intermedi 
ate  agencies,  and  give  the  election  to  the 
direct  vote  of  the  people.  In  the  Senate 
the  matter  was  referred  to  a  committee  who 
reported  amendments  dispensing  with 
electors,  providing  for  districts  equal  in 
number  to  the  whole  number  of  Senators 
and  Representatives  to  which  the  State 
was  entitled  in  Congress,  and  obviating  all 
excuses  for  caucuses  and  conventions  to 
concentrate  public  opinion  by  providing 
that  in  the  event  of  no  one  receiving  a  ma 
jority  of  the  whole  number  of  district  votes 
cast,  that  a  second  election  should  be  held 
limited  to  the  two  .persons  receiving  the 
highest  number  of  votes ;  and  in  case  of  an 
equal  division  of  votes  on  the  second  elec 
tion  then  the  House  of  Representatives 
shall  choose  one  of  them  for  President,  as 
is  prescribed  by  the  Constitution.  The 
idea  being  that  the  first  election,  if  not  re 
sulting  in  any  candidate  receiving  a  ma 
jority,  should  stand  for  a  popular  nomina 
tion — a  nomination  by  the  people  them 
selves,  out  of  which  the  election  is  almost 
sure  to  be  made  on  the  second  trial.  The 
same  plan  was  suggested  for  choosing  a 
Vice-President,  except  that  the  Senate  was 
to  finally  elect,  in  case  of  failure  to  choose 
at  first  and  second  elections.  The  amend 
ments  did  not  receive  the  requisite  support 
of  two-thirds  of  either  the  Senate  or  the 
House.  This  movement  was  not  of  a  par 
tisan  character ;  it  was  eaually  supported 
and  opposed  respectively  by  Senators  and 
Representatives  of  both  parties.  Substan 
tially  the  same  plan  was  recommended  by 
President]  Jackson  in  his  first  annual  mes 
sage  to  Congress,  December  8,  1829. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  at  this  Ses 
sion  of  1825  and  '26,  attempt  was  made  by 
the  Democrats  to  pass  a  tenure  of  oflice 
bill,  as  applicable  to  government  em 
ployees  and  office-holders;  it  provided 

that  in  all  nominations  made  by  the 
President  to  the  Senate,  to  fill  vacancies 
occasioned  by  an  exercise  of  the  Presi 
dent's  power  to  remove  from  ofiice,  the 
fact  of  the  removal  shall  be  stated  to  the 
Senate  at  the  same  time  that  the  nomina 
tion  is  made,  with  a  statement  of  the  rea 
sons  for  which  such  officer  may  have  been 
removed."  It  was  also  sought  at  the  same 
time  to  amend  the  Constitution  to  prohibit 
the  appointment  of  any  member  of  Con 
gress  to  any  federal  office  of  trust  or  profit, 
during  the  period  for  which  he  was  elec 
ted  ;  the  design  being  to  make  the  mem 
bers  wholly  independent  of  the  Executive, 
and  not  subservient  to  the  latter,  and  in 
capable  of  receiving  favors  in  the  form  of 
bestowals  of  official  patronage. 

The  tariff  of  1828  is  an  era  in  our  politi 
cal  legislation;  from  it  the  doctrine  of 
"  nullification  "  originated,  and  from  that 
date  began  a  serious  division  between  the 


North  and  the  South.  This  tariff  law  was 
projected  in  the  interest  of  the  woolen 
manufacturers,  but  ended  by  including  all 
manufacturing  interests.  The  passage  oi 
this  measure  was  brought  about  not  because 
it  was  favored  by  a  majority,  but  because 
of  political  exigencies.  In  the  then  ap 
proaching  presidential  election,  Mr. 
Adams,  who  was  in  favor  of  the  "  Ameri 
can  System,"  supported  by  Mr.  Clay  (his 
Secretary  of  State)  was  opposed  by  General 
Jackson.  This  tariff  was  made  an  admin 
istration  measure,  and  became  an  issue  in 
the  canvass.  The  New  England  States, 
which  had  formerly  favored  free  trade,  on 
account  of  their  commercial  interests, 
changed  their  policy,  and,  led  by  Mr. 
Webster,  became  advocates  of  the  protec 
tive  system.  The  question  of  protective 
tariff  had  now  not  only  become  political, 
but  sectional.  The  Southern  States  as  a 
section,  were  arrayed  against  the  system, 
though  prior  to  1816  had  favored  it,  not 
merely  as  an  incident  to  revenue,  but  as  a 
substantive  object.  In  fact  these  tariff 
bills,  each  exceeding  the  other  in  its  de 
gree  of  protection,  had  become  a  regular 
appendage  of  our  presidential  elections — 
carrying  round  in  every  cycle  of  four  years, 
with  that  returning  event ;  starting  in  1816 
and  followed  up  in  1820-24,  and  now  in 
1828,  with  successive  „  augmentations  of 
duties ;  the  last  being  often  pushed  as  a 
party  measure,  and  with  the  visible  pur 
pose  of  influencing  the  presidential  elec 
tion.  General  Jackson  was  elected,  hav 
ing  received  178  electoral  votes  to  83  re 
ceived  by  John  Quincy  Adams.  Mr. 
Richard  Rush,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  was 
on  the  ticket  with  Mr.  Adams,  was  de 
feated  for  the  office  of  Vice-President,  and 
John  C.  Calhoun,  of  South  Carolina,  was 
elected  to  that  office. 

The  election  of  General  Jackson  was  a 
triumph  of  democratic  principle,  and  an 
assertion  of  the  people's  right  to  govern 
themselves.  That  principle  had  been  vio 
lated  in  the  presidential  election  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  the  session  of 
1824-25 ;  and  the  sanction,  or  rebuke,  of 
that  violation  was  a  leading  question  in  the 
whole  canvass.  It  was  also  a  triumph 
over  the  high  protective  policy,  and  the 
federal  internal  improvement  policy,  and 
the  latitudinous  construction  of  the  Con 
stitution  ;  and  of  the  democracy  over  the 
federalists,  then  called  national  republi 
cans  ;  and  was  the  re-establishment  of  par 
ties  on  principle,  according  to  the  land 
marks  of  the  early  years  of  the  govern 
ment.  For  although  Mr.  Adams  had  re 
ceived  confidence  and  office  from  Mr. 
Madison  and  Mr.  Monroe,  and  had  classed 
with  the  democratic  party  during  the  "  era 
of  good  feeling,"  yet  he  had  previously 
been  federal ;  and  on  the  re-establishment 
of  old  party  lines  which  began  to  takeplae« 


NULLIFICATION— DEMOCRATS  AND  FEDERALS. 


29 


after  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  his  affinities 
and  policy  became  those  of  his  former 
party ;  and  as  a  party,  with  many  indivi 
dual  exceptions,  they  became  his  suppor 
ters  and  his  strength.  General  Jackson, 
on  the  contrary,  had  always  been  demo 
cratic,  so  classing  when  he  was  a  Senator 
in  Congress  under  the  administration  of 
the  first  Mr.  Adams  ;  and  when  party  lines 
were  most  straightly  drawn,  and  upon  prin 
ciple,  and  as  such  now  receiving  the  support 
of  men  and  States  which  took  this  political 
position  at  that  time,  and  maintained  it  for 
years  afterwards ;  among  the  latter,  notably 
the  States  of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania. 

The  short  session  of  1829-30  was  ren 
dered  famous  by  the  long  and  earnest  de 
bates  in  the  Senate  on  the  doctrine  of  nul 
lification,  as  it  was  then  called.  It  started 
by  a  resolution  of  inquiry  introduced  by 
Mr.  Foot  of  Connecticut;  it  was  united 
with  a  proposition  to  limit  the  sales  of  the 
public  lands  to  those  then  in  the  market — 
to  suspend  the  surveys  of  the  public  lands 
— and  to  abolish  the  office  of  Surveyor- 
General.  The  effect  of  such  a  resolution, 
if  sanctioned  upon  inquiry  and  carried  into 
legislative  effect,  would  have  been  to  check 
emigration  to  the  new  States  in  the  West, 
and  to  check  the  growth  and  settlement  of 
these  States  and  Territories.  It  was  warmly 
opposed  by  Western  members.  The  de 
bate  spread  and  took  an  acrimonious  turn, 
and  sectional,  imputing  to  the  quarter  of 
the  Union  from  which  it  came  an  old  and 
early  policy  to  check  the  growth  of  the 
West  at  the  outset  by  proposing  to  limit 
the  sale  of  the  Western  lands,  by  selling 
no  tract  in  advance  until  all  in  the  rear 
was  sold  out ;  and  during  the  debate  Mr. 
Webster  referred  to  the  famous  ordinance 
of  1787  for  the  government  of  the  north 
western  territory,  and  especially  the  anti- 
slavery  clause  which  it  contained. 

Closely  connected  with  this  subject  to 
which  Mr.  Webster's  remarks,  during  the 
debate,  related,  was  another  which  excited 
some  warm  discussion — the  topic  of  slavery 
— and  the  effect  of  its  existence  or  non- 
existence  in  different  States.  Kentucky 
and  Ohio  were  taken  for  examples,  and 
the  superior  improvement  and  popula 
tion  of  Ohio  were  attributed  to  its  exemp 
tion  from  the  evils  of  slavery.  This  was 
an  excitable  subject,  and  the  more  so  be 
cause  the  wounds  of  the  Missouri  contro 
versy  in  which  the  North  was  the  undis 
puted  aggressor,  were  still  tender.  Mr. 
Hayne  from  South  Carolina  answered  with 
warmth  and  resented  as  a  reflection  upon 
the  Slave  States  this  disadvantageous  com 
parison.  Mr.  Benton  of  Missouri  followed 
on  the  same  side,  and  in  the  course  of  his 
remarks  said,  "  I  regard  with  admiration, 
that  is  to  say,  with  wonder,  the  sublime 
morality  of  those  who  cannot  bear  the  ab 


stract  contemplation  of  slavery,  at  the  dis 
tance  of  five  hundred  or  a  thousand  miles 
off."  This  allusion  to  the  Missouri  con 
troversy,  and  invective  against  the  free 
States  for  their  part  in  it,  by  Messrs. 
Hayne  and  Benton,  brought  a  reply  from 
Mr.  Webster,  showing  what  their  conduct 
had  been  at  the  first  introduction  of  the 
slavery  topic  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  and  that  they  totally  refused  to  in 
terfere  between  master  and  slave  in  any 
way  whatever.  But  the  topic  which  be 
came  the  leading  feature  of  the  whole  de 
bate,  and  gave  it  an  interest  which  cannot 
die,  was  that  of  nullification— the  assumed 
right  of  a  State  to  annul  an  act  of  Congress 
— then  first  broached  in  the  Senate — and 
in  the  discussion  of  which  Mr.  Webster 
and  Mr.  Hayne  were  the  champion 
speakers  on  opposite  sides — the  latter 
voicing  the  sentiments  of  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent,  Mr.  Calhoun.  This  turn  in  the  de 
bate  was  brought  about,  by  Mr.  Hayne 
having  made  allusion  to  the  course  of  New 
England  during  the  war  of  1812,  and  espe 
cially  to  the  assemblage  known  as  the 
Hartford  Convention,  and  to  which  designs 
unfriendly  to  the  Union  had  been  at 
tributed.  This  gave  Mr.  Webster  an  op 
portunity  to  retaliate,  and  he  referred  to 
the  public  meetings  which  had  just  then 
taken  place  in  South  Carolina  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  tariff,  and  at  which  resolves 
were  passed,  and  propositions  adopted  sig 
nificant  of  resisistance  to  the  act;  and  con 
sequently  of  disloyalty  to  the  Union.  He 
drew  Mr.  Hayne  into  their  defence  and 
into  an  avowal  of  what  has  since  obtained 
the  current  name  of  " Nullification"  He 
said,  "  I  understand  the  honorable  gentle 
man  from  South  Carolina  to  maintain,  that 
it  is  a  right  of  the  State  Legislature  to  inter 
fere,  whenever,  in  their  judgment,  this 
government  transcends  its  constitutional 
limits,  and  to  arrest  the  operation  of  its 
laws,*  *  *  *  that  the  States  may  law 
fully  decide  for  themselves,  and  each  State 
for  itself,  whether,  in  a  given  case,  the  act 
of  the  general  government  transcends  its 
powers,  *  *  *  *  that  if  the  exigency 
of  the  case,  in  the  opinion  of  any  State 
government  require  it,  such  State  gov 
ernment  may,  by  its  own  sovereign  au 
thority,  annul  an  act  of  the  general  -gov 
ernment,  which  it  deems  plainly  and  pal 
pably  unconstitutional."  Mr.  Hayne  was 
evidently  unprepared  to  admit,  or  fully 
deny,  the  propositions  as  so  laid  down,  but 
contented  himself  with  stating  the  words 
of  the  Virginia  Resolution  of  1798,  as  fol 
lows  :  "  That  this  assembly  doth  explicitly 
and  peremptorily  declare,  that  it  views  the 
powers  of  the  federal  government  as  result 
ing  from  the  compact,  to  which  the  States 
are  parties,  as  limited  by  the  plain  sense 
and  intention  of  the  instrument  constituting 
that  compact,  as  no  farther  valid  than  they 


30 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


are  authorized  by  the  grants  enumerated 
in  that  compact,  and  that,  in  case  of  a  de 
liberate,  palpable  and  dangerous  exercise 
of  other  powers,  not  granted  by  the  said 
compact,  the  States  who  are  parties  thereto 
have  the  right,  and  are  in  duty  bound,  to 
interpose,  for  arresting  the  progress  of  the 
evil,  and  for  maintaining,  within  their  re 
spective  limits,  the  authorities,  rights,  and 
liberties  appertaining  to  them." 

This  resolution  came  to  be  understood 
by  Mr.  Hayne  and  others  on  that  side  of 
the  debate,  in  the  same  sense  that  Mr. 
Webster  stated,  as  above,  he  understood 
the  gentleman  from  the  South  to  interpret 
it.  On  the  other  side  of  the  question,  he 
argued  that  the  doctrine  had  no  foundation 
either  in  the  Constitution,  or  on  the  Vir 
ginia  resolutions — that  the  Constitution 
makes  the  federal  government  act  upon 
citizens  within  the  States,  and  not  upon 
the  States  themselves,  as  in  the  old  con 
federation  :  that  within  their  Constitution 
al  limits  the  laws  of  Congress  were  supreme 
— and  that  it  was  treasonable  to  resist 
them  with  force :  and  that  the  question  of 
their  constitutionality  was  to  be  decided 
by  the  Supreme  Court :  with  respect  to  the 
Virginia  resolutions,  on  which  Mr.  Hayne 
relied,  Mr.  Webster  disputed  the  interpre 
tation  put  upon  them — claimed  for  them 
an  innocent  and  justifiable  meaning — and 
exempted  Mr.  Madison  from  the  suspicion 
of  having  framed  a  resolution  asserting  the 
right  of  a  State  legislature  to  annul  an  Act 
of  Congress,  and  thereby  putting  it  in  the 
power  of  one  State  to  destroy  a  form  of 
government  which  he  had  just  labored  so 
hard  to  establish. 

Mr.  Hayne  on  his  part  gave  (as  the  prac 
tical  part  of  his  doctrine)  the  pledge  of  for 
cible  resistance  to  any  attempt  to  enforce 
unconstitutional  laws.  He  said,  "The 
gentleman  has  called  upon  us  to  carry  out 
our  scheme  practically.  Now,  sir,  if  I  am 
correct  in  my  view  of  this  matter,  then  it 
follows,  of  course,  that  the  right  of  a  State 
being  established,  the  federal  government 
is  bound  to  acquiesce  in  a  solemn  decision 
of  a  State,  acting  in  its  sovereign  capacity, 
at  least  so  far  as  to  make  an  appeal  to  the 
people  for  an  amendment  to  the  Constitu 
tion.  This  solemn  decision  of  a  State  binds 
the  federal  government,  under  the  highest 
constitutional  obligation,  not  to  resort  to 
any  means  of  coercion  against  the  citizens 
of  the  dissenting  State.  *  *  *  Suppose 
Congress  should  pass  an  agrarian  law,  or  a 
law  emancipating  our  slaves,  or  should 
commit  any  other  gross  violation  of  our 
constitutional  rights,  will  any  gentlemen 
contend  that  the  decision  of  every  branch 
of  the  federal  government,  in  favor  of  such 
laws,  could  prevent  the  States  from  de 
claring  them  null  and  void,  and  protecting 
their  citizens  from  their  operation  ?  *  * 
Let  me  assure  the  gentlemen  that,  when 


ever  any  attempt  shall  be  made  from  any 
quarter,  to  enforce  unconstitutional  laws, 
clearly  violating  our  essential  rights,  our 
leaders  (whoever  they  may  be)  will  not  be 
found  reading  black  letter  from  the  musty 
pages  of  old  law  books.  They  will  look  to 
the  Constitution,  and  when  called  upon  by 
the  sovereign  authority  of  the  State,  to 
preserve  and  protect  the  rights  secured  to 
them  by  the  charter  of  their  liberties,  they 
will  succeed  in  defending  them,  or  '  perish 
in  the  last  ditch.' " 

These  words  of  Mr.  Hayne  seem  almost 
prophetic  in  view  of  the  events  of  thirty 
years  later.  No  one  then  believed  in  any 
thing  serious  in  the  new  interpretation 
given  to  the  Virginia  resolutions — nor  in 
anything  practical  from  nullification — nor 
in  forcible  resistance  to  the  tariff  laws  from 
South  Carolina — nor  in  any  scheme  of  dis 
union. 

Mr.  Webster's  closing  reply  was  a  fine 
piece  of  rhetoric,  delivered  in  an  elaborate 
and  artistic  style,  and  in  an  apparent  spirit 
of  deep  seriousness.  He  concluded  thus — 
"  When  my  eyes  shall  be  turned  to  behold, 
for  the  last  time,  the  sun  in  heaven,  may  I 
not  see  him  shining  on  the  broken  and  dis 
figured  fragments  of  a  once  glorious 
Union ;  on  States  dissevered,  discordant, 
belligerent ;  on  a  land  rent  with  civil  feuds, 
or  drenched,  it  may  be,  in  fraternal  blood. 
Let  their  last  feeble  and  lingering  glance, 
rather,  behold  the  gorgeous  ensign  of  the 
Republic,  now  known  and  honored  through 
out  the  earth,  still  full  high  advanced,  its 
arms  and  trophies  streaming  in  their  ori 
ginal  lustre,  not  a  stripe  erased  or  polluted, 
nor  a  single  star  obscured,  bearing  for  ita 
motto  no  such  miserable  interrogatory  as, 
What  is  all  this  worth?  nor  those  other 
words  of  delusion  and  folly,  Liberty  first 
and  Union  afterwards;  but  everywhere, 
spread  all  over  in  characters  of  living  light, 
blazing  in  all  its  ample  folds,  as  they  float 
over  the  sea  and  over  the  land,  and  in 
every  wind  under  the  whole  heavens,  that 
other  sentiment,  dear  to  every  true  Ameri 
can  heart — Liberty  and  Union,  now  and 
forever,  one  and  inseparable !  " 

President  Jackson  in  his  first  annual 
message  to  Congress  called  attention  to  the 
fact  of  expiration  in  1836  of  the  charter 
of  incorporation  granted  by  the  Federal 
government  to  a  moneyed  institution  called 
The  Bank  of  the  United  States,  which  was 
originally  designed  to  assist  the  govern 
ment  in  establishing  and  maintaining  a 
uniform  and  sound  currency.  He  seriously 
doubted  the  constitutionality  and  expedi 
ency  of  the  law  creating  the  bank,  and 
was  opposed  to  a  renewal  of  the  charter. 
His  view  of  the  matter  was  that  if  such  an 
institution  was  deemed  a  necessity  it  should 
be  made  a  national  one,  in  the  sense  of 
being  founded  on  the  credit  of  the  govern 
ment  and  its  revenues,  and  not  a  corpora- 


THE    UNITED    STATES    BANK. 


31 


tion  independent  from  and  not  a  part  of 
the  government.  The  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  was  strongly  in  favor  of  the  re 
newal  of  the  charter,  and  several  of  its 
committees  made  elaborate,  ample  and 
argumentative  reports  upon  the  subject. 
These  reports  were  the  subject  of  news- 

Eaper  and  pamphlet  publication ;  and 
mded  for  their  power  and  excellence,  and 
triumphant  refutation  of  all  the  President's 
opinions.  Thus  was  the  "  war  of  the  Bank' ' 
commenced  at  once  in  Congress,  and  in  the 
public  press ;  and  openly  at  the  instance 
of  the  Bank  itself,  which,  forgetting  its 
position  as  an  institution  of  the  govern 
ment,  for  the  convenience  of  the  govern 
ment,  set  itself  up  as  a  power,  and  strug 
gled  for  continued  existence,  by  demand 
for  renewal  of  its  charter.  It  allied  itself 
at  the  same  time  to  the  political  power 
opposed  to  the  President,  joined  in  all  their 
schemes  of  protective  tariff,  and  national 
internal  improvement,  and  became  the 
head  of  the  American  system.  Its  moneyed 
and  political  power,  numerous  interested 
affiliations,  and  control  over  other  banks 
and  fiscal  institutions,  was  truly  great  and 
extensive,  and  a  power  which  was  exer 
cised  and  made  to  be  felt  during  the  strug 
gle  to  such  a  degree  that  it  threatened  a 
danger  to  the  country  and  the  government 
almost  amounting  to  a  national  calamity. 
The  subject  of  renewal  of  the  charter 
was  agitated  at  every  succeeding  session 
of  Congress  down  to  1836,  and  many  able 
speeches  made  for  and  against  it. 

In  the  month  of  December,  1831,  the 
National  Republicans,  as  the  party  was 
then  called  which  afterward  took  the  name 
of  "whig,"  held  its  convention  in  Balti 
more,  and  nominated  candidates  for  Presi 
dent  and  Vice-President,  to  be  voted  for 
at  the  election  in  the  autumn  of  the  ensu 
ing  year.  Henry  Clay  was  the  candidate 
for  the  office  of  President,  and  John  Ser 
geant  for  that  of  Vice-President.  The 
platform  or  address  to  the  people  presented 
the  party  issues  which  were  to  be  settled 
at  the  ensuing  election,  the  chief  subjects 
being  the  tariff,  internal  improvement,  re 
moval  of  the  Cherokee  Indians,  and  the 
renewal  of  the  United  States  Bank  charter. 
Thus  the  bank  question  was  fully  presented 
as  an  issue  in  the  election  by  that  part  of 
its  friends  who  classed  politically  against 
President  Jackson.  But  it  had  also  Demo 
cratic  friends  without  whose  aid  the  re- 
charter  could  not  be  got  through  Congress, 
and  they  labored  assiduously  for  it.  The 
first  Bank  of  the  United  States,  chartered 
in  1791,  was  a  federal  measure,  favored  by 
General  Hamilton,  opposed  by  Mr.  Jeffer 
son,  Mr.  Madison,  and  the  Republican 
party;  and  became  a  great  landmark  of 
party,  not  merely  for  the  bank  itself,  but 
lor  the  latitudinarian  construction  of  the 
constitution  in  which  it  was  founded,  and 


the  precedent  it  established  that  Congress 
might  in  its  discretion  do  what  it  pleased, 
under  the  plea  of  being  "necessary''  to 
carry  into  effect  some  granted  power.  The 
non-renewal  of  the  charter  in  1811,  was 
the  act  of  the  Republican  party,  then  in 
possession  of  the  government,  and  taking 
the  opportunity  to  terminate,  upon  its  own 
limitation,  the  existence  of  an  institution 
whose  creation  they  had  not  been  able  to 
prevent.  The  charter  of  the  second  bank, 
in  1816,  was  the  act  of  the  Republican 
party,  and  to  aid  them  in  the  administra 
tion  of  the  government,  and,  as  such,  was 
opposed  by  the  Federal  party — not  seeming 
then  to  understand  that,  by  its  instincts,  a 
great  moneyed  corporation  was  in  sym 
pathy  with  their  own  party,  and  would 
soon  be  with  it  in  action — which  the  bank 
soon  was — and  now  struggled  for  a  con 
tinuation  of  its  existence  under  the  lead 
of  those  who  had  opposed  its  creation  and 
against  the  party  which  effected  it.  Mr. 
Webster  was  a  Federal  leader  on  both 
occasions — against  the  charter  in  1816; 
for  the  re-charter  in  1832.  The  bill  passed 
the  Senate  after  a  long  and  arduous  con 
test;  and  afterwards  passed  the  House, 
quickly  and  with  little  or  no  contest  at  all. 
It  was  sent  to  the  President,  and  vetoed 
by  him  July  10,  1832  ;  the  message  stating 
his  objections  being  an  elaborate  review 
of  the  subject ;  the  veto  being  based  mainly 
on  the  unconstitutionality  of  the  measure. 
The  veto  was  sustained.  Following  this 
the  President  after  the  adjournment  re 
moved  from  the  bank  the  government 
deposits,  and  referred  to  that  fact  in  his 
next  annual  message  on  the  second  day  of 
December,  1833,  at  the  opening  of  the  first 
session  of  the  twenty-third  Congress.  Ac 
companying  it  was  the  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Hon.  Roger  B. 
Taney,  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  giv 
ing  the  reasons  of  the  government  for  the 
withdrawal  of  the  public  funds.  Long  and 
bitter  was  the  contest  between  the  Presi 
dent  on  the  one  side  and  the  Bank  and  its 
supporters  in  the  Senate  on  the  other  side. 
The  conduct  of  the  Bank  produced  dis 
tress  throughout  the  country,  and  was  so 
intended  to  coerce  the  President.  Distress 
petitions  flooded  Congress,  and  the  Senate 
even  passed  resolutions  of  censure  of  the 
President.  The  latter,  however,  held  firm 
in  his  position.  A  committee  of  investi 
gation  was  appointed  by  the  House  of 
Representatives  to  inmiire  into  the  causes 
of  the  commercial  embarrassment  and  the 
public  distress  complained  of  in  the 
numerous  distress  memorials  presented  to 
the  two  Houses  during  the  session;  and 
whether  the  Bank  had  been  instrumental, 
through  its  management  of  money,  in  pro 
ducing  the  distress  and  embarrassment  of 
which  so  much  complaint  was  made ;  to 


32 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


inquire  whether  the  charter  of  the  Bank 
had  been  violated,  and  what  corruptions 
and  abuses,  if  any,  existed  in  its  manage 
ment  ;  and  to  inquire  whether  the  Bank 
had  used  its  corporate  power  or  money  to 
control  the  press,  to  interpose  in  politics, 
or  to  influence  elections.  The  committee 
were  granted  ample  powers  for  the  execu 
tion  of  these  inquiries.  It  was  treated 
with  disdain  and  contempt  by  the  Bank 
management ;  'refused  access  to  the  books 
and  papers,  and  the  directors  and  president 
refused  to  be  sworn  and  testify.  The 
committee  at  the  next  session  made  report 
of  their  proceedings,  and  asked  for  war 
rants  to  be  issued  against  the  managers  to 
bring  them  before  the  Bar  of  the  House  to 
answer  for  contempt ;  but  the  friends  of 
the  Bank  in  the  House  were  able  to  check 
the  proceedings  and  prevent  action  being 
taken.  In  the  Senate,  the  President  was 
sought  to  be  punished  by  a  declination  by 
that  body  to  confirm  the  President's 
nomination  of  the  four  government  direc 
tors  of  the  Bank,  who  had  served  the 
previous  year ;  and  their  re-nomination 
after  that  rejection  again  met  with  a  similar 
fate.  In  like  manner  his  re-nomination  of 
Roger  B.  Taney  to  be  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  was  rejected,  for  the  action  of 
the  latter  in  his  support  of  the  President 
and  the  removal  of  the  public  deposits. 
The  Bank  had  lost  much  ground  in  the 
public  estimation  by  resisting  the  investi 
gation  ordered  and  attempted  by  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  in  consequence  the 
Finance  Committee  of  the  Senate  made  an 
investigation,  with  so  weak  an  attempt  to 
varnish  over  the  affairs  and  acts  of  the 
corporation  that  the  odious  appellation  of 
"  white- washing  committee  "  was  fastened 
upon  it.  The  downfall  of  the  Bank 
speedily  followed ;  it  soon  afterwards  be 
came  a  total  financial  wreck,  and  its  assets 
and  property  were  seized  on  executions. 
With  its  financial  failure  it  vanished  from 
public  view,  and  public  interest  in  it  and 
concern  with  it  died  out. 

About  the  beginning  of  March,  1831,  a 
pamphlet  was  issued  in  Washington,  by 
Mr.  John  C.  Calhoun,  the  Vice-President, 
and  addressed  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  explaining  the  cause  of  a  difference 
which  had  taken  place  between  himself 
and  the  President,  General  Jackson,  in 
stigated  as  the  pamphlet  alleged,  by  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  and  intended  to  make  trouble 
between  the  first  and  second  officers  of  the 
government,  and  to  effect  the  political 
destruction  of  himself  (Mr.  Calhoun)  for  the 
benefit  of  the  contriver  of  the  quarrel,  the 
then  Secretary  of  State,  and  indicated  as  a 
candidate  for  the  presidential  succession 
upon  the  termination  of  Jackson's  term. 
The  differences  grew  out  of  certain  charges 
against  General  Jackson  respecting  his  Con 
duct  during  the  Seminole  war  which  oc 


curred  in  the  administration  of  President 
Monroe.  The  President  justified  himself  in 
published  correspondence,  but  the  inevita 
ble  result  followed — a  rupture  between  the 
President  and  Vice-President — which  was 
quickly  followed  by  a  breaking  up  and 
reconstructing  the  Cabinet.  Some  of 
its  members  classed  as  the  political  friends 
of  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  could  hardly  be  ex 
pected  to  remain  as  ministers  to  the  Presi 
dent.  Mr.  Van  Buren  resigned ;  a  new 
Cabinet  was  appointed  and  confirmed. 
This  change  in  the  Cabinet  made  a  great 
figure  in  the  party  politics  of  the  day,  and 
filled  all  the  opposition  newspapers,  and 
had  many  sinister  reasons  assigned  to  it — 
all  to  the  prejudice  of  General  Jackson  and 
Mr.  Van  Buren. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  here  that  during 
the  administration  of  President  Jackson, 
— in  the  year  1833, — the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  as  the  consequence  of  the 
earnest  efforts  in  that  behalf,  of  Col.  R.  M. 
Johnson,  of  Kentucky,  aided  by  the  re 
commendation  and  support  of  the  Presi 
dent,  passed  the  first  laws,  abolishing  im 
prisonment  for  debt,  under  process  from 
the  Courts  of  the  United  States :  the  only 
extent  to  which  an  act  of  Congress  could 
go,  by  force  of  its  enactments ;  but  by  force 
of  example  "and  influence,  has  led  to  the 
cessation  of  the  practice  of  imprisoning 
debtors,  in  all,  or  nearly  all,  of  the  States 
and  Territories  of  the  Union ;  and  without 
the  evil  consequences  which  had  been 
dreaded  from  the  loss  of  this  remedy  over 
the  person.  The  act  was  a  total  abolition  of 
the  practice,  leaving  in  full  force  all  the  re 
medies  against  fraudulent  evasions  of  debt. 

The  American  system,  and  especially  its 
prominent  feature  of  a  high  protective 
tariff  was  put  in  issue,  in  the  Presidential 
canvass  of  1832 ;  and  the  friends  of  that 
system  labored  diligently  in  Congress  in 
presenting  its  best  points  to  the  greatest 
advantage ;  and  staking  its  fate  upon  the 
issue  of  the  election.  It  was  lost;  not  only 
by  the  result  of  the  main  contest,  but  by 
that  of  the  congressional  election  which 
took  place  simultaneously  with  it.  All  the 
States  dissatisfied  with  that  system,  were 
satisfied  with  the  view  of  its  speedy  and 
regular  extinction,  under  the  legislation  of 
the  approaching  session  of  Congress,  ex 
cepting  only  South  Carolina.  She  has 
held  aloof  from  the  Presidential  contest, 
and  cast  her  electoral  votes  for  persons 
who  were  not  candidates — doing  nothing 
to  aid  the  election  of  General  Jackson, 
with  whom  her  interests  were  apparently 
identified.  On  the  24th  November,  1832, 
two  weeks  after  the  election  which  de 
cided  the  fate  of  the  tariff,  that  State 
issued  an  "Ordinance  to  nullify  certain 
acts  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  purporting  to  be  laws  laying 
duties  and  imposts  on  the  importation 


THE    PRESIDENT'S    SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 


33 


of  foreign  commodities."  It  declared  that 
jjie  Congress  had  exceeded  its  constitu 
tional  powers  in  imposing  high  and  ex 
cessive  duties  on  the  theory  of  "protec 
tion,"  had  unjustly  discriminated  in  favor 
of  one  class  or  employment,  at  the  expense 
and  to  the  injury  and  oppression  of  other 
classes  and  individuals;  that  said  laws 
were  in  consequence  not  binding  on  the 
State  and  its  citizens;  and  declaring  its 
right  and  purpose  to  enact  laws  to  prevent 
the  enforcement  and  arrest  the  operation 
of  said  acts  and  parts  of  the  acts  of  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  within  the 
limits  of  that  State  after  the  first  day  of 
February  following.  This  ordinance  placed 
the  State  in  the  attitude  of  forcible  resist 
ance  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  to 
take  effect  on  the  first  day  of  February 
next  ensuing — a  date  prior  to  the  meeting 
of  the  next  Congress,  which  the  country 
naturally  expected  would  take  some  action 
in  reference  to  the  tariff  laws  complained 
of.  The  ordinance  further  provided  that 
if,  in  the  meantime,  any  attempt  was  made 
by  the  federal  government  to  enforce  the 
obnoxious  laws,  except  through  the  tribu 
nals,  all  the  officers  of  which  were  sworn 
against  them,  the  fact  of  such  attempt  was 
to  terminate  the  continuance  of  South  Car 
olina  in  the  Union — to  absolve  her  from 
all  connection  with  the  federal  government 
— and  to  establish  her  as  a  separate  govern 
ment,  wholly  unconnected  with  the  United 
States  or  any  State.  The  ordinance  of 
nullification  was  certified  by  the  Governor 
of  South  Carolina  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  reached  him  in  Decem 
ber  of  the  same  year ;  in  consequence  of 
which  he  immediately  issued  a  proclama 
tion,  exhorting  the  people  of  South  Caro 
lina  to  obey  the  laws  of  Congress;  point 
ing  out  and  explaining  the  illegality  of 
the  procedure ;  stating  clearly  and  distinct 
ly  his  firm  determination  to  enforce  the 
laws  as  became  him  as  Executive,  even  by 
resort  to  force  if  necessary.  As  a  state 
paper,  it  is  important  as  it  contains  the 
views  of  General  Jackson  regarding  the 
nature  and  character  of  our  federal  gov 
ernment,  expressed  in  the  following  lan 
guage:  "The  people  of  the  United  States 
formed  the  constitution,  acting  through 
the  State  Legislatures  in  making  the  com 
pact,  to  meet  and  discuss  its  provisions, 
and  acting  in  separate  conventions  when 
they  ratified  those  provisions;  but,  the 
terms  used  in  the  constitution  show  it  to 
be  a  government  in  which  the  people  of  all 
the  States  collectively  are  represented. 
We  are  one  people  in  the  choice  of  Presi 
dent  and  Vice-President.  Here  the  States 
have  no  other  agency  than  to  direct  the 
mode  in  which  the  votes  shall  be  given. 
The  people,  then,  and  not  the 
States,  are  represented  in  the  executive 
branch.  *  *  *  In  the  House 
3 


of  Eepresentatives  the  members  are  all 
representatives  of  the  United  States,  not 
representatives  of  the  particular  States 
from  which  they  come.  They  are  paid  by 
the  United  States,  not  by  the  State,  nor 
are  they  accountable  to  it  for  any  act  done 
in  the  performance  of  their  legislative 
functions.  *  *  *  *  * 

The  constitution  of  the  United  States, 
then,  forms  a  government,  not  a  league  ; 
and  whether  it  be  formed  by  a  compact 
between  the  States,  or  in  any  other  man 
ner,  its  character  is  the  same.  It  is  a  gov 
ernment  in  which  all  the  people  are  repre 
sented,  which  operates  directly  on  the 
people  individually,  not  upon  the  States — 
they  retained  all  the  power  they  did  not 
grant.  But  each  State,  having  expressly 
parted  with  so  many  powers  as  to  consti 
tute,  jointly  with  the  other  States,  a  single 
nation,  cannot,  from  that  period,  possess 
any  right  to  secede,  because  such  secession 
does  not  break  a  league,  but  destroys  the 
unity  of  the  nation,  and  any  injury  to  that 
unity,  is  not  only  a  breach  which  could 
result  from  the  contravention  of  a  com 
pact,  but  it  is  an  offence  against  the  whole 
Union.  To  say  that  any  State  may  at 
pleasure  secede  from  the  Union,  is  to  say 
that  the  United  States  are  not  a  nation ; 
because  it  would  be  a  solecism  to  contend 
that  any  part  of  a  nation  might  dissolve 
its  connection  with  the  other  parts,  to  their 
injury  or  ruin,  without  committing  any 
offence." 

Without  calling  on  Congress  for  extra 
ordinary  powers,  the  President  in  his 
annual  message,  merely  adverted  to  the 
attitude  of  the  State,  and  proceeded  to 
meet  the  exigency  by  the  exercise  of  the 
powers  he  already  possessed.  The  pro 
ceedings  in  South  Carolina  not  ceasing, 
and  taking  daily  a  more  aggravated  form 
in  the  organization  of  troops,  the  collec 
tion  of  arms  and  of  munitions  of  war,  and 
in  declarations  hostile  to  the  Union,  he 
found  it  necessary  early  in  January  to  re 
port  the  facts  to  Congress  in  a  special 
message,  and  ask  for  extraordinary  powers. 
Bills  for  the  reduction  of  the  tariff  were 
early  in  the  Session  introduced  into  both 
houses,  while  at  the  same  time  the  Presi 
dent,  though  not  relaxing  his  efforts  to 
wards  a  peaceful  settlement  of  the  diffi 
culty,  made  steady  preparations  for  enforc 
ing  the  law.  The  result  of  the  bills  offered 
in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  was  the 
passage  of  Mr.  Clay's  "  compromise  "  bill 
on  the  12th  of  February  1833,  which  radi 
cally  changed  the  whole  tariff  system. 

The  President  in  his  message  on  the 
South  Carolina  proceedings  had  recom 
mended  to  Congress  the  revival  of  some 
acts,  heretofore  in  force,  to  enable  him  to 
execute  the  laws  in  that  State ;  and  the 
Senate's  committee  on  the  judiciary  had 
reported  a  bill  accordingly  early  in  the 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


session.  It  was  immediately  assailed  by 
several  members  as  violent  and  unconsti 
tutional,  tending  to  civil  war,  and  de 
nounced  as  "  the  bloody  bill " — the  "  force 
bill,"  &c.  The  bill  was  vindicated  in  the 
Senate,  by  its  author,  who  showed  that  it 
contained  no  novel  principle;  was  sub 
stantially  a  revival  of  laws  previously  in 
force;  with  the  authority  superadded  to 
remove  the  office  of  customs  from  one 
building  or  place  to  another  in  case  of 
need.  The  bill  was  vehemently  opposed, 
and  every  effort  made  to  render  it  odious 
to  the  people,  and  even  extend  the  odium 
to  the  President,  and  to  every  person 
urging  or  aiding  in  its  passage.  Mr. 
Webster  justly  rebuked  all  this  vitupera 
tion,  and  justified  the  bill,  both  for  the 
equity  of  its  provisions,  and  the  necessity 
for  enacting  them.  He  said,  that  an  un 
lawful  combination  threatened  the  integ 
rity  of  the  Union ;  that  the  crisis  called 
for  a  mild,  temperate,  forbearing  but  un- 
flexibly  firm  execution  of  the  laws ;  and 
finally,  that  public  opinion  sets  with  an 
irresistible  force  in  favor  of  the  Union,  in 
favor  of  the  measures  recommended  by 
the  President,  and  against  the  new  doc 
trines  which  threatened  the  dissolution  of 
the  Union.  The  support  which  Mr.  Web 
ster  gave  to  these  measures  was  the  regular 
result  of  the  principles  which  he  laid 
down  in  his  first  speeches  against  nullifi 
cation  in  the  debate  with  Mr.  Hayne,  and 
he  could  not  have  done  less  without  being 
derelict  to  his  own  principles  then  avowed. 
He  supported  with  transcendent  ability, 
the  cause  of  the  constitution  and  of  the 
country,  in  the  person  of  a  President  to 
whom  he  was  politically  opposed,  whose 
gratitude  and  admiration  he  earned  for  his 
patriotic  endeavors.  The  country,  without 
distinction  of  party,  felt  the  same ;  and 
the  universality  of  the  feeling  was  one  of 
the  grateful  instances  of  popular  applause 
and  justice  when  great  talents  are  seen 
exerting  themselves  for  the  good  of  the 
country.  He  was  the  colossal  figure  on 
the  political  stage  during  that  eventful 
time;  and  his  labors,  splendid  in  their 
day,  survive  for  the  benefit  of  distant 
posterity. 

During  the  discussion  over  the  re-charter 
of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  which 
as  before  mentioned,  occupied  the  atten 
tion  of  Congress  for  several  years,  the 
country  suffered  from  a  money  panic,  and  a 
general  financial  depression  and  distress 
was  generally  prevalent.  In  1834  a  mea 
sure  was  introduced  into  the  House,  for 
equalizing  the  value  of  gold  and  silver, 
and  legalizing  the  tender  of  foreign  coin, 
of  both  metals.  The  good  effects  of  the 
bill  were  immediately  seen.  Gold  began 
to  flow  into  the  country  through  all  the 
channels  of  commerce,  foreign  and  domes 
tic  ;  the  mint  was  busy ;  and  specie  pay 


ment,  which  had  been  suspended  in  the 
country  for  thirty  years,  was  resumed,  and 
gold  and  silver  became  the  currency  of  the 
land ;  inspiring  confidence  in  all  the  pur 
suits  of  industry. 

As  indicative  of  the  position  of  the  de 
mocratic  party  at  that  date,  on  the  subject 
of  the  kind  of  money  authorized  by  the 
Constitution,  Mr.  Benton's  speech  in  the 
Senate  is  of  interest.  He  said  :  "  In  the 
first  place,  he  was  one  of  those  who  be 
lieved  that  the  government  of  the  United 
States  was  intended  to  be  a  hard  money 
government ;  that  it  was  the  intention  and 
the  declaration  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  that  the  federal  currency 
should  consist  of  gold  and  silver,  and  that 
there  is  no  power  in  Congress  to  issue,  or 
to  authorize  any  company  of  individuals 
to  issue,  any  species  of  federal  paper  cur 
rency  whatsoever.  Every  clause  in  the 
Constitution  (said  Mr.  B.)  which  bears 
upon  the  subject  of  money — every  early 
statute  of  Congress  which  interprets  the 
meaning  of  these  clauses — and  every  his 
toric  recollection  which  refers  to  them,  go 
hand  in  hand  in  giving  to  that  instrument 
the  meaning  which  this  proposition  ascribes 
to  it.  The  power  granted  to  Congress  to 
coin  money  is  an  authority  to  stamp  me 
tallic  money,  and  is  not  an  authority  for 
emitting  slips  of  paper  containing  promises 
to  pay  money.  The  authority  granted  to 
Congress  to  regulate  the  value  of  coin,  is 
an  authority  to  regulate  the  value  of  the 
metallic  money,  not  of  paper.  The  prohi 
bition  upon  the  States  against  making 
anything  but  gold  and  silver  a  legal  ten 
der,  is  a  moral  prohibition,  founded  in  vir 
tue  and  honesty,  and  is  just  as  binding 
upon  the  Federal  Government  as  upon  the 
State  Governments;  and  that  without  a 
written  prohibition ;  for  the  difference  in 
the  nature  of  the  two  governments  is  such, 
that  the  States  may  do  all  things  which 
they  are  not  forbid  to  do ;  and  the  Federal 
Government  can  do  nothing  which  it  is 
not  authorized  by  the  Constitution  to  do. 
The  framers  of  the  Constitution  (said  Mr. 
B.)  created  a  hard  money  government. 
They  intended  the  new  government  to  re 
cognize  nothing  for  money  but  gold  and 
silver ;  and  every  word  admitted  into  the 
Constitution,  upon  the  subject  of  money, 
defines  and  establishes  that  sacred  inten 
tion. 

Legislative  enactment  came  quickly  to 
the  aid  of  constitutional  intention  and 
historic  recollection.  The  fifth  statute 
passed  at  the  first  session  of  the  first  Con 
gress  that  ever  sat  under  the  present  Con 
stitution  was  full  and  explicit  on  this  head. 
It  declared,  "  that  the  fees  and  duties  pay 
able  to  the  federal  government  shall  be 
received  in  gold  and  silver  coin  only."  It 
was  under  General  Hamilton,  as  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  in  1791,  that  the  policy 


THE  INCEPTION   OF   THE  SLAVERY   QUESTION. 


35 


of  the  government  underwent  a  change. 
In  the  act  constituting  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  he  brought  forward  his  ce 
lebrated  plan  for  the  support  of  the  public 
credit — that  plan  which  unfolded  the  en 
tire  scheme  of  the  paper  system  and  imme 
diately  developed  the  great  political  line 
between  the  federalists  and  the  republi 
cans.  The  establishment  of  a  national 
bank  was  the  leading  and  predominant 
feature  of  that  plan;  and  the  original  re 
port  of  the  secretary,  in  favor  of  establish 
ing  the  bank,  contained  this  fatal  and  de 
plorable  recommendation :  "  The  bills  and 
notes  of  the  bank,  originally  made  payable, 
or  which  shall  have  become  payable,  on 
demand,  in  gold  and  silver  coin,  shall  be 
receivable  in  all  payments  to  the  United 
States."  From  the  moment  of  the  adop 
tion  of  this  policy,  the  moneyed  character 
of  the  government  stood  changed  and  re 
versed.  Federal  bank  notes  took  the  place 
of  hard  money ;  and  the  whole  edifice  of 
the  government  slid,  at  once,  from  the  solid 
rock  of  gold  and  silver  money,  on  which 
its  framers  had  placed  it,  into  the  troubled 
and  tempestuous  ocean  of  paper  currency. 

The  first  session  of  the  35th  Congress 
opened  December  1835.  Mr.  James  K. 
Polk  was  elected  Speaker  of  the  House  by 
a  large  majority  over  Mr.  John  Bell,  the 
previous  Speaker ;  the  former  being  sup 
ported  by  the  administration  party,  and 
the  latter  having  become  identified  with 
those  who,  on  siding  with  Mr.  Hugh  L. 
White  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency, 
were  considered  as  having  divided  from 
the  democratic  party.  The  chief  subject 
of  the  President's  message  was  the  rela 
tions  of  our  country  with  France  relative 
to  the  continued  non-payment  of  the  stip 
ulated  indemnity  provided  for  in  the  treaty 
of  1831  for  French  spoliations  of  Ameri 
can  shipping.  The  obligation  to  pay  was 
admitted,  and  the  money  even  voted  for 
that  purpose  ;  but  offense  was  taken  at  the 
President's  message,  and  payment  refused 
until  an  apology  should  be  made.  The 
President  commented  on  this  in  his  mes 
sage,  and  the  Senate  had  under  consider 
ation  measures  authorizing  reprisals  on 
French  shipping.  At  this  point  Great 
Britain  offered  her  services  as  mediator  be 
tween  the  nations,  and  as  a  result  the  in 
demnity  was  shortly  afterwards  paid. 

Agitation  of  the  slavery  question  in  the 
United  States  really  began  about  this 
time.  Evil-disposed  persons  had  largely 
circulated  through  the  Southern  states, 
pamphlets  and  circulars  tending  to  stir  up 
strife  and  insurrection ;  and  this  had  be 
come  so  intolerable  that  it  was  referred  to 
by  the  President  in  his  message.  Congress 
at  the  session  of  1836  was  flooded  with  pe 
titions  and  memorials  urging  federal  inter 
ference  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  States ; 
beginning  with  the  petition  of  the  Society 


of  Friends  of  Philadelphia,  urging  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia.  These  petitions  were  referred  to 
Committees  after  an  acrimonious  debate 
as  to  whether  they  should  be  received  or 
not.  The  position  of  the  government  at 
that  time  is  embodied  in  the  following 
resolution  which  was  adopted  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  as  early  as  JL790,  and 
substantially  re-affirmed  in  1836,  as  fol 
lows  :  "That  Congress  have  no  authority 
to  interfere  in  the  emancipation  of  slaves, 
or  in  the  treatment  of  them  within  any  of 
the  States ;  it  remaining  with  the  several 
States  to  provide  any  regulations  therein 
which  humanity  and  true  policy  may  re 
quire." 

In  the  Summer  preceding  the  Presi 
dential  election  of  1836,  a  measure  was  in 
troduced  into  Congress,  which  became  very 
nearly  a  party  measure,  and  which  in  its 
results  proved  disastrous  to  the  Democrat 
ic  party  in  after  years.  It  was  a  plan  for 
distributing  the  public  land  money  among 
the  States  either  in  the  shape  of  credit 
distribution,  or  in  the  disguise  of  a  deposit 
of  surplus  revenue ;  and  this  for  the  pur 
pose  of  enhancing  the  value  of  the  State 
stocks  held  by  the  United  States  Bank, 
which  institution,  aided  by  the  party  which 
it  favored,  led  by  Mr.  Clay,  was  the  prime 
mover  in  the  plan.  That  gentleman  was 
the  author  of  the  scheme,  and  great  cal 
culations  were  made  by  the  party  which 
favored  the  distribution  upon  its  effect  in 
adding  to  their  popularity.  The  Bill  passed 
the  Senate  in  its  original  form,  but  met 
with  less  favor  in  the  House  where  it  was 
found  necessary.  To  effectuate  substan 
tially  the  same  end,  a  Senate  Bill  was  in 
troduced  to  regulate  the  keeping  of  the 
public  money  in  the  deposit  banks,  and 
this  was  turned  into  distribution  of  the 
surplus  public  moneys  with  the  States,  in 
proportion  to  their  representation  in  Con 
gress,  to  be  returned  when  Congress  should 
call  for  it ;  and  this  was  called  a  deposit 
with  the  States,  and  the  faith  of  the  States 
pledged  for  a  return  of  the  money.  It 
was  stigmatized  by  its  opponents  in  Con 
gress,  as  a  distribution  in  disguise — as  a 
deposit  never  to  be  reclaimed ;  as  a  mis 
erable  evasion  of  the  Constitution ;  as  an 
attempt  to  debauch  the  people  with  their 
own  money ;  as  plundering  instead  of  de 
fending  the  country.  The  Bill  passed  both 
houses,  mainly  by  the  efforts  of  a  half 
dozen  aspirants  to  the  Presidency,  who 
sought  to  thus  increase  their  popularity. 
They  were  doomed  to  disappointment  in 
this  respect.  Politically,  it  was  no  advan 
tage  to  its  numerous  and  emulous  support 
ers,  and  of  no  disservice  to  its  few  deter 
mined  opponents.  It  was  a  most  unfortu 
nate  act,  a  plain  evasion  of  the  Constitu 
tion  for  a  bad  purpose ;  and  it  soon  gave  a 
sad  overthrow  to  the  democracy  and  disap- 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


pointed  every  calculation  made  upon  it. 
To  the  States  it  was  no  advantage,  raising 
expectations  which  were  not  fulfilled,  and 
upon  which  many  of  them  acted  as  reali 
ties.  The  Bill  was  signed  by  the  Presi 
dent,  but  it  is  simple  justice  to  him  to  say 
that  he  did  it  with  a  repugnance  of  feel 
ing,  and  a  recoil  of  judgment,  which  it  re 
quired  great  efforts  of  his  friends  to  over 
come,  and  with  a  regret  for  it  afterwards 
which  he  often  and  publicly  expressed.  In 
a  party  point  of  view,  the  passage  of  this 
measure  was  the  commencement  of  calam 
ities,  being  an  efficient  cause  in  that  gen 
eral  suspension  of  specie  payments,  which 
quickly  occurred,  and  brought  so  much 
embarrassment  on  the  Van  Buren  admin 
istration,  ending  in  the  great  democratic 
defeat  of  1840. 

The  presidential  election  of  1836  re 
sulted  in  the  choice  of  the  democratic  can 
didate,  Mr.  Van  Buren,  who  was  elected 
by  170  electoral  votes ;  his  opponent,  Gene 
ral  Harrison,  receiving  seventy-three  elec 
toral  votes.  Scattering  votes  were  given 
for  Mr.  Webster,  Mr.  Mangum,  and  Mr. 
Hugh  L.  White,  the  last  named  represent 
ing  a  fragment  of  the  democracy  who,  in  a 
spirit  of  disaffection,  attempted  to  divide 
the  democratic  party  and  defeat  Mr.  Van 
Buren.  At  the  opening  of  the  second  ses 
sion  of  the  twenty-fourth  Congress,  Decem 
ber,  1836,  President  Jackson  delivered  his 
last  annual  message,  under  circumstances 
exceedingly  gratifying  to  him.  The  power 
ful  opposition  in  Congress  had  been  broken 
down,  and  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
full  majorities  of  ardent  and  tried  friends 
in  each  House.  The  country  was  in  peace 
and  friendship  with  all  the  world ;  all  ex 
citing  questions  quieted  at  home ;  industry 
in  all  its  branches  prosperous,  and  the 
revenue  abundant.  And  as  a  happy 
sequence  of  this  state  of  affairs,  the  Seriate 
on  the  16th  of  March,  1837,  expunged 
from  the  Journal  the  resolution,  adopted 
three  years  previously,  censuring  the  Presi 
dent  for  ordering  the  removal  of  the  de 
posits  of  public  money  in  the  United  States 
Bank.  He  retired  from  the  presidency 
with  high  honors,  and  died  eight  years 
afterwards  at  his  home,  the  celebrated 
"  Hermitage,"  in  Tennessee,  in  full  posses 
sion  of  all  his  faculties,  and  strong  to  the 
last  in  the  ruling  passion  of  his  soul — love 
of  country. 

The  4th  of  March,  1837,  ushered  in  an 
other  Democratic  administration — the  be 
ginning  of  the  term  of  Martin  Van  Buren 
as  President  of  the  United  States.  In  his 
inaugural  address  he  commented  on  the 
prosperous  condition  of  the  country,  and 
declared  it  to  be  his  policy  to  strictly  abide 
by  the  Constitution  as  written — no  latitu- 
dinarian  constructions  permitted,  or  dotibt- 
fal  powers  assumed;  that  his  political 
chart  should  be  the  doctrines  of  the  demo 


cratic  school,  as  understood  at  the  original 
formation  of  parties. 

The  President,  however,  was  scarcely 
settled  in  his  new  office  when  a  financial 
panic  struck  the  country  with  irresistible 
force.  A  general  suspension  of  the  banks, 
a  depreciated  currency,  and  insolvency  of 
!;he  federal  treasury  were  at  hand.  The 
public  money  had  been  placed  in  the  cus- 
x)dy  of  the  local  banks,  and  the  notes  of  all 
:hese  banks,  and  of  all  others  in  the  coun 
try,  were  received  in  payment  of  public 
dues.  On  the  10th  of  'May,  1837,  the 
aanks  throughout  the  country  suspended 
specie  payments.  The  stoppage  of  the  de 
posit  banks  was  the  stoppage  of  the  Trea 
sury.  Non-payment  by  the  government 
was  an  excuse  for  non-payment  by  others. 
The  suspension  was  now  complete  ;  and  it 
was  evident,  and  as  good  as  admitted  by 
those  who  had  made  it,  that  it  was  the 
effect  of  contrivance  on  the  part  of  politi 
cians  and  the  so-called  Bank  of  the  United 
States  (which,  after  the  expiration  of  its 
national  charter,  had  become  a  State  cor 
poration  chartered  by  the  Legislature  of 
Pennsylvania  in  January,  1836)  for  the 
purpose  of  restoring  themselves  to  power. 
The  whole  proceeding  became  clear  to 
those  who  could  see  nothing  while  it  was 
in  progress.  Even  those  of  the  democratic 
party  whose  votes  had  helped  to  do  the 
mischief,  could  now  see  that  the  attempt  to 
deposit  forty  millions  with  the  States  was 
destruction  to  the  deposit  banks ;  that  the 
repeal  of  President  Jackson's  order,  known 
as  the  "specie  circular" — requiring  pay 
ment  for  public  lands  to  be  in  coin — was  to 
fill  the  treasury  with  paper  money,  to  be 
found  useless  when  wanted ;  that  distress 
was  purposely  created  to  throw  blame  of 
it  upon  the  party  in  power;  that  the 
promptitude  with  which  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  had  been  brought  forward 
as  a  remedy  for  the  distress,  showed  that  it 
had  been  held  in  reserve  for  that  purpose  ; 
and  the  delight  with  which  the  whig  party 
saluted  the  general  calamity,  showed  that 
they  considered  it  their  own  passport  to 
power.  Financial  embarrassment  and 
general  stagnation  of  business  diminished 
the  current  receipts  from  lands  and 
customs,  and  actually  caused  an  absolute 
deficit  in  the  public  treasury.  In  conse 
quence,  the  President  found  it  an  inexora 
ble  necessity  to  issue  his  proclamation  con 
vening  Congress  in  extra  session. 

The  first  session  of  the  twenty -fifth  Con 
gress  met  in  extra  session,  at  the  call  of 
the  President,  on  the  first  Monday  of  Sep 
tember,  1837.  The  message  was  a  review 
of  the  events  and  causes  which  had  brought 
about  the  panic ;  a  defense  of  the  policy  of 
the  "  specie  circular,"  and  a  recommenda 
tion  to  break  off  all  connection  with  any 
bank  of  issue  in  any  form ;  looking  to  the 
establishment  of  an  Independent  Treasury, 


DEMOCRATS    AND    WHIGS. 


37 


and  that  the  Government  provide  for  the 
deficit  in  the  treasury  by  the  issue  of 
treasury  notes  and  by  withholding  the  de 
posit  due  to  the  States  under  the  act  then 
in  force.  The  message  and  its  recom 
mendations  were  violently  assailed  both  in 
the  Senate  and  House  by  able  and  effec 
tive  speakers,  notably  by  Messrs.  Clay  and 
Webster,  and  also  by  Mr.  Caleb  Gushing, 
of  Massachusetts,  who  made  a  formal  and 
elaborate  reply  to  the  whole  document 
under  thirty -two  distinct  heads,  and  recit 
ing  therein  all  the  points  of  accusation 
against  the  democratic  policy  from  the  be 
ginning  of  the  government  down  to  that 
day.  The  result  was  that  the  measures 
proposed  by  the  Executive  were  in  sub 
stance  enacted;  and  their  passage  marks 
an  era  in  our  financial  history — making  a 
total  and  complete  separation  of  Bank  and 
State,  and  firmly  establishing  the  principle 
that  the  government  revenues  should  be 
receivable  in  coin  only. 

The  measures  of  consequence  discussed 
and  adopted  at  this  session,  were  the 
graduation  of  price  of  public  lands  under 
the  pre-emption  system,  which  was  adopt 
ed;  the  bill  to  create  an  independent 
Treasury,  which  passed  the  Senate,  but 
failed  in  the  House ;  and  the  question  of 
the  re-charter  of  the  district  banks,  the 
proportion  for  reserve,  and  the  establish 
ment  of  such  institutions  on  a  specie  basis. 
The  slavery  question  was  again  agitated  in 
consequence  of  petitions  from  citizens  and 
societies  in  the  Northern  States,  and  a 
memorial  from  the  General  Assembly  of 
Vermont,  praying  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and 
territories,  and  for  the  exclusion  of  future 
slave  states  from  the  Union.  These  peti 
tions  and  memorials  were  disposed  of  ad 
versely;  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  representing 
the  ultra-Southern  interest,  in  several  able 
speeches,  approved  of  the  Missouri  com 
promise,  he  urged  and  obtained  of  the 
Senate  several  resolutions  declaring  that 
the  federal  government  had  no  power  to 
interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States ;  and 
that  it  would  be  inexpedient  and  impolitic 
to  interfere,  abolish  or  control  it  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  and  the  territories. 
These  movements  for  and  against  slavery 
in  the  session  of  1837-38  deserve  to  be  no 
ticed,  as  of  disturbing  effect  at  the  time, 
and  as  having  acquired  new  importance 
from  subsequent  events. 

The  first  session  of  the  twenty-sixth 
Congress  opened  December,  1839.  The 
organization  of  the  House  was  delayed  by 
a  closely  and  earnestly  contested  election 
from  the  State  of  New  Jersey.  Five  De 
mocrats  claiming  seats  as  against  an  equal 
number  of  Whigs.  Neither  set  was  admit 
ted  until  after  the  election  of  Speaker, 
which  resulted  in  the  choice  of  Robert  M. 
T.  Hunter,  of  Virginia,  the  Whig  candi 


date,  who  was  elected  by  the  full  Whig 
vote  with  the  aid  of  a  few  democrats — 
friends  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  who  had  for  seve 
ral  previous  sessions  been  acting  with  the 
Whigs  on  several  occasions.  The  House 
excluding  the  five  contested  seats  from 
New  Jersey,  was  really  Democratic ;  hav 
ing  122  members,  and  the  Whigs  113  mem 
bers.  The  contest  for  the  Speakership  was 
long  and  arduous,  neither  party  adhering 
to  its  original  caucus  candidate.  Twenty 
scattering  votes,  eleven  of  whom  were 
classed  as  Whigs,  and  nine  as  Democrats, 
prevented  a  choice  on  the  earlier  ballots, 
and  it  was  really  Mr.  Calhoun's  Democrat 
ic  friends  uniting  with  a  solid  Whig  vote 
on  the  final  ballot  that  gained  that  party 
the  election.  The  issue  involved  was  a 
vital  party  question  as  involving  the  or 
ganization  of  the  House.  The  chief  mea 
sure,  of  public  importance,  adopted  at  this 
session  of  Congress  was  an  act  to  provide 
for  the  collection,  safe-keeping,  and  dis 
bursing  of  the  public  money.  It  practi 
cally  revolutionized  the  system  previously 
in  force,  and  was  a  complete  and  effectual 
separation  of  the  federal  treasury  and  the 
Government,  from  the  banks  and  moneyed 
corporations  of  the  States.  It  was  violent 
ly  opposed  by  the  Whig  members,  led  by 
Mr.  Clay,  and  supported  by  Mr.  Gushing, 
but  was  finally  passed  in  both  Houses  by  a 
close  vote. 

At  this  time,  and  in  the  House  of  Re 
presentatives,  was  exhibited  for  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  Congress,  the  pre 
sent  practice  of  members  "pairing  off,"  as 
it  is  called ;  that  is  to  say,  two  members  of 
opposite  political  parties,  or  of  opposite 
views  on  any  particular  subject,  agreeing 
to  absent  themselves  from  the  duties  of  the 
House,  for  the  time  being.  The  practice 
was  condemned  on  the  floor  of  the  House 
by  Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams,  who  intro 
duced  a  resolution:  "That  the  practice, 
first  openly  avowed  at  the  present  session 
of  Congress,  of  pairing  off,  involves,  on 
the  part  of  the  members  resorting  to  it, 
the  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  of  an  express  rule  of  this 
House,  and  of  the  duties  of  both  parties  in 
the  transaction,  to  their  immediate  consti 
tuents,  to  this  House,  and  to  their  coun 
try."  This  resolution  was  placed  in  the 
calendar  to  take  its  turn,  but  not  being 
reached  during  the  session,  was  not  voted 
on.  That  was  the  first  instance  of  this 
justly  condemned  practice,  fifty  years  after 
the  establishment  of  the  Government ;  but 
since  then  it  has  become  common,  even  in 
veterate,  and  is  now  carried  to  great  lengths. 

The  last  session  of  the  twenty-sixth  Con 
gress  was  barren  of  measures,  and  neces*- 
sarily  so,  as  being  the  last  of  our  adminis 
tration  superseded  by  the  popular  voice, 
and  soon  to  expire  ;  and  therefore  restric 
ted  by  a  sense  of  propriety,  during  the 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


brief  remainder  of  its  existence,  to  the  de 
tails  of  business  and  the  routine  of  service. 
The  cause  of  this  was  the  result  of  the 
presidential  election  of  1840.  The  same 
candidates  who  fought  the  battle  of  1836 
were  again  in  the  field.  Mr.  Van  Buren 
was  the  Democratic  candidate.  His  ad 
ministration  had  been  satisfactory  to  his 
party,  and  his  nomination  for  a  second 
term  was  commended  by  the  party  in  the 
different  States  in  appointing  their  dele 
gates  ;  so  that  the  proceedings  of  the  con 
vention  which  nominated  him  were  en 
tirely  harmonious  and  formal  in  their  na 
ture.  Mr.  Richard  M.  Johnson,  the  ac 
tual  Vice-President,  was  also  nominated 
for  Vice-President. 

On  the  Whig  ticket,  General  William 
Henry  Harrison,  of  Ohio,  was  the  candi 
date  for  President,  and  Mr.  John  Tyler,  of 
Virginia,  for  Vice-President.  The  lead 
ing  statesmen  of  the  Whig  party  were 
again  put  aside,  to  make  way  for  a  milita 
ry  man,  prompted  by  the  example  in  the 
nomination  of  General  Jackson,  the  men 
who  managed  presidential  elections  be 
lieving  then  as  now  that  military  renown 
wag  a  passport  to  popularity  and  rendered 
a  candidate  more  sure  of  election.  Availa 
bility — for  the  purpose — was  the  only  abili 
ty  asked  for.  Mr.  Clay,  the  most  promi 
nent  Whig  in  the  country,  and  the  ac 
knowledged  head  of  the  party,  was  not 
deemed  available ;  and  though  Mr.  Clay 
was  a  candidate  before  the  convention,  the 
proceedings  were  so  regulated  that  his 
nomination  was  referred  to  a  committee, 
ingeniously  devised  and  directed  for  the 
afterwards  avowed  purpose  of  preventing 
his  nomination  and  securing  that  of  Gene 
ral  Harrison ;  and  of  producing  the  intend 
ed  result  without  showing  the  design,  and 
without  leaving  a  trace  behind  to  show 
what  was  done.  The  scheme  (a  modifica 
tion  of  which  has  since  been  applied  to 
subsequent  national  conventions,  and  out 
of  which  many  bitter  dissensions  have  again 
and  again  arisen)  is  embodied  and  was 
executed  in  and  by  means  of  the  following 
resolution  adopted  by  the  convention : 
"  Ordered,  That  the  delegates  from  each 
State  be  requested  to  assemble  as  a  delega 
tion,  and  appoint  a  committee,  not  exceed 
ing  three  in  number,  to  receive  the  views 
and  opinions  of  such  delegation,  and  com 
municate  the  same  to  the  assembled  com- 
mittes  of  all  the  delegations,  to  be  by  them 
respectively  reported  to  their  principals  ; 
and  that  thereupon  the  delegates  from 
each  State  be  requested  to  assemble  as  a 
delegation,  and  ballot  for  candidates  for 
the  offices  of  President  and  Vice-Presi 
dent,  and  having  done  so,  to  commit  the 
ballot  designating  the  votes  of  each  candi 
date,  and  by  whom  given,  to  its  commit 
tee,  and  thereupon  all  the  committees 
shall  assemble  and  compare  the  several 


ballots,  and  report  the  result  of  the  same 
to  their  several  delegations,  together  with 
such  facts  as  may  bear  upon  the  nomina 
tion  ;  and  said  delegation  shall  forthwith 
re-assemble  and  ballot  again  for  candidates 
for  the  above  offices,  and  again  commit 
the  result  to  the  above  committees,  and  if 
it  shall  appear  that  a  majority  of  the  bal 
lots  are  for  any  one  man  for  candidate  for 
President,  said  committee  shall  report  the 
result  to  the  convention  for  its  considera 
tion  ;  but  if  there  shall  be  no  such  majori 
ty,  then  the  delegation  shall  repeat  the 
balloting  until  such  a  majority  shall  be 
obtained,  and  then  report  the  same  to  the 
convention  for  its  consideration.  That  the 
vote  of  a  majority  of  each  delegation  shall 
be  reported  as  the  vote  of  that  State ;  and 
each  State  represented  here  shall  vote  its 
full  electoral  vote  by  such  delegation  in 
the  committee."  This  was  a  sum  in  poli 
tical  algebra,  whose  quotient  was  known, 
but  the  quantity  unknown  except  to  those 
who  planned  it ;  and  the  result  was — for 
General  Scott,  16  votes ;  for  Mr.  Clay,  90 
votes;  for  General  Harrison,  148  votes. 
And  as  the  law  of  the  convention  implied- 
ly  requires  the  absorption  of  all  minorities, 
the  106  votes  were  swallowed  up  by  the 
148  votes  and  made  to  count  for  General 
Harrison,  presenting  him  as  the  unani 
mity  candidate  of  the  convention,  and  the 
defeated  candidates  and  all  their  friends 
bound  to  join  in  his  support.  And  in  this 
way  the  election  of  1840  was  effected — a 
process  certainly  not  within  the  purview 
of  those  framers  of  the  constitution  who 
supposed  they  were  giving  to  the  nation 
the  choice  of  its  own  chief  magistrate. 

The  contest  before  the  people  was  a 
long  and  bitter  one,  the  severest  ever 
known  in  the  country,  up  to  that  time,  and 
scarcely  equalled  since.  The  whole  Whig 
party  and  the  large  league  of  suspended 
banks,  headed  by  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  making  its  last  struggle  for  a  new 
national  charter  in  the  effort  to  elect  a 
President  friendly  to  it,  were  arrayed 
against  the  Democrats,  whose  hard-money 
policy  and  independent  treasury  schemes, 
met  with  little  favor  in  the  then  depressed 
condition  of  the  country.  Meetings  were 
held  in  every  State,  county  and  town ;  the 
people  thoroughly  aroused;  and  every 
argument  made  in  favor  of  the  respective 
candidates  and  parties,  which  could  pos 
sibly  have  any  effect  upon  the  voters.  The 
canvass  was  a  thorough  one,  and  the  elec 
tion  was  carried  for  the  Whig  candidates, 
who  received  234  electoral  votes  coming 
from  19  States.  The  remaining  60  electo 
ral  votes  of  the  other  9  States,  were  given 
to  the  Democratic  candidate  ;  though  the 
popular  vote  was  not  so  unevenly  divided  ; 
the  actual  figures  being  1,275,611  for  the 
Whig  ticket,  against  1,135,761  for  the 
Democratic  ticket.  It  was  a  complete  rout 


WHIGS    AND    DEMOCRATS— THE    HOUR    RULE. 


39 


of  the  Democratic  party,  but  without  the 
moral  effect  of  victory. 

On  March  4,  1841,  was  inaugurated  as 
President,  Gen'l  Wm.  H.  Harrison,  the 
first  Chief  Magistrate  elected  by  the  Whig 
party,  and  the  first  President  who  was  not 
a  Democrat,  since  the  installation  of  Gen'l 
Jackson,  March  4,  1829.  His  term  was  a 
short  one.  He  issued  a  call  for  a  special 
session  of  Congress  to  convene  the  31st  of 
May  following,  to  consider  the  condition 
of  the  revenue  and  finances  of  the  country, 
but  did  not  live  to  meet  it.  Taken  ill 
with  a  fatal  malady  during  the  last  days  of 
March,  he  died  on  the  4th  of  April  follow 
ing,  having  been  in  office  just  one  month. 
He  was  succeeded  by  the  Vice-President, 
John  Tyler.  Then,  for  the  first  time  in 
our  history  as  a  government,  the  person 
elected  to  the  Vice-Presidency  of  the 
United  States,  by  the  happening  of  a  con 
tingency  provided  for  in  the  constitution, 
had  devolved  upon  him  the  Presidential 
office. 

The  twenty-seventh  Congress  opened  in 
extra  session  at  the  call  of  the  late  Presi 
dent,  May  31,  1841.  A  Whig  member- 
Mr.  White  of  Kentucky — was  elected 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
The  Whigs  had  a  majority  of  forty-seven 
in  the  House  and  of  seven  in  the  Senate, 
and  with  the  President  and  Cabinet  of  the 
same  political  party  presented  a  harmony 
of  aspect  frequently  wanting  during  the 
three  previous  administrations.  The  first 
measure  of  the  new  dominant  party  was 
the  repeal  of  the  independent  treasury  act 
passed  at  the  previous  session;  and  the 
next  in  order  were  bills  to  establish  a  sys 
tem  of  bankruptcy,  and  for  distribution  of 
public  land  revenue.  The  former  was 
more  than  a  bankrupt  law ;  it  was  practi 
cally  an  insolvent  law  for  the  abolition  of 
debts  at  the  will  of  the  debtor.  It  applied 
to  all  persons  in  debt,  allowed  them  to 
institute  the  proceedings  in  the  district 
where  the  petitioner  resided,  allowed  con 
structive  notices  to  creditors  in  newspapers 
— declared  the  abolition  of  the  debt  where 
effects  were  surrendered  and  fraud  not 
proved ;  and  gave  exclusive  jurisdiction  to 
the  federal  courts,  at  the  will  of  the  debtor. 
It  was  framed  upon  the  model  of  the  Eng 
lish  insolvent  debtors'  act  of  George  the 
Fourth,  and  embodied  most  of  the  pro 
visions  of  that  act,  but  substituting  a  re 
lease  from  the  debt  instead  of  a  release 
from  imprisonment.  The  bill  passed  by  a 
close  vote  in  both  Houses. 

The  land  revenue  distribution  bill  of 
this  session  had  its  origin  in  the  fact  that 
the  States  and  corporations  owed  about  two 
hundred  millions  to  creditors  in  Europe. 
These  debts  were  in  stocks,  much  depre 
ciated  by  the  failure  in  many  instances  to 
pay  the  accruing  interest — in  some  in 
stances  failure  to  provide  for  the  principal. 


These  creditors,  becoming  uneasy,  wished 
the  federal  government  to  assume  their 
debts.  The  suggestion  was  made  as  early 
as  1838,  renewed  in  1839,  and  in  1840  be 
came  a  regular  question  mixed  up  with  the 
Presidential  election  of  that  year,  and 
openly  engaging  th.3  active  exertions  of 
foreigners.  Direct  assumption  was  not 
urged ;  indirect  by  giving  the  public  land 
revenue  to  the  States  was  the  mode  pur 
sued,  and  the  one  recommended  in  the 
message  of  President  Tyler.  Mr.  Calhoun 
spoke  against  the  measure  with  more  than 
usual  force  and  clearness,  claiming  that  it 
was  unconstitutional  and  without  warrant. 
Mr.  Benton  on  the  same  side  called  it  a 
squandering  of  the  public  patrimony,  and 
pointed  out  its  inexpediency  in  the  de 
pleted  state  of  the  treasury,  apart  from  its 
other  objectionable  features.  It  passed  by 
a  party  vote. 

This  session  is  remarkable  for  the  insti 
tution  of  the  hour  rule  in  the  House  of 
Representatives — a  very  great  limitation 
upon  the  freedom  of  debate.  It  was  a 
Whig  measure,  adopted  to  prevent  delay 
in  the  enactment  of  pending  bills.  It  was 
a  rigorous  limitation,  frequently  acting  as 
a  bar  to  profitable  debate  and  checking 
members  in  speeches  which  really  impart 
information  valuable  to  the  House  and  the 
country.  No  doubt  the  license  of  debate 
has  been  frequently  abused  in  Congress,  as 
in  all  other  deliberative  assemblies,  but  the 
incessant  use  of  the  previous  question, 
which  cuts  off  all  debate,  added  to  the 
hour  rule  which  limits  a  speech  to  sixty 
minutes  (constantly  reduced  by  interrup 
tions)  frequently  results  in  the  transaction 
of  business  in  ignorance  of  what  they  are 
about  by  those  who  are  doing  it. 

The  rule  worked  so  well  in  the  House, 
for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  devised — 
made  the  majority  absolute  master  of  the 
body — that  Mr.  Clay  undertook  to  have 
the  same  rule  adopted  in  the  Senate ;  but 
the  determined  opposition  to  it,  both  by 
his  political  opponents  and  friends,  led  to 
the  abandonment  of  the  attempt  in  that 
chamber. 

Much  discussion  took  place  at  this  ses 
sion,  over  the  bill  offered  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  for  the  relief  of  the  widow 
of  the  late  President — General  Harrison — 
appropriating  one  year's  salary.  It  was 
strenuously  opposed  by  the  Democratic 
members,  as  unconstitutional,  on  account 
of  its  principle,  as  creating  a  private  pen 
sion  list,  and  as  a  dangerous  precedent. 
Many  able  speeches  were  made  against  the 
bill,  both  in  the  Senate  and  House ;  among 
others,  the  following  extract  from  the 
speech  of  an  able  Senator  contains  some 
interesting  facts.  He  said  :  "  Look  at  the 
case  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  a  man  than  whom 
no  one  that  ever  existed  on  God's  earth 
were  the  human  family  more  indebted  to. 


40 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


His  furniture  and  his  estate  were  sold  to 
satisfy  his  creditors.  His  posterity  was 
driven  from  house  and  home,  and  his  bones 
now  lay  in  soil  owned  by  a  stranger.  His 
family  are  scattered  :  some  of  his  descend 
ants  are  married  in  foreign  lands.  Look 
at  Monroe — the  able,  the  patriotic  Monroe, 
whose  services  were  revolutionary,  whose 
blood  was  spilt  in  the  war  of  Independence, 
whose  life  was  worn  out  in  civil  service, 
and  whose  estate  has  been  sold  for  debt, 
his  family  scattered,  and  his  daughter 
buried  in  a  foreign  land.  Look  at  Madi 
son,  the  model  of  every  virtue,  public  or 
private,  and  he  would  only  mention  in 
connection  with  this  subject,  his  love  of 
order,  his  economy,  and  his  systematic 
regularity  in  all  his  habits  of  business. 
He,  when  his  term  of  eight  years  had  ex 
pired,  sent  a  letter  to  a  gentleman  (a  son 
of  whom  is  now  on  this  floor)  [Mr.  Pres 
ton],  enclosing  a  note  of  five  thousand 
dollars,  which  he  requested  him  to  en 
dorse,  and  raise  the  money  in  Virginia,  so 
as  to  enable  him  to  leave  this  city,  and  re 
turn  to  his  modest  retreat — his  patrimonial 
inheritance — in  that  State.  General  Jack 
son  drew  upon  the  consignee  of  his  cot 
ton  crop  in  New  Orleans  for  six  thousand 
dollars  to  enable  him  to  leave  the  seat 
of  government  without  leaving  creditors 
behind  him.  These  were  honored  leaders 
of  the  republican  party.  They  had  all 
been  Presidents.  They  had  made  great 
sacrifices,  and  left  the  presidency  deeply 
embarrassed ;  and  yet  the  republican  party 
who  had  the  power  and  the  strongest  dis 
position  to  relieve  their  necessities,  felt 
they  had  no  right  to  do  so  by  appropri 
ating  money  from  the  public  Treasury. 
Democracy  would  not  do  this.  It  was 
left  for  the  era  of  federal  rule  and  federal 
supremacy — who  are  now  rushing  the 
country  with  steam  power  into  all  the 
abuses  and  corruptions  of  a  monarchy, 
with  its  pensioned  aristocracy — and  to  en 
tail  upon  the  country  a  civil  pension  list." 

There  was  an  impatient  majority  in  the 
House  in  favor  of  the  passage  of  the  bill. 
The  circumstances  were  averse  to  delibera 
tion — a  victorious  party,  come  into  power 
after  a  heated  election,  seeing  their  elected 
candidate  dying  on  the  threshold  of  his 
administration,  poor  and  beloved :  it  was  a 
case  for  feeling  more  than  of  judgment,  es 
pecially  with  the  political  friends  of  the 
deceased— but  few  of  whom  could  follow 
the  counsels  of  the  head  against  the  impul 
sions  of  the  heart. 

The  bill  passed,  and  was  approved ;  and 
as  predicted,  it  established  a  precedent 
which  has  since  been  followed  in  every 
similar  case. 

The  subject  of  naval  pensions  received 
more  than  usual  consideration  at  this  ses 
sion.  The  question  arose  on  the  discussion 
of  the  appropriation  bill  for  that  purpose. 


A  difference  about  a  navy — on  the  point 
of  how  much  and  what  kind — had  always 
been  a  point  of  difference  between  the  two 
great  political  parties  of  the  Union,  which, 
under  whatsoever  names,  are  always  the 
same,  each  preserving  its  identity  in  prin 
ciples  and  policy,  but  here  the  two  parties 
divided  upon  an  abuse  which  no  one  could 
deny  or  defend.  A  navy  pension  fund  had 
been  established  under  the  act  of  1832, 
which  was  a  just  and  proper  law,  but  on 
the  3d  of  March,  1837,  an  act  was  passed 
entitled  "  An  act  for  the  more  equitable 
distribution  of  the  Navy  Pension  Fund." 
That  act  provided :  I.  That  Invalid  naval 
pensions  should  commence  and  date  back 
to  the  time  of  receiving  the  inability,  in 
stead  of  completing  the  proof.  II.  It  ex 
tended  the  pensions  for  death  to  all  cases 
of  death,  whether  incurred  in  the  line  of 
duty  or  not.  III.  It  extended  the  widow's 
pensions  for  life,  when  five  years  had  been 
the  law  both  in  the  army  and  navy.  IV. 
It  adopted  the  English  system  of  pension 
ing  children  of  deceased  marines,  until 
they  attained  their  majority. 

The  effect  of  this  law  was  to  absorb  and 
bankrupt  the  navy  pension  fund,  a  meri 
torious  fund  created  out  of  the  government 
share  of  prize  money,  relinquished  for  that 
purpose,  and  to  throw  the  pensions, 
arrears  as  well  as  current  and  future,  upon 
the  public  treasury,  where  it  was  never  in 
tended  they  were  to  be.  It  was  to  repeal 
this  act,  that  an  amendment  was  intro 
duced  at  this  session  on  the  bringing  for 
ward  of  the  annual  appropriation  bill  for 
navy  pensions,  and  long  and  earnest  were 
the  debates  upon  it.  The  amendment  was 
lost,  the  Senate  dividing  on  party  lines, 
the  Whigs  against  and  the  Democrats  for 
the  amendment.  The  subject  is  instruc 
tive,  as  then  was  practically  ratified  and  re- 
enacted  the  pernicious  practice  authorized 
by  the  act  of  1837,  of  granting  pensions  to 
date  from  the  time  of  injury  and  not 
from  the  time  of  proof;  and  has  grown  up 
to  such  proportions  in  recent  years  that 
the  last  act  of  Congress  appropriating 
money  for  arrears  of  pensions,  provided 
for  the  payment  of  such  an  enormous  sum 
of  money  that  it  would  have  appalled  the 
original  projectors  of  the  act  of  1837  could 
they  have  seen  to  what  their  system  has 
led. 

Again,  at  this  session,  the  object  of  the 
tariff  occupied  the  attention  of  Congress. 
The  compromise  act,  as  it  was  called,  of 
1833,  which  was  composed  of  two  parts — 
one  to  last  nine  years,  for  the  benefit  of 
manufactures ;  the  other  to  last  for  ever, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  planting  and  con 
suming  interest — was  passed,  as  herein 
before  stated,  in  pursuance  of  an  agree 
ment  between  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Calhoun 
and  their  respective  friends,  at  the  time 
the  former  was  urging  the  necessity  for  A 


THE    NATIONAL    BANK    BILL. 


41 


continuance  of  high  tariff  for  protection 
and  revenue,  and  the  latter  was  presenting 
and  justifying  before  Congress  the  nullifi 
cation  ordinance  adopted  by  the  Legisla 
ture  of  South  Carolina.  To  Mr.  Clay  and 
Mr.  Calhoun  it  was  a  political  necessity, 
one  to  get  rid  of  a  stumbling-block  (which 
protective  tariff  had  become) ;  the  other  to 
escape  a  personal  peril  which  his  nullify 
ing  ordinance  had  brought  upon  him,  and 
with  both,  it  was  a  piece  of  policy,  to 
enable  them  to  combine  against  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  by  postponing  their  own  conten 
tion;  and  a  device  on  the  part  of  its 
author  (Mr.  Clayton,  of  Delaware)  and 
Mr.  Clay  to  preserve  the  protective  system. 
It  provided  for  a  reduction  of  a  certain  per 
centage  each  year,  on  the  duties  for  the 
ensuing  nine  years,  until  the  revenue  was 
reduced  to  20  per  cent,  ad  valorem  on  all 
articles  imported  into  the  country.  In 
consequence  the  revenue  was  so  reduced 
that  in  the  last  year,  there  was  little  more 
than  half  what  the  exigencies  of  the 
govornment  required,  and  different  modes, 
by  loans  and  otherwise,  were  suggested  to 
meet  the  deficiency.  The  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  had  declared  the  necessity  of 
loans  and  taxes  to  carry  on  the  govern 
ment  ;  a  loan  bill  for  twelve  millions  had 
been  passed ;  a  tariff  bill  to  raise  fourteen 
millions  was  depending ;  and  the  chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  Mr. 
Millard  Fillmore,  defended  its  necessity  in 
an  able  speech.  His  bill  proposed  twenty 
per  cent,  additional  to  the  existing  duty 
on  certain  specified  articles,  sufficient  to 
make  up  the  amount  wanted.  This  en 
croachment  on  a  measure  so  much 
vaunted  when  passed,  and  which  had  been 
kept  inviolate  while  operating  in  favor  of 
one  of  the  parties  to  it,  naturally  excited 
complaint  and  opposition  from  the  other, 
and  Mr.  Gilmer,  of  Virginia,  in  a  speech 
against  the  new  bill,  said :  "  In  referring 
to  the  compromise  act,  the  true  character 
istics  of  that  act  which  recommended  it 
strongly  to  him,  were  that  it  contemplated 
that  duties  were  to  be  levied  for  revenue 
only,  and  in  the  next  place  to  the  amount 
only  necessary  to  the  supply  of  the  economi 
cal  wants  of  the  government.  He  begged 
leave  to  call  the  attention  of  the  committee 
to  the  principle  recognized  as  the  lan 
guage  of  the  compromise,  a  principle  which 
ought  to  be  recognized  in  all  time  to  come 
by  every  department  of  the  government. 
It  is,  that  duties  to  be  raised  for  revenue 
are  to  be  raised  to  such  an  amount  only  as 
is  necessary  for  an  economical  administra 
tion  of  the  government.  Some  incidental  | 
protection  must  necessarily  be  given,  and 
he,  for  one,  coming  from  an  anti-tariff  por 
tion  of  the  country,  would  not  object  to 
it." 

The  bill  went  to  the  Senate  where  it 
found  Mr  Clay  and  Mr.  Calhoun  in  posi 


tions  very  different  from  what  they  occu 
pied  when  the  compromise  act  was  passed 
— then  united,  now  divided — then  concur 
rent,  now  antagonistic,  and  the  antago 
nism  general,  upon  all  measures,  was  to  be 
special  upon  this  one.  Their  connection 
with  the  subject  made  it  their  function 
to  lead  off  in  its  consideration ;  and  their 
antagonist  positions  promised  sharp  en 
counters,  which  did  not  fail  to  come.  Mr. 
Clay  said  that  he  "  observed  that  the 
Senator  from  South  Carolina  based  his 
abstractions  on  the  theories  of  books  on 
English  authorities,  and  on  the  arguments 
urged  in  favor  of  free  trade  by  a  certain 
party  in  the  British  Parliament.  Now  he, 
(Mr.  Clay,)  and  his  friends  would  not  ad 
mit  of  these  authorities  being  entitled  to- 
as  much  weight  as  the  universal  practice 
of  nations,  which  in  all  parts  of  the  world 
was  found  to  be  in  favor  of  protecting  home 
manufactures  to  an  extent  sufficient  to 
keep  them  in  a  flourishing  condition. 
This  was  the  whole  difference.  The  Sena 
tor  was  in  favor  of  book  theory  and  ab 
stractions  :  he  (Mr.  Clay)  and  his  friends, 
were  in  favor  of  the  universal  practice  of 
nations,  and  the  wholesome  and  necessary 
protection  of  domestic  manufactures." 

Mr.  Calhoun  in  reply,  referring  to  his 
allusion  to  the  success  in  the  late  election 
of  the  tory  party  in  England,  said :  "  The 
interests,  objects,  and  aims  of  the  tory 
party  there  and  the  whig  party  here,  are 
identical.  The  identity  of  the  two  parties 
is  remarkable.  The  tory  party  are  the 
patrons  of  corporate  monopolies ;  and  are 
not  you  f  They  are  advocates  of  a  high 
tariff;  and  are  not  you?  They  are  support 
ers  of  a  national  bank ;  and  are  not  you  ? 
They  are  for  corn-laws — laws  oppressive 
to  the  masses  of  the  people,  and  favorable 
to  their  own  power;  and  are  not  youf 
Witness  this  bill.  *  *  *  The  success 
of  that  party  in  England,  and  of  the  whig 
party  here,  is  the  success  of  the  great 
money  power,  which  concentrates  the  in 
terests  of  the  two  parties,  and  identifies 
their  principles." 

The  bill  was  passed  by  a  large  majority, 
upon  the  general  ground  that  the  govern 
ment  must  have  revenue. 

The  chief  measure  of  the  session,  and  the 
great  object  of  the  whig  party — the  one  for 
which  it  had  labored  for  ten  years — was 
for  the  re-charter  of  a  national  bank. 
Without  this  all  other  measures  would  be 
deemed  to  be  incomplete,  and  the  victori 
ous  election  itself  but  little  better  than  a 
defeat.  The  President,  while  a  member  of 
the  Democratic  party,  had  been  opposed 
to  the  United  States  Bank ;  and  to  over 
come  any  objections  he  might  have  the 
bill  was  carefully  prepared,  and  studiously 
contrived  to  avoid  the  President's  objec 
tions,  and  save  his  consistency — a  point 
upon  which  he  was  exceedingly  sensitive. 


42 


AMERICAN    POLITICS, 


The  democratic  members  resisted  strenu 
ously,  in  order  to  make  the  measure  odious, 
but  successful  resistance  was  impossible. 
It  passed  both  houses  by  a  close  vote ;  and 
contrary  to  all  expectation  the  President 
disapproved  the  act,  but  with  such  expres 
sions  of  readiness  to  approve  another  bill 
which  should  be  free  from  the  objections 
which  he  named,  as  still  to  keep  his  party 
together,  and  to  prevent  the  resignation  of 
his  cabinet.  In  his  veto  message  the 
President  fell  back  upon  his  early  opinions 
against  the  constitutionality  of  a  national 
bank,  so  often  and  so  publicly  expressed. 

The  veto  caused  consternation  among 
the  whig  members ;  and  Mr.  Clay  openly 
gave  expression  to  his  dissatisfaction,  in 
the  debate  on  the  veto  message,  in  terms 
to  assert  that  President  Tyler  had  violated 
his  faith  to  the  whig  party,  and  had  been 
led  off  from  them  by  new  associations. 
He  said :  "  And  why  should  not  President 
Tyler  have  suffered  the  bill  to  become  a 
law  without  his  signature?  Without 
meaning  the  slightest  possible  disrespect  to 
him  (nothing  is  further  from  my  heart  than 
the  exhibition  of  any  such  feeling  towards 
that  distinguished  citizen,  long  my  per 
sonal  friend),  it  cannot  be  forgotten  that  he 
came  into  his  present  office  under  peculiar 
circumstances.  The  people  did  not  foresee 
the  contingency  which  has  happened. 
They  voted  for  him  as  Vice  President. 
They  did  not,  therefore,  scrutinize  his 
opinions  with  the  care  which  they  probably 
ought  to  have  done,  and  would  have  done, 
if  they  could  have  looked  into  futurity.  If 
the  present  state  of  the  fact  could  have 
been  anticipated — if  at  Harrisburg,  or  at 
the  polls,  it  had  been  foreseen  that  General 
Harrison  would  die  in  one  short  month 
after  the  commencement  of  his  administra 
tion  ;  so  that  Vice  President  Tyler  would 
be  elevated  to  the  presidential  chair ;  that 
a  bill  passed  by  decisive  majorities  of  the 
first  whig  Congress,  chartering  a  national 
bank,  would  be  presented  for  his  sanction  ; 
and  that  he  would  veto  the  bill,  do  I 
hazard  anything  when  I  express  the  con 
viction  that  he  would  not  have  received  a 
solitary  vote  in  the  nominating  convention, 
nor  one  solitary  electoral  vote  in  any  State 
in  the  Union  ?  " 

The  vote  was  taken  on  the  bill  over 
again,  as  required  by  the  constitution,  and 
so  far  from  receiving  a  two-thirds  vote,  it 
received  only  a  bare  majority,  and  was  re 
turned  to  the  House  with  a  message  stating 
his  objections  to  it,  where  it  gave  rise  to 
some  violent  speaking,  more  directed  to 
the  personal  conduct  of  the  President  than 
to  the  objections  to  the  bill  stated  in  his 
message.  The  veto  was  sustained ;  and  so 
ended  the  second  attempt  to  resuscitate  the 
old  United  States  Bank  under  a  new  name. 
This  second  movement  to  establish  the 
bank  has  a  secret  history.  It  almost  caused 


the  establishment  of  a  new  party,  with  Mr. 
Tyler  as  its  head;  earnest  efforts  having 
been  made  in  that  behalf  by  many  promi 
nent  Whigs  and  Democrats.  The  entire 
cabiaet,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Webster, 
resigned  within  a  few  days  after  the  second 
veto.  It  was  a  natural  thing  for  them  to 
do,  and  was  not  unexpected.  Indeed  Mr. 
Webster  had  resolved  to  tender  his  resigna 
tion  also,  but  on  reconsideration  determined 
to  remain  and  publish  his  reasons  there 
for  in  a  letter  to  the  National  Intelligencer, 
in  the  following  words : 

"  Lest  any  misapprehension  should  ex 
ist,  as  to  the  reasons  which  led  me  to  differ 
from  the  course  pursued  by  my  late  col 
leagues,  I  wish  to  say  that  I  remain  in  my 
place,  first,  because  I  have  seen  no  sufficient 
reasons  for  the  dissolution  of  the  late  Cabi 
net,  by  the  voluntary  act  of  its  own  mem 
bers.  I  am  perfectly  persuaded  of  the  ab 
solute  necessity  of  an  institution,  under  the 
authority  of  Congress,  to  aid  revenue  and 
financial  operations,  and  to  give  the  country 
the  blessings  of  a  good  currency  and  cheap 
exchanges.  Notwithstanding  what  has 
passed,  I  have  confidence  that  the  Presi 
dent  will  co-operate  with  the  legislature  in 
overcoming  all  difficulties  in  the  attain 
ment  of  these  objects ;  and  it  is  to  the 
union  of  the  Whig  party — by  which  I 
mean  the  whole  party,  the  Whig  President, 
the  Whig  Congress,  and  the  Whig  people — 
that  I  look  for  a  realization  of  our  wishes. 
I  can  look  nowhere  else.  In  the  second 
place  if  I  had  seen  reasons  to  resign  my 
office,  I  should  not  have  done  so,  without 
giving  the  President  reasonable  notice,  and 
affording  him  time  to  select  the  hands  to 
which  he  should  confide  the  delicate  and 
important  affairs  now  pending  in  this  de 
partment." 

The  conduct  of  the  President  in  the 
matter  of  the  vetoes  of  the  two  bank  bills 
produced  revolt  against  him  in  the  party ; 
and  the  Whigs  of  the  two  Houses  of  Con 
gress  held  several  formal  meetings  to  con 
sider  what  they  should  do  in  the  new  con 
dition  of  affairs.  An  address  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States  was  resolved  upon. 
The  rejection  of  the  bank  bill  gave  great 
vexation  to  one  side,  and  equal  exultation 
to  the  other.  The  subject  was  not  per 
mitted  to  rest,  however ;  a  national  bank 
waa  the  life — the  vital  principle — of  the 
Whig  party,  without  which  it  could  not 
live  as  a  party;  it  was  the  power  which 
was  to  give  them  power  and  the  political 
and  financial  control  of  the  Union.  A 
second  attempt  was  made,  four  days  after 
the  veto,  to  accomplish  the  end  by  amend 
ments  to  a  bill  relating  to  the  currency, 
which  had  been  introduced  early  in  the 
session.  Mr.  Sargeant  of  Pennsylvania, 
moved  to  strike  out  all  after  the  enacting 
clause,  and  insert  his  amendments,  which 
were  substantially  the  same  as  the  vetoed 


THE    SECOND    BANK    BILL. 


43 


"bill,  except  changing  the  amount  of  capi 
tal  and  prohibiting  discounts  on  notes  other 
than  bills  of  exchange.  The  bill  was 
pushed  to  a  vote  with  astonishing  rapidity, 
and  passed  by  a  decided  majority.  In  the 
Senate  the  bill  went  to  a  select  committee 
which  reported  it  back  without  alteration, 
as  had  been  foreseen,  the  committee  consist 
ing  entirely  of  friends  of  the  measure ;  and 
there  was  a  majority  for  it  on  final  passage. 
Concurred  in  by  the  Senate  without  alter 
ation,  it  was  returned  to  the  House,  and 
thence  referred  to  the  President  for  his 
approval  or  disapproval.  It  was  disap 
proved  and  it  was  promulgated  in  language 
intended  to  mean  a  repudiation  of  the 
President,  a  permanent  separation  of  the 
Whig  party  from  him,  and  to  wash  their 
hands  of  all  accountability  for  his  acts. 
An  opening  paragraph  of  the  address  set 
forth  that,  for  twelve  years  the  Whigs  had 
carried  on  a  contest  for  the  regulation  of 
the  currency,  the  equalization  of  exchanges, 
the  economical  administration  of  the  finan 
ces,  and  the  advancement  of  industry — all 
to  be  accomplished  by  means  of  a  national 
bank— declaring  these  objects  to  be  mis 
understood  by  no  one  and  the  bank  itself 
held  to  be  secured  in  the  Presidential  elec 
tion,  and  its  establishment  the  main  object 
of  the  extra  session.  The  address  then 

Eroceeds  to  state  how  these  plans  were 
•ustrated : 

"  It  is  with  profound  and  poignant  regret 
that  we  find  ourselves  called  upon  to  in 
voke  your  attention  to  this  point.  Upon 
the  great  and  leading  measure  touching 
this  question,  our  anxious  endeavors  to 
respond  to  the  earnest  prayers  of  the 
nation  have  been  frustrated  by  an  act  as 
unlocked  for  as  it  is  to  be  lamented.  We 
grieve  to  say  to  you  that  by  the  exercise  of 
that  power  in  the  constitution  which  has 
ever  been  regarded  with  suspicion,  and 
often  with  odium,  by  the  people — a  power 
which  we  had  hoped  was  never  to  be  ex 
hibited  on  this  subject,  by  a  Whig  Presi 
dent — we  have  been  defeated  in  two  at 
tempts  to  create  a  fiscal  agent,  which  the 
wants  of  the  country  had  demonstrated  to 
us,  in  the  most  absolute  form  of  proof  to 
be  eminently  necessary  and  proper  in  the 
present  emergency.  Twice  have  we  with 
the  utmost  diligence  and  deliberation 
matured  a  plan  for  the  collection,  safe 
keeping  and  disbursing  of  the  public 
moneys  through  the  agency  of  a  corpora 
tion  adapted  to  that  end,  and  twice  has  it 
been  our  fate  to  encounter  the  opposition 
of  the  President,  through  the  application 
of  the  veto  power.  *  *  *  We  are  con 
strained  to  say  that  we  find  no  ground  to 
justify  us  in  the  conviction  that  the  veto 
of  the  President  has  been  interposed  on 
this  question  solely  upon  conscientious  and 
well-considered  opinions  of  constitutional 
acruple  as  to  his  duty  in  the  case  presented. 


On  the  contrary,  too  many  proofs  have  been 
forced  upon  our  observation  to  leave  us 
free  from  the  apprehension  that  the  Presi 
dent  has  permitted  himself  to  be  beguiled 
into  an  opinion  that  by  this  exhibition  of 
his  prerogative  he  might  be  able  to  divert 
the  policy  of  his  administration  into  a 
channel  which  should  lead  to  new  political 
combinations,  and  accomplish  results  which 
must  overthrow  the  present  divisions  of 
party  in  the  country ;  and  finally  produce 
a  state  of  things  which  those  who  elected 
him,  at  least,  have  never  contemplated. 

*  -X-  *  *•  *  # 

In  this  state  of  things,  the  Whigs  will 
naturally  look  with  anxiety  to  the  future, 
and  inquire  what  are  the  actual  relations 
between  the  President  and  those  who 
brought  him  into  power;  and  what,  in 
the  opinion  of  their  friends  in  Congress, 
should  be  their  course  hereafter.  *  *  * 
The  President  by  his  withdrawal  of  confi 
dence  from  his  real  friends  in  Congress 
and  from  the  members  of  his  cabinet ;  by 
his  bestowal  of  it  upon  others  notwith 
standing  their  notorious  opposition  to  lead 
ing  measures  of  his  administrations  has 
voluntarily  separated  himself  from  those 
by  whose  exertions  and  suffrage  he  was 
elevated  to  that  office  through  which  he 
has  reached  his  present  exalted  station. 
*  #  *  *  The  consequence  is,  that  those 
who  brought  the  President  into  power  can 
be  no  longer,  in  any  manner  or  degree, 
justly  held  responsible  or  blamed  for  the 
administration  of  the  executive  branch  of 
the  government;  and  the  President  and 
his  advisers  should  be  exclusively  here 
after  deemed  accountable.  *  *  *  The 
conduct  of  the  President  has  occasioned 
bitter  mortification  and  deep  regret.  Shall 
the  party,  therefore,  yielding  to  sentiments 
of  despair,  abandon  its  duty,  and  submit 
to  defeat  and  disgrace  ?  Far  from  suffer 
ing  such  dishonorable  consequences,  the 
very  disappointment  which  it  has  unfor 
tunately  experienced  should  serve  only  to 
redouble  its  exertions,  and  to  inspire  it 
with  fresh  courage  to  persevere  with  a 
spirit  unsubdued  and  a  resolution  unshak 
en,  until  the  prosperity  of  the  country  is 
fully  re-established,  and  its  liberties  firmly 
secured  against  all  danger  from  the  abuses, 
encroachments  or  usurpations  of  the  ex 
ecutive  department  of  the  government." 

This  was  the  manifesto,  so  far  as  it  con 
cerns  the  repudiation  of  President  Tyler, 
which  Whig  members  of  Congress  put 
forth:  it  was  answered  (under  the  name  of 
an  address  to  his  constituents)  by  Mr. 
Gushing,  in  a  counter  special  plea — coun 
ter  to  it  on  all  points — especially  on  the 
main  question  of  which  party  the  Presi 
dent  was  to  belong  to;  the  manifesto 
of  the  Whigs  assigning  him  to  the  de 
mocracy — the  address  of  Mr.  Gushing, 
claiming  him  for  the  Whigs.  It  was  es- 


44 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


pecially  severe  on  Mr.  Clay,  as  setting  up 
a  caucus  dictatorship  to  coerce  the  Presi 
dent;  and  charged  that  the  address  em 
anated  from  this  caucus,  and  did  not  embody 
or  represent  the  sentiments  of  all  Whig 
leaders ;  and  referred  to  Mr.  Webster's  let 
ter,  and  his  remaining  in  the  cabinet  as 
proof  of  this.  But  it  was  without  avail 
against  the  concurrent  statements  of  the 
retiring  senators,  and  the  confirmatory 
statements  of  many  members  of  Congress. 
The  Whig  party  recoiled  from  the  Presi 
dent,  and  instead  of  the  unity  predicted  by 
Mr.  Webster,  there  was  diversity  and  wide 
spread  dissension.  The  Whig  party  re 
mained  with  Mr.  Clay ;  Mr.  Webster  re 
tired,  Mr.  Gushing  was  sent  on  a  foreign 
mission,  and  the  President,  seeking  to  en 
ter  the  democratic  ranks,  was  refused  by 
them,  and  left  to  seek  consolation  in  pri 
vacy,  for  his  political  errors  and  omissions. 

The  extra  session,  called  by  President 
Harrison,  held  under  Mr.  Tyler,  domi 
nated  by  Mr.  Clay,  commenced  May  31, 
and  ended  Sept.  13,  1841 — and  was  replete 
with  disappointed  calculations,  and  nearly 
barren  of  permanent  results.  The  Dur- 
poses  for  which  it  was  called  into  being, 
failed.  The  first  annual  message  of  Presi 
dent  Tyler,  at  the  opening  of  the  regular 
session  in  December,  1841,  coming  in  so 
soon  after  the  termination  of  the  extra  ses 
sion,  was  brief  and  meagre  of  topics,  with 
few  points  of  interest. 

In  the  month  of  March,  1842,  Mr.  Henry 
Clay  resigned  his  place  in  the  Senate,  and 
delivered  a  valedictory  address  to  that 
body.  He  had  intended  this  step  upon 
the  close  of  the  previous  presidential  cam 
paign,  but  had  postponed  it  to  take  per 
sonal  charge  of  tne  several  measures  which 
would  be  brought  before  Congress  at  the 
special  session — the  calling  of  which  he 
foresaw  would  be  necessary.  He  resigned 
not  on  account  of  age,  or  infirmity,  or  dis 
inclination  for  public  life ;  but  out  of  dis 
gust — profound  and  inextinguishable.  He 
had  been  basely  defeated  for  the  Presi 
dential  nomination,  against  the  wishes  of 
the  Whig  party,  of  which  he  was  the  ac 
knowledged  head — he  had  seen  his  leading 
measures  vetoed  by  the  President  whom 
his  party  had  elected— the  downfall  of  the 
Bank  for  which  he  had  so  often  pledged 
himself— and  the  insolent  attacks  of  the 
petty  adherents  of  the  administration  in 
the  two  Houses :  all  these  causes  acting  on 
his  proud  and  lofty  spirit,  induced  this 
withdrawal  from  public  life  for  which  he 
was  so  well  fitted. 

The  address  opened  with  a  retrospect  of 
his  early  entrance  into  the  Senate,  and  a 
grand  encomium  upon  its  powers  and  dig 
nity  as  he  hud  found  it,  and  left  it.  Mem 
ory  went  back  to  that  early  year,  1806, 
when  just  past  thirty  years  of  age,  he  en 
tered  the  United  States  Senate,  and  com 


menced  his  high  career — a  wide  and  lumi 
nous  horizon  before  him,  and  will  and 
talent  to  fill  it.  He  said :  "  From  the  year 
1806,  the  period  of  my  entering  upon  this 
noble  theatre  of  my  public  service,  with 
but  short  intervals,  down  to  the  present 
time,  I  have  been  engaged  in  the  service 
of  my  country.  Of  the  nature  and  value 
of  those  services  which  I  may  have  ren 
dered  during  my  long  career  of  public  life, 
it  does  not  become  me  to  speak.  History, 
if  she  deigns  to  notice  me,  and  posterity — 
if  a  recollection  of  any  humble  service 
which  I  may  have  rendered,  shall  be 
transmitted  to  posterity — will  be  the  best, 
truest,  and  most  impartial  judges ;  and  to 
them  I  defer  for  a  decision  upon  their 
value.  But,  upon  one  subject,  I  may  be 
allowed  to  speak.  As  to  my  public  acts 
and  public  conduct,  they  are  for  the  judg 
ment  of  my  fellow  citizens;  but  my  private 
motives  of  action — that  which  prompted 
me  to  take  the  part  which  I  may  have 
done,  upon  great  measures  during  their 
progress  in*  the  national  councils,  can  be 
known  only  to  the  Great  Searcher  of  the 
human  heart  and  myself;  and  I  trust  I 
shall  be  pardoned  for  repeating  again  a 
declaration  which  I  made  thirty  years  ago : 
that  whatever  error  I  may  have  committed 
— and  doubtless  I  have  committed  many 
during  my  public  service — I  may  appeal 
to  the  Divine  Searcher  of  hearts  for  the 
truth  of  the  declaration  which  I  now  make, 
with  pride  and  confidence,  that  I  have 
been  actuated  by  no  personal  motives — 
that  I  have  sought  no  personal  aggrandize 
ment — no  promotion  from  the  advocacy  of 
those  various  measures  on  which  I  have 
been  called  to  act — that  I  have  had  an 
eye,  a  single  eye,  a  heart,  a  single  heart, 
ever  devoted  to  what  appeared  to  be  the 
best  interests  of  the  country." 

Mr.  Clay  led  a  great  party,  and  for  a 
long  time,  whether  he  dictated  to  it  or  not, 
and  kept  it  well  bound  together,  without 
the  usual  means  of  forming  and  leading 
parties.  It  was  surprising  that,  without 
power  and  patronage,  he  was  able  so  long 
and  so  undividedly  to  keep  so  great  a  party 
together,  and  lead  it  so  unresistingly.  He 
had  great  talents,  but  not  equal  to  some 
whom  he  led.  He  had  eloquence — superior 
in  popular  effect,  but  not  equal  in  high 
oratory  to  that  of  some  others.  But  his 
temperament  was  fervid,  his  will  was 
strong,  and  his  courage  daring ;  and  these 
qualities,  added  to  his  talents,  gave  him 
the  lead  and  supremacy  in  his  party,  where 
he  was  always  dominant.  The  farewell 
address  made  a  deep  impression  upon  the 
Senators  present ;  and  after  its  close,  Mr. 
Preston  brought  the  ceremony  to  a  conclu 
sion,  by  moving  an  adjournment,  which 
was  agreed  to. 

Again  at  this  session  was  the  subject  of 
the  tariff  considered,  but  this  time,  as  a 


WHIGS    AND    DEMOCRATS. 


45 


matter  of  absolute  necessity,  to  provide  a  j 
revenue.  Never  before  were  the  coffers  | 
and  the  credit  of  the  treasury  at  so  low  an  | 
ebb.  A  deficit  of  fourteen  millions  in  the  j 
treasury — a  total  inability  to  borrow,  j 
either  at  home  or  abroad,  the  amount  of 
the  loan  of  twelve  millions  authorized  the  ! 
year  before — the  treasury  notes  below  par,  I 
and  the  revenues  from  imports  inadequate 
and  decreasing. 

The  compromise  act  of  1833  in  reducing  j 
the  duties  gradually  through  nine  years,  • 
to  a  fixed  low  rate ;  the  act  of  1837  in  dis 
tributing  the  surplus  revenue;  and  the 
continual  and  continued  distribution  of 
the  land  revenue,  had  brought  about  this 
condition  of  things.  The  remedy  was 
sought  in  a  bill  increasing  the  tariff,  and 
suspending  the  land  revenue  distribution. 
Two  such  bills  were  passed  in  a  single 
month,  and  both  vetoed  by  the  President. 
It  was  now  near  the  end  of  August.  Con 
gress  had  been  in  session  for  an  unpre- 
cedentedly  long  time.  Adjournment  could 
not  be  deferred,  and  could  not  take  place 
without  providing  for  the  Treasury.  The 
compromise  act  and  the  land  distribution 
were  the  stumbling-blocks :  it  was  resolved 
to  sacrifice  them  together ;  and  a  bill  was 
introduced  raising  the  duties  above  the 
fixed  rate  of  twenty  per  cent.,  and  that 
breach  of  the  mutual  assurance  in  relation 
to  the  compromise,  immediately  in  terms 
of  the  assurance,  suspended  the  land 
revenue  distribution — to  continue  it  sus 
pended  while  duties  above  the  compromise 
limit  continued  to  be  levied.  And  as  that 
has  been  the  case  ever  since,  the  distribu 
tion  of  the  land  revenue  has  been  sus 


pended  ever  since.     The  bill  was  p; 
and  approved  by  the  President,  and  Con 
gress  thereupon  adjourned. 

The  subject  of  the  navy  was  also  under 
consideration  at  this  session.  The  naval 
policy  of  the  United  States  was  a  question 
of  party  division  from  the  origin  of  parties 
in  the  early  years  of  the  government — the 
Federal  party  favoring  a  strong  and 
splendid  navy,  the  Republican  a  moderate 
establishment,  adapted  to  the  purposes  of 
defense  more  than  of  offense.  And  this 
line  of  division  has  continued.  Under  the 
Whig  regime  the  policy  for  a  great  navy 
developed  itself.  The  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  recommended  a  large  increase  of 
ships,  seamen  and  officers,  involving  a 
heavy  expense,  though  the  government 
was  not  in  a  condition  to  warrant  any  such 
expenditure,  and  no  emergency  required 
an  increase  in  that  branch  of  the  public 
service.  The  vote  was  taken  upon  the  in 
crease  proposed  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  and  recommended  by  the  President; 
and  it  was  carried,  the  yeas  and  nays  being 
well  defined  by  the  party  line. 

The  first  session  of  the  twenty-eighth 
Congress,  which  convened  December  1843, 


exhibited  in  its  political  complexion,  se 
rious  losses  in  the  Whig  following.  The 
Democratic  candidate  for  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  was  elected  over 
the  Whig  candidate — the  vote  standing 
128  to  59.  Thus  an  adverse  majority  of 
more  than  two  to  one  was  the  result  to  the 
Whig  party  at  the  first  election  after  the 
extra  session  of  1841.  The  President's 
message  referred  to  the  treaty  which  had 
lately  been  concluded  with  Great  Britain 
relative  to  the  northwestern  territory  ex 
tending  to  the  Columbia  river,  including 
Oregon  and  settling  the  boundary  lines; 
and  also  to  a  pending  treaty  with  Texas 
for  her  annexation  to  the  United  States ; 
and  concluded  with  a  recommendation 
for  the  establishment  of  a  paper  currency 
to  be  issued  and  controlled  by  the  Federal 
government. 

For  more  than  a  year  before  the  meeting 
of  the  Democratic  Presidential  Conven 
tion  in  Baltimore,  in  May  1844,  it  was 
evident  to  leading  Democrats  that  Martin 
Van  Buren  was  the  choice  of  the  party. 
To  overcome  this  popular  current  and 
turn  the  tide  in  favor  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  who 
desired  the  nomination,  resort  was  had  to 
the  pending  question  of  the  annexation 
of  Texas.  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  known  to 
be  against  it,  and  Mr.  Calhoun  for  it.  To 
gain  time,  the  meeting  of  the  convention 
was  postponed  from  December  previous, 
which  had  been  the  usual  time  for  holding 
such  elections,  until  the  following  May. 
The  convention  met,  and  consisted  of  two 
hundred  and  sixty-six  delegates,  a  decided 
majority  of  whom  were  for  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
and  cast  their  votes  accordingly  on  the  first 
ballot.  But  a  chairman  had  been  selected, 
who  was  adverse  to  his  nomination ;  and 
aided  by  a  rule  adopted  by  the  convention, 
which  required  a  concurrence  of  two-thirds 
to  effect  a  nomination,  the  opponents  of 
Mr.  Van  Buren  were  able  to  accomplish 
his  defeat.  Mr.  Calhoun  had,  before  the 
meeting  of  the  convention,  made  known 
his  determination,  in  a  public  address,  not 
to  suffer  his  name  to  go  before  that  as 
semblage  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency, 
and  stated  his  reasons  for  so  doing,  which 
were  founded  mainly  on  the  manner  in 
which  the  convention  was  constituted ;  his 
objections  being  to  the  mode  of  choosing 
delegates,  and  the  manner  of  their  giving 
in  their  votes — he  contending  for  district 
elections,  and  the  delegates  to  vote  indi 
vidually.  South  Carolina  was  not  repre 
sented  in  the  convention.  After  the  first 
ballot  Mr.  Van  Buren's  vote  sensibly  de 
creased,  until  finally,  Mr.  James  K.  Polk, 
who  was  a  candidate  for  the  Vice  Presi 
dency,  was  brought  forward  and  nominated 
unanimously  for  the  chief  office.  Mr. 
Geo.  M.  Dallas  was  chosen  as  his  colleague 
for  the  Vice  Presidency.  The  nomination 
of  these  gentlemen,  neither  of  whom  had 


46 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


been  mentioned  until  late  in  the  proceed- ' 
ings  of  the  convention,  for  the  offices  for 
which  they  were  finally  nominated,  was  a 
genuine  surprise  to  the  country.  No 
voice  in  favor  of  it  had  been  heard ;  and 
no  visible  sign  in  the  political  horizon  had 
announced  it. 

The  Whig  convention  nominated  Henry 
Clay,  for  President;  and  Theodore  Fre- 
linghuysen  for  Vice-President. 

The  main  issues  in  the  election  which 
ensued,  were  mainly  the  party  ones  of 
Whig  and  Democrat,  modified  by  the 
tariff  and  Texas  questions.  It  resulted  in 
the  choice  of  the  Democratic  candidates, 
who  received  170  electoral  votes  as  against 
105  for  their  opponents;  the  popular 
majority  for  the  Democrats  being  238,284, 
in  a  total  vote  of  2,834,108.  Mr.  Clay  re 
ceived  a  larger  popular  vote  than  had  been 
given  at  the  previous  election  for  the 
Whig  candidate,  showing  that  he  would 
have  been  elected  had  he  then  been  the 
nominee  of  his  party ;  though  the  popular 
vote  at  this  election  was  largely  increased 
over  that  of  1840.  It  is  conceded  that  the 
36  electoral  votes  of  New  York  State  gave 
the  election  to  Mr.  Polk.  It  was  carried 
by  a  bare  majority;  due  entirely  to  the 
Gubernatorial  candidacy  of  Mr.  Silas 
Wright,  who  had  been  mentioned  for  the 
vice-presidential  nomination  in  connection 
with  Mr.  Van  Buren,  but  who  declined  it 
after  the  sacrifice  of  his  friend  and  col 
league;  and  resigning  his  seat  in  the 
Senate,  became  a  candidate  for  Governor 
of  New  York.  The  election  being  held  at 
the  same  time  as  that  for  president,  his 
name  and  popularity  brought  to  the  presi 
dential  ticket  more  than  enough  votes  to 
make  the  majority  that  gave  the  electoral 
vote  of  the  State  to  the  Democrats. 

President  Tyler's  annual  and  last  mes 
sage  to  Congress,  in  December  1844,  con 
tained,  (as  did  that  of  the  previous  year) 
an  elaborate  paragraph  on  the  subject  of 
Texas  and  Mexico;  the  idea  being  the 
annexation  of  the  former  to  the  Union,  and 
the  assumption  of  her  causes  of  grievance 
against  the  latter ;  and  a  treaty  was  pend 
ing  to  accomplish  these  objects.  The 
scheme  for  the  annexation  of  Texas  was 
framed  with  a  double  aspect — one  looking 
to  the  then  pending  presidential  election, 
the  other  to  the  separation  of  the  Southern 
States  ;  and  as  soon  as  the  rejection  of  the 
treaty  was  foreseen,  and  the  nominating 
convention  had  acted,  the  disunion  aspect 
manifested  itself  over  many  of  the  South 
ern  States — beginning  with  South  Carolina. 
Before  the  end  of  May,  a  great  meeting 
took  place  at  Ashley,  in  that  State,  to 
combine  the  slave  States  in  a  convention 
to  unite  the  Southern  States  to  Texas,  if 
Texas  should  not  be  received  into  the 
Union ;  and  to  invite  the  President  to 
convene  Congress  to  arrange  the  terms  of 


the  dissolution  of  the  Union  if  the  rejec 
tion  of  the  annexation  should  be  perse 
vered  in.  Eesponsive  resolutions  were 
adopted  in  several  States,  and  meetings 
held.  The  opposition  manifested,  brought 
the  movement  to  a  stand,  and  suppressed 
the  disunion  scheme  for  the  time  being — 
only  to  lie  in  wait  for  future  occasions. 
But  it  was  not  before  the  people  only  that 
this  scheme  for  a  Southern  convention 
with  a  view  to  the  secession  of  the  slave 
States  was  a  matter  of  discussion  ;  it  was 
the  subject  of  debate  in  the  Senate ;  and 
there  it  was  further  disclosed  that  the 
design  of  the  secessionists  was  to  extend 
the  new  Southern  republic  to  the  Califor- 
nias. 

The  treaty  of  annexation  was  supported 
by  all  the  power  of  the  administration, 
but  failed ;  and  it  was  rejected  by  the 
Senate  by  a  two-thirds  vote  against  it. 
Following  this,  a  joint  resolution  was- 
early  brought  into  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  for  the  admission  of  Texas  as  a 
State  of  the  Union,  by  legislative  action  ; 
it  passed  the  House  by  a  fair  majority, 
but  met  with  opposition  in  the  Senate  un 
less  coupled  with  a  proviso  for  negotia 
tion  and  treaty,  as  a  condition  precedent. 
A  bill  authorizing  the  President  and  a 
commissioner  to  be  appointed  to  agree 
upon  the  terms  and  conditions  of  said 
admission,  the  question  of  slavery  within 
its  limits,  its  debts,  the  fixing  of  bounda 
ries,  and  the  cession  of  territory,  was 
coupled  or  united  with  the  resolution ;  and 
in  this  shape  it  was  finally  agreed  to,  and 
became  a  law,  with  the  concurrence  of  the 
President,  March  3,  1845.  Texas  was  then 
in  a  state  of  war  with  Mexico,  though 
at  that  precise  point  of  time  an  armistice 
had  been  agreed  upon,  looking  to  a  treaty 
of  peace.  The  House  resolution  was  for  an 
unqualified  admission  of  the  State;  the 
Senate  amendment  or  bill  was  for  negotia 
tion  ;  and  the  bill  actually  passed  would 
not  have  been  concurred  in  except  on  the 
understanding  that  the  incoming  Presi 
dent  (whose  term  began  March  4,  1845, 
and  who  was  favorable  to  negotiation) 
would  act  under  the  bill,  and  appoint 
commissioners  accordingly. 

Contrary  to  all  expectation,  the  outgoing 
President,  on  the  last  day  of  his  term,  at 
the  instigation  of  his  Secretary  of  State, 
Mr.  Calhoun,  assumed  the  execution  of 
the  act  providing  for  the  admission  of 
Texas — adopted  the  legislative  clause — 
and  sent  out  a  special  messenger  with  in 
structions.  The  danger  of  this  had  been 
foreseen,  and  suggested  in  the  Senate ;  but 
close  friends  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  speaking  for 
the  administration,  and  replying  to  the 
suggestion,  indignantly  denied  it  for  them, 
and  declared  that  they  would  not  have  the 
"  audacity"  to  so  violate  the  spirit  and  in 
tent  of  the  act,  or  so  encroach  upon  the 


OREGON    TREATY    OF    1846. 


47 


rights  of  the  new  President.  These  state 
ments  from  the  friends  of  the  Secretary  and 
President  that  the  plan  by  negotiation 
would  be  adopted,  quieted  the  apprehen 
sion  of  those  Senators  opposed  to  legislative 
annexation  or  admission,  and  thus  secured 
their  votes,  without  which  the  bill  would 
have  failed  of  a  majority.  Thus  was  Texas 
incorporated  into  the  Union.  The  legisla 
tive  proposition  sent  by  Mr.  Tyler  was  ac 
cepted  :  Texas  became  incorporated  with 
the  United  States,  and  in  consequence  the 
state  of  war  was  established  between  the 
United  States  and  Mexico ;  it  only  being  a 
question  of  time  and  chance  when  the 
armistice  should  end  and  hostilities  begin. 
Although  Mr.  Calhoun  was  not  in  favor  of 
war  with  Mexico — he  believing  that  a 
money  payment  would  settle  the  differ 
ences  with  that  country  —  the  admission 
of  Texas  into  the  Union  under  the  legisla 
tive  annexation  clause  of  the  statute,  was 
really  his  act  and  not  that  of  the  Presi 
dent's  ;  and  he  was,  in  consequence,  after 
wards  openly  charged  in  the  Senate  with 
being  the  real  author  of  the  war  which 
followed. 

The  administration  of  President  Polk 
opened  March  4,  1845 ;  and  on  the  same 
day,  the  Senate  being  convened  for  the 
purpose,  the  cabinet  ministers  were  nomi 
nated  and  confirmed.  In  December  fol 
lowing  the  29th  Congress  was  organized. 
The  House  of  Representatives,  being 
largely  Democratic,  elected  the  Speaker, 
by  a  vote  of  120,  against  ^70  for  the  Whig 
candidate.  At  this  session  the  "  Ameri 
can"  party — a  new  political  organization 
— first  made  its  appearance  in  the  Na 
tional  councils,  having  elected  six  mem 
bers  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  four 
from  New  York  and  two  from  Penn 
sylvania.  The  President's  first  annual 
message  had  for  its  chief  topic,  the  admis 
sion  of  Texas,  then  accomplished,  and  the 
consequent  dissatisfaction  of  Mexico ;  and 
referring  to  the  preparations  on  the  part  of 
the  latter  with  the  apparent  intention  of 
declaring  war  on  the  United  States,  either 
by  an  open  declaration,  or  by  invading 
Texas.  The  message  also  stated  causes 
which  would  justify  this  government  in 
taking  the  initiative  in  declaring  war — 
mainly  the  non-compliance  by  Mexico 
with  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  indemnity 
of  April  11,  1839,  entered  into  between 
that  State  and  this  government  relative  to 
injuries  to  American  citizens  during  the 
previous  eight  years.  He  also  referred  to 
the  fact  of  a  minister  having  been  sent  to 
Mexico  to  endeavor  to  bring  about  a  settle 
ment  of  the  differences  between  the  na 
tions,  without  a  resort  to  hostilities.  The 
message  concluded  with  a  reference  to  the 
negotiations  with  Great  Britain  relative  to 
the  Oregon  boundary ;  a  statement  of  the 
finances  and  the  public  debt,  showing  the 


latter  to  be  slightly  in  excess  of  seventeen 
millions ;  and  a  recommendation  for  a  re 
vision  of  the  tariff,  with  a  view  to  revenue 
as  the  object,  with  protection  to  home  in 
dustry  as  the  incident. 

At  this  session  of  Congress,  the  States  of 
Florida  and  Iowa  were  admitted  into  the 
Union ;  the  former  permitting  slavery 
within  its  borders,  the  latter  denying  it. 
Long  before  this,  the  free  and  the  slave 
States  were  equal  in  number,  and  the  prac 
tice  had  grown  up  —  from  a  feeling  of 
jealousy  and  policy  to  keep  them  evenly 
balanced — of  admitting  one  State  of  each 
character  at  the  same  time.  Numerically 
the  free  and  the  slave  States  were  thus 
kept  even :  in  political  power  a  vast  in 
equality  was  going  on — the  increase  of 
population  being  so  much  greater  in  the 
northern  than  in  the  southern  region. 

The  Ashburton  treaty  of  1842  omitted  to 
define  the  boundary  line,  and  permitted, 
or  rather  did  not  prohibit,  the  joint  occu 
pation  of  Oregon  by  British  and  American 
settlers.  This  had  been  a  subject  of  dis 
pute  for  many  years.  The  country  on  the 
Columbia  River  had  been  claimed  by  both. 
Under  previous  treaties  the  American 
northern  boundary  extended  "  to  the  lati 
tude  of  49  degrees  north  of  the  equator, 
and  along  that  parallel  indefinitely  to  the 
west."  Attempts  were  made  in  1842  and 
continuing  since  to  1846,  to  settle  this 
boundary  line,  by  treaty  with  Great  Britain. 
It  had  been  assumed  that  we  had  a  divid 
ing  line,  made  by  previous  treaty,  along 
the  parallel  of  54  degrees  40  minutes  from 
the  sea  to  the  Rocky  mountains.  The  sub 
ject  so  much  absorbed  public  attention, 
that  the  Democratic  National  convention 
of  1844  in  its  platform  of  principles  de 
clared  for  that  boundary  line,  or  war  as 
the  consequence.  It  became  known  as  the 
54^40  plank,  and  was  a  canon  of  political 
faith.  The  negotiations  between  the  gov 
ernments  were  resumed  in  August,  1844. 
The  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Calhoun,  pro 
posed  a  line  along  the  parallel  of  49  de 
grees  of  north  latitude  to  the  summit  of 
the  Rocky  mountains  and  continuing  that 
line  thence  to  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  and  he 
made  this  proposition  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  the  Democratic  party — to  which  he 
belonged — were  then  in  a  high  state  of 
exultation  for  the  boundary  of  54  degrees 
40  minutes,  and  the  presidential  canvass, 
on  the  Democratic  side,  was  raging  upon 
that  cry. 

The  British  Minister  declined  this  pro 
position  in  the  part  that  carried  the  line 
to  the  ocean,  but  offered  to  continue  it 
from  the  summit  of  the  mountains  to  the 
Columbia  River,  a  distance  of  some  three 
hundred  miles,  and  then  follow  the  river 
to  the  ocean.  This  was  declined  by  Mr. 
Calhoun.  The  President  had  declared  in 
his  inaugural  address  in  favor  of  the  54-4Q 


48 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


line.  He  was  in  a  dilemma ;  to  maintain 
that  position  meant  war  with  Great  Britain ; 
to  recede  from  it  seemed  impossible.  The 
proposition  for  the  line  of  49  degrees  hav 
ing  been  withdrawn  by  the  American  gov 
ernment  on  its  non-acceptance  by  the  Brit 
ish,  had  appeased  the  Democratic  storm 
which  had  been  raised  against  the  Presi 
dent.  Congress  had  come  together  under 
the  loud  cry  of  war,  in  which  Mr.  Cass  was 
the  leader,  but  followed  by  the  body  of 
the  democracy,  and  backed  and  cheered 
by  the  whole  democratic  newspaper  press. 
Under  the  authority  and  order  of  Congress 
notice  had  been  served  on  Great  Britain 
which  was  to  abrogate  the  joint  occupation 
of  the  country  by  the  citizens  of  the  two 
powers.  It  was  finally  resolved  by  the 
British  Government  to  propose  the  line  of 
49  degrees,  continuing  to  the  ocean,  as 
originally  offered  by  Mr.  Calhoun ;  and 
though  the  President  was  favorable  to  its 
acceptance,  he  could  not,  consistently  with 
his  previous  acts,  accept  and  make  a 
treaty,  on  that  basis.  The  Senate,  with 
whom  lies  the  power,  under  the  constitu 
tion,  of  confirming  or  restricting  all  trea 
ties,  being  favorable  to  it,  without  respect 
to  party  Tines,  resort  was  had,  as  in  the 
early  practice  of  the  Government,  to  the 
President,  asking  the  advice  of  the  Senate 
upon  the  articles  of  a  treaty  before  negoti 
ation.  A  message  was  accordingly  sent  to 
the  Senate,  by  the  President,  stating  the 
proposition,  and  asking  its  advice,  thus 
shifting  the  responsibility  upon  that  body, 
and  making  the  issue  of  peace  or  war  de 
pend  upon  its  answer.  The  Senate  advised 
the  acceptance  of  the  proposition,  and  the 
treaty  was  concluded. 

The  conduct  of  the  Whig  Senators, 
without  whose  votes  the  advice  would  not 
have  been  given  nor  the  treaty  made,  was 
patriotic  in  preferring  their  country  to 
their  party — in  preventing  a  war  with 
Great  Britain — and  saving  the  administra 
tion  from  itself  and  its  party  friends. 

The  second  session  of  the  29th  Congress 
•was  opened  in  December,  1847.  The 
President's  message  was  chiefly  in  relation 
to  the  war  with  Mexico,  which  had  been 
declared  by  almost  a  unanimous  vote  in 
Congress.  Mr.  Calhoun  spoke  against  the 
declaration  in  the  Senate,  but  did  not  vote 
upon  it.  He  was  sincerely  opposed  to  the 
war,  although  his  conduct  had  produced  it. 
Had  he  remained  in  the  cabinet,  to  do 
which  he  had  not  concealed  his  wish,  he 
would,  no  doubt,  have  labored  earnestly 
to  have  prevented  it.  Many  members  of 
Congress,  of  the  same  party  with  the  ad 
ministration,  were  extremely  averse  to  the 
war,  and  had  interviews  with  the  President, 
to  see  if  it  was  inevitable,  before  it  was  de 
clared.  Members  were  under  the  impression 
that  the  war  could  not  last  above  three 
months. 


The  reason  for  these  impressions  wag 
that  an  intrigue  was  laid,  with  the  know 
ledge  of  the  Executive,  for  a  peace,  even 
before  the  war  was  declared,  and  a  special 
agent  dispatched  to  bring  about  a  return 
to  Mexico  of  its  exiled  President,  General 
Santa  Anna,  and  conclude  a  treaty  of 
peace  with  him,  on  terms  favorable  to  the 
United  States.  And  for  this  purpose  Con 
fess  granted  an  appropriation  of  three 
millions  of  dollars  to  be  placed  at  the  dis 
posal  of  the  President,  for  negotiating  for 
a  boundary  which  should  give  the  United 
States  additional  territory. 

While  this  matter  was  pending  in  Con 
gress,  Mr.  Wilmot  of  Pennsylvania  intro 
duced  and  moved  a  proviso,  >l  that  no  part 
of  the  territory  to  be  acquired  should  be 
open  to  the  introduction  of  slavery  "  It  was 
a  proposition  not  necessary  for  the  pur 
pose  of  excluding  slavery,  as  the  only  ter 
ritory  to  be  acquired  was  that  of  New 
Mexico  and  California,  where  slavery  was 
already  prohibited  by  the  Mexican  laws 
and  constitution.  The  proviso  was  there 
fore  nugatory,  and  only  served  to  bring  on 
a  slavery  agitation  in  the  United  States. 
For  this  purpose  it  was  seized  upon  by  Mr. 
Calhoun  and  declared  to  be  an  outrage 
upon  and  menace  to  the  slave-holding 
States.  It  occupied  the  attention  of  Con 
gress  for  two  sessions,  and  became  the  sub 
ject  of  debate  in  the  State  Legislatures, 
several  of  which  passed  disunion  resolu 
tions.  It  became  the  watchword  of  party — 
the  synonym  of  civil  war,  and  the  dissolu 
tion  of  the  Union.  Neither  party  really 
had  anything  to  fear  or  to  hope  from  the 
adoption  of  the  proviso — the  soil  was  free, 
and  the  Democrats  were  not  in  a  position 
to  make  slave  territory  of  it,  because  it 
had  just  enunciated  as  one  of  its  cardinal 
principles,  that  there  was  "  no  power  in 
Congress  to  legislate  upon  slavery  in  Territo 
ries"  Never  did  two  political  parties  con 
tend  more  furiously  about  nothing.  Close 
observers,  who  had  been  watching  the  pro 
gress  of  the  slavery  agitation  since  its 
inauguration  in  Congress  in  1835,  knew  it 
to  be  the  means  of  keeping  up  an  agitation 
for  the  benefit  of  the  political  parties — the 
abolitionists  on  one  side  and  the  disunion- 
ists  or  nullifiers  on  the  other — to  accom 
plish  their  own  purposes.  This  was  the 
celebrated  Wilmot  Proviso,  which  for  so 
long  a  time  convulsed  the  Union  ;  assisted 
in  forcing  the  issue  between  the  North  and 
South  on  the  slavery  question,  and  almost 
caused  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  The 
proviso  was  defeated ;  that  chance  of  the 
nullifiers  to  force  the  issue  was  lost;  an 
other  had  to  be  made,  which  was  speedily 
done,  by  the  introduction  into  the  Senate 
on  the  19th  February,  1847,  by  Mr.  Cal 
houn  of  his  new  slavery  resolutions,  de 
claring  the  Territories  to  be  the  common 
property  of  the  several  States;  denying 


TREATY  OF  PEACE  WITH  MEXICO. 


49 


the  right  of  Congress  to  prohibit  slavery 
in  a  Territory,  or  to  pass  any  law  which 
would  have  the  effect  to  deprive  the  citi 
zens  of  any  slave  State  from  emigrating 
with  his  property  (slaves)  into  such  Terri 
tory.  The  introduction  of  the  resolutions 
was  prefaced  by  an  elaborate  speech  by 
Mr.  Calhoun,  who  demanded  an  immediate 
vote  upon  them.  They  never  came  to  a 
vote ;  they  were  evidently  introduced  for 
the  mere  purpose  of  carrying  a  question  to 
the  slave  States  on  which  they  could  be 
formed  into  a  unit  against  the  free  States  ; 
and  so  began  the  agitation  which  finally 
led  to  the  abrogation  of  the  Missouri  Com 
promise  line,  and  arrayed  the  States  of  one 
section  against  those  of  the  other. 

The  Thirtieth  Congress,  which  assem 
bled  for  its  first  session  in  December,  1847, 
was  found,  so  far  as  respects  the  House  of 
Representatives,  to  be  politically  adverse 
to  the  administration.  The  Whigs  were 
in  the  majority,  and  elected  the  Speaker  ; 
Robert  C.  Winthrop,  of  Massachusetts, 
being  chosen.  The  President's  message 
contained  a  full  report  of  the  progress  of 
the  war  with  Mexico ;  the  success  of  the 
American  arms  in  that  conflict;  the  vic 
tory  of  Cerro  Gordo,  and  the  capture  of 
the  City  of  Mexico ;  and  that  negotiations 
were  then  pending  for  a  treaty  of  peace. 
The  message  concluded  with  a  reference 
to  the  excellent  results  from  the  indepen 
dent  treasury  system. 

The  war  with  Mexico  was  ended  by  the 
signing  of  a  treaty  of  peace,  in  February, 
1848,  by  the  terms  of  which  New  Mexico 
and  Upper  California  were  ceded  to  the 
United  States,  and  the  lower  Rio  Grande, 
from  its  mouth  to  El  Paso,  taken  for  the 
boundary  of  Texas.  For  the  territory  thus 
acquired,  the  United  States  agreed  to  pay 
to  Mexico  the  sum  of  fifteen  million  dol 
lars,  in  five  annual  installments ;  and  be 
sides  that,  assumed  the  claims  of  Ameri 
can  citizens  against  Mexico,  limited  to 
three  and  a  quarter  million  dollars,  out  of 
and  on  account  of  which  claims  the  war 
ostensibly  originated.  The  victories  achiev 
ed  by  the  American  commanders,  Generals 
Zachary  Taylor  and  Winfield  Scott,  during 
that  war,  won  for  them  national  reputa 
tions,  by  means  of  which  they  were  brought 
prominently  forward  for  the  Presidential 
succession. 

The  question  of  the  power  of  Congress  to 
legislate  on  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the 
Territories,  was  again  raised,  at  this  session, 
on  the  bill  for  the  establishment  of  the 
Oregon  territorial  government.  An  amend 
ment  was  offered  to  insert  a  provision  for 
the  extension  of  the  Missouri  compromise 
line  to  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  which  line  thus 
extended  was  intended  by  the  amendment 
to  be  permanent,  and  to  apply  to  all  future 
territories  established  in  the  West.  This 
amendment  was  lost,  but  the  bill  was  finally 


passed  with  an  amendment  incorporating 
into  it  the  anti-slavery  clause  of  the  ordi 
nance  of  1787.  Mr.  Calhoun,  in  the  Sen 
ate,  declared  that  the  exclusion  of  slavery 
from  any  territory  was  a  subversion  of  the 
Union;  openly  proclaimed  the  strife  be 
tween  the  North  and  South  to  be  ended, 
and  the  separation  of  the  States  accom 
plished.  His  speech  was  an  open  invoca 
tion  to  disunion,  and  from  that  time  forth, 
the  efforts  were  regular  to  obtain  a  meet 
ing  of  the  members  from  the  slave  States, 
to  unite  in  a  call  for  a  convention  of  the 
slave  States  to  redress  themselves.  He 
said :  "  The  great  strife  between  the  North 
and  the  South  is  ended.  The  North  is 
determined  to  exclude  the  property  of  the 
slaveholder,  and,  of  course,  the  slaveholder 
himself,  from  its  territory.  On  this  point 
there  seems  to  be  no  division  in  the  North. 
In  the  South,  he  regretted  to  say,  there 
was  some  division  of  sentiment.  The 
effect  of  this  determination  of  the  North 
was  to  convert  all  the  Southern  population 
into  slaves ;  and  he  would  never  consent 
to  entail  that  disgrace  on  his  posterity. 
He  denounced  any  Southern  man  who 
would  not  take  the  same  course.  Gentle 
men  were  greatly  mistaken  if  they  sup 
posed  the  Presidential  question  in  the 
South  would  override  this  more  important 
one.  The  separation  of  the  North  and  the 
South  is  completed.  The  South  has  now 
a  most  solemn  obligation  to  perform — to 
herself— to  the  constitution — to  the  Union. 
She  is  bound  to  come  to  a  decision  not  to 
permit  this  to  go  on  any  further,  but  to 
show  that,  dearly  as  she  prizes  the  Union, 
there  are  questions  which  she  regards  as 
of  greater  importance  than  the  Union. 
This  is  not  a  question  of  territorial  govern 
ment,  but  a  question  involving  the  con 
tinuance  of  the  Union."  The  President, 
n  approving  the  Oregon  bill,  took  occa 
sion  to  send  in  a  special  message,  point 
ing  out  the  danger  to  the  Union  from  the 
progress  of  the  slavery  agitation,  and  urged 
an  adherence  to  the  principles  of  the  ordi 
nance  of  1787— the  terms  of  the  Missouri 
compromise  of  1820 — as  also  that  involved 
and  declared  in  the  Texas  case  in  1845,  as 
the  means  of  averting  that  danger. 

The  Presidential  election  of  1848  was 
coming  on.  The  Democratic  convention 
met  in  Baltimore  in  May  of  that  year; 
each  State  being  represented  in  the  con 
vention  by  the  number  of  delegates  equal 
to  the  number  of  electoral  votes  it  was  en 
titled  to;  saving  only  New  York,  which 
sent  two  sets  of  delegates,  and  both  were 
excluded.  The  delegates  were,  for  the 
most  part,  members  of  Congress  and  office 
holders.  The  two-thirds  rule,  adopted  by 
the  previous  convention,  was  again  made 
a  law  of  the  convention.  The  main  ques- 
ion  which  arose  upon  the  formation  of 
the  platform  for  the  campaign,  was  the 


60 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


doctrine  advanced  by  the  Southern  mem 
bers  of  non-interference  with  slavery  in 
the  States  or  in  the  Territories.  The  can 
didates  of  the  party  were,  Lewis  Cass,  of 
Michigan,  for  President,  and  General  Wm. 
O.  Butler,  of  Kentucky,  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent. 

The  Whig  convention,  taking  advan 
tage  of  the  popularity  of  Genl.  Zachary 
Taylor,  for  his  military  achievements  in 
the  Mexican  war,  then  just  ended ;  and 
his  consequent  availability  as  a  candidate, 
nominated  him  for  the  Presidency,  over  Mr. 
Clay,  Mr.  Webster  and  General  Scott,  who 
were  his  competitors  before  the  convention. 
Millard  Fillinore  was  selected  as  the  Vice- 
presidential  candidate. 

A  third  convention  was  held,  consisting 
of  the  disaffected  Democrats  from  New 
York  who  had  been  excluded  from  the 
Baltimore  convention.  They  met  at  Utica, 
New  York,  and  nominated  Martin  Van 
Bnren  for  President,  and  Charles  Francis 
Adams  for  Vice  President.  The  princi 
ples  of  its  platform,  were,  that  Congress 
should  abolish  slavery  wherever  it  consti 
tutionally  had  the  power  to  do  so — [which 
was  intended  to  apply  to  the  District  of 
Columbia] — that  it  should  not  interfere 
with  it  in  the  slave  States — and  that  it 
should  prohibit  it  in  the  Territories.  This 
party  became  known  as  "  Free-soilers," 
from  their  doctrines  thus  enumerated,  and 
their  party  cry  of  "  free-soil,  free-speech, 
free-labor,  free-men."  The  result  of  the 
election,  as  might  have  been  foreseen,  was 
to  lose  New  York  State  to  the  Baltimore 
candidate,  and  give  it  to  the  whigs,  who 
were  triumphant  in  the  reception  of  163 
electoral  votes  for  their  candidates,  against 
127  for  the  democrats ;  and  none  for  ihe 
free-soilers. 

The  last  message  of  President  Polk,  in 
December  following,  gave  him  the  oppor 
tunity  to  again  urge  upon  Congress  the 
necessity  for  some  measure  to  quiet  the 
slavery  agitation,  and  he  recommended 
the  extension  of  the  Missouri  compromise 
line  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  passing  through 
the  new  Territories  of  California  and  New 
Mexico,  as  a  fair  adjustment,  to  meet  as 
far  as  possible  the  views  of  all  parties. 
The  President  referred  also  to  the  state  of 
the  finances;  the  excellent  condition  of 
the  public  treasury;  government  loans, 
commanding  a  high  premium ;  gold  and 
silver  the  established  currency ;  and  the 
business  interests  of  the  country  in  a  pros 
perous  condition.  And  this  was  the  state 
of  affairs,  only  one  year  after  emergency 
from  a  foreign  war.  It  would  be  unfair 
not  to  give  credit  to  the  President  and  to 
Senator  Benton  and  others  equally  promi 
nent  and  courageous,  who  at  that  time  had 
to  battle  against  the  bank  theory  and 
national  paper  money  currency,  as  strongly 
mrged  and  advocated,  and  to  prove  even 


tually  that  the  money  of  the  Constitution 
— gold  and  silver — was  the  only  currency 
to  ensure  a  successful  financial  working  of 
the  government,  and  prosperity  to  the  peo 
ple. 

The  new  President,  General  Zachary 
Taylor,  was  inaugurated  March  4,  1849. 
The  Senate  being  convened,  as  usual,  in 
extra  session,  for  the  purpose,  the  Vice 
President  elect,  Millard  Fillmore,  was  duly 
installed ;  and  the  Whig  cabinet  officers 
nominated  by  the  President,  promptly 
confirmed.  An  additional  member  of  the 
Cabinet  was  appointed  by  this  administra 
tion  to  preside  over  the  new  "  Home  De 
partment"  since  called  the  "Interior," 
created  at  the  previous  session  of  Con 
gress. 

The  following  December  Congress  met 
in  regular  session — the  31st  since  the  or 
ganization  of  the  federal  government. 
The  Senate  consisted  of  sixty  members, 
among  whom  were  Mr.  Webster,  Mr.  Cal- 
houn,  and  Mr.  Clay,  who  had  returned  to 
public  life.  The  House  had  230  members ; 
and  although  the  whigs  had  a  small  ma 
jority,  the  House  was  so  divided  on  the 
slavery  question  in  its  various  phases, 
that  the  election  for  Speaker  resulted  in 
the  choice  of  the  Democratic  candidate, 
Mr.  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  by  a  majority  of 
three  votes.  The  annual"  message  of  the 
President  plainly  showed  that  he  compre 
hended  the  dangers  to  the  Union  from  a 
continuance  of  sectional  feeling  on  the 
slavery  question,  and  he  averred  his  deter 
mination  to  stand  by  the  Union  to  the  full 
extent  of  his  obligations  and  powers.  At 
the  previous  session  Congress  had  spent 
six  months  in  endeavoring  to  frame  a  sat 
isfactory  bill  providing  territorial  govern 
ments  for  California  and  New  Mexico, 
and  had  adjourned  finally  without  accom 
plishing  it,  in  consequence  of  inability  to 
agree  upon  whether  the  Missouri  compro 
mise  line  should  be  carried  to  the  ocean, 
or  the  territories  be  permitted  to  remain 
as  they  were — slavery  prohibited  under 
the  laws  of  Mexico.  Mr.  Calhoun  brought 
forward,  in  the  debate,  a  new  doctrine — 
extending  the  Constitution  to  the  territory, 
and  arguing  that  as  that  instrument  recog 
nized  the  existence  of  slavery,  the  settlers 
in  such  territory  should  be  permitted  to 
hold  their  slave  property  taken  there,  and 
be  protected.  Mr.  Webster's  answer  to 
this  was  that  the  Constitution  was  made 
for  States,  not  territories;  that  it  cannot 
operate  anywhere,  not  even  in  the  States 
for  which  it  was  made,  without  acts  of 
Congress  to  enforce  it.  The  proposed  ex 
tension  of  the  constitution  to  territories, 
with  a  view  to  its  transportation  of  slaveiy 
along  with  it,  was  futile  and  nugatory, 
without  the  act  of  Congress  to  vitalize 
slavery  under  it.  The  early  part  of  the 
year  had  witnessed  ominous  movements — 


MR.    CLAY'S    COMPROMISE    RESOLUTIONS. 


61 


nightly  meetings  of  large  numbers  of  mem 
bers  from  the  slave  States,  led  by  Mr. 
Calhoun,  to  consider  the  state  of  things 
between  the  North  and  the  South.  They 
appointed  committees  who  prepared  an 
address  to  the  people.  It  was  in  this  con 
dition  of  things,  that  President  Taylor  ex 
pressed  his  opinion,  in  his  message,  of  the 
remedies  required.  California,  New 
Mexico  and  Utah,  had  been  left  without 
governments.  For  California,  he  recom 
mended  that  having  a  sufficient  popula 
tion  and  having  framed  a  constitution, 
she  be  admitted  as  a  State  into  the 
Union ;  and  for  New  Mexico  and  Utah, 
without  mixing  the  slavery  question  with 
their  territorial  governments,  they  be  left 
to  ripen  into  States,  and  settle  the  slavery 
question  for  themselves  in  their  State  con 
stitutions. 

With  a  view  to  meet  the  wishes  of  all 
parties,  and  arrive  at  some  definite  and 
permanent  adjustment  of  the  slavery  ques 
tion,  Mr.  Clay  early  in  the  session  in 
troduced  compromise  resolutions  which 
were  practically  a  tacking  together  of  the 
several  bills  then  on  the  calendar,  provid 
ing  for  the  admission  of  California — the 
territorial  government  for  Utah  and  New 
Mexico — the  settlement  of  the  Texas  boun 
dary — slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
— and  for  a  fugitive  slave  law.  It  was 
seriously  and  earnestly  opposed  by  many, 
as  being  a  concession  to  the  spirit  of  dis 
union — a  capitulation  under  threat  of  se 
cession  ;  and  as  likely  to  become  the  source 
of  more  contentions  than  it  proposed  to 
quiet. 

The  resolutions  were  referred  to  a  special 
committee,  who  promptly  reported  a  bill 
embracing  the  comprehensive  plan  of  com 
promise  which  Mr.  Clay  proposed.  Among 
the  resolutions  offered,  was  the  following  : 
"  Resolved,  that  as  slavery  does  not  exist 
by  law  and  is  not  likely  to  be  introduced 
into  any  of  the  territory  acquired  by  the 
United'States  from  the  Republic  of  Mexi 
co,  it  is  inexpedient  for  Congress  to  pro 
vide  by  law  either  for  its  introduction  into 
or  exclusion  from  any  part  of  the  said  ter 
ritory  ;  and  that  appropriate  territorial 
governments  ought  to  be  established  by 
Congress  in  all  of  the  said  territory,  and 
assigned  as  the  boundaries  of  the  proposed 
State  of  California,  without  the  adoption 
of  any  restriction  or  condition  on  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery."  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  of 
Mississippi,  objected  that  the  measure  gave 
nothing  to  the  South  in  the  settlement  of 
the  question ;  and  he  required  the  exten 
sion  of  the  Missouri  compromise  line  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean  as  the  least  that  he 
would  be  willing  to  take,  with  the  specific 
recognition  of  the  right  to  hold  slaves  in 
the  territory  below  that  line ;  and  that,  be 
fore  such  territories  are  admitted  into  the 
Union  as  States,  slaves  may  be  taken  there 


from  any  of  the  United  States  at  the  option 
of  their  owner. 

Mr.  Clay  in  reply,  said :  "  Coming  from 
a  slave  State,  as  I  do,  I  owe  it  to  myself,  I 
owe  it  to  truth,  I  owe  it  to  the  subject,  to 
say  that  no  earthly  power  could  induce  me 
to  vote  for  a  specific  measure  for  the  in 
troduction  of  slavery  where  it  had  not  be 
fore  existed,  either  south  or  north  of  that 
line.  *  *  *  If  the  citizens  of  those 
territories  choose  to  establish  slavery,  and 
if  they  come  here  with  constitutions  es 
tablishing  slavery,  I  am  for  admitting 
them  with  such  provisions  in  their  consti 
tutions;  but  then  it  will  be  their  own 
work,  and  not  ours,  and  their  posterity 
will  have  to  reproach  them,  and  not  us,  for 
forming  constitutions  allowing  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery  to  exist  among  them." 

Mr.  Seward  of  New  York,  proposed  a 
renewal  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  in  the  fol 
lowing  resolution:  "Neither  slavery  nor 
involuntary  servitude,  otherwise  than  by 
conviction  for  crime,  shall  ever  be  allowed 
in  either  of  said  territories  of  Utah  and 
New  Mexico ; "  but  his  resolution  was  re 
jected  in  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  23  yeas  to 
33  nays.  Following  this,  Mr.  Calhoun 
had  read  for  him  in  the  Senate,  by  his 
friend  James  M.  Mason  of  Virginia,  his 
last  speech.  It  embodied  the  points  cov 
ered  by  the  address  to  the  people,  pre 
pared  by  him  the  previous  year ;  the  prob 
ability  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  and 
presenting  a  case  to  justify  it.  The  tenor 
of  the  speech  is  shown  by  the  following  ex 
tracts  from  it:  "I  have, Senators, believed 
from  the  first,  that  the  agitation  of  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery  would,  if  not  prevented  by 
some  timely  and  effective  measure,  end  in 
disunion.  Entertaining  this  opinion,  I 
have,  on  all  proper  occasions,  endeavored  to 
call  the  attention  of  each  of  the  two  great 
parties  which  divide  the  country  to  adopt 
some  measure  to  prevent  so  great  a  disas 
ter,  but  without  success.  The  agitation  has 
been  permitted  to  proceed,  with  almost  no 
attempt  to  resist  it,  until  it  has  reached  a 
period  when  it  can  no  longer  be  disguised 
or  denied  that  the  Union  is  in  danger. 
You  have  had  forced  upon  you  the  great 
est  and  gravest  question  that  can  ever 
come  under  your  consideration :  How  can 
the  Union  be  preserved  ?***** 
Instead  of  being  weaker,  all  the  elements 
in  favor  of  agitation  are  stronger  now  than 
they  were  inlS35,  when  it  first  commenced, 
while  all  the  elements  of  influence  on  the 
part  of  the  South  are  weaker.  Unless 
something  decisive  is  done,  I  again  ask 
what  is  to  stop  this  agitation,  before  the 
great  and  final  object  at  which  it  aims— 
the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  States — is 
consummated  ?  Is  it,  then,  not  certain  that 
if  something  decisive  is  not  now  done  to 
arrest  it,  the  South  will  be  forced  to  choose 
between  abolition  and  secession  ?  Indeed 


52 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


as  events  are  now  moving,  it  will  not  re 
quire  the  South  to  secede  to  dissolve  the 
Union.  *  *  *  *  If  the  agitation  goes 
on,  nothing  will  be  left  to  hold  the  States 
together  except  force."  He  answered  the 
question,  How  can  the  Union  be  saved? 
with  which  his  speech  opened,  by  suggest 
ing.  "  To  provide  for  the  insertion  of  a 
provision  in  the  constitution,  by  an  amend 
ment,  which  will  restore  to  the  South  in 
substance  the  power  she  possessed  of  pro 
tecting  herself,  before  the  equilibrium  be 
tween  the  sections  was  destroyed  by  the 
action  of  the  government."  He  did  not 
state  of  what  the  amendment  should  con 
sist,  but  later  on,  it  was  ascertained  from 
reliable  sources  that  his  idea  was  a  dual 
executive — one  President  from  the  free, 
and  one  from  the  slave  States,  the  consent 
of  both  of  whom  should  be  required  to  all 
acts  of  Congress  before  they  become  laws. 
This  speech  of  Mr.  Calhoun's,  is  import 
ant  as  explaining  many  of  his  previous  ac 
tions  ;  and  as  furnishing  a  guide  to  those 
who  ten  years  afterwards  attempted  to 
carry  out  practically  the  suggestions 
thrown  out  by  him. 

Mr.  Clay's  compromise  bill  was  rejected. 
It  was  evident  that  no  compromise  of  any 
kind  whatever  on  the  subject  of  slavery, 
under  any  one  of  its  aspects  separately, 
much  less  under  all  put  together,  could 
possibly  be  made.  There  was  no  spirit  of 
concession  manifested.  The  numerous 
measure3  put  together  in  Mr.  Clay's  bill 
were  disconnected  and  separated.  Each 
measure  received  a  separate  and  inde 
pendent  consideration,  and  with  a  result 
which  showed  the  injustice  of  the  at 
tempted  conjunction  ;  for  no  two  of  them 
were  passed  by  the  same  vote,  even  of  the 
members  of  the  committee  which  had  even 
unanimously  reported  favorably  upon  them 
as  a  whole. 

Mr.  Calhoun  died  in  the  spring  of  1850 ; 
before  the  separate  bill  for  the  admission 
of  California  was  taken  up.  His  death 
took  place  at  Washington,  he  having 
reached  the  age  of  68  years.  A  eulogy 
upon  him  was  delivered  in  the  Senate  by 
his  colleague,  Mr.  Butler,  of  South  Caro 
lina.  Mr.  Calhoun  was  the  first  great  ad 
vocate  of  the  doctrine  of  secession.  He 
was  the  author  of  the  nullification  doc 
trine,  and  an  advocate  of  the  extreme  doc 
trine  of  States  Rights.  He  was  an  elo 
quent  speaker— a  man  of  strong  intellect. 
His  speeches  were  plain,  strong,  concise, 
sometimes  impassioned,  and  always  severe. 
Daniel  Webster  said  of  him,  that  "  he  had 
the  basis,  the  indispensable  basis  of  all 
high  characters,  and  that  was  unspotted 
integrity,  unimpeached  honor  and  char 
acter  ! " 

In  July  of  this  year  an  event  took  place 
which  threw  a  gloom  over  the  country. 
The  President,  General  Taylor,  contracted  a 


fever  from  exposure  to  the  hot  sun  at  a  cele 
bration  of  Independence  Day,  from  which 
he  died  four  days  afterwards.  He  was  a 
man  of  irreproachable  private  character, 
undoubted  patriotism,  and  established  re- 

Eutation  for  judgment  and  firmness.  His 
rief  career  showed  no  deficiency  of  poli 
tical  wisdom  nor  want  of  political  training. 
His  administration  was  beset  with  difficul 
ties,  with  momentous  questions  pending, 
and  he  met  the  crisis  with  firmness  and 
determination,  resolved  to  maintain  the 
Federal  Union  at  all  hazards.  His  first 
and  only  annual  message,  the  leading 
points  of  which  have  been  stated,  evinces 
a  spirit  to  do  what  was  right  among  all  the 
States.  His  death  was  a  public  calamity. 
No  man  could  have  been  more  devoted  to 
the  Union  nor  more  opposed  to  the  slavery 
agitation  ;  and  his  position  as  a  Southern 
man  and  a  slaveholder — his  military  repu 
tation,  and  his  election  by  a  majority  of 
the  people  as  well  as  of  the  States,  would 
have  given  him  a  power  in  the  settlement 
of  the  pending  questions  of  the  day  which 
no  President  without  these  qualifications 
could  have  possessed. 

In  accordance  with  the  Constitution,  the 
office  of  President  thus  devolved  upon  the 
Vice-President,  Mr.  Millard  Fill  more,  who 
was  duly  inaugurated  July  10,  1850.  The 
new  cabinet,  with  Daniel  Webster  as  Se 
cretary  of  State,  was  duly  appointed  and 
confirmed  by  the  Senate. 

The  bill  for  the  admission  of  California 
as  a  State  in  the  Union,  was  called  up  in 
the  Senate  and  sought  to  be  amended  by 
extending  the  Missouri  Compromise  line 
through  it,  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  so  as  to 
authorize  slavery  in  the  State  below  that 
line.  The  amendment  was  introduced  and 
pressed  by  Southern  friends  of  the  late 
Mr.  Calhoun,  and  made  a  test  question.  It 
was  lost,  and  the  bill  passed  by  a  two- 
third  vote  ;  whereupon  ten  Southern  Sena 
tors  offered  a  written  protest,  the  conclud 
ing  clause  of  which  was  :  ''  We  dissent 
from  this  bill,  and  solemnly  protest  against 
its  passage,  because  in  sanctioning  mea 
sures  so  contrary  to  former  precedents,  to 
obvious  policy,  to  the  spirit  and  intent  of 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  for 
the  purpose  of  excluding  the  slaveholding 
States  from  the  territory  thus  to  be  erected 
into  a  State,  this  government  in  effect  de 
clares  that  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from 
the  territory  of  the  United  States  is  an  ob 
ject  so  high  and  important  as  to  justify  a 
disregard  not  only  of  all  the  principles  of 
sound  policy,  but  also  of  the  constitution 
itself.  Against  this  conclusion  we  must 
now  and  for  ever  protest,  as  it  is  destruc 
tive  of  the  safety  and  liberties  of  those 
whose  rights  have  been  committed  to  our 
care,  fatal  to  the  peace  and  equality  of  the 
States  which  we  represent,  and  must  lead, 
if  persisted  in,  to  the  dissolution  of  that 


RISE    AND    PROGRESS    OF    ABOLITION    PARTY. 


53 


confederacy,  in  which  the  slaveholding 
States  have  never  sought  more  than 
equality,  and  in  which  they  will  not  be 
content  to  remain  with  less."  On  objec 
tion  being  made,  followed  by  debate,  the 
Senate  refused  to  receive  the  protest,  or 
permit  it  to  be  entered  on  the  Journal. 
The  bill  went  to  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  was  readily  passed,  and  promptly 
approved  by  the  President.  Thus  was 
virtually  accomplished  the  abrogation  of 
the  Missouri  compromise  line ;  and  the  ex 
tension  or  non-extension  of  slavery  was 
then  made  to  form  a  foundation  for  future 
political  parties. 

The  year  1850  was  prolific  with  disunion 
movements  in  the  Southern  States.  The 
Senators  who  had  joined  with  Mr.  Calhoun 
in  the  address  to  the  people,  in  1849, 
united  with  their  adherents  in  establishing 
at  Washington  a  newspaper  entitled  "The 
Southern  Press,"  devoted  to  the  agitation 
of  the  slavery  question ;  to  presenting  the 
advantages  of  disunion,  and  the  organi 
zation  of  a  confederacy  of  Southern 
States  to  be  called  the  :<  United  States 
South."  Its  constant  aim  was  to  influence 
the  South  against  the  North,  and  advoca 
ted  concert  of  action  by  the  States  of  the 
former  section.  It  was  aided  in  its  efforts 
by  newspapers  published  in  the  South, 
more  especially  in  South  Carolina  and 
Mississippi.  A  disunion  convention  was 
actually  held,  in  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and 
invited  the  assembly  of  a  Southern  Con 
gress.  Two  States,  South  Carolina  and 
Mississippi  responded  to  the  appeal; 
passed  laws  to  carry  it  into  effect,  and  the 
former  went  so  far  as  to  elect  its  quota  of 
Representatives  to  the  proposed  new 
Southern  Congress.  These  occurrences 
are  referred  to  as  showing  the  spirit  that 
prevailed,  and  the  extraordinary  and  un 
justifiable  means  used  by  the  leaders  to 
mislead  and  exasperate  the  people.  The 
assembling  of  a  Southern  "  Congress  "  was 
a  turning  point  in  the  progress  of  disunion. 
Georgia  refused  to  join ;  and  her  weight  as 
a  great  Southern  State  was  sufficient  to  cause 
the  failure  of  the  scheme.  But  the  seeds 
of  discord  were  sown,  and  had  taken  root, 
only  to  spring  up  at  a  future  time  when 
circumstances  should  be  more  favorable  to 
the  accomplishment  of  the  object. 

Although  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  had  in  1790  and  again  in  1836 
formally  declared  the  policy  of  the  govern 
ment  to  be  non-interference  with  the  States 
in  respect  to  the  matter  of  slavery  within 
the  limits  of  the  respective  States,  the  sub 
ject  continued  to  be  agitated  in  conse 
quence  of  petitions  to  Congress  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  which 
was  under  the  exclusive  control  of  the  fed 
eral  government;  and  of  movements 
throughout  the  United  States  to  limit,  and 
finally  abolish  it.  The  subject  first  made  its 


appearance  in  national  politics  in  1840,  when 
a  presidential  ticket  was  nominated  by  a 
party  then  formed  favoring  the  abolition  of 
slavery ;  it  had  a  very  slight  following 
which  was  increased  ten-fold  at  the  eleo 
tion  of  1844  when  the  same  party  again 
put  a  ticket  in  the  field  with  James  G. 
Birney  of  Michigan,  as  its  candidate  for1 
the  Presidency ;  who  received  62,140  votes. 
The  efforts  of  the  leaders  of  that  faction' 
were  continued,  and  persisted  in  to  such 
an  extent,  that  when  in  1848  it  nominated 
a  ticket  with  Gerritt  Smith  for  President, 
against  the  Democratic  candidate,  Martin 
Van  Buren,  the  former  received  296,232 
votes.  In  the  presidential  contest  of  1852 
the  abolition  party  again  nominated  a 
ticket,  with  John  P.  Hale  as  its  candidate 
for  President,  and  polled  157,926  votes. 
This  large  following  was  increased  from 
time  to  time,  until  uniting  with  a  new 
party  then  formed,  called  the  Republican 
party,  which  latter  adopted  a  platform  en 
dorsing  the  views  and  sentiments  of  the 
abolitionists,  the  great  and  decisive  battle 
for  the  principles  involved,  was  fought  in 
the  ensuing  presidential  contest  of  1856  ; 
when  the  candidate  of  the  Republican 
party,  John  C.  Fremont,  supported  by  the 
entire  abolition  party,  polled  1,341,812 
votes.  The  first  national  platform  of  the 
Abolition  party,  upon  which  it  went  into 
the  contest  of  1840,  favored  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and 
Territories ;  the  inter-state  slave  trade, 
and  a  general  opposition  to  slavery  to  the 
full  extent  of  constitutional  power. 

Following  the  discussion  of  the  subject  of 
slavery,  in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  brought  about  by  the  presenta 
tion  of  petitions  and  memorials,  and  the 
passage  of  the  resolutions  in  1836  rejecting 
such  petitions,  the  question  was  again 
raised  by  the  presentation  in  the  House, 
by  Mr.  Slade  of  Vermont,  on  the  20th 
December  1837,  of  two  memorials  praying 
the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  moving  that  they  be  re 
ferred  to  a  select  committee.  Great  excite 
ment  prevailed  in  the  chamber,  and  of  the 
many  attempts  by  the  Southern  members 
an  adjournment  was  had.  The  next  day  a 
resolution  was  offered  that  thereafter  all 
such  petitions  and  memorials  touching  the 
abolition  of  slavery  should,  when  pre 
sented,  be  laid  on  the  table ;  which  resolu 
tion  was  adopted  by  a  large  vote.  During 
the  24th  Congress,  the  Senate  pursued  the 
course  of  laying  on  the  table  the  motion  to 
receive  all  abolition  petitions;  and  both 
Houses  during  the  25th  Congress  continued 
the  same  course  of  conduct ;  when  finally 
on  the  25th  of  January  1840,  the  House 
adopted  by  a  vote  of  114  to  108,  an  amend 
ment  to  the  rules,  called  the  21st  Rule, 
which  provided : — "  that  no  petition,  me 
morial  or  resolution,  or  other  paper,  pray- 


54 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


ing  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  or  any  state  or  territory,  or 
the  slave-trade  between  the  States  or  ter 
ritories  of  the  United  States,  in  which  it 
now  exists,  shall  be  received  by  this 
House,  or  entertained  in  any  way  what 
ever."  This  rule  was  afterwards,  on  the 
8d  of  December,  1844,  rescinded  by  the 
House,  on  motion  of  Mr.  J.  Quincy  Adams, 
by  a  vote  of  108  to  80 ;  and  a  motion  to 
re-instate  it,  on  the  1st  of  December  1845, 
was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  84  to  121. 
Within  five  years  afterwards — on  the  17th 
September  1850, — the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  enacted  a  law,  which  was  ap 
proved  by  the  President,  abolishing  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

On  the  25th  of  February,  1850,  there 
was  presented  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  two  petitions  from  citizens  of  Penn 
sylvania  and  Delaware,  setting  forth  that 
slavery,  and  the  constitution  which  per 
mits  it,  violates  the  Divine  law;  is  incon 
sistent  with  republican  principles;  that 
its  existence  has  brought  evil  upon  the 
country ;  and  that  no  union  can  exist  with 
States  which  tolerate  that  institution ;  and 
asking  that  some  plan  be  devised  for  the 
immediate,  peaceful  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  The  House  refused  to  receive  and 
consider  the  petitions;  as  did  also  the 
Senate  when  the  same  petitions  were  pre 
sented  the  same  month. 

The  presidential  election  of  1852  was  the 
Last  campaign  in  which  the  Whig  party 
appeared  in  National  politics.  It  nomi 
nated  a  ticket  with  General  Winfield  Scott 
as  its  candidate  for  President.  His  oppo 
nent  on  the  Democratic  ticket  was  General 
Franklin  Pierce.  A  third  ticket  was  placed 
in  the  field  by  the  Abolition  party,  with 
John  P.  Hale  as  its  candidate  for  Presi 
dent.  The  platform  and  declaration  of 
principles  of  the  Whig  party  was  in  sub 
stance  a  ratification  and  endorsement  of 
the  several  measures  embraced  in  Mr. 
Clay's  compromise  resolutions  of  the  pre 
vious  session  of  Congress,  before  referred 
to;  and  the  policy  of  a  revenue  for  the 
economical  administration  of  the  govern 
ment,  to  be  derived  mainly  from  duties  on 
imports,  and  by  these  means  to  afford  pro 
tection  to  American  industry.  The  main 
plank  of  the  platform  of  the  Abolition 
party  (or  Independent  Democrats,  as  they 
were  called)  was  for  the  non-extension  ancl 
gradual  extinction  of  slavery.  The  Demo 
cratic  party  equally  adhered  to  the  com 
promise  measure.  The  election  resulted 
in  the  choice  of  Franklin  Pierce,  by  a 
popular  vote  of  1,601,474,  and  254  electoral 
votes,  against  a  popular  aggregate  vote  of 
1,542,403  (of  which  the  abolitionists  polled 
157,926)  and  42  electoral  votes,  for  the 
Whig  and  Abolition  candidates.  Mr. 
Pierce  was  duly  inaugurated  as  President, 
March  4,  1853. 


The  first  political  parties  in  the  United 
States,  from  the  establishment  of  the  fede 
ral  government  and  for  many  years  after 
wards,  were  denominated  Federalists  and 
Democrats,  or  Democratic  Republicans. 
The  former  was  an  anti-alien  party.  The 
latter  was  made  up  to  a  large  extent  of 
naturalized  foreigners ;  refugees  from  Eng 
land,  Ireland  and  Scotland,  driven  from 
home  for  hostility  to  the  government  or  for 
attachment  to  France.  Naturally,  aliens 
sought  alliance  with  the  Democratic  party, 
which  favored  the  war  against  Great 
Britain.  The  early  party  contests  were 
based  on  the  naturalization  laws ;  the  first 
of  which,  approved  March  26,  1790,  re 
quired  only  two  years'  residence  in  this 
country ;  a  few  years  afterwards  the  time 
was  extended  to  five  years ;  and  in  1798 
the  Federalists  taking  advantage  of  the 
war  fever  against  France,  and  then  being 
in  power,  extended  the  time  to  fourteen 
years.  (See  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  of 
1798).  Jefferson's  election  and  Demo 
cratic  victory  of  1800,  brought  the  period 
back  to  five  years  in  1802,  and  re- in  forced 
the  Democratic  party.  The  city  of  New 
York,  especially,  from  time  to  time  became 
filled  with  foreigners;  thus  naturalized; 
brought  into  the  Democratic  ranks ;  and 
crowded  out  native  Federalists  from  con 
trol  of  the  city  government,  and  to  meet 
this  condition  of  affairs,  the  first  attempt 
at  a  Native  American  organization  was 
made.  Beginning  in  1835;  ending  in 
failure  in  election  of  Mayor  in  1837,  it  was 
revived  in  April,  1844,  when  the  Native 
American  organization  carried  New  York 
city  for  its  Mayoralty  candidate  by  a  good 
majority.  The  success  of  the  movement 
there,  caused  it  to  spread  to  New  Jersey 
and  Pennsylvania.  In  Philadelphia,  it  was 
desperately  opposed  by  the  Democratic, 
Irish  and  Roman  Catholic  element,  and  so 
furiously,  that  it  resulted  in  riots,  in  which 
two  Romish  Churches  were  burned  and 
destroyed.  The  adherents  of  the  Ameri 
can  organization  were  not  confined  to 
Federalists  or  Whigs,  but  largely  of  native 
Democrats  ;  and  the  Whigs  openly  voted 
with  Democratic  Natives  in  order  to  secure 
their  vote  for  Henry  Clay  for  the  Presi 
dency  ;  but  when  in  November,  1844,  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  both  gave  Native 
majorities,  and  so  sapped  the  Whig  vote, 
that  both  places  gave  majorities  for  the 
Democratic  Presidential  electors,  the 
Whigs  drew  off.  In  1845,  at  the  April 
election  in  New  York,  the  natives  were 
defeated,  and  the  new  party  disappeared 
there.  As  a  result  of  the  autumn  election 
of  1844,  the  29th  Congress,  which  organ 
ized  in  December,  1845,  had  six  Native 
Representatives ;  four  from  New  York  and 
two  from  Pennsylvania.  In  the  30th  Con 
gress,  Pennsylvania  had  one.  Thereafter 
for  some  years,  with  the  exception  of  a 


THE    KANSAS-NEBRASKA    BILL. 


55 


small  vote  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  York, 
Nativism  disappeared.  An  able  writer  of 
that  day— Hon.  A.  H.  H.  Stuart,  of  Vir 
ginia — published  under  the  nom-de-plume 
oV  tl  Madison  "  several  letters  in  vindication 
of  the  American  party  (revived  in  1852,)  in 
which  he  said :  "  The  vital  principle  of  the 
American  party  is  Americanism — develop 
ing  itself  in  a  deep-rooted  attachment  to 
our  own  country — its  constitution,  its  union, 
and  its  laws — to  American  men,  and  Ameri 
can  measures,  and  American  interests — or, 
in  other  words,  a  fervent  patriotism — 
which,  rejecting  the  transcendental  philan 
thropy  of  abolitionists,  and  that  kindred 
batch  of  wild  enthusiasts,  who  would  seek 
to  embroil  us  with  foreign  countries,  in 
righting  the  wrongs  of  Ireland,  or  Hun 
gary,  or  Cuba — would  guard  with  vestal 
vigilance  American  institutions  and  Ameri 
can  interests  against  the  baneful  effects  of 
foreign  influence." 

About  1852,  when  the  question  of  slavery 
in  the  territories,  and  its  extension  or  its 
abolition  in  the  States,  was  agitated  and 
causing  sectional  differences  in  the  coun 
try,  many  Whigs  and  Democrats  forsook 
their  parties,  and  took  sides  on  the  ques 
tions  of  the  day.  This  was  aggravated  by 
the  large  number  of  alien  naturalized  citi 
zens  constantly  added  to  the  ranks  of 
voters,  who  took  sides  with  the  Democrats 
and  against  the  Whigs.  Nativism  then 
re-appeared,  but  in  a  new  form — that  of  a 
secret  fraternity.  Its  real  name  and  ob 
jects  were  not  revealed — even  to  its  mem 
bers,  until  they  reached  a  high  degree  in 
the  order ;  and  the  answer  of  members  on 
being  questioned  on  these  subjects  was,  "  I 
don't  know  " — which  gave  it  the  popular 
name,  by  which  it  is  yet  known,  of  "  Know- 
nothing."  Its  moving  causes  were  the 
growing  power  and  designs  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  America ;  the  sudden 
influx  of  aliens ;  and  the  greed  and  inca 
pacity  of  naturalized  citizens  for  office. 
Its  cardinal  principle  was:  "Americans 
must  rule  America  " ;  and  its  countersign 
was  the  order ^)f  General  Washington  on  a 
critical  occasion  during  the  war :  "  Put 
none  but  Americans  on  guard  to-night." 
Its  early  nominations  were  not  made  pub 
lic,  but  were  made  by  select  committees 
and  conventions  of  delegates.  At  first 
these  nominations  were  confined  to  selec 
tions  of  the  best  Whig  or  best  Democrat  on 
the  respective  tickets ;  and  the  choice  not 
being  made  known,  but  quietly  voted  for 
by  all  the  members  of  the  order,  the  effect 
was  only  visible  after  election,  and  threw 
all  calculation  into  chaos.  For  a  while  it 
was  really  the  arbiter  of  elections 

On  February  8,  1853,  a  bill  passed  the 
House  of  Representatives  providing  a  ter 
ritorial  government  for  Nebraska,  embrac 
ing  all  of  what  is  now  Kansas  and 
Nebraska.  It  was  silent  on  the  subject  of 


the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 
The  bill  was  tabled  in  the  Senate  ;  to  be 
revived  at  the  following  session.  In  the 
Senate  it  was  amended,  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Douglas,  to  read  :  "  That  so  much  of  the 
8th  section  of  an  act  approved  March  6, 
1820,  (the  Missouri  compromise)  *  *  * 
which,  being  inconsistent  with  the  princi 
ples  of  non-intervention  by  Congress  with 
slavery  in  the  States  and  Territories,  as 
recognized  by  the  legislature  of  1850,  com 
monly  called  the  Compromise  measures,  is 
hereby  declared  inoperative  and  void ;  it 
being  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of 
this  act  not  to  legislate  slavery  into  any 
Territory  or  State,  nor  to  exclude  it  there 
from,  but  to  leave  the  people  thereof  per 
fectly  free  to  form  and  regulate  their 
domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way, 
subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States."  It  was  further  amended, 
on  motion  of  Senator  Clayton,  to  prohibit 
"alien  suffrage."  In  the  House  this 
amendment  was  not  agreed  to ;  and  the 
bill  finally  passed  without  it,  on  the  25th 
May,  1854. 

So  far  as  Nebraska  was  concerned,  no 
excitement  of  any  kind  marked  the  initia 
tion  of  her  territorial  existence.  The 
persons  who  emigrated  there  seemed  to 
regard  the  pursuits  of  business  as  of  mora 
interest  than  the  discussion  of  slavery. 
Kansas  was  less  fortunate.  Her  territory 
became  at  once  the  battle-field  of  a  fierce 
political  conflict  between  the  advocates  of 
slavery,  and  the  free  soil  men  from  the 
North  who  went  there  to  resist  the  estab 
lishment  of  that  institution  in  the  terri 
tory.  Differences  arose  between  the 
Legislature  and  the  Governor,  brought 
about  by  antagonisms  between  the  Pro- 
slavery  party  and  the  Free  State  party ; 
and  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Kansas 
assumed  so  frightful  a  mien  in  January, 
1856,  that  the  President  sent  a  special 
message  to  Congress  on  the  subject, 
January  24,  1856 ;  followed  by  a  Proclama 
tion,  February  11,  1856,  "  warning  all  un 
lawful  combinations  (in  the  territory)  tr> 
retire  peaceably  to  their  respective  abodes, 
or  he  would  use  the  power  of  the  local 
militia,  and  the  available  forces  of  the 
United  States  to  disperse  them." 

Several  applications  were  made  to  Con 
gress  for  several  successive  years,  for  the 
admission  of  Kansas  as  a  state  in  the 
Union ;  upon  the  basis  of  three  separate 
and  distinct  constitutions,  all  differing  as 
to  the  main  questions  at  issue  between  the 
contending  factions.  The  name  of  Kansas 
was  for  some  years  synonymous  with  all 
that  is  lawless  and  anarchical.  Elections 
became  mere  farces,  and  the  officers  thus 
fraudulently  placed  in  power,  used  their 
authority  only  for  their  own  or  their 
party's  interest.  The  party  opposed  to 
slavery  at  length  triumphed  ;  a  constitution 


56 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


excluding  slavery  was  adopted  in  1859, 
and  Kansas  was  admitted  into  the  Union 
January  29,  1861. 

Under  the  fugitive  slave  law,  which  was 
passed  by  Congress  at  the  session  of  1850, 
as  one  of  the  Compromise  measures,  intro 
duced  by  Mr.  Clay,  a  long  and  exciting 
litigation  occurred  to  test  the  validity  and 
constitutionality  of  the  act,  and  the  several 
laws  on  which  it  depended.  The  suit  was 
instituted  by  Dred  Scott,  a  negro  slave,  in 
the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  for 
the  District  of  Missouri,  in  April  Term, 
1854,  against  John  F.  A.  Sanford,  his 
alleged  owner,  for  trespass  vi  et  armis,  in 
holding  the  plaintiff  and  his  wife  and 
daughters  in  slavery  in  said  District  of 
Missouri,  where  by  law  slavery  was  pro 
hibited  ;  they  having  been  previously  law 
fully  held  in  slavery  by  a  former  owner — 
Dr. 'Emerson — in  the  State  of  Illinois, 
from  whence  they  were  taken  by  him  to 
Missouri,  and  sold  to  the  defendent,  San- 
ford.  The  case  went  up  on  appeal  to  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and 
was  clearly  and  elaborately  argued.  The 
majority  opinion,  delivered  by  Chief  Jus 
tice  Taney,  as  also  the  dissenting  opinions, 
are  reported  in  full  in  Howard's  U.  S. 
Supreme  Court  Eeports,  Volume  19,  page 
393.  In  respect  to  the  territories  the  Con 
stitution  grants  to  Congress  the  power  "  to 
make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations 
concerning  the  territory  and  other  property 
belonging  to  the  United  States."  The 
Court  was  of  opinion  that  the  clause  of 
the  Constitution  applies  only  to  the  terri 
tory  within  the  original  States  at  the  time 
the  Constitution  was  adopted,  and  that  it 
did  not  apply  to  future  territory  acquired 
by  treaty  or  conquest  from  foreign  na 
tions.  They  were  also  of  opinion  that  the 
power  of  Congress  over  such  future  terri 
torial  acquisitions  was  not  unlimited,  that 
the  citizens  of  the  States  migrating  to  a 
territory  were  not  to  be  regarded  as 
colonists,  subject  to  absolute  power  in 
Congress,  but  as  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  with  all  the  rights  of  citizenship 
guarantied  by  the  Constitution,  and  that 
no  legislation  was  constitutional  which  at 
tempted  to  deprive  a  citizen  of  his 
property  on  his  becoming  a  resident  of  a 
territory.  This  question  in  the  case  arose 
under  the  act  of  Congress  prohibiting 
slavery  in  the  territory  of  upper  Louisiana, 
(acquired  from  France,  afterwards  the 
State),  and  of  which  the  territory  of 
Missouri  was  formed.  Any  obscurity  as 
to  what  constitutes  citizenship,  will  be  re 
moved  by  attending  to  the  distinction  be 
tween  local  rights  of  citizenship  of  the 
United  States  according  to  the  Constitu 
tion.  Citizenship  at  large  in  the  sense  of 
the  Constitution  can  be  conferred  on  a 
foreigner  only  by  the  naturalization  laws 
of  Congress.  But  each  State,  in  the  exer. 


cise  of  its  local  and  reserved  sovereignty, 
may  place  foreigners  or  other  persons  on 
a  footing  with  its  own  citizens,  as  to  politi 
cal  rights  and  privileges  to  be  enjoyed 
within  its  own  dominion.  But  State  regu 
lations  of  this  character  do  not  make  the 
persons  on  whom  such  rights  are  conferred 
citizens  of  the  United  States  or  entitle 
them  to  the  privileges  and  immunities  of 
citizens  in  another  State.  See  5  Wheaton, 
(U.  S.  Supreme  Court  Reports),  page  49. 

The  Court  said  in  The  Dred  Scott  case, 
above  referred  to,  that : — "  The  right  of 
property  in  a  slave  is  distinctly  and  ex 
pressly  affirmed  in  the  Constitution.  The 
right  to  traffic  in  it  like  the  ordinary  article 
of  merchandise  and  property  was  guar 
antied  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
in  every  State  that  might  desire  it  for 
twenty  years,  and  the  government  in  ex 
press  terms  is  pledged  to  protect  it  in  all 
future  time  if  the  slave  escapes  from  his 
owner.  This  is  done  in  plain  words — too 
plain  to  be  misunderstood,  and  no  word 
can  be  found  in  the  Constitution  which 
gives  Congress  a  greater  power  over  slave 
property,  or  ^hich  entitles  property  of 
that  kind  to  less  protection  than  the  prop 
erty  of  any  other  description.  The  only 
power  conferred  is  the  power  coupled  with 
the  duty  of  guarding  and  protecting  the 
owner  in  his  rights.  Upon  these  considera 
tions,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  Court  that 
the  Act  of  Congress  which  prohibited  a 
citizen  from  holding  and  owning  property 
of  this  kind  in  the  territory  of  the  United 
States  north  of  the  line  therein  mentioned, 
is  not  warranted  by  the  Constitution  and 
is  therefore  void ;  and  that  neither  Dred 
Scott  himself,  nor  any  of  his  family  were 
made  free  by  being  carried  into  this  terri 
tory  ;  even  if  they  had  been  carried  there 
by  the  owner  with  the  intention  of  becom 
ing  a  permanent  resident."  The  abolition 
of  slavery  by  the  13th  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  ratified 
and  adopted  December  18,  18G5,  has  put 
an  end  to  these  discussions  formerly  so 
numerous.  • 

As  early  as  1854,  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
controversy  on  the  territorial  government 
bill,  resulted  in  a  division  of  the  Whig 
party  in  the  North.  Those  not  sufficiently 
opposed  to  slavery  to  enter  the  new  Repub 
lican  party,  then  in  its  incipiency,  allied 
themselves  with  the  Know-Nothing  order, 
which  now  accepting  the  name  of  Ameri 
can  party  established  a  separate  and  in 
dependent  political  existence.  The  party 
had  no  hold  in  the  West ;  it  was  entirely 
Middle  State  at  this  time,  and  polled  a 
large  vote  in  Massachusetts,  Delaware  and 
New  York.  In  the  State  elections  of  1855 
the  American  party  made  a  stride  South 
ward.  In  1855,  the  absence  of  natural 
ized  citizens  was  universal  in  the  South, 
and  even  so  late  as  1881  the  proportion  of 


THE    AMERICAN    RITUAL. 


57 


foreign-born  population  in  the  Southern 
States,  with  the  exception  of  Florida, 
Louisiana,  and  Texas  was  under  two  per 
cent.  At  the  early  date — 1855 — the  na- 
tivist  feeling  among  the  Whigs  of  that 
section,  made  it  easy  to  transfer  them  to 
the  American  party,  which  thus  secured  in 
both  the  Eastern  and  Southern  States,  the 
election  of  Governor  and  Legislature  in 
the  States  of  New  Hampshire,  Massachu 
setts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New 
York,  California  and  Kentucky ;  and  also 
elected  part  of  its  State  ticket  in  Mary- 
land,  and  Texas  ;  and  only  lost  the  States 
of  Virginia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisi 
ana,  and  Texas,  by  small  majorities  against 
it. 

The  order  began  preparations  for  a  cam 
paign  as  a  National  party,  in  1856.  It  aimed 
to  introduce  opposition  to  aliens  and  Ro 
man  Catholicism  as  a  national  question. 
On  the  21st  of  February,  1856,  the  Nation 
al  Council  held  a  session  at  Philadelphia, 
and  proceeded  to  formulate  a  declaration  of 
principles,  and  make  a  platform,  which 
were  as  follows : 

"  An  humble  acknowledgement  to  the 
Supreme  Being,  for  his  protecting  care 
vouchsafed  to  our  fathers  in  their  success 
ful  Revolutionary  struggle,  and  hitherto 
manifested  to  us,  their  descendants,  in  the 

Preservation  of  the  liberties,  the  indepen- 
ence,  and  the  union  of  these  States. 

2d.  The  perpetuation  of  the  Federal 
Union,  as  the  palladium  of  our  civil  and 
religious  liberties,  and  the  only  sure  Bul 
wark  of  American  independence. 

3d.  Americans  must  rule  America,  and 
to  this  end,  native-born  citizens  should  be 
selected  for  all  state,  federal,  and  munici 
pal  offices  or  government  employment,  in 
preference  to  all  others  ;  nevertheless, 

4th.  Persons  born  of  American  par 
ents  residing  temporarily  abroad,  should 
be  entitled  to  all  the  rights  of  native-born 
citizens ;  but, 

5th.  No  person  shall  be  selected  for  po 
litical  station  (whether  of  native  or  for 
eign  birth),  who  recognizes  any  allegiance 
or  obligation,  of  any  description,  to  any 
foreign  prince,  potentate,  or  power,  or  who 
refuses  to  recognize  the  Federal  and  State 
constitutions  (each  within  its  sphere)  as 
paramount  to  all  other  laws,  as  rules^of  po 
litical  action. 

6th.  The  unqualified  recognition  and 
maintenance  of  the  reserved  rights  of  the 
several  States,  and  the  cultivation  of  har 
mony  and  fraternal  good  will,  between  the 
citizens  of  the  several  States,  and  to  this 
end,  non-interference  by  congress  with 
questions  appertaining  solely  to  the  indi 
vidual  States,  and  non-intervention  by  each 
State  with  the  affairs  of  any  other  State. 

7th.  The  recognition  of  the  right  of 
the  native-born  and  naturalized  citizens  of 
the  United  States,  permanently  residing  in 


any  territory  thereof,  to  frame  their  con 
stitution  and  laws,  and  to  regulate  their 
domestic  and  social  affairs  in  their  own 
mode,  subject  only  to  the  provisions  of  the 
Federal  Constitution,  with  the  privilege  of 
admission  into  the  Union,  whenever  they 
have  the  requisite  population  for  one  rep 
resentative  in  Congress. — Provided  always, 
that  none  but  those  who  are  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  under  the  Constitution  and 
laws  thereof,  and  who  have  a  fixed  resi 
dence  in  any  such  territory,  ought  to  par 
ticipate  in  the  formation  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  or  in  the  enactment  of  laws  for  said 
Territory  or  State. 

8th.  An  enforcement  of  the  principle 
that  no  State  or  Territory  ought  to  admit 
others  than  citizens  of  the  United  States  to 
the  right  of  suffrage,  or  of  holding  politi 
cal  office. 

9th.  A  change  in  the  laws  of  naturali 
zation,  making  a  continued  residence  of 
twenty-one  years,  of  all  not  hereinbefore 
provided  for,  an  indispensable  requisite  for 
citizenship  hereafter,  and  excluding  all 
paupers,  and  persons  convicted  of  crime, 
from  landing  upon  our  shores ;  but  no  in 
terference  with  the  vested  rights  of  foreign 
ers. 

10th.  Opposition  to  any  union  between 
Church  and  State  ;  no  interference  with  re 
ligious  faith,  or  worship,  and  no  test  oaths 
for  office. 

llth.  Free  and  thorough  investigation 
into  any  and  all  alleged  abuses  of  public 
functionaries,  and  a  strict  economy  in  pub 
lic  expenditures. 

12th.  The  maintenance  and  enforce 
ment  of  all  laws  constitutionally  enacted, 
until  said  laws  shall  be  repealed,  or  shall 
be  declared  null  and  void  by  competent 
judicial  authority. 

The  American  Ritual,  or  Constitution, 
rules,  regulations,  and  ordinances  of  the 
Order  were  as  follows : — 

AMERICAN    RITUAL. 

Constitution    of  the  National  Council  of  the  United  States  of 
North  America. 

ART.  1st.  This  organization  shall  be 
known  by  the  name  and  title  of  THE 
NATIONAL  COUNCIL  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES  OF  NORTH  AMERICA,  and  its  juris 
diction  and  power  shall  extend  to  all  the 
states,  districts,  and  territories  of  the 
United  States  of  North  America. 

ART.  2d.  The  object  of  this  organization 
shall  be  to  protect  every  American  citizen 
in  the  legal  and  proper  exercise  of  all  his 
civil  and  religious  rights  and  privileges ; 
to  resist  the  insidious  policy  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  and  all  other  foreign  influence 
against  our  republican  institutions  in  all 
lawful  ways  ;  to  place  in  all  offices  of  honor 
trust,  or  profit,  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  or 
by  appointment,  none  but  native-born 
Protestant  citizens,  and  to  protect,  preserve, 


68 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


and  uphold  the  union  of  these  states  and 
the  constitution  of  the  same. 

ART.  3d.  Sec.  1. — A  person  to  become  a 
member  of  any  subordinate  council  must 
be  twenty-one  years  of  age ;  he  must  be 
lieve  in  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being 
as  the  Creator  and  preserver  of  the  uni 
verse.  He  must  be  a  native-born  citizen  ; 
a  Protestant,  either  born  of  Protestant 
parents,  or  reared  under  Protestant  influ 
ence  ;  and  not  united  in  marriage  with  a 
Roman  Catholic;  provided,  nevertheless, 
that  in  this  last  respect,  the  state,  district, 
or  territorial  councils  shall  be  authorized 
to  so  construct  their  respective  constitu 
tions  as  shall  best  promote  the  interests  of 
the  American  cause  in  their  several  juris 
dictions  ;  and  provided,  moreover,  that  no 
member  who  may  have  a  Roman  Catholic 
wife  shall  be  eligible  to  office  in  this  order ; 
and  provided,  further,  should  any  state, 
district,  or  territorial  council  prefer  the 
words  "  Roman  Catholic"  as  a  disquali 
fication  to  membership,  in  place  of  "  Pro 
testant"  as  a  qualification,  they  may  so 
consider  this  constitution  and  govern  their 
action  accordingly. 

Sec.  2. — There  shall  be  an  interval  of 
three  weeks  between  the  conferring  of  the 
first  and  second  degrees;  and  of  three 
months  between  the  conferring  of  the 
second  and  third  degrees — provided,  that 
this  restriction  shall  not  apply  to  those  who 
may  have  received  the  second  degree  pre 
vious  to  the  first  day  of  December  next ; 
and  provided,  further,  that  the  presidents 
of  state,  district,  and  territorial  councils 
may  grant  dispensations  for  initiating  in 
all  the  degrees,  officers  of  new  councils. 

Sec.  3. — The  national  council  shall  hold 
its  annual  meetings  on  the  first  Tuesday 
in  the  month  of  June,  at  such  place  as  may 
be  designated  by  the  national  council  at 
the  previous  annual  meeting,  and  it  may 
adjourn  from  time  to  time.  Special  meet 
ings  may  be  called  by  the  President,  on  the 
written  request  of  five  delegations  repre 
senting  five  state  councils ;  provided,  that 
sixty  days'  notice  shall  be  given  to  the 
state  councils  previous  to  said  meeting. 

Sec.  4. — The  national  council  shall  be 
composed  of  seven  delegates  from  each 
state,  to  be  chosen  by  the  state  councils ; 
and  each  district  or  territory  where  a  dis 
trict  or  territorial  council  shall  exist,  shall 
be  entitled  to  send  two  delegates,  to  be 
chosen  from  said  council — provided  that  in 
the  nomination  of  candidates  for  Presi 
dent  and  Vice  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  each  state  shall  be  entitled  to 
cast  the  same  number  of  votes  as  they  shall 
have  members  in  both  houses  of  Congress. 
In  all  sessions  of  the  national  council, 
thirty-two  delegates,  representing  thirteen 
states,  territories,  or  districts,  shall  consti 
tute  a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  busi 
ness. 


Sec.  5. — The  national  council  shall  be 
vested  with  the  following  powers  and  privi 
leges  : 

It  shall  be  the  head  of  the  organization 
for  the  United  States  of  North  America, 
and  shall  fix  and  establish  all  signs,  grips, 
passwords,  and  such  other  secret  work,  as 
may  seem  to  it  necessary. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  decide  all 
matters  appertaining  to  national  politics. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  exact  from  the 
state  councils,  quarterly  or  annual  state 
ments  as  to  the  number  of  members  under 
their  jurisdictions,  and  in  relation  to  all 
other  matters  necessary  for  its  information. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  form  state, 
territorial,  or  district  councils,  and  to  grant 
dispensations  for  the  formation  of  such 
bodies,  when  five  subordinate  councils  shall 
have  been  put  in  operation  in  any  state, 
territory,  or  district,  and  application  made. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  determine 
upon  a  mode  of  punishment  in  case  of  any 
dereliction  of  duty  on  the  part  of  its  mem 
bers  or  officers. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  adopt  cabal 
istic  characters  for  the  purpose  of  writing 
or  telegraphing.  Said  characters  to  be 
communicated  to  the  presidents  of  the 
state  councils,  and  by  them  to  the  presi 
dents  of  the  subordinate  councils. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  adopt  any  and 
every  measure  it  may  deem  necessary  to 
secure  the  success  of  the  organization; 
provided  that  nothing  shall  be  done  by  the 
said  national  council  in  violation  of  the 
constitution;  and  provided  further,  that 
in  all  political  matters,  its  members  may 
be  instructed  by  the  state  councils,  and  if 
so  instructed,  shall  carry  out  such  instruc 
tions  of  the  state  councils  which  they  repre 
sent  until  overruled  by  a  majority  of  the 
national  council. 

Art.  4.  The  President  shall  always  preside 
over  the  national  council  when  present, 
and  in  his  absence  the  Vice  President  shall 
preside,  and  in  the  absence  of  both  the 
national  council  shall  appoint  a  president 
pro  tempore;  and  the  presiding  officers  may 
at  all  times  call  a  member  to  the  chair,  but 
such  appointment  shall  not  extend  be 
yond  one  sitting  of  the  national  council. 

Art.  5.  Sec.  1.— The  officers  of  the 
National  Council  shall  be  a  President,Vice- 
President,  Chaplain,  Corresponding  Secre 
tary,  Recording  Secretary,  Treasurer,  and 
two  Sentinels,  with  such  other  officers  as 
the  national  council  may  see  fit  to  appoint 
from  time  to  time ;  and  the  secretaries  and 
sentinels  may  receive  such  compensation 
as  the  national  council  shall  determine. 

Sec.  2. — The  duties  of  the  several  officers 
created  by  this  constitution  shall  be  such 
as  the  work  of  this  organization  prescribes. 

Art.  6.  Sec.  1. — All  officers  provided  for 
by  this  constitution,  except  the  sentinels, 
shall  be  elected  annually  by  ballot.  The 


THE    AMERICAN    RITUAL. 


59 


president  may  appoint  sentinels  from  time 
to  time. 

Sec.  2. — A  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast 
shall  be  requisite  to  an  election  for  an  office. 

Sec.  3. — All  officers  and  delegates  of  this 
council,  and  of  all  state,  district,  territorial, 
and  subordinate  councils,  must  be  invested 
with  all  the  degrees  of  this  order. 

Sec.  4. — All  vacancies  in  the  elective 
offices  shall  be  filled  by  a  vote  of  the  na 
tional  council,  and  only  for  the  unexpired 
term  of  the  said  vacancy. 

Art.  7.  Sec  1. — The  national  council  shall 
entertain  and  decide  all  cases  of  appeal, 
and  it  shall  establish  a  form  of  appeal. 

Sec.  2. — The  national  council  shall  levy 
a  tax  upon  the  state,  district,  or  territorial 
councils,  for  the  support  of  the  national 
council,  to  be  paid  in  such  manner  and  at 
such  times  as  the  national  council  shall 
determine. 

Art.  8. — This  national  council  may  alter 
and  amend  this  constitution  at  its  regular 
annual  meeting  in  June  next,  by  a  vote  of 
the  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  the 
members  present.  (Cincinnati,  Nov.  24, 
1854.) 

RULES  AND  REGULATIONS. 

Rule  1. — Each  State,  District,  or  Terri 
tory,  in  which  there  may  exist  five  or 
more  subordinate  councils  vyorking  under 
dispensations  from  the  National  Council 
of  the  United  States  of  North  America,  or 
under  regular  dispensations  from  some 
State,  District,  or  Territory,  are  duly  em 
powered  to  establish  themselves  into  a 
State,  District,  or  Territorial  council,  and 
when  so  established,  to  form  for  them 
selves  constitutions  and  by-laws  for  their 
government,  in  pursuance  of,  and  in  con 
sonance  with  the  Constitution  of  the 
National  Council  of  the  United  States ; 
provided,  however,  that  all  State,  District, 
or  Territorial  constitutions  shall  be  subject 
to  the  approval  of  the  National  Council  of 
the  United  States.  (June,  1854.) 

Rule  2.— All  State,  District,  or  Terri 
torial  councils,  when  established,  shall 
have  full  power  and  authority  to  establish 
all  subordinate  councils  within  their  re 
spective  limits ;  and  the  constitutions  and 
by-laws  of  all  such  subordinate  councils 
must  be  approved  by  their  respective  State, 
District,  or  Territorial  councils.  (June, 
1854.) 

Rule  3.— All  State,  District,  or  Terri 
torial  councils,  when  established  and  until 
the  formation  of  constitutions,  shall  work 
under  the  constitution  of  the  National 
Council  of  the  United  States.  (June, 
1854.) 

Rule  4. — In  all  cases  where,  for  the  con 
venience  of  the  organization,  two  State  or 
Territorial  councils  may  be  established, 
the  two  councils  together  shall  be  entitled 
to  but  thirteen  delegates*  in  the  National 

*NoTE.— See  Constitution,  Art.  3,  Sec.  4,  p.  5. 


Council  of  the  United  States — the  propor 
tioned  number  of  delegates  to  depend  on 
the  number  of  members  in  the  organiza 
tions  ;  provided,  that  no  State  shall  be  al 
lowed  to  have  more  than  one  State  coun 
cil,  without  the  consent  of  the  National 
Council  of  the  United  States.  (June, 
1854.) 

Rule  5. — In  any  State,  District,  or  Ter 
ritory,  where  there  may  be  more  than  one 
organization  working  on  the  same  basis, 
(to  wit,  the  lodges  and  "councils,")  the 
same  shall  be  required  to  combine;  the 
officers  of  each  organization  shall  resign 
and  new  officers  be  elected ;  and  thereafter 
these  bodies  shall  be  known  as  State  coun 
cils,  and  subordinate  councils,  and  new 
charters  shall  be  granted  to  them  by  the 
national  council.  (June,  1854.) 

Rule  6. — It  shall  be  considered  a  penal 
offence  for  any  brother  not  an  officer  of  a 
subordinate  council,  to  make  use  of  the 
sign  or  summons  adopted  for  public  noti 
fication,  except  by  direction  of  the  Presi 
dent;  or  for  officers  of  a  council  to  post 
the  same  at  any  other  time  than  from  mid 
night  to  one  hour  before  daybreak,  and 
this  rule  shall  be  incorporated  into  the  by 
laws  of  the  State,  District,  and  Territorial 
councils.  (June,  1854.) 

Rule  7. — The  determination  of  the  neces 
sity  and  mode  of  issuing  the  posters  for 
public  notification  shall  be  intrusted  to  the 
State,  District,  or  Territorial  councils. 
(June,  1854.) 

Rule  8.— The  respective  State,  District, 
or  Territorial  councils  shall  be  required  to 
make  statements  of  the  number  of  mem 
bers  within  their  respective  limits,  at  the 
next  meeting  of  this  national  council,  and 
annually  thereafter,  at  the  regular  annual 
meeting.  (June,  1854.) 

Rule  9. — The  delegates  to  the  National 
Council  of  the  United  States  of  North 
America  shall  be  entitled  to  three  dollars 
per  day  for  their  attendance  upon  the 
national  council,  and  for  each  day  that 
may  be  necessary  in  going  and  returning 
from  the  same ;  and  five  cents  per  mile  for 
every  mile  they  may  necessarily  travel  in 
going  to,  and  returning  from  the  place  of 
meeting  of  the  national  council;  to  be 
computed  by  the  nearest  mail  route :  which 
shall  be  paid  out  of  the  treasury  of  the 
national  council.  (November,  1854.) 

Rule  10.— Each  State,  District,  or  Terri 
torial  council  shall  be  taxed  four  cents  per 
annum  for  every  member  in  good  standing 
belonging  to  each  subordinate  council  un 
der  its  jurisdiction  on  the  first  day  of 
April,  which  shall  be  reported  to  the  na 
tional  council,  and  paid  into  the  national 
treasury,  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  the 
annual  session,  t.o  be  held  in  June ;  and  on 
the  same  day  in  each  succeeding  year. 
And  the  first  fiscal  year  shall  be  considered 
as  commencing  on  the  first  day  of  Decem- 


60 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


ber,  1854,  and  ending  on  the  fifteenth  day 
of  May,  1855.  (November,  1854.) 

Eule  11.— The  following  shall  be  the 
key  to  determine  and  ascertain  the  pur 
port  of  any  communication  that  may  be 
addressed  to  the  President  of  a  State,  Dis 
trict,  or  Territorial  council  by  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  national  council,  who  is  hereby 
instructed  to  communicate  a  knowledge  of 
the  same  to  said  officers : 

ABCDEFGHI  JKLM 
1  7  13  19  25  2  8  14  20  26  3  9  15 
NOPQRSTUVWXYZ 
21  4  10  16  22  5  11  17  23  6  12  18  24 

Rule  12. — The  clause  of  the  article  of 
the  constitution  relative  to  belief  in  the 
Supreme  Being  is  obligatory  upon  every 
State  and  subordinate  council,  as  well  as 
upon  each  individual  member.  (June, 
1854.) 

Rule  13.— The  following  shall  be  the 
compensation  of  the  officers  of  this  coun 
cil: 

1st.  The  Corresponding  Secretary  shall 
be  paid  two  thousand  dollars  per  annum, 
from  the  17th  day  of  June,  1854. 

2d.  The  Treasurer  shall  be  paid  five 
hundred  dollars  per  annum,  from  the  17th 
day  of  June,  1854. 

3d.  The  Sentinels  shall  be  paid  five  dol 
lars  for  every  day  they  may  be  in  attend 
ance  on  the  sittings  of  the  national  coun 
cil. 

4th.  The  Chaplain  shall  be  paid  one 
hundred  dollars  per  annum,  from  the  17th 
day  of  June,  1854. 

5th.  The  Recording  Secretary  shall  be 
paid  five  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  from 
the  17th  day  of  June,  1854. 

6th.  The  Assistant  Secretary  shall  be 
paid  five  dollars  per  day,  for  every  day  he 
may  be  in  attendance  on  the  sitting  of  the 
national  council.  All  of  which  is  to  be 
paid  out  of  the  national  treasury,  on  the 
draft  of  the  President.  (November,  1854.) 

SPECIAL  VOTING. 

Vote  1st.— This  national  council  hereby 
grants  to  the  State  of  Virginia  two  State 
councils,  the  one  to  be  located  in  Eastern 
and  the  other  in  Western  Virginia,  the 
Blue  Ridge  Mountains  being  the  geo 
graphical  line  between  the  two  jurisdic 
tions.  (June,  1854.) 

Vote  2d.— The  President  shall  have 
power,  till  the  next  session  of  the  national 
council,  to  grant  dispensations  for  the  for 
mation  of  State,  District,  or  Territorial 
councils,  in  form  most  agreeable  to  his 
own  discretion,  upon  proper  application 
being  made.  (June,  1854.) 

Vote  3d.— The  seats  of  all  delegates  to 
and  members  of  the  present  national  coun 
cil  shall  be  vacated  on  the  first  Tuesday  in 
June,  1855,  at  the  hour  of  six  o'clock  in 
the  forenoon;  and  the  national  council 


convening  in  annual    session  upon   that 
day,  shall  be  composed  exclusively  of  del 
egates  elected  under  and  in   accordance 
|  with  the  provisions  of  the  constitution,  as 
amended  at  the  present    session   of  this 
I  national  council ;  provided,  that  this  reso 
lution  shall  not  apply  to  the  officers  of  the 
national  council.     (November,  1854.) 

Vote  4th. — The  Corresponding  Secretary 
of  this  council  is  authorized  to  have  print 
ed  the  names  of  the  delegates  to  this 
national  council ;  also,  those  of  the  Presi 
dents  of  the  several  State,  District,  and 
Territorial  councils,  together  with  their 
address,  and  to  forward  a  copy  of  the 
same  to  each  person  named ;  and  further, 
the  Corresponding  Secretaries  of  each 
State,  District,  and  Territory  are  requested 
to  forward  a  copy  of  their  several  con 
stitutions  to  each  other.  (November, 
1854.) 

Vote  5th. — In  the  publication  of  the 
constitution  and  the  ritual,  under  the  di 
rection  of  the  committee— brothers  Desh- 
ler,  Damrell,  and  Stephens — the  name, 
signs,  grips,  and  passwords  of  the  order 
shall  be  indicated  by  [***],  and  a  copy 
of  the  same  shall  be  furnished  to  each 
State,  District,  and  Territorial  council,  and 
to  each  member  of  that  body.  (Novem 
ber,  1854.) 

Vote  6th. — A  copy  of  the  constitution  of 
each  State,  District,  and  Territorial  coun 
cil,  shall  be  submitted  to  this  council  for 
examination.  (November,  1854.) 

Vote  7th. — It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
Treasurer,  at  each  annual  meeting  of  this 
body,  to  make  a  report  of  all  moneys  re 
ceived  or  expended  in  the  interval.  (No 
vember,  1854.) 

Vote  8th.— Messrs.  Gifford  of  Pa.,  Bar 
ker  of  N.  Y.,  Deshler  of  N.  J.,  Williamson 
of  Va.,  and  Stephens  of  Md.,  are  appointed 
a  committee  to  confer  with  similar  commit 
tees  that  have  been  appointed  for  the  pur 
pose  of  consolidating  the  various  American 
orders,  with  power  to  make  the  necessary 
arrangement  for  such  consolidation — sub 
ject  to  the  approval  of  this  national  coun 
cil,  at  its  next  session.  (November,  1854.) 

Vote  9th. — On  receipt  of  the  new  ritual 
by  the  members  of  this  national  council 
who  have  received  the  third  degree,  they 
or  any  of  them  may,  and  they  are  hereby 
empowered  to,  confer  the  third  degree  upon 
members  of  this  body  in  their  respective 
states,  districts,  and  territories,  and  upon 
the  presidents  and  other  officers  of  their 
state,  district,  and  territorial  councils. 
And  further,  the  presidents  of  the  state, 
district,  and  territorial  councils  shall  in 
the  first  instance  confer  the  third  degree 
upon  as  many  of  the  presidents  and  officers 
of  their  subordinate  councils  as  can  be  as 
sembled  together  in  their  respective  local 
ities  ;  and  afterwards  the  same  may  be  con 
ferred  upon  officers  of  other  subordinate 


THE    AMERICAN    RITUAL. 


61 


councils,  by  any  presiding  officer  of  a  coun 
cil  who  shall  have  previously  received  it 
under  the  provisions  of  the  constitution. 
(November,  1854.) 

Vote  10th. — To  entitle  any  delegate  to  a 
seat  in  this  national  council,  at  its  annual 
session  in  June  next,  he  must  present  a 
properly  authenticated  certificate  that  he 
was  duly  elected  as  a  delegate  to  the  same, 
or  appointed  a  substitute  in  accordance 
with  the  requirements  of  the  constitutions 
of  state,  territorial,  or  district  councils. 
And  no  delegate  shall  be  received  from 
any  state,  district,  or  territorial  council 
which  has  not  adopted  the  constitution  and 
ritual  of  this  national  council.  (November, 
1854.) 

Vote  llth. — The  committee  on  printing 
the  constitution  and  ritual  is  authorized  to 
have  a  sufficient  number  of  the  same  print 
ed  for  the  use  of  the  order.  And  no  state, 
district,  or  territorial  council  shall  be  al 
lowed  to  reprint  the  same.  (November, 
1854.) 

Vote  12th.— The  right  to  establish  all 
subordinate  councils  in  any  of  the  states, 
districts,  and  territories  represented  in  this 
national  council,  shall  be  confined  to  the 
state,  district,  and  territorial  councils 
which  they  represent.  (November,  1854.) 

CONSTITUTION  FOB  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF 
SUBORDINATE  COUNCILS. 

Art.  I.  Sec.  1. — Each  subordinate  coun 
cil  shall  be  composed  of  not  less  than  thir 
teen  members,  all  of  whom  shall  have  re 
ceived  all  the  degrees  of  the  order,  and 

shall  be  known  and  recognised  as  

Council,  No. ,  of  the  of  the 

county  of ,  and  State  of  North  Caro 
lina. 

Sec.  2. — No  person  shall  be  a  member  of 
any  subordinate  council  in  this  state,  un 
less  he  possesses  all  the  qualifications,  and 
comes  up  to  all  the  requirements  laid  down 
in  the  constitution  of  the  national  council, 
and  whose  wife  (if  he  has  one),  is  not  a 
Roman  Catholic. 

Sec.  3.  No  application  for  membership 
shall  be  received  and  acted  on  from  a  per 
son  residing  out  of  the  state,  or  resides  in 
a  county  where  there  is  a  council  in  ex 
istence,  unless  upon  special  cause  to  be 
stated  to  the  council,  to  be  judged  of  by 
the  same ;  and  such  person,  if  the  reasons 
be  considered  sufficient,  may  be  initiated 
the  same  night  he  is  proposed,  provided  he 
resides  five  miles  or  more  from  the  place 
where  the  council  is  located.  But  no  per 
son  can  vote  in  any  council,  except  the  one 
of  which  he  is  a  member. 

Sec.  4.  Every  person  applying  for  mem 
bership,  shall  be  voted  for*  by  ballot,  in 
open  council,  if  a  ballot  is  requested  by  a 
single  member.  If  one-third  of  the  votes 
cast  be  against  the  applicant,  he  shall  be 
rejected.  If  any  applicant  be  rejected,  he 


shall  not  be  again  proposed  within  six 
months  thereafter.  Nothing  herein  con 
tained  shall  be  construed  to  prevent  the 
initiation  of  applicants  privately,  by  those 
empowered  to  do  so,  in  localities  where 
there  are  no  councils  within  a  convenient 
distance. 

Sec.  5.  Any  member  of  one  subordinate 
council  wishing  to  change  his  membership 
to  another  council,  shall  apply  to  the  coun 
cil  to  which  he  belongs,  either  in  writing 
or  orally  through  another  member,  and  the 
question  shall  be  decided  by  the  council. 
If  a  majority  are  in  favor  of  granting  him 
an  honorable  dismission,  he  shall  receive 
the  same  in  writing,  to  be  signed  by  the 

E'.dent  and  countersigned  by  the  secre- 
But  until  a  member  thus  receiving 
onorable  dismission  has  actually  been 
admitted  to  membership  in  another  coun 
cil,  he  shall  be  held  subject  to  the  disci 
pline  of  the  council  from  which  he  has  re 
ceived  the  dismission,  to  be  dealt  with  by 
the  same,  for  any  violation  of  the  require 
ments  of  the  order.  Before  being  received 
in  the  council  to  which  he  wishes  to  trans 
fer  his  membership,  he  shall  present  said 
certificate  of  honorable  dismission,  and 
shall  be  received  as  new  members  are. 

Sec.  6.  Applications  for  the  second  de 
gree  shall  not  be  received  except  in  second 
degree  councils,  and  voted  on  by  second 
and  third  degree  members  only,  and  ap 
plications  for  the  third  degree  shall  be 
received  in  third  degree  councils,  and 
voted  on  by  third  degree  members  only. 

Art.  II. — Each  subordinate  council  shall 
fix  on  its  own  time  and  place  for  meeting: 
and  shall  meet  at  least  once  a  month,  but 
where  not  very  inconvenient,  it  is  recom 
mended  that  they  meet  once  a  week.  Thir 
teen  members  shall  form  a  quorum  for 
the  transaction  of  business.  Special  meet 
ings  may  be  called  by  the  president  at  any 
time,  at  the  request  of  four  members  of  the 
order. 

Art.  III. — Sec.  1.  The  members  of  each 
subordinate  council  shall  consist  of  a  pre 
sident,  vice-president,  instructor,  secre 
tary,  treasurer,  marshal,  inside  and  outside 
sentinel,  and  shall  hold  their  offices  for  the 
term  of  six  months,  br  until  their  succes 
sors  are  elected  and  installed. 

Sec.  2.  The  officers  of  each  subordinate 
council  (except  the  sentinels,  who  shall  be 
appointed  by  the  president),  shall  be  elect 
ed  at  the  first  regular  meetings  in  January 
and  July,  separately,  and  by  ballot ;  and 
each  shall  receive  a  majority  of  all  the 
votes  cast  to  entitle  him  to  an  election. 
No  member  shall  be  elected  to  any  office, 
unless  he  be  present  and  signify  his  assent 
thereto  at  the  time  of  his  election.  Any 
vacancy  which  may  occur  by  death,  resig 
nation,  or  otherwise,  shall  be  filled  at  the 
next  meeting  thereafter,  in  the  manner 
and  form  above  described. 


62 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Sec.  3.  The  President. — It  sh'all  be  the 
duty  of  the  president  of  each  subordinate 
council,  to  preside  in  the  council,  and  en 
force  a  due  observance  of  the  constitution 
and  rules  of  the  order,  and  a  proper  respect 
for  the  state  council  and  the  national  coun 
cil  ;  to  have  sole  and  exclusive  charge  of 
the  charter  and  the  constitution  and  ritual 
of  the  order,  which  he  must  always  have 
with  him  when  his  council  is  in  session,  to 
see  that  all  officers  perform  their  respec 
tive  duties ;  to  announce  all  ballotings  to 
the  council ;  to  decide  all  questions  of 
order ;  to  give  the  casting  vote  in  all  cases 
of  a  tie ;  to  convene  special  meetings  when 
deemed  expedient;  to  draw  warrants  on 
the  treasurer  for  all  sums,  the  payment  of 
which  is  ordered  by  the  council ;  and  to 
perform  such  other  duties  as  are  demanded 
of  him  by  the  constitutions  and  ritual  of 
the  order. 

Sec,  4.  The  vice-president  of  each  sub 
ordinate  council  shall  assist  the  president 
in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  whilst  his 
council  is  in  session ;  and,  in  his  absence, 
shall  perform  all  the  duties  of  the  presi 
dent. 

Sec.  5.  The  instructor  shall  perform  the 
duties  of  the  president  in  the  absence  of 
the  president  and  vice-president,  and  shall, 
under  the  direction  of  the  president,  per 
form  such  duties  as  may  be  assigned  to 
him  by  the  ritual. 

Sec.  6.  The  secretary  shall  keep  an  ac 
curate  record  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
council.  He  shall  write  all  communica 
tions,  fill  all  notices,  attest  all  warrants 
drawn  by  the  president  for  the  payment  of 
money ;  he  shall  keep  a  correct  roll  of  all 
the  members  of  the  council,  together  with 
their  age,  residence,  and  occupation,  in 
the  order  in  which  they  have  been  admit 
ted  ;  he  shall,  at  the  expiration  of  every 
three  months,  make  out  a  report  of  all  work 
done  during  that  time,  which  report  he 
shall  forward  to  the  secretary  of  the  state 
council ;  and  when  superseded  in  his  office 
shall  deliver  all  books,  papers,  &c.,  in  his 
hands  to  his  successor. 

Sec.  7.  The  treasurer  shall  hold  all  mo 
neys  raised  exclusively  for  the  use  of  the 
state  council,  which  he  shall  pay  over  to 
the  secretary  of  the  state  council  at  its 
regular  sessions,  or  whenever  called  upon 
by  the  president  of  the  state  council.  He 
shall  receive  all  moneys  for  the  use  of  the 
subordinate  council,  and  pay  all  amounts 
drawn  for  on  him,  by  the  president  of  the 
subordinate  council,  if  attested  by  the  se 
cretary. 

Sec.  8.  The  marshal  shall  perform 
such  duties,  under  the  direction  of  the 
president,  as  may  be  required  of  him  by 
the  ritual. 

Sec.  9.  The  inside  sentinel  shall  have 
charge  of  the  inner  door,  and  act  under 
the  directions  of  the  president.  He  shall 


admit  no  person,  unless  he  can  prove  him 
self  a  member  of  this  order,  and  of  the 
same  degree  in  which  the  council  is  opened, 
or  by  order  of  the  president,  or  is  satisfac 
torily  vouched  for. 

Sec.  10.  The  outside  sentinel  shall  h*fe 
charge  of  the  outer  door,  and  act  in  ac 
cordance  with  the  orders  of  the  president. 
He  shall  permit  no  person  to  enter  the 
outer  door  unless  he  give  the  password  of 
the  degree  in  which  the  council  is  at  work, 
or  is  properly  vouched  for. 

Sec.  11.  The  secretary,  treasurer,  and 
sentinels,  shall  receive  such  compensation 
as  the  subordinate  councils  may  each  con 
clude  to  allow. 

Sec.  12.  Each  subordinate  council  may 
levy  its  own  fees  for  initiation,  to  raise  a 
fund  to  pay  its  dues  to  the  state  council, 
and  to  defray  its  own  expenses.  Each 
council  may,  also,  at  its  discretion,  initiate 
without  charging  the  usual  fee,  these  it 
considers  unable  to  pay  the  sr.me. 

Sec.  13.  The  president  shall  keep  in  his 
possession  the  constitution  and  ritual  of 
the  order.  He  shall  not  suffer  the  same 
to  go  out  of  his  possession  under  any  pre 
tence  whatever,  unless  in  case  of  absence, 
when  he  may  put  them  in  the  hands  of 
the  vice-president  or  instructor,  or  whilst 
the  council  is  in  session,  for  the  informa 
tion  of  a  member  wishing  to  see  it,  for 
the  purpose  of  initiation,  or  conferring  of 
degrees. 

Art.  IV.  Each  subordinate  council  shall 
have  power  to  adopt  such  by-laws,  rules, 
and  regulations,  for  its  own  government, 
as  it  may  think  proper,  not  inconsistent 
with  the  constitutions  of  the  national  and 
state  councils. 

FORM  OF  APPLICATION  FOR  A  CHARTER 
TO  ORGANIZE  A  NEW  COUNCIL. 

Post  Office county, 

Date . 

To 

President  of  the  State  Council  of  North 
Carolina : — 

We,  the  undersigned,  members  of  the 
Third  Degree,  being  desirous  of  extending 
the  influence  and  usefulness  of  our  organi 
zation,  do  hereby  ask  for  a  warrant  of  dis 
pensation,  instituting  and  organizing  us  as 
a  subordinate  branch  of  the  order,  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  State  Council  of  the 
State  of  North  Carolina,  to  be  known  and 


hailed  as  Council  No. 


and  to  be  lo 


cated  at ,  in  the  county  of ,  State 

of  North  Carolina. 

And  we  do  hereby  pledge  ourselves  to 
be  governed  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
State  Council  of  the  State  of  North  Caro 
lina,  and  of  the  Grand  Council  of  the  U. 
S.  N.  A.,  and  that  we  will  in  all  things  con 
form  to  the  rules  and  usages  of  the  order. 


Names. 


Residences. 


THE    AMERICAN    RITUAL. 


63 


FORM  OF  DISMISSION  FROM   ONE  COUNCIL 
TO  ANOTHER. 

This  is  to  certify  that  Brother ,  a 

member  of Council,  No. •,  having 

made  an  application  to  change  his  mem 
bership  from  this  council  to  that  of 

Council,  No. ,  at ,  in  the  county 

of ,  I  do    hereby  declare,  that    said 

brother  has  received  an  honorable  dismis 
sion  from  this  council,  and  is  hereby  re 
commended  for  membership  in Coun 
cil,  No. ,  in  the  county  of ,  N.  C. ; 

provided,  however,  that  until  Brother 

has  been  admitted  to  membership  in  said 
council,  he  is  to  be  considered  subject  to 
the  discipline  of  this  council,  to  be  dealt 
with  by  the  same  for  any  violation  of  the 

requirements  of  the  order.     This  the 

day  of ,  185 — ,  and  the year  of 

American  Independence. 

President, Council, 

No. . 

Secretary. 

FORM  OF  CERTIFICATE  FOR  DELEGATES  TO 
THE  STATE  COUNCIL. 

Council,  No. , 

county  of ,  N.  C. 

This  is  to  certify  that and were 

at  the  regular  meeting  of  this  council,  held 

on  the ,  185 — ,  duly  elected  delegates 

to  represent  this  council  in  the  next  an 
nual  meeting  of  the  state  council,  to  be 
held  in ,  on  the  3d  Monday  in  Novem 
ber  next.  And  by  virtue  of  the  authority 
in  me  reposed,  I  do  hereby  declare  the 

said and to  be  invested  with  all 

the  rights,  powers,  and  privileges  of  the 
delegates  as  aforesaid.  This  being  the 

day  of ,  185 — ,  and  the year 

of  our  national  independence. 

President  of 

Council,  No. 

Secretary. 

FORM  OF  NOTICE 

From  the  Siihordirtate  Council  to  the  State  Council,  whenever 
any  Member  of  a  Subordinate  Council  is  excelled. 

Council,  No. , 

county  of ,  N.  C. 

To  the  President  of  the  State  Council  of 
North  Carolina : 

Sir : — This  is  to  inform  you  that  at  a 

meeting  of  this  council,  held  on  the 

day  of ,  185 — , was  duly  ex 
pelled  from  membership  in  said  council, 
and  thus  deprived  of  all  the  privileges, 
rights,  and  benefits  of  this  organization. 

In  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the 
constitution  of  the  state  council,  you  are 
hereby  duly  notified  of  the  same,  that  you 
may  officially  notify  all  the  subordinate 
councils  of  the  state  to  be  upon  their  guard 

against  the  said ,  as  one  unworthy  to 

associate  with  patriotic  and  good  men,  and 
(if  expelled  for  violating  his  obligation]  as 
a  perjurer  to  God  and  his  country.  The 


said is  about  years  of  age,  and 

is  by  livelihood  a 

Duly  certified,  this  the day  of 

185 — ,  and  in  the year  of  our  national 

independence. 

President  of 

Council,  No. . 

Secretary. 

FIRST  DEGREE  COUNCIL. 

To  be  admitted  to  membership  in  this 
order,  the  applicant  shall  be — 

1st.  Proposed  and  found  acceptable. 

2nd.  Introduced  and  examined  under 
the  guarantee  of  secrecy. 

3rd.  Placed  under  the  obligation  which 
the  order  imposes. 

4th.  Required  to  enrol  his  name  and 
place  of  residence. 

5th.  Instructed  in  the  forms  and  usages 
and  ceremonies  of  the  order. 

6th.  Solemnly  charged  as  to  the  objects 
to  be  obtained,  and  his  duties. 

[A  recommendation  of  a  candidate  to 
this  order  shall  be  received  only  from  a 
brother  of  approved  integrity.  It  shall  be 
accompanied  by  minute  particulars  as  to 
name,  age,  calling,  and  residence,  and  by 
an  explicit  voucher  for  his  qualifications, 
and  a  personal  pledge  for  Ir.s  fidelity. 
These  particulars  shall  be  recorded  by  the 
secretary  in  a  book  kept  for  that  purpose. 
The  recommendation  may  be  referred,  and 
the  ballot  taken  at  such  time  and  in  such  a 
manner  as  the  state  council  may  prescribe ; 
but  no  communication  shall  be  made  to  the 
candidate  until  the  ballot  has  been  declared 
in  his  favor.  Candidates  shall  be  received 
in  the  ante-room  by  the  marshal  and  sec 
retary.] 

OUTSIDE. 

Marshal. — Do  you  believe  in  a  Supreme 
Being,  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  the 
universe? 

Ans. — I  do. 

Marshal. — Before  proceeding  further,  we 
require  a  solemn  obligation  of  secrecy  and 
truth.  If  you  will  take  such  an  obligation, 
you  will  lay  your  right  hand  upon  the  Holy 
Bible  and  cross. 

(When  it  is  known  that  the  applicant  is 
a  Protestant,  the  cross  may  be  omitted,  or 
affirmation  may  be  allowed.) 

OBLIGATION. 

You  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that 
you  will  never  reveal  anything  said  or  done 
in  this  room,  the  names  of  any  persons 
present,  nor  the  existence  of  this  society, 
whether  found  worthy  to  proceed  or  not, 
and  that  all  your  declarations  shall  be  true, 
so  help  you  God? 

Jws.— "Ido." 

Marshal. — Where  were  you  born  ? 

Marshal. — Where  is  your  permanent 
residence  ? 


64 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


(If  born  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
United  States,  the  answer  shall  be  written, 
the  candidate  dismissed  with  an  admonition 
of  secrecy,  and  the  brother  vouching  for 
him  suspended  from  all  the  privileges  of 
the  order,  unless  upon  satisfactory  proof 
that  he  has  been  misinformed.) 

Marshal. — Are  you  twenty-one  years  of 


Ans.— "  I  am." 

Marshal. — Were  you  born  of  Protestant 
parents,  or  were  you  reared  under  Protes 
tant  influence  ? 

Ans.— "Yes." 

Marshal. — If  married,  is  your  wife  a  Ko- 
man  Catholic  ? 

("No"  or  "Yes"— the  answer  to  be 
valued  as  the  Constitution  of  the  State 
Council  shall  provide.) 

Marshal. — Afe  you  willing  to  use  your 
influence  and  vote  only  for  native-born 
American  citizens  for  all  offices  of  honor, 
trust,  or  profit  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  to 
the  exclusion  of  all  foreigners  and  aliens, 
and  Roman  Catholics  in  particular,  and 
without  regard  to  party  predilections  ? 

Ans. — "  I  am." 

INSIDE. 

(The  marshal  shall  then  repair  to  the 
council  in  session,  and  present  the  written 
list  of  names,  vouchers,  and  answers  to  the 
president,  who  shall  cause  them  to  be  read 
aloud,  and  a  vote  of  the  council  to  be  taken 
on  each  name,  in  such  manner  as  pre 
scribed  by  its  by-laws.  If  doubts  arise  in 
the  ante-room,  they  shall  be  referred  to  the 
council.  If  a  candidate  be  dismissed,  he 
shall  be  admonished  to  secrecy.  The 
candidates  declared  elected  shall  be  con 
ducted  to  seats  within  the  council,  apart 
from  the  brethren.  When  all  are  present 
the  president  by  one  blow  of  the  gavel, 
shall  call  to  order  and  say :) 

President. — Brother  marshal,  introduce 
the  candidates  to  the  vice-president. 

Marshal. — Worthy  Vice-President,  I  pre 
sent  to  you  these  candidates,  who  have  duly 
answered  all  questions. 

Vice-President,  rising  in  his  place. — Gen 
tlemen,  it  is  my  office  to  welcome  you  as 
friends.  When  you  shall  have  assumed 
the  patriotic  vow  by  which  we  are  all  bound, 
we  will  embrace  you  as  brothers.  I  am 
authorized  to  declare  that  our  obligations 
enjoin  nothing  which  is  inconsistent  with 
the  duty  which  every  good  man  owes  to 
his  Creator,  his  country,  his  family,  or 
himself.  We  do  not  compel  you,  against 
your  convictions,  to  act  with  us  in  our 
good  work ;  but  should  you  at  any  time 
wish  to  withdraw,  it  will  be  our  duty  to 
grant  you  a  dismissal  in  good  faith.  If 
satisfied  with  this  assurance,  you  will  rise 
upon  your  feet  (pausing  till  they  do  so], 
place  the  left  hand  upon  the  breast,  and 
raise  the  right  hand  towards  heaven. 


(The  brethren  to  remain  seated  till  called 
up.) 

OBLIGATION. 

In  the  presence  of  Almighty  God  and 
these  witnesses,  you  do  solemnly  promise 
and  swear,  that  you  will  never  betray  any 
of  the  secrets  of  this  society,  nor  commu 
nicate  them  even  to  proper  candidates,  ex 
cept  within  a  lawful  council  of  the  order ; 
that  you  never  will  permit  any  of  the 
secrets  of  this  society  to  be  written,  or  in 
any  other  manner  made  legible,  except  for 
the  purpose  of  official  instruction ;  that 
you  will  not  vote,  nor  give  your  influence 
for  any  man  for  any  office  in  the  gift  of  the 
people,  unless  he  be  an  American  born 
citizen,  in  favor  of  Americans  ruling 
America,  nor  if  he  be  a  Roman  Catholic; 
that  you  will  in  all  political  matters,  so 
far  as  this  order  is  concerned,  comply  with 
the  will  of  the  majority,  though  it  may 
conflict  with  your  personal  preference,  so 
long  as  it  does  not  conflict  with  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
or  that  of  the  state  in  which  you  reside ; 
that  you  will  not,  under  any  circumstances 
whatever,  knowingly  'recommend  an  un 
worthy  person  for  initiation,  nor  suffer  it 
to  be  done,  if  in  your  power  to  prevent  it  ; 
that  you  will  not,  under  any  circumstances, 
expose  the  name  of  any  member  of  this 
order,  nor  reveal  the  existence  of  such  an 
association  ;  that  you  will  answer  an  impe 
rative  notice  issued  by  the  proper  authori 
ty  ;  obey  the  command  of  the  state  council, 
president,  or  his  deputy,  while  assembled 
by  such  notice,  and  respond  to  the  claim 
of  a  sign  or  cry  of  the  order,  unless  it  be 
physically  impossible ;  and  that  you  will 

acknowledge  the  State  Council  of 

as  the  legislative  head,  the  ruling  authori 
ty,  and  the  supreme  tribunal  of  the  order 

in  the  state  of ,  acting  under  the 

jurisdiction  of  the  National  Council  of  the 
United  States  of  North  America. 

Binding  yourself  in  the  penalty  of  ex 
communication  from  the  order,  the  forfei 
ture  of  all  intercourse  with  its  members, 
and  being  denounced  in  all  the  societies  of 
the  same,  as  a  wilful  traitor  to  your  God 
and  your  country. 

(The  president  shall  call  up  every  per 
son  present,  by  three  blows  of  the  gavel, 
when  the  candidates  shall  all  repeat  after 
the  vice-president  in  concert:) 

All  this  I  voluntarily  and  sincerely 
promise,  with  a  full  understanding  of  the 
solemn  sanctions  and  penalties. 

Vice- President. — You  have  now  taken 
solemn  oaths,  and  made  as  sacred  promises 
as  man  can  make,  that  you  will  keep  all 
our  secrets  inviolate ;  and  we  wish  you  dis 
tinctly  to  understand  that  he  that  takes 
these  oaths  and  makes  these  promises,  and 
then  violates  them,  leaves  the  foul,  the 
deep  and  blighting  stain  of  perjury  resting 
on  his  soul. 


THE    AMERICAN    RITUAL. 


65 


President. — (Having  seated  all  by  one 
blow  of  the  gavel.) — Brother  Instructor, 
these  new  brothers  having  complied  with 
the  demand  of  the  order,  are  entitled  to  the 
secrets  and  privileges  of  the  same.  You 
will,  therefore,  invest  them  with  every 
thing  appertaining  to  the  first  degree. 

Instructor. — Brothers :  the  practices  and 
proceedings  in  our  order  are  as  follows  : 

We  have  pass- words  necessary  to  be  used 
(to  obtain  admission  to  our  councils ;  forms 
(for  our  conduct  while  there ;  means  of  re 
cognizing  each  other  when  abroad ;  means 
of  mutual  protection;  and  methods  for 
giving  notices  to  members. 

At  the  outer  door  you  will*  (make  any 
ordinary  alarm  to  attract  the  attention  of 
the  outside  sentinel). 

When  the  wicket  is  opened  you  will 
pronounce  the  (words — what's  the  pass),  in 
a  whisper.  The  outside  sentinel  will  re 
ply  ( Give  it],  when  you  will  give  the  term 
pass-word  and  be  admitted  to  the  ante 
room.  You  will  then  proceed  to  the  inner 
door  and  give  (one  rap).  When  the 
wicket  is  opened,  give  your  name,  the 
number  of,  and  location  of  your  council, 
the  explanation  of  the  term  pass,  and  the 
degree  pass-word. 

If  these  be  found  correct,  you  will  be 
admitted ;  if  not,  your  name  will  be  re 
ported  to  the  vice  president,  and  must  be 
properly  vouched  for  before  you  can  gain 
admission  to  the  council.  You  will  then 
proceed  to  the  centre  of  the  room  and  ad 
dress  the  (President]  with  the  countersign, 
which  is  performed  thus  (placing  the  right 
hand  diagonally  across  the  mouth}.  When 
this  salutation  is  recognized,  you  will 
quietly  take  your  seat. 

This  sign  is  peculiar  to  this  degree,  and 
is  never  to  be  used  outside  the  council 
room,  nor  during  the  conferring  of  this 
degree.  When  retiring,  you  will  address 
the  (  Vice  President]  in  the  same  manner, 
and  also  give  the  degree  pass-word  to  the 
inside  sentinel. 

The  "  term  pass-word  "  is  ( We  are]. 

(The  pass-word  and  explanation  is  to  be 
established  by  each  State  Council  for  its 
respective  subordinates.) 

The  "  explanation  "  of  the  "  term-pass," 
to  be  used  at  the  inner  door,  is  (our 
country's  hope.} 

The  "degree  pass-word  "  is  (Native}. 

The  "traveling  pass-word"  is  (The 
memory  of  our  pilgrim  fathers}. 

(This  word  is  changed  annually  by  the 


*  Tn  the  Ritual  the  words  in  parentheses  are  omitted. 
In  the  key  to  the  Ritual,  they  are  written  in  figures  — 
the  alphabet  used  being  the  same  as  printed  below.  So 
throughout. 

Key  to  Unlock  Communications. 

ABCDEFGHIJKLM 

1      7     13    19   25    2     8     14   20  26    3      9    15 
NOPQBSTUVWXTZ 


21 


4    10   16  22    5     11   17    23     6     12     18 

5 


President  of  the  National  Council  of  the 
United  States,  and  is  to  be  made  and  used 
only  when  the  brother  is  traveling  beyond 
the  jurisdiction  of  his  own  state,  district, 
or  territory.  It  and  all  other  pass-words 
must  be  communicated  in  a  whisper,  and 
no  brother  is  entitled  to  communicate 
them  to  another,  without  authority  from 
the  presiding  officer.) 

"  The  sign  of  recognition  "  is  (grasping 
the  right  lappel  of  the  coat  with  the  right 
hand,  the  fore  finger  being  extended  in 
wards.} 

The  "answer"  is  given  by  (a  similar 
action  with  the  left  hand.] 

The  "grip"  is  given  by  (an  ordinary 
shake  of  the  hand). 

The  person  challenging  shall  (then  draw 
the  fore  finger  along  the  palm  of  the  hand]. 
The  answer  will  be  given  by  (a  similar  ac 
tion  forming  a  link  by  hooking  together  the 
ends  of  the  fore  finger]  ;  when  the  follow 
ing  conversation  ensues — the  challenging 
party  first  saying  (is  that  yours?)  The 
answer,  (it  is.)  Then  the  response  (how 
did  you  get  it?),  followed  by  the  rejoinder 
(it  is  my  birth-right). 

Public  notice  for  a  meeting  is  given  by 
means  of  a  (piece  of  white  paper  the  shape 
of  a  heart). 

(In  cities  *  the  ***  of  the  ***  where  the 
meeting  is  to  be  held,  will  be  written  legi 
bly  upon  the  notice ;  and  upon  the  election 
day  said  ***  will  denote  the  ***  where 
your  presence  is  needed.  This  notice  will 
never  be  passed,  but  will  be  ***  or  thrown 
upon  the  sidewalk  with  a  ***  in  the 
centre.) 

If  information  is  wanting  of  the  object 
of  the  gathering,  or  of  the  place,  &c.,  the 
inquirer  will  ask  of  an  undoubted  brother 
(where' s  when  ?)  The  brother  will  give  the 
information  if  possessed  of  it ;  if  not  it  will 
be  yours  and  his  duty  to  continue  the  in 
quiry,  and  thus  disseminate  the  call 
throughout  the  brotherhood. 

If  the  color  of  the  paper  (be  red),  it  will 
denote  actual  trouble,  which  requires  that 
you  come  prepared  to  meet  it. 

The  "  cry  of  distress  " — to  be  used  only 
in  time  of  danger,  or  where  the  American 
interest  requires  an  immediate  assemblage 
of  the  brethren— is  (oh,  oh,  oh.)  The  re 
sponse  is  (hio,  hio,  h-i-o.) 

The  "sign  of  caution" — to  be  given 
when  a  brother  is  speaking  unguardedly 
before  a  stranger — is  (drawing  the  fore fing 
er  and  thumb  together  across  the  eyes,  the 
rest  of  the  hand  being  closed],  which  sig 
nifies  "  keep  dark." 

Brothers,  you  are  now  initiated  into  and 
made  acquainted  with  the  work  and  or 
ganization  of  a  council  of  this  degree  of 
the  order ;  and  the  marshal  will  present 

*  Concerning  what  is  said  of  cities,  the  key  to  the 
Ritual  says :  "  Considered  unnecessary  to  decipher  what 
is  said  in  regard  to  cities." 


66 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


you  to  the  worthy 
tion. 


president  for  admoni- 


President. — It  has  no  doubt,  been  long 
apparent  to  you,  brothers,  that  foreign  in- 


of  this  or  any  other  council  to  which  you 
may  be  attached,  so  long  as  they  do  not 
conflict  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  nor  that  of  the  State  in  which  you 


fluence  and  Roman  Catholicism  have  been  reside ;  that  you  will  under  all  crcum- 
rnaking  steady  and  alarming  progress  in  j  stances,  if  in  your  power  so  to  do,  attend 
our  country.  You  cannot  have  failed  to  I  to  all  regular  signs  or  summons  that  may 
observe  the  significant  transition  of  the  |  be  thrown  or  sent  to  you  by  a  brother  of 


foreigner  and  Romanist  from  a  character 
quiet,  retiring,  and  even  abject,  to  one 
bold,  threatening,  turbulent,  and  despotic 
in  its  appearance  and  assumptions.  You 
must  have  become  alarmed  at  the 
matic  and  rapidly  augmenting  power  of 
these  dangerous  and  unnatural  elements  of 
our  national  condition.  So  it  is,  brothers, 
with  others  beside  yourselves  in  every 
state  of  the  Union.  A  sense  of  danger  has 
struck  the  great  heart  of  the  nation.  In 
every  city,  town,  and  hamlet,  the  danger 
has  been  seen  and  the  alarm  sounded. 
And  hence  true  men  have  devised  this  or 
der  as  a  means  of  disseminating  patriotic 
principles,  of  keeping  alive  the  fire  of  na 
tional  virtue,  of  fostering  the  national  in 
telligence,  and  of  advancing  America  and 
the  American  interest  on  the  one  side,  and 
on  the  other  of  checking  the  strides  of  the 
foreigner  or  alien,  or  thwarting  the  ma 
chinations  and  subverting  the  deadly  plans 
of  the  papist  and  Jesuit. 

Note. — The  President  shall  impress  up 
on  the  initiates  the  importance  or  secrecy, 
the  manner  of  proceeding  in  recommend 
ing  candidates  for  initiation,  and  the  re 
sponsibility  of  the  duties  which  they  have 
nssumed. 

SECOND  DEGREE  COUNCIL. 

Marshal— Worthy  President:  These 
brothers  have  been  duly  elected  to  the  sec 
ond  degree  of  this  order.  I  present  them 
to  you  for  obligation. 

President. — Brothers:  You  will  place 
your  left  hand  upon  your  right  breast,  and 
extend  your  right  hand  towards  the  flag  of 
our  country,  preparatory  to  obligation. 
(Each  council  room  should  have  a  neat 
American  flag  festooned  over  the  platform 
of  the  President.) 

OBLIGATION. 

You,  and  each  of  you,  of  your  own  free 
will  and  accord,  in  the  presence  of  Al 
mighty  God  and  these  witnesses,  your  left 
hand  resting  upon  your  right  breast,  and 
your  right  hand  extended  to  the  flag  of 
your  country,  do  solemnly  and  sincerely 
swear,  that  you  will  not  under  any  cir 
cumstances  disclose  in  any  manner,  nor 
suffer  it  to  be  done  by  others,  if  in  your 
power  to  prevent  it,  the  name,  signs,  pass 
words,  or  other  secrets  of  this  degree,  ex 
cept  in  open  council  for  the  purpose  of  in 
struction  ;  that  you  will  in  all  things  con 
form  to  all  tho  rule*  ami  regulations  of  this 


this  or  any  other  degree  of  this  order ;  that 
you  will  support  in  all  political  matters,  for 
all  political  offices,  members  of  this  order 
in  preference  to  other  persons ;  that  if  it 
may  be  done  legally,  you  will,  when  elect 
ed  or  appointed  to  any  official  station  con 
ferring  on  you  the  power  to  do  so  remove 
all  foreigners,  aliens,  or  Roman  Catholics 
from  office  or  place,  and  that  you  will  in 
no  case  appoint  such  to  any  office  or  place 
in  your  gift.  You  do  also  promise  and 
swear  that  this  and  all  other  obligations 
which  you  have  previously  taken  in  this 
order  shall  ever  be  kept  through  life  sacred 
and  inviolate.  All  this  you  promise  and 
declare,  as  Americans,  to  sustain  and 
abide  by,  without  any  hesitation  or  mental 
reservation  whatever.  So  help  you  God 
and  keep  you  steadfast. 

(Each  will  answer  "  I  do." 

President. — Brother  Marshal,  you  will 
now  present  the  brothers  to  the  instructor 
for  instructions  in  the  second  degree  of  the 
order. 

Marshal. — Brother  Instructor,  by  direc 
tion  of  our  worthy  president,  I  present 
these  brothers  before  you  that  you  may  in 
struct  them  in  the  secrets  and  mysteries  of 
the  second  degree  of  the  order. 

Instructor. — Brothers,  in  this  degree  we 
have  an  entering  sign  and  a  countersign. 
At  the  outer  door  proceed  (as  in  the  first 
degree].  At  the  inner  door  you  will  make 
(two  raps],  and  proceed  as  in  the  first  de 
gree,  giving  the  second  degree  pass-word, 
which  is  American,  instead  of  that  of  the 
first  degree.  If  found  to  be  correct,  you 
will  then  be  admitted,  and  proceed  (to  the 
centre  of  the  room],  giving  the  countersign, 
which  is  made  thus  (extending  the  right 
arm  to  the  national  flag  over  the  president, 
the  palm  of  the  hand  being  upwards}. 

The  sign  of  recognition  in  this  degree  is 
the  same  as  in  the  first  degree,  with  the 
addition  of  (the  middle  finger],  and  the  re 
sponse  to  be  made  in  a  (similar  manner.} 

Marshal,  you  will  now  present  the  broth 
ers  to  the  worthy  president  for  admonition. 

Marshal. — Worthy  President,  I  now  pre 
sent  these  candidates  to  you  for  admo 
nition. 

President. — Brothers,  you  are  now  duly 
initiated  into  the  second  degree  of  this  or 
der.  Renewing  the  congratulations  which 
we  extended  to  you  upon  your  admission  to 
the  first  degree,  we  admonish  you  by  every 
tie  that  may  nerve  patriots,  to  aid  us  in 
our  efforts  to  restore  the  political  institu- 


order,  and  to  the  constitution  and  by-laws  1  tions  of   our    country    to    their  original 


THE    AMERICAN    RITUAL. 


67 


purity.  Begin  with  the  youth  of  our  land. 
Instil  into  their  minds  the  lessons  of  our 
country's  history — the  glorious  battles  and 
the  brilliant  deeds  of  patriotism  of  our 
fathers,  through  which  we  received  the  in 
estimable  blessings  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  Point  them  to  the  example  of  the 
sages  and  the  statesmen  who  founded  our 
government.  Implant  in  their  bosoms  an 
ardent  love  for  the  Union.  Above  all  else, 
keep  alive  in  their  bosoms  the  memory, 
the  maxims,  and  the  deathless  example  of 
our  illustrious  WASHINGTON. 

Brothers,  recalling  to  your  minds  the 
solemn  obligations  which  you  have  sever 
ally  taken  in  this  and  the  first  degree,  I 
now  pronounce  you  entitled  to  all  the 
privileges  of  membership  in  this  the  second 
degree  of  our  order. 

THIRD  DEGREE  COUNCIL. 

Marshal. — Worthy  President,  these  bro 
thers  having  been  duly  elected  to  the  third 
degree  of  this  order,  I  present  them  before 
you  for  obligation. 

President. — Brothers,  you  will  place 
yourselves  in  a  circle  around  me,  each  one 
crossing  your  arms  upon  your  breasts,  and 
grasping  firmly  each  other's  hands,  hold 
ing  the  right  hand  of  the  brother  on  the 
right  and  the  left  hand  of  the  brother  on 
the  left,  so  as  to  form  a  circle,  symbolical 
of  the  links  of  an  unbroken  chain,  and  of 
a  ring  which  has  no  end. 

Note. — This  degree  is  to  be  conferred 
with  the  national  flag  elevated  in  the  cen 
tre  of  the  circle,  by  the  side  of  the  presi 
dent  or  instructor,  and  not  on  less  than  five 
at  any  one  time,  in  order  to  give  it  solem 
nity,  and  also  for  the  formation  of  the  cir 
cle — except  in  the  first  instance  of  confer 
ring  it  on  the  officers  of  the  state  and  sub 
ordinate  councils,  that  they  may  be  em 
powered  to  progress  with  the  work. 

The  obligation  and  charge  in  this  de 
gree  may  be  given  by  the  president  or  in 
structor,  as  the  president  may  prefer. 

OBLIGATION. 

You,  and  each  of  you,  of  your  own  free 
will  and  accord,  in  the  presence  of  Al 
mighty  God  and  these  witnesses,  with  your 
hands  joined  in  token  of  that  fraternal  af 
fection  which  should  ever  bind  together 
the  States  of  this  Union — forming  a  ring, 
in  token  of  your  determination  that,  so  far 
as  your  efforts  can  avail,  this  Union  shall 
have  no  end — do  solemnly  and  sincerely 
swear  [or  affirm]  that  you  will,  not  under 
any  circumstances  disclose  in  any  manner, 
nor  suffer  it  to  be  done  by  others  if  in  your 
power  to  prevent  it,  the  name,  signs,  pass 
words,  or  other  secrets  of  this  degree,  ex 
cept  to  those  to  whom  you  may  prove  on 
trial  to  be  brothers  of  the  same' degree,  or 


in  open  council,  for  the  purpose  of  instruc 
tion  ;  that  you  do  hereby  solemnly  declare 
your  devotion  to  the  Union  of  these  States ; 
that  in  the  discharge  of  your  duties  as 
American  citizens,  you  will  uphold,  main 
tain,  and  defend  it ;  that  you  will  discour 
age  and  discountenance  any  and  every  at 
tempt,  coming  from  any  and  every  quarter, 
which  you  believe  to  be  designed  or  calcu 
lated  to  destroy  or  subvert  it,  or  to  weaken 
its  bonds ;  and  that  you  will  use  your  influ 
ence,  so  far  as  in  your  power,  in  endeavor 
ing  to  procure  an  amicable  and  equitable 
adjustment  of  all  political  discontente  or 
differences  which  may  threaten  its  injury 
or  overthrow.  You  further  promise  and 
swear  [or  affirm]  that  you  will  not  vote  for 
any  one  to  fill  any  office  of  honor,  profit  or 
trust  of  a  political  character,  whom  you 
know  or  believe  to  be  in  favor  of  a  disso 
lution  of  the  Union  of  these  States,  or  who 
is  endeavoring  to  produce  that  result ;  that 
you  will  vote  for  and  support  for  all  polit 
ical  offices,  third  or  union  degree  members 
of  this  order  in  preference  to  all  others;  that 
if  it  may  be  done  consistently  with  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  the  land,  you  will, 
when  elected  or  appointed  to  any  official 
station  which  may  confer  on  you  the  power 
to  do  so,  remove  from  office  or  place  all 
persons  whom  you  know  or  believe  to  be  in 
favor  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  or  who 
are  endeavoring  to  produce  that  result ;  and 
that  you  will  in  no  case  appoint  such  per 
son  to  any  political  office  or  place  whatever. 
All  this  you  promise  and  swear  [or  affirm] 
upon  your  honor  as  American  citizens  and 
friends  of  the  American  Union,  to  sustain 
and  abide  by  without  any  hesitation  or 
mental  reservation  whatever.  You  also 
promise  and  swear  [or  affirm]  that  this  and 
all  other  obligations  which  you  have  pre 
viously  taken  in  this  order,  shall  ever  be 
kept  sacred  and  inviolate.  To  all  this  you 
pledge  your  lives,  your  fortunes,  and  your 
sacred  honors.  So  help  you  God  and  keep 
you  steadfast. 

(Each  one  shall  answer,  "  I  do.") 

President. — Brother  Marshal,  you  will 
now  present  the  brothers  to  the  instructor 
for  final  instruction  in  this  third  degree  of 
the  order. 

Marshal. — Instructor,  by  direction  of  our 
worthy  president,  I  present  these  brothers 
before  you  that  you  may  instruct  them  in 
the  secrets  and  mysteries  of  this  the  third 
degree  of  our  order. 

Instructor. — Brothers,  in  this  degree  as 
in  the  second,  we  have  an  entering  pass 
word,  a  degree  password,  and  a  token  of 
salutation.  At  the  outer  door  (make  any 
ordinary  alarm.  The  outside  sentinel  will 
say  U ;  you  say  ni ;  the  sentinel  will  re 
join  on).  This  will  admit  you  to  the  inner 
I  door.  At  the  inner  door  you  will  make 
(three)  distinct  (raps}.  Then  announce 
your  name,  with  the  number  (or  name) 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


and  location  of  the  council  to  which  you 
belong,  giving  the  explanation  to  the  pass 
word,  which  is  (safe}.  If  found  correct, 
you  will  then  be  admitted,  when  you  will 
proceed  to  the  centre  of  the  room,  and 
placing  the  (hands  on  the  breast  with  the 
fingers  interlocked],  give  the  token  of  salu 
tation,  which  is  (by  bowing  to  the  president). 
You  will  then  quietly  take  your  seat. 
;  The  sign  of  recognition  is  made  by  the 
(same  action  as  in  the  second  degree,  with 
the  addition  of  (the  third  finger),  and  the 
response  is  made  by  (a  similar  action  with 
the  left  hand.) 

(The  grip  is  given  by  taking  hold  of  the 
hand  in  the  usual  way,  and  then  by  slipping 
the  finger  around  on  the  top  of  the  thumb ; 
then  extending  the  little  finger  and  pressing 
the  inside  of  the  wrist.  'The  person  chal 
lenging  shall  say,  do  you  know  what  that  is  ? 
The  answer  is  yes.  The  challenging  party 
shall  say,  further,  what  is  it  ?  The  answer 
is,  Union. 

[The  instructor  will  here  give  the  grip  of 
this  degree,  with  explanations,  and  also  the 
true  password  of  this  degree,  which  is 
(Union.)] 

CHAKGE. 

To  be  given  by  the  president. 

Brothers,  it  is  with  great  pleasure  that  I 
congratulate  you  upon  your  advancement 
to  the  third  degree  of  our  order.  The  re 
sponsibilities  you  have  now  assumed,  are 
more  serious  and  weighty  than  those  which 
preceded,  and  are  committed  to  such  only 
as  have  been  tried  and  found  worthy.  Our 
obligations  are  intended  as  solemn  avowals 
of  our  duty  to  the  land  that  gave  us  birth  ; 
to  the  memories  of  our  fathers ;  and  to  the 
happiness  and  welfare  of  our  children. 
Consecrating  to  your  country  a  spirit  un 
selfish  and  a  fidelity  like  that  which  dis 
tinguished  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution, 
you  have  pledged  your  aid  in  cementing 
the  bonds  of  a  Union  which  we  trust  will 
endure  for  ever.  Your  deportment  since 
your  initiation  has  attested  your  devotion 
to  the  principles  we  desire  to  establish,  and 
hag  inspired  a  confidence  in  your  patriot 
ism,  of  which  we  can  give  no  higher  proof 
than  your  reception  here. 

The  dangers  which  threaten  American 
liberty  arise  from  foes  without  and  from 
enemies  within.  The  first  degree  pointed 
out  the  source  and  nature  of  our  most  im 
minent  peril,  and  indicated  the  first  mea 
sure  of  safety.  The  second  degree  defined 
the  next  means  by  which,  in  coming  time, 
such  assaults  may  be  rendered  harmless. 
The  third  degree,  which  you  have  just  re 
ceived,  not  only  reiterates  the  lessons  of 
the  other  two,  but  it  is  intended  to  avoid 
and  provide  for  a  more  remote,  but  no  less 
terrible  danger,  from  domestic  enemies  to 
our  free  institutions. 

Our  object  is  briefly  this :— to  perfect  an 


organization  modeled  after  that  of  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  and  coex 
tensive  with  the  confederacy.  Its  object 
and  principles,  in  all  matters  of  national 
concern,  to  be  uniform  and  identical  whilst 
in  all  local  matters  the  component  parts 
shall  remain  independent  and  sovereign 
within  their  respective  limits. 

The  great  result  to  be  attained — the  only 
one  which  can  secure  a  perfect  guarantee 
as  to  our  future — is  UNION;  permanent, 
enduring,  fraternal  UNION  !  Allow  me,  then, 
to  impress  upon  your  minds  and  memories 
the  touching  sentiments  of  the  Father  of 
his  Country,  in  his  Farewell  Address : — 

"  The  unity  of  government  which  consti 
tutes  you  one  people,"  says  Washington, 
"  is  justly  dear  to  you,  for  it  is  the  main 
pillar  in  the  edifice  of  your  real  independ 
ence,  the  support  of  your  tranquillity  at 
home,  of  your  peace  abroad,  of  your  safety, 
your  prosperity — even  that  liberty  you  so 
justly  prize. 

It  is  of  infinite  moment  that 
you  should  properly  estimate  the  immense 
value  of  your  National  Union,  to  your  col 
lective  and  individual  happiness.  You 
should  cherish  a  cordial,  habitual,  and  im 
movable  attachment  to  it;  accustoming 
yourselves  to  think  and  speak  of  it,  as  the 
palladium  of  your  political  safety  and  pros 
perity  ;  watching  for  its  preservation  with 
jealous  anxiety;  discountenancing  what 
ever  may  suggest  even  a  suspicion  that  it 
can  in  any  event  be  abandoned ;  and  in 
dignantly  frowning  upon  the  dawning  of 
every  attempt  to  alienate  any  portion  of 
our  country  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble 
the  sacred  ties  which  now  bind  together 
the  various  parts." 

Let  these  words  of  paternal  advice  and 
warning,  from  the  greatest  man  that  ever 
lived,  sink  deep  into  your  hearts.  Cherish 
them,  and  teach  your  children  to  reverence 
them,  as  you  cherish  and  reverence  the 
memory  of  Washington  himself.  The 
Union  of  these  states  is  the  great  conserva 
tor  of  that  liberty  so  dear  to  the  American 
heart.  Without  it,  our  greatness  as  a  na 
tion  would  disappear,  and  our  boasted  self- 
government  prove  a  signal  failure.  The 
very  name  of  liberty,  and  the  hopes  of 
struggling  freedom  throughout  the  world, 
must  perish  in  the  wreck  of  this  Union. 
Devote  yourselves,  then,  to  its  maintenance, 
as  our  fathers  did  to  the  cause  of  independ 
ence;  consecrating  to  its  support,  as  you 
have  sworn  to  do,  your  lives,  your  fortunes, 
and  your  sacred  honors. 

Brothers :  Recalling  to  your  minds  the 
solemn  obligations  which  you  have  sever 
ally  taken  in  this  and  the  preceding  degrees, 
I  now  pronounce  you  entitled  to  all  the 
privileges  of  membership  in  this  organiza 
tion,  and  take  pleasure  in  informing  you 
that  you  are  now  members  of  the  order  of 
(the  American  Union.) 


POLITICAL    NOMINATIONS    IN    1856. 


69 


American,  "Whig,  Republican  and  Demo 
cratic  Nominations  of  1856. 

The  American  convention  met  the  next 
day  after  the  session  of  the  National  Coun 
cil  of  the  Order,  on  the  22d  February, 
1856.  It  was  composed  of  227  delegates  ; 
all  the  States  being  represented  except 
Maine,  Vermont,  Georgia  and  South  Car 
olina.  Hon.  Millard  Fillmore  was  nom 
inated  for  President,  and  Andrew  J.  Don- 
elson  for  Vice-President. 

The  Whig  Convention  met  at  Baltimore, 
September,   17,   1856,   and    endorsed  the 
nominations  made  by  the  American  par 
ty,    and    in    its    platform  declared    that 
"  without  adopting  or  referring  to  the  pe- ! 
culiar  doctrines  of  the  party  which  has  j 
already  selected  Mr.  Fillmore  as  a  candi-  j 
date"     *    *    *      Resolved,  that  in  the  j 
present  exigency  of  political   affairs,  we 
are  not  called  upon  to  discuss  the  subordi 
nate  questions  of  the  administration  in  the 
exercising  of  the  constitutional  powers  of 
the  government.     It  is   enough  to   know 
that  civil  war  is  raging,   and    that  the 
Union  is  in  peril ;  and  proclaim  the  con 
viction  that  the  restoration  of  Mr.  Fill- 
more  to  the  Presidency  will  furnish  the  best 
if  not  the  only  means  of  restoring  peace." 

The  first  National  Convention  of  the 
new  Republican  party  met  at  Philadelphia, 
June  18,  1856,  and  nominated  John  C. 
Fremont  for  President,  and  William  L. 
Dayton  for  Vice-President.  Since  the 
previous  Presidential  election,  a  new  party 
consisting  of  the  disaffected  former  adhe 
rents  of  the  other  parties — Native  and  In 
dependent  Democrats,  Abolitionists,  and 
Whigs  opposed  to  slavery — had  sprung 
into  existence,  and  was  called  by  its  adhe 
rents  and  friends,  the  Republican  party. 

This  convention  of  delegates  assembled 
in  pursuance  of  a  call  addressed  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  without  regard 
to  past  political  differences  or  divisions, 
who  were  opposed  to  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise.  To  the  policy  of 
President  Pierce's  administration :  To  the 
extension  of  slavery  into  free  territory :  In 
favor  of  the  admission  of  Kansas  as  a  free 
State :  Of  restoring  the  action  of  the  fed 
eral  government  to  the  principles  of  Wash 
ington  and  Jefferson. 

It  adopted  a  platform,  consisting  of  a  set 
of  resolutions,  the  principal  one  of  which 
was:  "That  we  deny  the  authority  of 
Congress,  of  a  territorial  legislature,  of  any 
individual,  or  association  of  individuals, 
to  give  legal  existence  to  slavery  in  any 
territory  of  the  United  States,  while  the 
present  Constitution  shall  be  maintained." 
And  closed  with  a  resolution :  "  That  we 
invite  the  approbation  and  co-operation  of 
the  men  of  all  parties,  however  different 
from  us  in  other  respects,  in  support  of  the 
principles  herein  declared ;  and  believing 


that  the  spirit  of  our  institutions,  as  well 
as  the  Constitution  of  our  country,  guar 
anties  liberty  of  conscience  and  equality  of 
rights  among  citizens,  we  oppose  all  legis 
lation  impairing  their  security." 

The  Democratic  Convention,  met  at 
Cincinnati,  in  May  1856,  and  nominated 
James  Buchanan  for  President,  and  John 
C.  Breckenridge  for  Vice-President.  It 
adopted  a  platform  which  contained  the 
material  portions  of  all  its  previous  plat 
forms,  and  also  defined  its  position  on  the 
new  issues  of  the  day,  and  declared  (1)  that 
the  revenue  to  be  raised  should  not  exceed 
the  actual  necessary  expenses  of  the  gov 
ernment,  and  for  the  gradual  extinction  of 
the  public  debt;  (2)  that  the  Constitution 
does  not  confer  upon  the  general  govern 
ment  the  power  to  commence  and  carry  on 
a  general  system  of  internal  improvements ; 
(3)  for  a  strict  construction  of  the  powers 
granted  by  the  Constitution  to  the  fedeial 
government;  (4)  that  Congress  has  no 
power  to  charter  a  national  bank ;  (5)  that 
Congress  has  no  power  to  interfere  with 
slavery  in  the  States  and  Territories ;  the 
people  of  which  have  the  exclusive  right 
and  power  to  settle  that  question  for  them 
selves.  (6)  Opposition  to  native  American 
ism. 

At  the  election  which  followed,  in  No 
vember,  1856,  the  Democratic  candidates 
were  elected,  though  by  a  popular  minority 
vote,  having  received  1,838,160  popular 
votes,  and  174  electoral  votes,  against 
2,215,768  popular  votes,  and  122  electoral 
votes  for  John  C.  Fremont,  the  Republican 
candidate,  and  Mr.  Fillmore,  the  Whig  and 
American  candidate. 

The  aggregate  vote  cast  for  Mr.  Fillmore, 
who  was  the  nominee  on  both  the  Whig 
and  American  tickets,  was  874,534,  and 
his  electoral  vote  was  eight ;  that  of  the 
State  of  Maryland.  This  was  the  last  na 
tional  election  at  which  the  Whigs  ap 
peared  as  a  party,  under  that  name ;  they 
having  joined  with  the  American  and  with 
the  Republican  parties,  and  finally  united 
with  the  latter  after  the  downfall  and  ex 
tinction  of  the  former.  In  the  State  elec 
tions  of  that  year,  (1856)  the  American 
party  carried  Rhode  Island  and  Maryland; 
and  in  the  35th  Congress,  which  met  in 
December,  1857,  the  party  had  15  to  20 
Representatives  and  five  Senators.  When 
the  36th  Congress  met,  in  1859,  it  had  be 
come  almost  a  border  State  or  Southern 
party,  having  two  Senators;  one  from 
Kentucky  and  one  from  Maryland;  and 
23  Representatives,  five  from  Kentucky, 
seven  from  Tennessee,  three  from  Mary 
land,  one  from  Virginia,  four  from  North 
Carolina,  two  from  Georgia,  and  one  from 
Louisiana.  The  American  party  had  none 
of  the  elements  of  persistence.  It  made 
another  desperate  effort,  however,  in  the 
next  Presidential  campaign,  but  having 


70 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


failed  to  carry  the  South,  disappeared 
finally  from  politics. 

The  new  Republican  party  polled  a  very 
large  vote — 1,341,234  out  of  a  total  vote  of 
4,058,928— and  its  candidates  received  114 
votes  out  of  296,  in  the  electoral  college ; 
having  secured  majorities  in  all  the  free 
States,  except  Illinois,  Indiana,  Pennsyl 
vania,  New  Jersey  and  California. 

The  successful  candidate,  Mr.  James 
Buchanan,  was  duly  inaugurated  as  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  and  entered 
upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  such, 
March  4,  1857. 

After  the  election  of  November,  1856, 
the  Republican  Association  of  Washington 
issued  an  address  to  the  people,  in  which 
the  results  of  the  election  were  examined, 
and  the  future  policy  of  the  party  stated. 
It  is  an  interesting  paper,  as  laying  the 
foundation  of  the  campaign  of  1860,  which 
followed,  and  is  here  given  in  full : 


"Republican  Association  of  Washington. 

Address  to  the  Republicans  of  the  United  States. 

"  WASHINGTON,  Nov.  27,  1856. 
"  The  Presidential  contest  is  over,  and  at 
last  we  have  some  materials  to  enable  us 
to  form  a  judgment  of  the  results. 

"  Seldom  have  two  parties  emerged  from 
a  conflict  with  less  of  joy  in  the  victors, 
more  of  hope  in  the  vanquished.  The 
pro-slavery  party  has  elected  its  Presiden 
tial  candidate,  only,  however,  by  the  votes 
of  a  minority,  and  that  of  such  a  character 
as  to  stamp  the  victory  as  the  offspring  of 
sectionalism  and  temporary  causes.  The 
Republicans,  wherever  able  to  present 
clearly  to  the  public  the  real  issue  of  the 
canvass — slavery  restriction  or  slavery  ex- 
/ tension — have  carried  the  people  with  them 
I  by  unprecedented  majorities;  almost  break 
ing  up  in  some  States  the  organization  of 
their  adversaries.  A  sudden  gathering  to 
gether  of  the  people,  alarmed  at  the  in 
roads  of  the  slave  power,  rather  than  a 
well  organized  party,  with  but  a  few 
months  to  attend  to  the  complicated  de 
tails  of  party  warfare ;  obstructed  by  a  se 
cret  Order,  which  had  pre-occupied  the 
field,  and  obtained  a  strong  hold  of  the 
national  and  religious  prejudices  of  the 
masses;  opposed  to  an  old  party,  com 
mencing  the  canvass  with  the  united  sup 
port  of  a  powerful  section,  hardened  by 
long  party  drill,  accustomed  to  victory, 
wielding  the  whole  power  of  the  federal 
administration — a  party  which  only  four 
years  ago  carried  all  but  four  of  the  States, 
and  a  majority  of  the  popular  vote — still, 
under  all  these  adverse  circumstances,  they 
have  triumphed  in  eleven,  if  not  twelve  of 
the  free  States,  pre-eminent  for  enterprise 
and  general  intelligence,  and  containing 


one  half  of  the  whole  population  of  the  coun 
try  ;  given  to  their  Presidential  candidate 
nearly  three  times  as  many  electoral  votes 
as  were  cast  by  the  Whig  party  in  1852 ;  and 
this  day  control  the  governments  of  fourteen 
of  the  most  powerful  States  of  the  Union. 

"Well  may  our  adversaries  tremble  in 
the  hour  of  their  victory.  'The  Demo 
cratic  and  Black  Republican  parties,'  they 
say,  'are  nearly  balanced  in  regard  to 
power.  The  f<5rmer  was  victorious  in  the 
recent  struggle,  but  success  was  hardly  won, 
with  the  aid  of  important  accidental  ad 
vantages.  The  latter  has  abated  nothing 
of  its  zeal,  and  has  suffered  no  pause  in  its 
preparations  for  another  battle.' 

Wi*n  such  numerical  force,  such  zeal, 
intelligence,  and  harmony  in  counsel ;  with 
so  many  great  States,  and  more  than  a 
million  voters  rallied  to  their  standard  by 
the  efforts  of  a  few  months,  why  may  not 
the  Republicans  confidently  expect  a  vic 
tory  in  the  next  contest? 

The  necessity  for  their  organization  still 
exists  in  all  its  force.  Mr.  Buchanan  has 
always  proved  true  to  the  demands  of  his 
party.  He  fully  accepted  the  Cincinnati 
platform,  and  pledged  himself  to  its  policy 
— a  policy  of  filibustering  abroad,  propa- 
gandism  at  home.  Prominent  and  controll 
ing  among  his  supporters  are  men  com 
mitted,  by  word  and  deed,  to  that  policy ; 
and  what  is  there  in  his  character,  his  an 
tecedents,  the  nature  of  his  northern  sup 
port,  to  authorize  the  expectation  that  he 
will  disregard  their  will?  Nothing  will  be 
so  likely  to  restrain  him  and  counteract 
their  extreme  measures,  as  a  vigorous  and 
growing  Republican  organization,  as  noth 
ing  would  be  more  necessary  to  save  the 
cause  of  freedom  and  the  Union,  should  he, 
as  we  have  every  reason  to  believe,  con 
tinue  the  pro-slavery  policy  of  the  present 
incumbent.  Let  us  beware  of  folding  our 
arms,  and  waiting  to  see  what  he  will  do. 
We  know  the  ambition,  the  necessities,  the 
schemes  of  the  slave  power.  Its  policy  ol 
extension  and  aggrandizement  and  univer 
sal  empire,  is  the  law  of  its  being,  not  an 
accident — is  settled,  not  fluctuating.  Covert 
or  open,  moderate  or  extreme,  according  to 
circumstances,  it  never  changes  in  spirit  or 
aim.  With  Mr.  Buchanan,  the  elect  of  a 
party  controlled  by  this  policy,  administer 
ing  the  government,  the  safety  of  the 
country  and  of  free  institutions  must  rest  in 
the  organization  of  the  Republican  party. 

What,  then,  is  the  duty  before  us? 
Organization,  vigilance,  action ;  action  on 
the  rostrum,  through  the  press,  at  the  bal 
lot-box  ;  in  state,  county,  city,  and  town 
elections ;  everywhere,  at  all  times ;  in  every 
election,  making  Republicanism,  or  loyal 
ty  to  the  policy  and  principles  it  advocates, 
the  sole  political  test.  No  primary  or 
municipal  election  should  be  suffered  to 
go  by  default.  The  party  that  would  sue- 


THE    KANSAS    STRUGGLE. 


71 


ceed  nationally  must  triumph  in  states — 
triumph  in  the  state  elections,  must  be 
prepared  by  municipal  success. 

Next  to  the  remaining  power  in  the 
states  already  under  their  control,  let  the 
Republicans  devote  themselves  to  the 
work  of  disseminating  their  principles, 
and  initiating  the  true  course  of  political 
action  in  the  states  which  have  decided  the 
election  against  them.  This  time  we  have 
failed,  for  reasons  nearly  all  of  which  may  be 
removed  by  proper  effort.  Many  thousand 
honest,  but  not  well-informed  voters,  who 
supported  Mr.  Buchanan  under  the  delu 
sive  impression  that  he  would  favor  the 
cause  of  free  Kansas  will  soon  learn  their 
mistake,  and  be  anxious  to  correct  it.  The 
timid  policy  of  the  Republicans  in  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Indiana,  in  post 
poning  their  independent  action,  and  tem 
porizing  with  a  party  got  up  for  purposes 
not  harmonizing  with  their  own,  and  the 
conduct  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  friends  in  either 
voting  for  Mr.  Buchanan,  or  dividing  the 
opposition  by  a  separate  ticket,  can  hardly 
be  repeated  again.  The  true  course  of  the 
Republicans  is  to  organize  promptly,  bold 
ly,  and  honestly  upon  their  own  principles, 
so  clearly  set  forth  in  the  Philadelphia 
platform,  and,  avoiding  coalitions  with 
other  parties,  appeal  directly  to  the  masses 
of  all  parties  to  ignore  all  organizations 
and  issues  which  would  divert  the  public 
mind  from  the  one  danger  that  now  threat 
ens  the  honor  and  interests  of  the  country, 
and  the  subtlety  of  the  Union — slavery 
propagandises  allied  with  disunionism. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  it  is  not  the  want 
of  generous  sentiment,  but  of  sufficient  in 
formation,  that  prevents  the  American  peo 
ple  from  being  united  in  action  against  the 
aggressive  policy  of  the  slave  power.  Were 
these  simple  questions  submitted  to-day  to 
the  people  of  the  United  States  : — Are  you 
in  favor  of  the  extension  of  slavery  ?  Are 
you  in  favor  of  such  extension  by  the  aid 
or  connivance  of  the  federal  government?, 
And  could  they  be  permitted  to  record  their 
votes  in  response,  without  embarrassment, 
without  constraint  of  any  kind,  nineteen- 
twentieths  of  the  people  of  the  free  States, 
and  perhaps  more  than  half  of  the  people 
of  the  slave  States,  would  return  a  decided 
negative  to  both. 

Let  us  have  faith  in  the  people.  Let  us 
believe,  that  at  heart  they  are  hostile  to 
the  extension  of  slavery,  desirous  that 
the  territories  of  the  Union  be  consecrated 
to  free  labor  and  free  institutions ;  and  that 
they  require  only  enlightenment  as  to  the 
most  effectual  means  of  securing  this  end, 
to  convert  their  cherished  sentiment  into  a 
fixed  principle  of  action. 

The  times  are  pregnant  with  warning. 
That  a  disunion  party  exists  in  the  South, 
no  longer  admits  of  a  doubt.  It  accepts 
the  election  of  Mr.  Buchanan  as  affording 


time  and  means  to  consolidate  its  strength 
and  mature  its  plans,  which  comprehend 
not  only  the  enslavement  of  Kansas,  and 
the  recognition  of  slavery  in  all  territory  of 
the  United  States,  but  the  conversion  of 
the  lower  half  of  California  into  a  slave 
State,  the  organization  of  a  new  slavery 
territory  in  the  Gadsden  purchase,  the  fu 
ture  annexation  of  Nicaragua  and  subju 
gation  of  Central  America,  and  the  acqui 
sition  of  Cuba ;  and,  as  the  free  States  are 
not  expected  to  submit  to  all  this,  ultimate 
dismemberment  of  the  Union,  and  the  for 
mation  of  a  great  slaveholding  confeder 
acy,  with  foreign  alliances  with  Brazil  and 
Russia.  It  may  assume  at  first  a  moderate 
tone,  to  prevent  the  sudden  alienation  of  its 
Northern  allies  ;  it  may  delay  the  develop 
ment  of  its  plot,  as  it  did  under  the  Pierce 
administration ;  but  the  repeal  of  the  Mis 
souri  compromise  came  at  last,  and  so  will 
come  upon  the  country  inevitably  the  final 
acts  of  the  dark  conspiracy.  When  that 
hour  shall  come,  then  will  the  honest  Dem 
ocrats  of  the  free  States  be  driven  into  our 
ranks,  and  the  men  of  the  slave  States  who 
prefer  the  republic  of  Washington,  Adams 
and  Jefferson — a  republic  of  law,  order 
and  liberty — to  an  oligarchy  of  slavehold 
ers  and  slavery  propagandists,  governed  by 
Wise,  Atchison,  Soule,  and  Walker,  founded 
in  fraud  and  violence  and  seeking  aggran 
dizement  by  the  spoliation  of  nations,  will 
bid  God  speed  to  the  labors  of  the  Repub 
lican  party  to  preserve  liberty  and  the 
Union,  one  and  inseparable,  perpetual  and 
all  powerful. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  Nov.  27,  1856. 


The   Kansas  Straggle. 

It  was  the  removal  of  the  interdiction, 
against  slavery,  in  all  the  territory  north 
of  36°  SO,'  by  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  'which  gave  legality  to  the 
struggle  for  Kansas,  and  it  was  the  doc 
trine  of  popular  sovereignty  which  gave 
an  impartial  invitation  to  both  sides  to  en 
ter  the  struggle.  The  aggressive  men  of 
both  parties  hurried  emigrants  to  the  Ter 
ritory.  Each  accused  the  other  of  organ 
ized  efforts,  and  soon  in  the  height  of  the 
excitement  these  charges  were  rather  con 
fessed  than  denied. 

A  new  question  was  soon  evolved  by  the 
struggle,  for  some  who  entered  from  the 
South  took  their  slaves  with  them.  The 
Free  State  men  now  contended  that  sla 
very  was  a  local  institution  and  confined 
to  the  States  where  it  existed,  and  that  if 
an  emigrant  passed  into  the  territory  with 
his  slaves  these  became  free.  The  South 
ern  view  was,  that  slaves  were  recognized 
as  property  by  the  National  Constitution  ; 
that  therefore  their  masters  had  a  right  to 
take  them  there  and  hold  them  under  con- 


72 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


stitutional  guarantees,  the  same  as  any 
other  property;  that  to  assert  anything 
else  would  be  to  deny  the  equality  of  the 
States  within  their  common  territory,  and 
degrade  them  from  the  rank  of  equals  to 
that  of  inferiors.  This  last  proposition 
had  such  force  that  it  would  doubtless  have 
received  more  general  recognition  if  the 
North  had  not  felt  that  the  early  compact 
dedicating  the  territories  north  of  369  30' 
to  freedom,  had  been  violated.  In  answer 
to  this  proposition  they  therefore  pro 
claimed  in  their  platforms  and  speeches, 
and  there  was  no  other  logical  answer, 
"  that  freedom  was  National,  and  slavery 
Sectional." 

We  cannot  enter  upon  a  full  description 
of  the  scenes  in  Kansas,  but  bloodshed 
and  rapine  soon  followed  the  attempts  of 
the  opposing  parties  to  get  control  of  its 
government.  What  were  called  the  "  Bor 
der  Ruffians  "  by  the  Free  State  men,  be 
cause  of  active  and  warlike  organization 
in  Missouri  and  upon  its  borders,  in  the 
earlier  parts  of  the  struggle,  seemed  to 
have  the  advantage.  They  were  supported 
by  friends  near  at  hand  at  all  times,  and 
warlike  raids  were  frequent.  The  Free 
State  men  had  to  depend  mainly  upon 
New  England  for  supplies  in  arms  and 
means,  but  organizations  were  in  turn 
rapidly  completed  to  meet  their  calls,  and 
the  struggle  soon  became  in  the  highest 
degree  critical. 

The  pro-slavery  party  sustained  the 
Territorial  government  appointed  by  the 
administration  ;  the  anti-slavery  party  re 
pudiated  it,  because  of  its  presumed  com 
mittal  to  slavery.  The  election  for  mem 
bers  of  the  Territorial  legislature  had  been 
attended  with  much  violence  and  fraud, 
and  it  was  claimed  that  these  things  prop 
erly  annulled  any  action  taken  by  that 
body.  A  distinct  and  separate  convention 
was  called  at  Topeka  to  frame  a  State  con 
stitution,  and  the  Free  State  men  likewise 
elected  their  own  Governor  and  Legisla 
ture  to  take  the  place  of  those  appointed 
by  Buchanan,  and  when  the  necessary 
preliminaries  were  completed,  they  ap 
plied  for  admission  into  the  Union.  After 
a  long  and  bitter  struggle  Congress  decided 
the  question  by  refusing  to  admit  Kansas 
under  the  Topeka  Constitution,  and  by  re 
cognizing  the  authority  of  the  territorial 
government.  These  proceedings  took  place 
during  the  session  of  1856-7,  which  ter 
minated  immediately  before  the  inaugura- 
ation  of  President  Buchanan. 

At  the  beginning  of  Buchanan's  admin 
istration  in  1857,  the  Republicans  almost 
solidly  faced  the  Democrats.  There  still 
remained  part  of  the  division  caused  by 
the  American  or  Know-Nothing  party,  but 
its  membership  in  Congress  had  already 
been  compelled  to  show  at  least  the  ten 
dency  of  their  sentiments  on  the  great 


question  which  was  now  rapidly  dividing 
the  two  great  sections  of  the  Union.  The 
result  of  the  long  Congressional  struggle 
over  the  admission  of  Kansas  and  Nebras 
ka  was  simply  this :  "  That  Congress  was 
neither  to  legislate  slavery  into  any  Terri- 
:ory  or  State,  nor  to  exclude  it  therefrom ; 
out  to  leave  the  people  thereof  perfectly 
free  to  form  and  regulate  their  domestic 
institutions  in  their  own  way,  subject  only 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,"* 
and  it  was  specially  prescribed  that  when 
the  Territory  of  Kansas  shall  be  admitted 
as  a  State,  it  shall  be  admitted  into  the 
Union  with  or  without  slavery  as  the  con 
stitution  adopted  should  prescribe  at  the 
time  of  admission. 

This  was,  as  it  proved,  but  a  temporary 
settlement  on  the  principle  of  popular 
sovereignty,  and  was  regarded  at  the  time 
as  a  triumph  of  the  views  of  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  by  the  friends  of  that  great  poli 
tician.  The  more  radical  leaders  of  the 
South  looked  upon  it  with  distrust,  but 
the  blood  of  the  more  excitable  in  both 
sections  was  rapidly  rising  toward  fever 
beat,  and  the  border  men  from  the  Free 
and  Slave  States  alike  were  preparing  to 
act  upon  a  compromise  which  in  effect  in 
vited  a  conflict. 

The  Presidential  election  in  1856  had 
singularly  enough  encouraged  the  more 
aggressive  of  both  sections.  Buchanan's 
election  was  a  triumph  for  the  South; 
Fremont's  large  vote  showed  the  power  of 
a  growing  party  as  yet  but  partially  or 
ganized,  and  crippled  by  schisms  which 
grew  out  of  the  attempt  to  unite  all  ele 
ments  of  opposition  to  the  Democrats. 
The  general  plan  of  the  latter  was  now 
changed  into  an  attempt  to  unite  all  of  the 
free-soil  elements  into  a  party  organization 
against  slavery,  and  from  that  time  for 
ward  until  its  total  abolition  slavery  was 
the  paramount  issue  in  the  minds  of  the 
more  aggressive  men  of  the  north.  Lin 
coln  voiced  the  feelings  of  the  Republi 
cans  when  he  declared  in  one  of  his  Illi 
nois  speeches : — 

"  We  will,  hereafter,  speak  for  freedom, 
and  against  slavery,  as  long  as  the  Consti 
tution  guaranties  free  speech ;  until  every 
where,  on  this  wide  land,  the  sun  shall 
shine,  and  the  rain  shall  fall,  and  the 
wind  shall  blow  upon  no  man  who  goes 
forth  to  unrequited  toil." 

In  the  Congressional  battle  over  the  ad 
mission  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  Douglas 
was  the  most  conspicuous  figure,  and  the 
language  which  we  have  quoted  from 
Buchanan's  inaugural  was  the  literal 
meaning  which  Douglas  had  given  to  his 
idea  of  "popular"  or  "squatter  sover 
eignty." 

Prior  to  the  Kansas  struggle  the  Free 

*  President  Buchanan's  Inaugural  Address. 


THE    LINCOLN    AND    DOUGLAS    DEBATE. 


73 


Sellers  of  the  North  had  regarded  Douglas 
as  an  ally  of  the  South,  and  his  admitted 
ambition  for  the  Presidency  gave  color  to 
this  suspicion.  He  it  was  who  reported 
and  carried  through  Congress  the  bill  for 
the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  a 
measure  which  at  that  time  was  thought  to 
obstruct  Southern  designs  in  the  territories 
of  the  great  West,  but  this  repeal  proved 
in  fact  the  first  plain  steps  toward  the  free 
dom  of  the  territories.  Having  repealed 
that  compromise,  something  must  take  its 
place,  and  what  better  than  "popular 
sovereignty,"  thought  Douglas.  Terri 
tories  contiguous  to  the  Slave  States,  or  in 
the  same  latitude,  would  thus  naturally 
revert  to  slavery ;  while  those  farther  north, 
and  at  that  time  least  likely  of  early  set 
tlement,  would  be  dedicated  to  freedom. 
There  was  a  grave  miscalculation  just  here. 
Slave-owners  were  not  apt  to  change  their 
homesteads,  and  could  not  with  either 
profit  or  convenience  carry  their  property 
to  new  lands  which  might  or  might  not  be 
fruitful  in  the  crops  best  adapted  to  slave 
labor.  Slave-owners  were  few  in  number 
compared  with  the  free  citizens  of  the 
North  and  the  thousands  of  immigrants 
annually  landing  on  our  shores.  People 
who  had  once  moved  from  the  New  Eng 
land  or  Middle  States  westward,  were 
rather  fond  of  it,  and  many  of  these 
swelled  the  tide  which  constantly  sought 
homes  in  the  territories ;  and  where  these 
did  not  go  in  person  their  sons  and  daugh 
ters  were  quite  willing  to  imitate  the  early 
adventures  of  their  parents.  All  these 
counted  for  the  North  under  the  doctrine 
of  "  popular  sovereignty,"  and  it  was  the 
failure  of  that  doctrine  to  aid  the  South 
which  from  this  time  forward  caused  that 
section  to  mistrust  the  friendship  of 
Douglas. 

No  political  writer  has  since  questioned 
his  motives,  and  we  doubt  if  it  can  be  done 
successfully.  His  view&may  have  under 
gone  some  change  since  1850,  and  it  would 
be  singular  if  they  had  not ;  for  a  mind  as 
discerning  as  his  could  hardly  fail  to  note 
the  changes  going  on  all  about  him,  and 
no  where  more  rapidly  than  in  his  own 
State.  He  thought  his  doctrine  at  least 
adapted  to  the  time,  and  he  stood  by  it 
with  rare  bravery  and  ability.  If  it  had 
been  accepted  by  the  Republicans,  it  would 
have  been  fatal  to  their  organization  as  a 
party.  We  doubt  the  ability  of  any  party 
to  stand  long  upon  any  mere  compromise, 
made  to  suit  the  exigencies  and  avoid  the 
dangers  of  the  moment.  It  may  be  said 
that  our  government,  first  based  on  a  con 
federacy  and  then  a  constitution,  with  a 
system  of  checks  and  balances,  with  a  di 
vision  of  power  between  the  people  and 
the  States,  is  but  a  compromise ;  but  the 
assertion  will  not  hold  good.  These  things 
were  adopted  because  of  a  belief  at  the 


time  that  they  were  in  themselves  right,  or 
as  nearly  right  as  those  who  participated 
in  their  adoption  were  given  to  see  the 
right.  There  was  certainly  no  attempt  at 
a  division  of^  right  and  wrong,  and  the 
closest  investigation  will  show  nothing  be 
yond  a  surrender  of  power  for  the  good  of 
all,  which  is  in  itself  the  very  essence  and 
beginning  of  government. 

We  have  said  that  Douglas  fought 
bravely  for  his  idea,  and  every  movement 
in  his  most  •  remarkable  campaign  with 
Lincoln  for  the  U.  S.  Senate  demonstrated 
the  fact.  The  times  were  full  of  agitation 
and  excitement,  and  these  were  increased 
when  it  became  apparent  that  Buchanan's 
administration  would  aid  the  effort  to 
make  Kansas  a  slave  State.  Douglas  was 
the  first  to  see  that  the  application  of  ad 
ministration  machinery  to  his  principle, 
would  degrade  and  rob  it  of  its  fairness. 
He  therefore  resented  Buchanan's  inter 
ference,  and  in  turn  Buchanan's  friends 
sought  to  degrade  him  by  removing  him 
from  the  chairmanship  of  the  Senate  Com 
mittee  on  Territories,  the  position  which 
had  given  him  marked  control  over  all 
questions  pertaining  to  the  organization  of 
territories  and  the  admission  of  new 
States. 


The  Lincoln  and  Douglas  Debate. 

The  Senatorial  term  of  Douglas  was 
drawing  near  to  its  close,  when  in  July, 
1858,  he  left  Washington  to  enter  upon  the 
canvass  for  re-election.  The  Republican 
State  Convention  of  Illinois  had  in  the 
month  previous  met  at  Springfield,  and 
nominated  Abraham  Lincoln  as  a  candi 
date  for  United  States  Senator,  this  with  a 
view  to  pledge  all  Republican  members  of 
the  Legislature  to  vote  for  him — a  practice 
since  gone  into  disuse  in  most  of  the  States, 
because  of  the  rivalries  which  it  engenders 
and  the  aggravation  of  the  dangers  of  de 
feat  sure  to  follow  in  the  selection  of  a  can 
didate  in  advance.  "  First  get  your  goose, 
then  cook  it,"  inelegantly  describes  the 
basic  principles  of  improved  political  tac 
tics.  But  the  Republicans,  particularly  of 
the  western  part  of  Illinois,  had  a  double 
purpose  in  the  selection  of  Lincoln.  He 
was  not  as  radical  as  they,  but  he  well  re 
presented  the  growing  Republican  senti 
ment,  and  he  best  of  all  men  could  cope 
with  Douglas  on  the  stump  in  a  canvass 
which  they  desired  should  attract  the  at 
tention  of  the  Nation,  and  give  shape  to 
the  sentiment  of  the  North  on  all  questions 


the  Missouri  compromise  having  led  them, 
or  the  more  radical  portion  of  them,  to 
despise  all  compromise  measures. 
The  plan  of  the  Illinois  Republicans,  if 


74 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


indeed  it  was  a  well-settled  plan,  accom 
plished  even  more  than  was  anticipated, 
though  it  did  not  result  in  immediate  suc 
cess.  It  gave  to  the  debate  which  followed 
between  Lincoln  and  Douglas  a  world-wide 
celebrity,  and  did  more  to  educate  and 
train  the  anti-slavery  sentiment,  taken  in 
connection  with  the  ever-growing  excite 
ment  in  Kansas,  than  anything  that  could 
have  happened. 

Lincoln's  speech  before  the  convention 
which  nominated  him,  gave  the  first  clear 
expression  to  the  idea  tljat  there  was  an 
"irrepressible  conflict"  between  freedom 
and  slavery.  Wm.  H.  Seward  on  October 
25th  following,  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  ex 
pressed  the  same  idea  in  these  words  : 

"  It  is  an  irrepressible  conflict  between 
opposing  and  enduring  forces,  and  it  means 
that  the  United  States  will  sooner  or  later 
become  either  an  entire  slaveholding  Na 
tion,  or  an  entirely  free  labor  Nation." 

Lincoln's  words  at  Springfield,  in  July, 
1858,  were : 

"  If  we  could  first  know  where  we  are, 
And  whither  we  are  tending,  we  could  bet 
ter  judge  what  to  do,  and  how  to  do  it. 
We  are  now  far  into  the  fifth  year,  since  a 
policy  was  initiated  with  the  avowed  object, 
and  confident  promise  of  putting  an  end  to 
the  slavery  agitation.  Under  the  operation 
of  that  policy,  that  agitation  has  not  only 
not  ceased,  but  has  constantly  augmented. 
In  my  opinion  it  will  not  cease,  until  a 
crisis  shall  have  been  reached  and  passed. 
'A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot 
stand.'  I  believe  this  government  cannot 
endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half 
free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dis 
solved — I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall — 
but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided. 
It  will  become  all  one  thing,  or  all  the 
other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery 
will  arrest  the  further  spread  of  it,  and 
place  it  where  the  public  mind  shall  rest 
in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the  course  of  ulti 
mate  extinction  ;  or  its  advocates  will  push 
it  forward,  till  it  shall  become  alike  lawful 
in  all  the  States,  old  as  well  as  new — North 
as  well  as  South." 

Douglas  arrived  in  Chicago  on  the  9th 
of  July,  and  was  warmly  received  by  en 
thusiastic  friends.  His  doctrine  of  "  pop 
ular  sovereignty  "  had  all  the  attractions 
of  novelty  and  apparent  fairness.  For 
months  it  divided  many  Republicans,  and 
at  one  time  the  New  York  Tribune  showed 
indications  of  endorsing  the  position  of 
Douglas — a  fact  probably  traceable  to  the 
attitude  of  jealousy  and  hostility  manifested  ; 
toward  him  by  the  Buchanan  administra-  j 
tion.  Neither  of  the  great  debaters  were  i 
to  be  wholly  free  in  the  coming  contest. 
Douglas  was  undermined  by  Buchanan, 
who  fen  red  him  as  a  rival,  and  by  the  more 
hitter  friends  of  slavery,  who  could  not  see 
that  the  new  doctrine  was  safely  in  their 


interest ;  but  these  things  were  dwarfed  in 
the  State  conflict,  and  those  who  shared 
such  feelings  had  to  make  at  least  a  show 
of  friendship  until  they  saw  the  result. 
Lincoln  was  at  first  handicapped  by  the 
doubts  of  that  class  of  Republicans  who 
thought  "  popular  sovereignty "  not  bad 
Republican  doctrine. 

On  the  arrival  of  Douglas  he  replied  to 
Lincoln's  Springfield  speech ;  on  the  16th 
he  spoke  at  Bloomington,  and  on  the  17th, 
in  the  afternoon,  at  Springfield.  Lincoln 
had  heard  all  three  speeches,  and  replied 
to  the  last  on  the  night  of  the  day  of  its 
delivery.  He  next  addressed  to  Douglas 
the  following  challenge  to  debate  : 

CHICAGO,  July  24th,  1858. 

HON.  S.  A.  DOUGLAS: — My  Dear  Sir: — 
Will  it  be  agreeable  to  you  to  make  an  ar 
rangement  to  divide  time,  and  address  the 
same  audience,  during  the  present  canvass? 
etc.  Mr.  Judd  is  authorized  to  receive 
your  answer,  and  if  agreeable  to  you,  to  en 
ter  into  terms  of  such  agreement,  etc. 
Your  obedient  servant, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

Douglas  promptly  accepted  the  chal 
lenge,  and  it  was  arranged  that  there  should 
be  seven  joint  debates,  each  alternately 
opening  and  closing,  the  opening  speech 
to  occupy  one  hour,  the  reply  one  hour 
and  a  half,  and  the  closing  half  an  hour. 
They  spoke  at  Ottawa,  August  21st ;  Free- 
port,  August  27th ;  Jonesboro',  September 
15th ;  Charleston,  September  18th  ;  Gales- 
burg,  October  7th  ;  Quincy,  October  13th  ; 
and  Alton,  October  15th.  We  give  in 
Book  III  of  this  volume  their  closing 
speeches  in  full. 

Great  crowds  attended,  and  some  of  the 
more  enterprising  daily  journals  gave  pho 
nographic  reports  of  the  speeches.  The 
enthusiasm  of  the  North  soon  ran  in  Lin 
coln's  favor,  though  Douglas  had  hosts  of 
friends  ;  but  then  the  growing  and  the 
aggressive  party  was  the  Republican,  and 
even  the  novelty  of  a  new  and  attractive 
doctrine  like  that  of  "  popular  sovereignty" 
could  not  long  divert  their  attention.  The 
prize  suspended  in  view  of  the  combat 
ants  was  the  United  States  Senatorship, 
and  to  close  political  observers  this  was 
plainly  within  the  grasp  of  Douglas  by 
reason  of  an  apportionment  which  would 
give  his  party  a  majority  in  the  Legisla 
ture,  even  though  the  popular  majority 
should  be  twenty  thousand  against  him — 
a  system  of  apportionment,  by  the  way, 
not  confined  to  Illinois  alone,  or  not  pecu 
liar  to  it  in  the  work  of  any  of  the  great  par 
ties  at  any  period  when  party  lines  were 
drawn. 

Buchanan  closely  watched  the  fight,  and 
it  was  charged  and  is  still  believed  by  the 
friends  of  the  "  Little  Giant,"  that  the 


THE    LINCOLN    AND    DOUGLAS    DEBATE. 


75 


administration  secretly  employed"  its  pa 
tronage  and  power  to  defeat  him.  Certain 
it  is  that  a  lew  prominent  Democrats  de 
serted  the  standard  of  Douglas,  and  that 
some  of  them  were  rewarded.  In  the  heat 
of  the  battle,  however,  Douglas'  friends 
were  careless  of  the  views  of  the  adminis 
tration.  He  was  a  greater  leader  than 
Buchanan,  and  in  Illinois  at  least  he  over 
shadowed  the  administration.  He  lacked 
;f  neither  money  nor  friends.  Special  trains 
of  cars,  banners,  cannon,  bands,  proces 
sions,  were  all  supplied  with  lavish  hands. 
The  democracy  of  Illinois,  nor  yet  of  any 
other  State,  ever  did  so  well  before  or 
since,  and  if  the  administration  had  been 
with  him  this  enthusiasm  might  have 
spread  to  all  other  States  and  given  his 
doctrine  a  larger  and  more  glorious  life. 
Only  the  border  States  of  the  South,  how 
ever,  saw  opportunity  and  glory  in  it, 
while  the  office-holders  in  other  sections 
stood  off  and  awaited  results. 

Lincoln's  position  was  different.  He, 
doubtless,  early  realized  that  his  chances 
for  election  were  remote  indeed,  with  the 
apportionment  as  it  was,  and  he  sought  to 
impress  the  nation  with  the  truth  of  his 
convictions,  and  this  without  other  dis 
play  than  the  force  of  their  statement  and 
publication.  Always  a  modest  man,  he 
was  never  more  so  than  in  this  great  battle. 
He  declared  that  he  did  not  care  for  the 
local  result,  and  in  the  light  of  what  tran 
spired,  the  position  was  wisely  taken. 
Douglas  was  apparently  just  as  earnest, 
though  more  ambitious;  for  he  declared 
in  the  vehemence  of  the  advocacy  of  his 
doctrine,  that  "  he  did  not  care  whether 
slavery  was  voted  up  or  voted  down." 
Douglas  had  more  to  lose  than  Lincoln — 
a  place  which  his  high  abilities  had  hon- 
»ored  in  the  United  States  Senate,  and 
\which  intriguing  enemies  in  his  own  party 
made  him  doubly  anxious  to  hold.  Beaten, 
and  he  was  out  of  the  field  for  the  Presi 
dency,  with  his  enthroned  rival  a  candi 
date  for  re-election.  Successful,  and  that 
rival  must  leave  the  field,  with  himself  in 
direct  command  of  a  great  majority  of  the 
party.  This  view  must  have  then  been 
presented,  but  the  rapid  rise  in  public  feel 
ing  made  it  in  part  incorrect.  The  calcu 
lation  of  Douglas  that  he  could  at  one 
and  the  same  time  retain  the  good  will  of 
all  his  political  friends  in  Illinois  and 
those  of  the  South  failed  him,  though  he 
did  at  the  time,  and  until  his  death,  better 
represent  the  majority  of  his  party  in  the 
whole  country  than  any  other  leader. 

At  the  election  which  followed  the  de 
bate,  the  popular  choice  in  the  State  as  a 
whole  was  for  Lincoln  by  126,084  to  121,- 
940  for  Douglas;  but  the  apportionment 
of  1850  gave  to  Douglas  a  plain  majority 
of  the  Senators  and  Representatives. 
At  the  Freeport  meeting,  August  27th, 


there  were  sharp  questions  and  answers 
between  the  debaters.  They  were  brought 
on  by  Lincoln,  who,  after  alluding  to  some 
questions  propounded  to  him  at  Ottawa, 
said : 

"  I  now  propose  that  I  will  answer  any 
of  the  interrogatories,  upon  condition  that 
he  will  answer  questions  from  me  not  ex 
ceeding  the  same  number,  to  which  I  give 
him  an  opportunity  to  respond.  The  judge 
remains  silent ;  I  now  say  that  I  will  an 
swer  his  interrogatories,  whether  he  an 
swer  mine  or  not,  and  that  after  I  have 
done  so  I  shall  propound  mine  to  him. 

"  I  have  supposed  myself,  since  the  or 
ganization  or  the  Republican  party  at 
Bloomington  in  May,  1856,  bound  as  a 
party  man  by  the  platforms  of  the  party, 
there,  and  since.  If,  in  any  interrogatories 
which  I  shall  answer,  I  go  beyond  the 
scope  of  what  is  within  these  platforms,  it 
will  be  perceived  that  no  one  is  responsible 
but  myself. 

"  Having  said  thus  much,  I  will  take  up 
the  judge's  interrogatories  as  I  find  them 
printed  in  the  Chicago  Times,  and  answer 
them  seriatim.  In  order  that  there  may 
be  no  mistake  about  it,  I  have  copied  the 
interrogatories  in  writing,  and  also  my 
answers  to  them.  The  first  one  of  these 
interrogatories  is  in  these  words  : 

Question  1. — I  desire  to  know  whether 
Lincoln  to-day  stands,  as  he  did  in  1854, 
in  favor  of  the  unconditional  repeal  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  ? 

Answer. — I  do  not  now,  nor  ever  did, 
stand  in  favor  of  the  unconditional  repeal 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 

Q.  2. — I  desire  him  to  answer  whether 
he  stands  pledged  to-day,  as  he  did  in  1854, 
against  the  admission  of  any  more  slave 
States  into  the  Union,  even  if  the  people 
want  them  ? 

A. — I  do  not  now,  nor  ever  did,  stand 
pledged  against  the  admission  of  any  more 
slave  States  into  the  Union. 

Q.  3 — I  want  to  know,  whether  he  stands 
ledged  against  the  admission  of  a  new 
tate  into  the  Union,  with  such  a  Consti 
tution  as  the  people  of  the  State  may  see 
fit  to  make? 

A. — I  do  not  stand  pledged  against  the 
admission  of  a  new  State  into  the  Union, 
with  such  a  Constitution  as  the  people  of 
the  State  may  see  fit  to  make. 

Q.  4. — I  want  to  know  whether  he  stands 
to-day  pledged  to  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia? 

A. — I  do  not  stand  to-day  pledged  to  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia. 

Q.  5. — I  desire  him  to  answer  whether 
he  stands  pledged  to  the  prohibition  of  the 
slave  trade  between  the  different  States  ?  ^ 

A. — I  do  not  stand  pledged  to  prohibi 
tion  of  the  slave  trade  between  the  different 
States. 


76 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Q.  6. — I  desire  to  know  whether  he 
stands  pledged  to  prohibit  slavery  in  all 
the  Territories  of  the  United  States,  North 
as  well  as  South  of  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise  line  ? 

A. — I  am  impliedly,  if  not  expressly, 
pledged  to  a  belief  in  the  RIGHT  and  DUTY 
of  Congress  to  prohibit  slavery  in  all  of  the 
United  States'  Territories. 

Q.  7. — I  desire  him  to  answer,  whether 
he  is  opposed  to  the  acquisition  of  any  new 
territory,  unless  slavery  is  first  prohibited 
therein  ? 

A. — I  am  not  generally  opposed  to  honest 
acquisition  of  territory ;  and  in  any  given 
case,  I  would  or  would  not  oppose  such  ac 
quisition,  according  as  I  might  think  such 
acquisition  would  or  would  not  aggravate 
the  slavery  question  among  ourselves. 

"  Now,  my  friends,  it  will  be  perceived 
upon  an  examination  of  these  questions 
and  answers,  that  so  far,  I  have  only  an 
swered  that  I  was  not  pledged  to  this,  that, 
or  the  other. 

The  judge  has  not  framed  his  interroga 
tories  to  ask  me  anything  more  than  this 
and  I  have  answered  in  strict  accordance 
with  the  interrogatories,  and  have  answered 
truly,  that  I  am  not  pledged  at  all  upon 
any  of  the  points  to  which  I  have  an 
swered.  But  I  am  not  disposed  to  hang 
upon  the  exact  form  of  his  interrogatories. 
I  am  rather  disposed  to  take  up,  at  least 
some  of  these  questions,  and  state  what  I 
really  think  upon  them. 

"  The  fourth  one  is  in  regard  to  the  abo 
lition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Colum 
bia.  In  relation  to  that,  I  have  my  mind 
very  distinctly  made  up.  I  should  be  very 
glad  to  see  slavery  abolished  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia.  I  believe  that  Congress 
possesses  the  constitutional  power  to  abolish 
it.  Yet,  as  a  member  of  Congress,  I  should 
not,  with  my  present  views,  be  in  favor  of 
endeavoring  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  unless  it  should  be  upon 
these  conditions :  FIRST,  That  the  aboli 
tion  should  be  gradual ;  SECOND,  That  it 
should  be  on  a  vote  of  a  majority  of  quali 
fied  voters  in  the  District;  and  THIRD, 
That  compensation  should  be  made  to  un 
willing  owners.  With  these  three  condi 
tions,  I  confess  I  would  be  exceedingly 
glad  to  see  Congress  abolish  slavery  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  and  in  the  lan 
guage  of  Henry  Clay,  'sweep  from  our 
Capital  that  foul  blot  upon  our  nation.'  " 

I  now  proceed  to  propound  to  the  judge 
the  interrogatories,  so  far  as  I  have  framed 
them.  I  will  bring  forward  a  new  in 
stalment  when  I  get  them  ready.  I  will 
bring  now  only  four.  The  first  one  is  :— 

1.  If  the  people  of  Kansas  shall,  by 
means  entirely  unobjectionable  in  all  other 
respects,  adopt  a  State  Constitution  and 
ask  admission  into  the  Union  under  it 
before  they  have  the  requisite  number  of 


inhabitants,  according  to  the  English  bill 
— some  ninety-three  thousand — will  he 
vote  to  admit  them? 

2.  Can  the  people  of  the  United  States 
Territory,  in  any  lawful  way,  against  the 
wish  of  any  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
exclude  slavery  from  its  limits  prior  to  the 
formation  of  a  State  Constitution  ? 

3.  If  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  shall  decide  that  States  cannot  ex 
clude  slavery  from  their  limits,  are  you  in  | 
favor  of  acquiescing  in,  adopting  and  fol 
lowing  such  decision  as  a  rule  of  political 
action  ? 

4.  Are  you  in  favor  of  acquiring  addi 
tional  territory  in  disregard  of  how  much 
acquisition  may  affect  the  nation  on  the 
slavery  question? 

To  these  questions  Mr.  Douglas  said: 
"  In  reference  to  Kansas,  it  is  my  opinion 
that,  as  she  has  population  enough  to  con 
stitute  a  slave  State,  she  has  people  enough 
for  a  free  State.  I  hold  it  to  be  a  sacred 
rule  of  universal  application,  to  require  a 
Territory  to  contain  the  requisite  popula 
tion  for  a  member  of  Congress,  before  it  is 
admitted  as  a  State  into  the  Union. 

2.  "  It  matters  not  what  way  the  Supreme 
Court  may  hereafter  decide,  as  to  the  ab 
stract  question  whether  slavery  may  or 
may  not  go  into  a  Territory  under  the 
Constitution,  the  people  have  the  lawful 
means  to  introduce  it,  or  exclude  it  as  they 
please,  for  the  reason  that  slavery  cannot 
exist  a  day,  or  an  hour,  anywhere,  unless 
it  is  supported  by  local  police  regulations. 
These  police  regulations  can  only  be  estab 
lished  by  the  local  legislature,  and  if  the 
people  are  opposed  to  slavery,  they  will 
elect  representatives  to  that  bo'dy,  who  will, 
by  unfriendly  legislation,  effectually  pre 
vent  the  introduction  of  it  into  their  midst. 
If,  on  the  contrary,  they  are  for  it,  their 
legislation  will  favor  its  extension.  Hence, 
no  matter  what  the  decision  of  the  Su 
preme  Court  may  be  on  that  abstract 
question,  still  the  right  of  the  people  to 
make  a  slave  Territory  or  a  free  Terri 
tory  is  perfect  and  complete  under  the 
Nebraska  bill. 

"  8.  The  third  question  which  Mr.  Lin 
coln  presented  is,  if  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  shall  decide  that  a  State 
of  this  Union  cannot  exclude  slavery  from 
its  own  limits,  will  I  submit  to  it?  I  am 
amazed  that  Mr.  Lincoln  should  ask  such 
a  question. 

He  casts  an  imputation  upon  the  Su 
preme  Court  of  the  United  States  by  sup 
posing  that  they  would  violate  the  consti 
tution  of  the  United  States.  I  tell  him 
that  such  a  thing  is  not  possible.  It  would 
be  an  act  of  moral  treason  that  no  man  on 
the  bench  could  ever  descend  to.  Mr. 
Lincoln,  himself,  would  never,  in  his  par 
tisan  feelings,  so  far  forget  what  was  right 
as  to  be  guilty  of  such  an  act. 


THE    KANSAS    STRUGGLE. 


77 


4.  With  our  natural  increase,  growing 
with  a  rapidity  unknown  in  any  other  part 
of  the  globe,  with  the  tide  of  emigration 
that  is  fleeing  from  despotism  in  the  old 
world,  to  seek  refuge  in  our  own,  there  is 
a  constant  torrent  pouring  into  this  coun 
try  that  requires  more  land,  more  terri- 
x>ry  upon  which  to  settle,  and  just  as  fast 
is  our  interests  and  our  destiny  require 
ai  additional  territory  in  the  North,  in  the 
ftouth,  or  on  the  Island  of  the  Ocean,  I 
am  for  it,  and  when  we  require  it,  will 
leave  the  people,  according  to  the  Nebraska 
bill,  free  to  do  as  they  please  on  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery,  and  every  other  ques 
tion." 

The  bitterness  of  the  feelings  aroused  by 
the  canvass  and  boldness  of  Douglas,  can 
both  be  well  shown  by  a  brief  abstract 
from  his  speech  at  Freeport.  He  had  per 
sisted  in  calling  the  Republicans  "  Black 
Republicans,"  although  the  crowd,  the 
great  majority  of  which  was  there  against 
him,  insisted  that  he  should  say  "  White 
Republican."  In  response  to  these  oft  re 
peated  demands,  he  said : — 

"Now,  there  are  a  great  many  Black 
Republicans  of  you  who  do  not  know  this 
thing  was  done.  ("White,  white,  and 
great  clamor)."  I  wish  to  remind  you  that 
while  Mr.  Lincoln  was  speaking,  there 
was  not  a  Democrat  vulgar  and  black 
guard  enough  to  interrupt  him.  But  I 
know  that  the  shoe  is  pinching  you.  I  am 
clinching  Lincoln  now,  and  you  are  scared 
to  death  for  the  result.  I  have  seen  this 
thing  before.  I  have  seen  men  make  ap 
pointments  for  discussions  and  the  mo 
ment  their  man  has  been  heard,  try  to  in 
terrupt  and  prevent  a  fair  hearing  of  the 
other  side.  I  have  seen  your  mobs  before 
and  defy  your  wrath.  (Tremendous  ap- 
\  plause. ) 

"_My  friends,  do  not  cheer,  for  I  need 
my  whole  time. 

"  I  have  been  put  to  severe  tests.  I  have 
stood  by  my  principles  in  fair  weather  and 
in  foul,  in  the  sunshine  and  in  the  rain. 
I  have  defended  the  great  principle  of 
self-government  here  among  you  when 
Northern  sentiment  ran  in  a  torrent  against 
me,  and  I  have  defended  that  same  great 
principle  when  Southern  sentiment  came 
down  like  an  avalanche  upon  me.  I  was 
not  afraid  of  any  test  they  put  to  me.  I 
knew  I  was  right— I  knew  my  principles 
were  sound — I  knew  that  the  people  would 
see  in  the  end  that  I  had  done  right,  and 
I  knew  that  the  God  of  Heaven  would 
smile  upon  me  if  I  was  faithful  in  the  per 
formance  of  my  duty." 

As  an  illustration  of  the  earnestness  of 
Lincoln's  position  we  need  only  quote  two 
paragraphs  from  his  speech  at  Alton : — 

"Is  slavery  wrong?  That  is  the  real 
issue.  That  is  the  issue  that  will  continue 
in  this  country  when  these  poor  tongues  of 


Judge  Douglas  and  myself  shall  be  silent. 
It  is  the  eternal  struggle  between  these  two 
principles — right  and  wrong — throughout 
the  world.  They  are  two  principles  that 
have  stood  face  to  face  from  the  beginning 
of  time ;  and  will  ever  continue  to  struggle. 
The  one  is  the  common  right  of  humanity, 
and  the  other  the  divine  right  of  Kings. 
It  is  the  same  principle  in  whatever  shape 
it  develops  itself.  It  is  the  same  spirit  that 
says,  '  you  work  and  toil,  and  earn  bread, 
and  I'll  eat  it.'  No  matter  in  what  shape 
it  comes,  whether  from  the  mouth  of  a 
King  who  seeks  to  bestride  the  people  of 
his  own  nation  and  life  by  the  fruit  of  their 
labor,  or  from  one  race  of  men  as  an 
apology  for  enslaving  another  race,  it  is 
the  same  tyrannical  principle." 

And  again : — 

"On  this  subject  of  treating  it  as  a 
wrong,  and  limiting  its  spread,  let  me  say  a 
word.  Has  anything  ever  threatened  the 
existence  of  this  Union  save  and  except 
this  very  institution  of  slavery?  What  is 
it  that  we  hold  most  dear  among  us  ?  Our 
own  liberty  and  prosperity.  What  has 
ever  threatened  our  liberty  and  prosperity 
save  and  except  this  institution  of  slavery  ? 
If  this  is  true,  how  do  you  propose  to  im 
prove  the  condition  of  things?  by  enlarging 
slavery  ? — by  spreading  it  out  and  making 
it  bigger  ?  You  may  have  a  wen  or  cancer 
upon  your  person  and  not  be  able  to  cut  it 
out,  lest  you  bleed  to  death ;  but  surely  it 
is  no  way  to  cure  it,  to  engraft  it  and 
spread  it  over  your  whole  body.  That  is 
no  proper  way  of  treating  what  you  regard 
a  wrong.  You  see  this  peaceful  way  of 
dealing  with  it  as  a  wrong — restricting  the 
spread  of  it,  and  not  allowing  it  to  go  into 
new  countries  where  it  has  not  already 
existed.  That  is  the  peaceful  way,  the 
old-fashioned  way,  the  way  in  which 
the  fathers  themselves  set  us  the  ex 
ample." 

The  administration  of  Pierce  had  left 
that  of  Buchanan  a  dangerous  legacy.  He 
found  the  pro-slavery  party  in  Congress 
temporarily  triumphant,  it  is  true,  and 
supported  by  the  action  of  Congress  in  re 
jecting  the  Topeka  constitution  and  rec 
ognizing  the  territorial  government,  but 
he  found  that  that  decision  was  not  accep 
table  either  to  the  majority  of  the  people 
in  the  country  or  to  a  rapidly  rising  anti- 
slavery  sentiment  in  the  North.  Yet  he 
saw  but  one  course  to  pursue,  and  that  was 
to  sustain  the  territorial  government,  which 
had  issued  the  call  for  the  Lecpmpton  con 
vention.  He  was  supported  in  this  view 
t>y  the  action  of  the  Supreme  Court,  which 
had  decided  that  slavery  existed  in  Kansas 
under  the  constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  that  the  people  therein  could  only  re 
lieve  themselves  of  it  by  the  election  of 
delegates  who  would  prohibit  it  in  the 
constitution  to  be  framed  by  the  Lecomp- 


78 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


ton  convention.  The  Free  State  men  re 
fused  to  recognize  the  call,  made  little,  if 
any,  preparation  for  the  election,  yet  on 
the  last  day  a  number  of  them  voted  for 
State  officials  and  a  member  of  Congress 
under  the  Lecompton  constitution.  This 
had  the  effect  of  suspending  hostilities  be 
tween  the  parties,  yet  peace  was  actually 
maintained  only  by  the  intervention  of 
U.  S.  troops,  under  the  command  of  Col. 
Sumner,  who  afterwards  won  distinction 
in  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  The  Free 
State  people  stood  firmly  by  their  Topeka 
constitution,  and  refused  to  vote  on  ques 
tions  affecting  delegates  to  the  Lecompton 
convention.  They  had  no  confidence  in 
Governor  Walker,  the  appointee  of  Presi 
dent  Buchanan,  and  his  proclamations 
passed  unheeded.  They  recognized  their 
own  Governor  Robinson,  who  in  a  message 
dated  December  7th,  1857,  explained  and 
defended  their  position  in  these  words : 

"  The  convention  which  framed  the  con 
stitution  at  Topeka  originated  with  the 
people  of  Kansas  territory.  They  have 
adopted  and  ratified  the  same  twice  by  a 
direct  vote,  and  also  indirectly  through  two 
elections  of  State  officers  and  members  of 
the  State  Legislature.  Yet  it  has  pleased 
the  administration  to  regard  the  whole 
proceeding  as  revolutionary." 

The  Lecompton  convention,  proclaimed 
by  Governor  Walker  to  be  lawfully  con 
stituted,  met  for  the  second  time,  Sept.  4th, 
1857,  and  proceeded  to  frame  a  constitu 
tion,  and  adjourned  finally  Nov.  7th.  A 
large  majority  of  the  delegates,  as  in  the 
first,  were  of  course  pro-slavery,  because 
of  the  refusal  of  the  anti-slavery  men  to 
participate  in  the  election.  It  refused  to 
submit  the  whole  constitution  to  the  people, 
it  is  said,  in  opposition  to  the  desire  of 
President  Buchanan,  and  part  of  his 
Cabinet.  It  submitted  only  the  question 
of  whether  or  not  slavery  should  exist  in 
the  new  State,  and  this  they  were  required 
to  do  under  the  Kansas-Nebraska  act,  if 
indeed  they  were  not  required  to  submit  it 
all.  Yet  such  was  the  hostility  of  the 
pro-slavery  men  to  submission,  that  it  was 
only  by  three  majority  the  proposition  to 
submit  the  main  question  was  adopted — a 
confession  in  advance  that  the  result  was 
not  likely  to  favor  their  side  of  the  con 
troversy.  But  six  weeks'  time  was  also 
allowed  for  preparation,  the  election  being 
ordered  for  Dec.  21st,  1857.  Still  another 
advantage  was  taken  in  the  printing  of  the 
ballots,  as  ordered  by  the  convention.  The 
method  prescribed  was  to  endorse  the  bal 
lots,  "Constitution  with  Slavery,"  and 
"  Constitution  with  no  Slavery,  thus  com 
pelling  the  voter,  however  adverse  his 
views,  as  to  other  parts  of  the  Constitution, 
to  vote  for  it  as  a  whole.  As  a  consequence, 
(at  least  this  was  given  as  one  of  the  rea 
sons,)  the  Free  State  men  as  a  rule  refused 


to  participate  in  the  election,  and  the  result 
as  returned  was  6,143  votes  in  favor  of 
slavery,  and  589  against  it.  The  constitu 
tion  was  announced  as  adopted,  an  election 
was  ordered  on  the  first  Monday  of  Janu 
ary,  1858,  for  State  officers,  members  of  the 
Legislature,  and  a  member  of  Congress. 
The  opponents  of  the  Lecompton  constitu 
tion  did  not  now  refrain  from  voting,  partly 
because  of  their  desire  to  secure  the  repre 
sentative  in  Congress,  but  mainly  to  secure 
an  opportunity,  as  advised  by  their  State 
officers,  to  vote  down  the  Lecompton  con 
stitution.  Both  parties  warmly  contested 
the  result,  but  the  Free  State  men  won,  and 
with  their  general  victory  secured  a  large 
majority  in  the  Legislature. 

The  ballots  of  the  Free  State  men  were 
now  headed  with  the  words  "  Against  the 
Lecompton  Constitution,"  and  they  re 
turned  10,226  votes  against  it,  to  134  for 
it  with  slavery,  and  24  for  it  against  slavery. 
This  return  was  certified  by  J.  W.  Denver, 
"  Secretary  and  Acting  Governor,"  and  its 
validity  was  endorsed  by  Douglas  in  his 
report  from  the  Senate  Territorial  Com 
mittee.  It  was  in  better  accord  with  his 
idea  of  popular  sovereignty,  as  it  showed 
almost  twice  as  large  a  vote  as  that  cast 
under  the  Lecompton  plan,  the  fairness  of 
the  return  not  being  disputed,  while  that 
of  the  month  previous  was  disputed. 

But  their  previous  refusal  to  vote  on  the 
Lecompton  constitution  gave  their  oppo 
nents  an  advantage  in  position  strangely  at 
variance  with  the  wishes  of  a  majority  of 
the  people.  The  President  of  that  conven 
tion,  J.  Calhoun,  forwarded  the  document 
to  the  President  with  an  official  request 
that  it  be  submitted  to  Congress.  This 
was  done  in  a  message  dated  2d  February, 
1858,  and  the  President  recommended  the 
admission  of  Kansas  under  it. 

This  message  occasioned  a  violent  debate 
in  Congress,  which  continued  for  three 
months.  It  was  replete  with  sectional 
abuse  and  bitterness,  and  nearly  all  the 
members  of  both  Houses  participated.  It 
finally  closed  with  the  passage  of  the 
"  Act  for  the  admission  of  the  State  of 
Kansas  into  the  Union,"  passed  May  4th, 
1858.  This  Act  had  been  reported  by  a 
committee  of  conference  of  both  Houses, 
and  was  passed  in  the  Senate  by  31  to  22, 
and  in  the  House  by  112  to  103.  There 
was  a  strict  party  vote  in  the  Senate  with 
the  exception  of  Mr.  Douglas,  C.  E.  Stuart 
of  Michigan,  and  D.  C.  Broderick  of  Cal 
ifornia,  who  voted  with  the  Republican 
minority.  In  the  House  several  anti- 
Lecompton  democrats  voted  with  the  Re 
publican  minority.  These  were  Messrs. 
Adrian  of  New  Jersey ;  Chapman  of  Penn 
sylvania  ;  Clark  of  New  York ;  Cockerill 
of  Ohio  ;  Davis  of  Indiana ;  Harris  of  Il 
linois  ;  Raskin  of  New  York :  Hickman 
of  Pennsylvania;  McKibben  of  California; 


THE    KANSAS    STRUGGLE. 


79 


Marshall  of  Illinois;  Morgan  of  New 
York  ;  Morris,  Shaw,  and  Smith  of  Illinois. 
The  Americans  who  voted  with  the  Repub 
licans  were  Crittenden  of  Kentucky ;  Davis 
of  Maryland ;  Marshall  of  Kentucky  ; 
Ricaud  of  Maryland ;  Underwood  of  Ken 
tucky.  A  number  of  those  previously 
classed  as  Anti-Lecompton  Democrats 
voted  against  their  colleagues  of  the  same 
faction,  and  consequently  against  the  bill. 
These  were  Messrs.  Cockerill,  Gwesheck, 
Hall,  Lawrence,  Pendleton  and  Cox  of 
Ohio ;  English  and  Foley  of  Indiana ;  and 
Jones  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Americans 
who  voted  against  the  bill  were  Kennedy 
of  Maryland ;  Anderson  of  Missouri ;  Eus- 
tis  of  Louisiana ;  Gilmer  of  North  Caro 
lina  ;  Hill  of  Georgia ;  Maynard,  Ready 
and  Zollicoffer  of  Tennessee ;  and  Trippe 
of  Georgia. 


Lecompton  Constitution. 

The  following  are  the  political  features 
of  the  Lecompton  constitution : 

ARTICLE  VII. — Slavery. 

SEC.  1.  The  right  of  property  is  before 
and  higher  than  any  constitutional  sanc 
tion,  and  the  right  of  the  owner  of  a  slave 
to  such  slave  and  its  increase  is  the  same, 
and  as  inviolable  as  the  right  of  the  owner 
of  any  property  whatever. 

SEC.  2.  The  legislature  shall  have  no 
power  to  pass  laws  for  the  emancipation 
of  slaves  without  the  consent  of  the 
owners,  or  without  paying  the  owners 
previous  to  their  emancipation  a  full 
equivalent  in  money  for  the  slaves  so 
emancipated.  They  shall  have  no  power 
to  prevent  emigrants  to  the  state  from 
bringing  with  them  such  persons  as  are 
deemed  slaves  by  the  laws  of  any  one  of 
the  United  States  or  territories,  so  long  as 
any  person  of  the  same  age  or  description 
shall  be  continued  in  slavery  by  the  laws 
of  this  state :  Provided,  That  such  person 
or  slave  be  the  bona  fide  property  of  such 
emigrants  :  And  provided,  also,  That  laws 
may  be  passed  to  prohibit  the  introduc 
tion  into  this  state  of  slaves  who  have 
committed  high  crimes  in  other  states  or 
territories.  They  shall  have  power  to  pass 
laws  to  permit  the  owners  of  slaves  to 
emancipate  them,  saving  the  rights  of 
creditors,  and  preventing  them  from  be 
coming  a  public  charge.  They  shall  have 
power  to  oblige  the  owners  of  slaves  to 
treat  them  with  humanity,  to  provide  for 
them  necessary  food  and  clothing,  to  ab 
stain  from  all  injuries  to  them  extending 
to  life  or  limb,  and,  in  case  of  their  neglect 
or  refusal  to  comply  with  the  direction  of 
such  laws,  to  have  such  slave  or  slaves 
sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  owner  or 
owners. 


SEC.  3.  In  the  prosecution  of  slaves  for 
crimes  of  higher  grade  than  petit  larceny, 
the  legislature  shall  have  no  power  to  de 
prive  them  of  an  impartial  trial  by  a  petit 
jury. 

SEC.  4.  Any  person  who  shall  mali 
ciously  dismember,  or  deprive  a  slave  of 
life,  shall  suffer  such  punishment  as  would 
be  inflicted  in  case  the  like  offence  had 
been  committed  on  a  free  white  person, 
and  on  the  like  proof,  except  in  case  of, 
insurrection  of  such  slave.  { 

Free  Negroes. 

Bill  of  Rights,  SEC.  23.  Free  negroes 
shall  not  be  allowed  to  live  in  this  state 
under  any  circumstances. 

ARTICLE  VIII.— Elections  and  Rights  of 


SEC.  1.  Every  male  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  above  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  years,  having  resided  in  this  state  one 
year,  and  in  the  county,  city,  or  town  in 
which  he  may  offer  to  vote,  three  months 
next  preceding  any  election,  shall  have 
the  qualifications  of  an  elector,  and  be  en 
titled  to  vote  at  all  elections.  And  every 
male  citizen  of  the  United  States,  above 
the  age  aforesaid,  who  may  be  a  resident 
of  the  state  at  the  time  this  constitution 
shall  be  adopted,  shall  have  the  right  of 
voting  as  aforesaid  ;  but  no  such  citizen  or 
inhabitant  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  ex 
cept  in  the  county  in  which  he  shall 
actually  reside  at  the  time  of  the  elec 
tion. 


The  Topelta  Constitution. 

The  following  are  the  political  features 
of  the  Topeka  constitution  : 

Slavery.  t 

Bill  of  Rights,  SEC.  6.    There  shall  btf 

no  slavery  in  this  state,  nor  involuntary 

servitude,  unless  for  the  punishment  of 

crime.    , 

Amendments  to  the  Constitution. 

SEC.  1.  All  propositions  for  amend 
ments  to  the  constitution  shall  be  made 
by  the  General  Assembly. 

SE(£  2.  A  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of 
the  members  elected  to  each  house  shall  be 
necessary,  after  which  such  proposed 
amendments  shall  be  again  referred  to  the 
legislature  elected  next  succeeding  said 
publication.  If  passed  by  the  second 
legislature  by  a  majority  of  two-thirds  of 
the  members  elected  to  each  house,  such 
amendments  shall  be  republished  as  afore 
said,  for  at  least  six  months  prior  to  the 
next  general  election,  at  which  election 
such  proposed  amendments  shall  be  sub 
mitted  to  the  people  for  their  approval  or 


*0 


AMERICAN  .POLITICS. 


rejection  ;  and  if  a  majority  of  the  electors 
voting  at  such  election  shall  adopt  such 
amendments,  the  same  shall  become  a  part 
of  the  constitution. 

SEC.  3.  When  more  than  one  amend 
ment  is  submitted  at  the  same  time,  they 
shall  be  so  submitted  as  to  enable  the 
electors  to  vote  upon  each  amendment 
separately.  No  convention  for  the  forma 
tion  of  a  new  constitution  shall  be  called, 
and  no  amendment  to  the  constitution 
shall  be,  by  the  general  assembly,  made 
before  the  year  1865,  nor  more  than  once 
in  five  years  thereafter. 

Submission  of  Constitution  to  the  People. 
Schedule,  SEC.  2.  That  this  constitution 
shall  be  submitted  to  the  people  of  Kansas 
for  ratification  on  the  15th  day  of  Decem 
ber  next.  That  each  qualified  elector 
shall  express  his  assent  or  dissent  to  the 
constitution  by  voting  a  written  or  printed 
ticket,  labelled  "Constitution,"  or  "No 
Constitution;"  which  election  shall  be 
held  by  the  same  judges,  and  conducted 
under  the  same  regulations  and  restric 
tions  as  is  hereinafter  provided  for  the 
election  of  members  of  the  general 
assembly. 


Tlie  Douglas  Amendment. 

The  following  is  the  Douglas  amend 
ment,  which  really  formed  the  basis  of  the 
bill  for  admission : 

"  It  being  the  true  intent  and  meaning 
of  this  act  not  to  legislate  slavery  into  any 
state  or  territory,  nor  to  exclude  it  there 
from,  but  to  leave  the  people  thereof  per 
fectly  free  to  form  and  regulate  their 
domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way, 
subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States." 

The  bill  which  passed  on  the  4th  of  May 
was  known  as  the  English  bill,  and  it  met 
the  approval  of  Buchanan.  To  the  measure 
was  attached  "a  fundamental  condition 
precedent,"  which  arose  from  the  fact  that 
the  ordinance  of  the  convention  accom 
panying  the  constitution  claimed  for  the 
new  State  a  cession  of  the  public  lands  six 
times  greater  than  had  been  granted  to 
other  States,  amounting  in  all  to  23,500,- 
000  acres.  In  lieu  of  this  Congress  pro 
posed  to  submit  to  a  vote  of  the  people  a 
proposition  specifying  the  number  of  acres 
and  the  purposes  for  which  the  money 
arising  from  their  sale  were  to  be  used,  and 
the  acceptance  of  this  was  to  be  followed 
by  a  proclamation  that  "thereafter,  and 
without  further  proceedings  from  Congress 
the  admission  of  the  State  of  Kansas,  into 
the  Union,  upon  an  equal  footing  with  the 
original  States  in  all  respects  whatever, 
shall  be  complete  and  absolute."  The  con 
dition  was  never  fulfilled,  for  the  people  at 
the  election  on  the  2d  of  August,  1858, 


rejected  it  by  a  majority  of  9,513,  and  Kan 
sas  was  not  admitted  under  the  Lecompton 
constitution. 

Finally,  and  after  continued  agitation, 
more  peaceful,  however,  than  that  which 
characterized  the  earlier  stages  of  the  strug 
gle,  the  territorial  legislature  of  Kansas 
called  an  election  for  delegates  to  meet  and 
form  a  constitution.  They  assembled  in 
convention  at  Wyandot,  in  July,  1859,  and 
sported  a  constitution  prohibiting  slavery, 
his  was  adopted  by  a  majority  exceeding 
4000,  and  under  it  Kansas  was  admitted  to 
the  Union  on  the  29th  of  January,  1861. 

The  comparative  quiet  between  the  re 
jection  of  the  English  proposition  and  the 
adoption  of  the  Wyandot  constitution,  was 
at  one  time  violently  disturbed  by  a  raid 
made  by  John  Brown  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
with  a  view  to  excite  the  slaves  to  insur 
rection.  This  failed,  but  not  before  Gov. 
Wise,  of  Virginia,  had  mustered  his  militia, 
and  called  for  the  aid  of  United  States 
troops.  The  more  radical  anti-slavery  men 
of  the  North  were  at  first  shocked  by  the 
audacity  of  an  offense  which  many  looked 
upon  as  an  act  of  treason,  but  the  anxiety 
of  Virginia  to  hang  Brown  and  all  his 
followers  who  had  been  captured  alive, 
changed  a  feeling  of  conservatism  in  the 
North  to  one  of  sympathy  for  Brown  and 
deeper  hatred  of  slavery.  It  is  but  fair  to 
say  that  it  engendered  hostility  to  the 
Union  in  the  South.  The  right  and  wrong 
of  slavery  was  thereafter  more  generally 
discussed  than  ever.  The  talent  of  the 
South  favored.it;  while,  with  at  least  a 
large  measure  of  truth  it  can  be  said  that 
the  talent  of  the  North  opposed  it.  So 
bitter  grew  the  feeling  that  soon  the 
churches  of  the  sections  began  to  divide, 
no  other  political  question  having  ever  be 
fore  disturbed  the  Union. 

We  have  not  pretended  to  give  a  com 
plete  history  of  the  Kansas  trouble  either 
in  that  State  or  in  Congress,  nor  yet  a  full 
history  of  the  many  issues  raised  on  ques 
tions  which  were  but  subsidiary  to  the 
main  one  of  slavery.  Our  object  is  to  show 
the  relation  of  the  political  parties  through 
out  that  struggle,  for  we  are  dealing  with 
the  history  of  parties  from  a  national  view, 
and  not  with  battles  and  the  minor  ques 
tions  or  details  of  parliamentary  struggles. 
The  contest  had  cemented  the  Democrats 
of  the  South  as  it  had  the  Republicans  of 
the  North  ;  it  divided  both  the  Democrats 
of  the  North  and  the  Americans  in  all 
sections.  John  Bell,  of  Tennessee,  and 
Sam  Houston  of  Texas,  recognized  leaders 
of  the  Americans,  had  shown  their  sym 
pathy  with  the  new  stand  taken  by  Doug 
las,  as  early  as  1854.  Bell,  however,  was 
less  decided  than  Houston,  and  took  his 
position  with  many  qualifications.  Hous 
ton  opposed  even  the  repeal  of  the  Mis 
souri  Compromise,  and  made  the  last  speech 


THE  CHARLESTON  CONVENTION. 


81 


.against  it  in  the  Senate.  He  closed  with 
these  words: 

"  In  the  discharge  of  my  duty  I  have 
acted  fearlessly.  The  events  of  the  future 
are  left  in  the  hands  of  a  wise  Providence, 
and,  in  my  opinion,  on  the  decision  which 
we  make  upon  this  question  must  depend 
union  or  disunion." 

These  sentiments  were  shared  by  many 
Americans,  and  the  great  majority  of  them 
drifted  into  the  Eepublican  party.  The 
Abolitionists  from  the  beginning  of  the 
struggle,  allied  themselves  with  the  Repub 
licans,  a  few  of  their  leaders  proclaiming, 
however,  that  this  party  was  not  sufficiently 
advanced  in  its  views. 


The  Charleston  Convention. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  parties 
when  the  Democratic  national  convention 
met  at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  on  the  23d  of 
April,  1860,  it  being  then  the  custom  of 
the  Democratic  party,  as  it  is  of  all  major 
ity  parties,  to  call  its  convention  first.  It 
was  composed  of  delegates  from  all  the 
thirty-three  States  of  the  Union,  the  whole 
number  of  votes  being  303.  After  the  ex 
ample  of  former  Democratic  conventions 
it  adopted  the  two-third  rule,  and  202  votes 
were  required  to  make  nominations  for 
President  and  Vice-President.  Caleb  Gush 
ing,  of  Mass.,  presided.  From  the  first  a 
radical  difference  of  opinion  was  exhibited 
among  the  members  on  the  question  of 
slavery  in  the  Territories.  Almost  the 
entire  Southern  and  a  minority  of  the 
Northern  portion  believed  in  the  Dred 
Scott  decision,  and  held  that  slave  property 
was  as  valid  under  the  constitution  as  any 
other  class  of  property.  The  Douglas 
delegates  stood  firmly  by  the  theory  of 
popular  sovereignty,  and  avowed  their  in 
difference  to  the  fact  whether  it  would  lead 
to  the  protection  of  slave  property  in  the 
territories  or  not.  On  the  second  day  a 
committee  on  resolutions  consisting  of  one 
member  from  each  State,  selected  by  the 
State  delegates,  was  named,  and  then  a 
resolution  was  resolved  unanimously  "  that 
'this  convention  will  not  proceed  to  ballot 
'  for  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  until  the 
platform  shall  have  been  adopted."  On 
the  fifth  day  the  committee  on  resolutions 
presented  majority  and  minority  reports. 

After  a  long  discussion  on  the  respective 
merits  of  the  two  reports,  they  were  both, 
on  motion  of  Mr.  Bigler,  of  Pennsylvania, 
re-committed  to  the  Committee  on  Reso 
lutions,  with  a  view,  if  possible,  to  promote 
harmony ;  but  this  proved  to  be  impracti 
cable.  On  the  sixth  day  of  the  Conven 
tion  (Saturday,  April  28th,)  at  an  evening 
session,  Mr.  Avery,  of  North  Carolina,  and 
Mr.  Samuels,  of  Iowa,  from  the  majority 
6 


and  minority  of  the  committee,  again  made 
opposite  and  conflicting  reports  on  the 
question  of  slavery  in  the  Territories.  On 
this  question  the  committee  had  divided 
from  the  beginning,  the  one  portion  em 
bracing  the  fifteen  members  from  the 
slaveholding  States,  with  those  from  Cali 
fornia  and  Oregon,  and  the  other  consist 
ing  of  the  members  from  all  the  free  States 
east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  On  all  other 
questions  both  reports  substantially  agreed. 

The  following  is  the  report  of  the  major 
ity  made  on  this  subject  by  Mr.  Avery,  of 
North  Carolina,  the  chairman  of  the  com 
mittee:  "Resolved,  That  the  platform 
adopted  by  the  Democratic  party  at  Cin 
cinnati  be  affirmed  with  the  following  ex 
planatory  resolutions :  1st.  That  the  Gov 
ernment  of  a  Territory,  organized  by  an 
act  of  Congress,  is  provisional  and  tempo 
rary,  and  during  its  existence  all  citizens 
of  the  United  States  have  an  .equal  right 
to  settle  with  their  property  in  the  Terri 
tory,  without  their  rights,  either  of  person 
or  property,  being  destroyed  or  impaired 
by  Congressional  or  Territorial  legislation. 
2d.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment,  in  all  its  departments,  to  protect, 
when  necessary,  the  rights  of  persons  and 
property  in  the  Territories,  and  wherever 
else  its  constitutional  authority  extends. 
3d.  That  when  the  settlers  in  a  Territory 
having  an  adequate  population  form  a 
State  Constitution,  the  right  of  sovereignty 
commences,  and  being  consummated  by 
admission  into  the  Union,  they  stand  on 
an  equal  footing  with  the  people  of  other 
States,  and  the  State  thus  organized  ought 
to  be  admitted  into  the  Federal  Union 
whether  its  constitution  prohibits  or  recog 
nizes  the  institution  of  slavery." 

The  following  is  the  report  of  the  minor 
ity,  made  by  Mr.  Samuels,  of  Iowa.  After 
re-affirming  the  Cincinnati  platform  by 
the  first  resolution,  it  proceeds:  "Inas 
much  as  differences  of  opinion  exist  in  the 
Democratic  party,  as  to  the  nature  and  ex 
tent  of  the  powers  of  a  Territorial  Legisla 
ture,  and  as  to  the  powers  and  duties  of 
Congress,  under  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  over  the  institution  of 
slavery  within  the  Territories,  Resolved, 
That  the  Democratic  party  will  abide  by 
the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  upon  questions  of  constitu 
tional  law." 

After  some  preliminary  remarks,  Mr. 
Samuels  moved  the  adoption  of  the  minor 
ity  report  as  a  substitute  for  that  of  the 
majority.  This  gave  rise  to  an  earnest 
and  excited  debate.  The  difference  be 
tween  the  parties  was  radical  and  irrecon 
cilable.  The  South  insisted  that  the  Cin 
cinnati  platform,  whose  true  construction 
in  regard  to  slavery  in  the  Territories  had 
always  been  denied  by  a  portion  of  the 
Democratic  party,  should  be  explained  and 


82 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


settled  by  an  express  recognition  of  the 
principles  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court. 
The  North,  on  the  other  hand,  refused  to 
recognize  this  decision,  and  still  main 
tained  the  power  to  be  inherent  in  the 
people  of  a  Territory  to  deal  with  the 
question  of  slavery  according  to  their  own 
discretion.  The  vote  was  then  taken,  and 
the  minority  report  was  substituted  for 
that  of  the  majority  by  a  vote  of  one  hun 
dred  and  sixty-five  to  one  hundred  and 
thirty-eight.  The  delegates  from  the  six 
New  England  States,  as  well  as  from  New 
York,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan, 
Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and  Minnesota,  fourteen 
free  States,  cast  their  entire  vote  in  favor 
of  the  minority  report.  New  Jersey  and 
Pennsylvania  alone  among  the  free  States 
east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  refused  to 
vote  as  States,  but  their  delegates  voted  as 
individuals. 

The  means  employed  to  attain  this  end 
were  skillfully  devised  by  the  minority  of 
the  Pennsylvania  delegation  in  favor  of 
nominating  Mr.  Douglas.  The  entire  del 
egation  had,  strangely  enough,  placed  this 
power  in  their  hands,  by  selecting  two  of 
their  number,  Messrs.  Cessna  and  Wright, 
to  represent  the  whole  on  the  two  most  im 
portant  committees  of  the  Convention — 
that  of  organization  and  that  of  resolu 
tions.  These  gentlemen,  by  adroitness  and 
parliamentary  tact,  succeeded  in  abrogat 
ing  the  former  practice  of  casting  the  vote 
of  the  State  as  a  unit.  In  this  manner, 
whilst  New  York  indorsed  with  her  entire 
thirty-five  votes  the  peculiar  views  of  Mr. 
Douglas,  notwithstanding  there  was  in  her 
delegation  a  majority  of  only  five  votes  in 
their  favor  on  the  question  of  Territorial 
sovereignty,  the  effective  strength  of  Penn 
sylvania  recognizing  the  judgment  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  was  reduced  to  three  votes, 
this  being  the  majority  of  fifteen  on  the 
one  side  over  twelve  on  the  other. 

The  question  next  in  order  before  the 
Convention  was  upon  the  adoption  of  the 
second  resolution  of  the  minority  of  the 
committee,  which  had  been  substituted  for 
the  report  of  the  majority.  On  this  ques 
tion  Georgia,  Louisiana,  Alabama,  Arkan 
sas,  Texas,  Florida,  and  Mississippi  re 
fused  to  vote.  Indeed,  it  soon  appeared 
that  on  the  question  of  the  final  adoption 
of  this  second  resolution,  which  in  fact 
amounted  to  nothing,  it  had  scarcely  any 
friends  of  either  party  in  the  Convention. 
The  Douglas  party,  without  explanation 
or  addition,  voted  against  it.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  old  Democracy  could  not  vote 
for  it  without  admitting  that  the  Supreme 
Court  had  not  already  placed  the  right 
over  slave  property  in  the  Territories  on 
the  same  footing  with  all  other  property, 
and  therefore  they  also  voted  against  it. 
In  consequence  the  resolution  was  nega 
tived  by  a  vote  of  only  twenty-one  in  its 


favor  to  two  hundred  and  thirty-eight. 
Had  the  seven  Southern  States  just  men 
tioned  voted,  the  negatives  would  have 
amounted  to  two  hundred  and  eighty-two, 
or  more  than  thirteen  to  one.  Thus  both 
the  majority  and  the  minority  resolutions 
on  the  Territorial  question  were  rejected, 
and  nothing  remained  before  the  Conven 
tion  except  the  Cincinnati  platform. 

At  this  stage  of  the  proceedings  (April 
30th),  the  States  of  Louisiana,  Alabama, 
South  Carolina,  Mississippi,  Florida,  Tex 
as,  and  Arkansas,  having  assigned  their 
reasons  for  the  act,  withdrew  in  succession 
from  the  Convention.  After  these  seven 
States  had  retired,  the  delegation  from 
Virginia  made  an  effort  to  restore  har 
mony.  Mr.  Russell,  their  chairman,  ad 
dressed  the  Convention  and  portrayed  the 
alarming  nature  of  the  crisis.  He  ex 
pressed  his  fears  that  we  were  on  the  eve 
of  a  revolution,  and  if  this  Convention 
should  prove  a  failure  it  would  be  the  last 
National  Convention  of  any  party  which 
would  ever  assemble  in  the  IJniteo!  States. 
"  Virginia,"  said  he,  "  stands  in  the  midst 
of  her  sister  States,  in  garments  red  with 
the  blood  of  her  children  slain  in  the  first 
outbreak  of  the  'irrepressible  conflict.' 
But,  sir,  not  when  her  children  fell  at  mid 
night  beneath  the  weapon  of  the  assassin, 
was  her  heart  penetrated  with  so  profound 
a  grief  as  that  which  will  wring  it  when 
she  is  obliged  to  choose  between  a  sepa 
rate  destiny  with  the  South,  and  her  com 
mon  destiny  with  the  entire  Republic." 

Mr.  Russell  was  not  then  prepared  to 
answer,  in  behalf  of  his  delegation,  whether 
the  events  of  the  day  (the  defeat  of  the 
majority  report,  and  the  withdrawal  of  the 
seven  States)  were  sufficient  to  justify  her 
in  taking  the  irrevocable  step  in  question. 
In  order,  therefore,  that  they  might  have 
time  to  deliberate,  and  if  they  thought 
proper  make  an  effort  to  restore  harmony 
in  the  Convention,  he  expressed  a  desire 
that  it  might  adjourn  and  afford  them  an 
opportunity  for  consultation.  The  Con 
vention  accordingly  adjourned  until  the 
next  day,  Tuesday,  May  1st ;  and  imme 
diately  after  its  reassembling  the  delega 
tion  from  Georgia,  making  the  eighth 
State,  also  withdrew. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Virginia  delega 
tion  had  consulted  among  themselves,  and 
had  conferred  with  the  delegation  of  the 
other  Southern  States  which  still  remained 
in  the  Convention,  as  to  the  best  mode  of 
restoring  harmony.  In  consequence  Mr. 
Howard,  of  Tennessee,  stated  to  the  Con 
vention  that  "  he  had  a  proposition  to  pre 
sent  in  behalf  of  the  delegation  from  Ten 
nessee,  whenever,  under  parliamentary 
rules,  it  would  be  proper  to  present  it." 
In  this  Tennessee  was  joined  by  Kentucky 
and  Virginia.  He  should  propose  the  fol 
lowing  resolution  whenever  it  would  be  in 


THE  CHARLESTON  CONVENTION. 


83 


order :  '  Resolved,  That  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States  have  an  equal  right  to  set 
tle  with  their  property  in  the  Territories 
of  the  United  States  ;  and  that,  under  the 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  which  we  recognize  as  the 
correct  exposition  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  neither  the  rights  of 
person  nor  property  can  be  destroyed  or 
inpaired  by  Congressional  or  Territorial 
legislation.'  1J 

On  a  subsequent  day  (May  3d),  Mr.  Rus- 
sell  informed  the  Convention  that  this  re 
solution  had,  "he  believed,  received  the 
approbation  of  all  the  delegations  from 
the  Southern  States  which  remained  in 
the  Convention,  and  also  received  the  ap 
probation  of  the  delegation  from  New 
York.  He  was  informed  there  was  strength 
enough  to  pass  it  when  in  order." 

Mr.  Howard,  however,  in  vain  attempted 
to  obtain  a  vote  on  his  resolution.  When 
he  moved  to  take  it  up  on  the  evening  of 
the  day  it  had  been  offered,  he  was  met  by 
cries  of  "Not  in  order/'  "Not  in  order." 
The  manifest  purpose  was  to  postpone  its 
consideration  until  the  hour  should  arrive 
which  had  been  fixed  by  a  previous  order 
of  the  Convention,  in  opposition  to  its  first 
order  on  the  same  subject,  for  the  balloting 
to  commence  for  a  Presidential  candidate, 
when  it  would  be  too  late.  This  the  friends 
of  Mr.  Douglas  accomplished,  and  no  vote 
was  ever  taken  upon  it  either  at  Charleston 
or  Baltimore. 

Before  the  balloting  commenced  Mr. 
Howard  succeeded,  in  the  face  of  strong 
opposition,  with  the  aid  of  the  thirty-five 
votes  from  New  York,  in  obtaining  a  vote 
of  the  Convention  in  re-affirmance  of  the 
two-thirds  rule.  On  his  motion  they  re 
solved,  by  141,  to  112  votes,  "  that  the  Pre 
sident  of  the  Convention  be  and  he  is  here 
by  directed  not  to  declare  any  person 
nominated  for  the  office  of  President  or 
Vice-President,  unless  he  shall  have  re 
ceived  a  number  of  votes  equal  to  two- 
thirds  of  the  votes  of  all  the  electoral  col 
leges."  It  was  well  known  at  the  time 
that  this  resolution  rendered  the  regular 
nomination  of  Mr.  Douglas  impossible. 

The  balloting  then  commenced  (Tuesday 
evening,  May  1st),  on  the  eighth  day  of  the 
session.  Necessary  to  a  nomination,  under 
jthe  two-thirds  rule,  202  votes.  On  the 
first  ballot  Mr.  -Douglas  received  145 £ 
votes  j.  Mr.  Hunter,  of  Virginia,  42 ;  Mr. 
Guthrie,  of  Kentucky,  35  J  ;  Mr.  Johnson, 
of  Tennessee,  12 ;  Mr.  Dickinson,  of  New 
York,  7;  Mr.  Lane,  of  Oregon,  6;  Mr. 
Toucey,  of  Connecticut,  2£;  Mr.  Davis,  of 
Mississippi,  1J,  and  Mr.  Pearce,  of  Mary 
land,  1  vote. 

The  voting  continued  until  May  3d, 
during  which  there  were  fifty-four  addi 
tional  ballotings.  Mr.  Douglas  never  rose 
to  more  than  152£,  and  ended  in  151  £ 


votes,  202  votes  being  necessary  to  a  nomi 
nation. 

Until  1824  nominations  had  been  made 
by  Congressional  caucus.  In  these  none 
participated  except  Senators  and  Demo 
cratic  States,  and  Representatives  from 
Democratic  Congressional  districts.  The 
simple  majority  rule  governed  in  these 
caucuses,  because  it  was  morally  certain 
that,  composed  as  they  were,  no  candidate 
could  be  selected  against  the  will  of  the 
Democratic  States  on  whom  his  election 
depended.  But  when  a  change  was  made 
to  National  Conventions,  it  was  at  once 
perceived  that  if  a  mere  majority  could 
nominate,  then  the  delegates  from  Anti- 
Democratic  States  might  be  mainly  instru 
mental  in  nominating  a  candidate  for 
whom  they  could  not  give  a  single  electo 
ral  vote.  Whilst  it  would  have  been  harsh 
and  inexpedient  to  exclude  these  States 
from  the  Convention  altogether,  it  would 
have  been  unjust  to  confer  on  them  a  con 
trolling  power  over  the  nomination.  To 
compromise  this  difficulty,  the  two-thirds 
rule  was  adopted.  Under  its  operation  it 
would  be  almost  impossible  that  a  candi 
date  could  be  selected,  without  the  votes 
of  a  simple  majority  of  delegates  from  the 
Democratic  States.  This  was  the  argu 
ment  of  its  friends. 

It  had  now  become  manifest  that  it  was 
impossible  to  make  a  nomination  at 
Charleston.  The  friends  of  Mr.  Douglas 
adhered  to  him  and  would  vote  for  him 
and  him  alone,  whilst  his  opponents,  ap 
prehending  the  effect  of  his  principles 
should  he  be  elected  President,  were  equally 
determined  to  vote  against  his  nomination. 

In  the  hope  that  some  compromise 
might  yet  be  effected,  the  Convention,  on 
the  motion  of  Mr.  Russell,  of  Virginia, 
resolved  to  adjourn  to  meet  at  Baltimore  on 
Monday,  the  18th  June ;  and  it  was  "  re 
spectfully  recommended  to  the  Democratic 
party  of  the  several  States,  to  make  pro 
vision  for  supplying  all  vacancies  in  their 
respective  delegations  to  this  Convention 
when  it  shall  re-assemble." 

The  Convention  re-assembled  at  Balti 
more  on  the  18th  June,  1860,  according  to 
its  adjournment,  and  Mr.  Gushing,  the 
President,  took  the  chair. 

Immediately  after  the  reorganization  of 
the  Convention,  Mr.  Howard,  of  Tennes 
see,  offered  a  resolution,  "  that  the  Presi* 
dent  of  this  Convention  direct  the  ser- 
geant-at-arms  to  issue  tickets  of  admission 
to  the  delegates  of  the  Convention,  as  orig 
inally  constituted  and  organized  at  Charles 
ton."  Thus  the  vitally  important  question 
was  distinctly  presented.  It  soon,  how 
ever,  became  manifest  that  no  such  reso 
lution  could  prevail.  In  the  absence  of 
the  delegates  who  had  withdrawn  at 
Charleston,  the  friends  of  Mr.  Douglas 
constituted  a  controlling  majority.  At  the 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


threshold  they  resisted  the  admission  of 
the  original  delegates,  and  contended  that 
by  withdrawing  they  had  irrevocably  re 
signed  their  seats.  In  support  of  this  po 
sition,  they  relied  upon  the  language  of 
the  resolution  adjourning  the  Convention 
to  Baltimore,  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
"recommended  to  the  Democratic  party 
of  the  several  States  to  make  provision  for 
supplying  all  vacancies  in  their  respective 
delegations  to  this  Convention,  when  it 
shall  reassemble."  On  the  other  hand, 
the  advocates  of  their  readmission  con 
tended  that  a  simple  withdrawal  of  the 
delegates  was  not  a  final  renunciation  of 
their  seats,  but  they  were  still  entitled  to 
reoccupy  them,  whenever,  in  their  judg 
ment,  this  course  would  be  best  calculated 
to  restore  the  harmony  and  promote  the 
success  of  the  Democratic  party ;  that  the 
Convention  had  no  right  to  interpose  be 
tween  them  and  the  Democracy  of  their 
respective  States ;  that  being  directly  re 
sponsible  to  this  Democracy,  it  alone  could 
accept  their  resignation ;  that  no  such  re 
signation  had  ever  been  made,  and  their 
authority  therefore  continued  in  full  force, 
and  this,  too,  with  the  approbation  of  their 
constituents. 

In  the  mean  time,  after  the  adjournment 
from  Charleston  to  Baltimore,  the  friends 
of  Mr.  Douglas,  in  several  of  these  States, 
had  proceeded  to  elect  delegates  to  take 
the  place  of  those  who  had  withdrawn 
from  the  Convention.  Indeed,  it  was 
manifest  at  the  time,  and  has  since  been 
clearly  proved  by  the  event,  that  these 
delegates  represented  but  a  small  minority 
of  the  party  in  their  respective  States. 
These  new  delegates,  nevertheless,appeared 
and  demanded  seats.  * 

After  a  long  and  ardent  debate,  the 
Convention  adopted  a  resolution,  offered 
by  Mr.  Church,  of  New  York,  and  modi 
fied  on  motion  of  Mr.  Gilmore,  of  Penn 
sylvania,  as  a  substitute  for  that  of  Mr. 
Howard,  to  refer  "  the  credentials  of  all 
persons  claiming  seats  in  this  Convention, 
made  vacant  by  the  secession  of  delegates 
at  Charleston,  to  the  Committee  on  Cre 
dentials.''  They  thus  prejudged  the  ques 
tion,  by  deciding  that  the  seats  of  these 
delegates  had  been  made  and  were  still 
vacant.  The  Committee  on  Credentials 
had  been  originally  composed  of  one  dele- 
'gate  from  each  of  the  thirty-three  States, 
but  the  number  was  now  reduced  to  twen 
ty-five,  in  consequence  of  the  exclusion  of 
eight  of  its  members  from  the  States  of 
Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  South  Car 
olina,  Texas,  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  and 
Florida.  The  committee,  therefore,  now 
stood  16  to  9  in  favor  of  the  nomination  of 
Mr.  Douglas,  instead  of  17  to  16  against  it, 
according  to  its  original  organization. 

*  From  Mr.  Buchanan's  Administration  on  the  eve  of 
ttw  Rebellion,  published  by  1).  Appleton  &  Co.,  1866. 


The  committee,  through  their  chairman, 
Mr.  Krum,  of  Missouri,  made  their  report 
on  the  21st  June,  and  Governor  Stevens,  of 
Oregon,  at  the  same  time  presented  a 
minority  report,  signed  by  himself  and 
eight  other  members. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  give  in  detail  these 
conflicting  reports.  It  is  sufficient  to  state 
that  whilst  the  report  of  the  majority 
maintained  that  the  delegates,  by  with 
drawing  at  Charleston,  had  resigned  their 
seats,  and  these  were  still  vacant ;  that  of 
the  minority,  on  the  contrary,  asserted  the 
right  of  these  delegates  to  resume  their 
seats  in  the  Convention,  by  virtue  of  their 
original  appointment. 

On  the  next  day  (June  22),  the  impor 
tant  decision  was  made  between  the  con 
flicting  reports.  Mr.  Stevens  moved  to 
substitute  the  minority  report  for  that  of 
the  majority,  and  his  motion  was  rejected 
by  a  vote  of  100£  to  150.  Of  course  no 
vote  was  given  from  any  of  the  excluded 
States,  except  one  half  vote  from  each  of 
the  parties  in  Arkansas. 

The  resolutions  of  the  majority  were  then 
adopted  in  succession.  Among  other  mo 
tions  of  similar  character,  a  motion  had 
been  made  by  a  delegate  in  the  majority 
to  reconsider  the  vote  by  which  the  Con 
vention  had  adopted  the  minority  report, 
as  a  substitute  for  that  of  the  majority, 
and  to  lay  his  own  motion  on  the  table. 
This  is  a  common  mode  resorted  to,  ac 
cording  to  parliamentary  tactics,  of  de 
feating  every  hope  of  a  reconsideration  of 
the  pending  question,  and  rendering  the 
first  decision  final. 

Mr.  Cessna  with  this  view  called  for  a 
vote  on  laying  the  motion  to  reconsider  on 
the  table.  Should  this  be  negatived,  then 
the  question  of  reconsideration  would  be 
open.  The  President  stated  the  question 
to  be  first  "  on  laying  on  the  table  the  mo 
tion  to  reconsider  the  vote  by  which  the 
Convention  refused  to  amend  the  majority 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Credentials  by 
substituting  the  report  of  the  minority." 
On  this  question  New  York,  for  the  first 
time  since  the  meeting  at  Baltimore,  voted 
with  the  minority  and  changed  it  into  a 
majority.  "When  New  York  was  called," 
says  the  report  of  the  proceedings,  "  and  re 
sponded  thirty-five  votes"  (in  the  nega 
tive)  "  the  response  was  greeted  with  loud 
cheers  and  applause."  The  result  of  the 
vote  was  113£  to  138£ — "  so  the  Convention 
refused  to  lay  on  the  table  the  motion  to 
reconsider  the  minority  report."  The  Con 
vention  then  adjourned  until  evening,  on 
motion  of  Mr.  Cochrane,  of  New  York, 
amidst  great  excitement  and  confusion.  ^ 

This  vote  of  New  York,  appearing  to  in 
dicate  a  purpose  to  harmonize  the  party  by 
admitting  the  original  delegates  from  the 
eight  absent  States,  was  not  altogether  un 
expected.  Although  voting  as  a  unit,  it 


THE  CHARLESTON  CONVENTION. 


85 


was  known  that  her  delegation  were  greatly 
divided  among  themselves.  The  exact 
strength  of  the  minority  was  afterwards 
stated  by  Mr.  Bartlett,  one  of  its  members, 
in  the  Breckinridge  Convention.  He  said: 
"  Upon  all  questions  and  especially  upon 
the  adoption  of  the  majority  report  on  cre 
dentials,  in  which  we  had  a  long  contest, 
the  line  was  strictly  drawn,  and  there  were 
thirty  on  one  side  and  forty  on  the  other." 

The  position  of  New  York  casting  an  un 
divided  vote  of  thirty-five,  with  Dean  Rich 
mond  at  their  head,  had  been  a  controlling 
power  from  the  commencement. 

Strong  expectations  were,  therefore,  now 
entertained  that  after  the  New  York  dele 
gation  had  recorded  their  vote  against  a 
motion  which  would  have  killed  the  mi 
nority  report  beyond  hope  of  revival,  they 
would  now  follow  this  up  by  taking  the 
next  step  in  advance  and  voting  for  its  re 
consideration  and  adoption.  On  the  even 
ing  of  the  very  same  day,  however,  they 
reversed  their  course  and  voted  against  its 
reconsideration.  They  were  then  cheered 
by  the  opposite  party  from  that  which  had 
cheered  them  in  the  morning.  Thus  the 
action  of  the  Convention  in  favor  of  the 
majority  report  became  final  and  conclu 
sive. 

Mr.  Cessna,  of  Pennsylvania,  at  once 
moved  "  that  the  Convention  do  now  pro 
ceed  to  nominate  candidates  for  President 
and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States." 

Mr.  Russell  rose  and  stated,  "  It  has  be 
come  my  duty  now,  by  direction  of  a  large 
majority  of  the  delegation  from  Virginia, 
respectfully  to  inform  you  and  this  body, 
that  it  is  not  consistent  with  their  convic 
tions  of  duty  to  participate  longer  in  its 
deliberations." 

Mr.  Lander  next  stated  "  that  it  became 
his  duty,  as  one  of  the  delegates  from  North 
Carolina,  to  say  that  a  very  large  majority 
of  the  delegation  from  that  State  were 
compelled  to  retire  permanently  from  this 
Convention,  on  account,  as  he  conceived, 
of  the  unjust  course  that  had  been  pursued 
toward  some  of  their  fellow-citizens  of  the 
South.  The  South  had  heretofore  relied 
upon  the  Northern  Democracy  to  give  them 
the  rights  which  were  justly  due  them  ;  but 
the  vote  to-day  had  satisfied  the  majority 
of  the  North  Carolina  delegation  that  these 
rights  were  now  refused  them,  and,  this 
being  the  case,  they  could  no  longer  re 
main  in  the  Convention." 

Then  followed  in  succession  the  with 
drawal  of  the  delegations  from  Tennessee, 
Kentucky,  Maryland,  California,  Oregon, 
and  Arkansas.  The  Convention  now  ad 
journed  at  half-past-ten  o'clock  until  the 
next  morning  at  ten. 

Soon  after  the  assembling  of  the  Con 
vention,  the  President,  Mr.  Gushing,  whilst 
tendering  his  thanks  to  its  members  for 
their  candid  and  honorable  support  in  th.e 


performance  of  his  duties,  stated  that  not 
withstanding  the  retirement  of  the  delega 
tions  of  several  of  the  States  at  Charleston, 
in  his  solicitude  to  maintain  the  harmony 
and  union  of  the  Democratic  party,  he 
had  continued  in  his  post  of  labor.  "  To 
that  end  and  in  that  sense,"  said  he,  "  I 
had  the  honor  to  meet  you,  gentlemen,  here 
at  Baltimore.  But  circumstances  have 
since  transpired  which  compel  me  to  pause. 
The  delegations  of  a  majority  of  the  States 
have,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  in  one 
form  or  another,  ceased  to  participate  in 
the  deliberations  of  the  Convention.  *  * 
*  In  the  present  circumstances,  I  deem 
it  a  duty  of  self-respect,  and  I  deem  it 
still  more  a  duty  to  this  Convention,  as  at 
present  organized,  *  *  *  to  resign  my 
seat  as  President  of  this  Convention,  in 
order  to  take  my  place  on  the  floor  as  a 
member  of  the  delegation  from  Massachu 
setts.  *  *  *  I  deem  this  above  all  a 
duty  which  I  owe  to  the  members  of  this 
Convention,  as  to  whom  no  longer  would 
my  action  represent  the  will  of  a  majority 
of  the  Convention." 

Governor  Tod,  of  Ohio,  one  of  the  Vice- 
Presidents,  then  took  the  vacant  chair,  and 
was  greeted  with  hearty  and  long-continued 
cheers  and  applause  from  members  of  the 
Convention. 

Mr.  Butler,  of  Massachusetts,  now  an 
nounced  that  a  portion  of  the  Massachu 
setts  delegation  desired  to  retire,  but  was 
interrupted  by  cries  of  "No,"  "No," 
"  Call  the  roll."  Mr.  Cessna  called  for  the 
original  question,  to  wit,  that  the  Conven 
tion  now  proceed  to  a  nomination  for  Pres 
ident  and  Vice-President. 

The  President  here  ordered  the  Secre 
tary  to  call  the  States.  Maine,  New  Hamp 
shire,  and  Vermont  were  called,  and  they 
gave  an  unbroken  vote  for  Stephen  A. 
Douglas.  When  Massachusetts  was  called, 
Mr.  Butler  rose  and  said  he  had  a  respect 
ful  paper  in  his  hand  which  he  would 
desire  the  President  to  have  read.  A  scene 
of  great  confusion  thereupon  ensued,  cries 
of  "  I  object"  being  heard  upon  all  sides. 
Mr.  Butler,  not  to  be  baffled,  contended 
for  his  right  at  this  stage  to  make  remarks 
pertinent  to  the  matter,  and  cited  in  his 
support  the  practice  of  the  Conventions  at 
Baltimore  in  1848  and  1852,  and  at  Cin 
cinnati  in  1856.  He  finally  prevailed,  and 
was  permitted  to  procee  \.  He  then  said 
he  "  would  now  withdra  v  from  the  Con 
vention,  upon  the  ground  that  there  had 
been  a  withdrawal,  in  who.  s  or  in  part,  of 
a  majority  of  the  States;  and  further, 
which  was  a  matter  more  personal  to  him 
self,  he  could  not  sit  in  a  convention  where 
the  African  slave  trade,  which  was  piracy 
according  to  the  laws  of  his  country,  was 
openly  advocated." 

Mr*  Butler  then  retired,  followed  by 
General  Gushing  and  four  others  of  the 


86 


AMERICAN    POLITICS 


Massachusetts  delegation.  All  of  these 
had  voted  with  the  South  and  against 
Douglas. 

The  balloting  now  proceeded.  Mr. 
Douglas  received  1732-  votes ;  Mr.  Guthrie 
9 ;  Mr.  Breckinridge  6 £  ;  Mr.  Bocock  and 
Mr.  Seymour  each  1 ;  and  Mr.  Dickerson 
and  Mr.  Wise  each  half  a  vote.  On  the 
next  and  last  ballot  Mr.  Douglas  received 
181.}  votes,  eight  of  those  in  the  minority 
having  changed  their  votes  in  his  i'avor. 

To  account  for  this  number,  it  is  proper 
to  state  that  a  few  delegates  from  five  of 
the  eight  States  which  had  withdrawn  still 
remained  in  the  Convention.  On  the  last 
ballot  Mr.  Douglas  received  all  of  their 
votes,  to  wit :  3  of  the  15  votes  of  Virginia, 
1  of  the  10  votes  of  North  Carolina,  1£  of 
the  3  votes  of  Arkansas,  3  of  the  12  votes 
of  Tennessee,  3  of  the  12  votes  of  Ken 
tucky,  and  2}  of  the  8  votes  of  Maryland, 
making  in  the  aggregate  14  votes.  To 
this  number  may  be  added  the  9  votes  of 
the  new  delegates  from  Alabama  and  the 
6  from  Louisiana,  which  had  been  admitted 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  original  dele- 


Mr.  Douglas  was  accordingly  declared 
to  be  the  regular  nominee  of  the  Democra 
tic  party  of  the  Union,  upon  the  motion  of 
Mr.  Church,  of  New  York,  when,  accord 
ing  to  the  report  of  the  proceedings,  "  The 
whole  body  rose  to  its  feet,  hats  were 
waved  in  the  air,  and  many  tossed  aloft ; 
shouts,  screams,  and  yells,  and  every 
boisterous  mode  of  expressing  approbation 
and  unanimity,  were  resorted  to." 

Senator  Fitzpatrick,  of  Alabama,  was 
then  unanimously  nominated  as  the 
candidate  for  Vice-President ;  and  the 
Convention  adjourned  sine  die  on  the  23d 
June,  the  sixth  and  last  day  of  its  ses 
sion.  On  the  same  day,  but  after  the  ad 
journment,  Mr.  Fitzpatrick  declined  the 
nomination,  and  it  was  immediately  con 
ferred  on  Mr.  Herschel  V.  Johnson,  of 
Georgia,  by  the  Executive  Committee. 
Thus  ended  the  Douglas  Convention. 

But  another  Convention  assembled  at 
Baltimore  on  the  same  23d  June,  styling 
itself  the  "  National  Democratic  Conven 
tion."  It  was  composed  chiefly  of  the 
delegates  who  had  just  withdrawn  from 
the  Douglas  Convention,  and  the  original 
delegates  from  Alabama  and  Louisiana. 
One  of  their  first  acts  was  to  abrogate  the 
two-third  rule,  as  had  been  done  by  the 
Douglas  Convention.  Both  acted  under 
the  same  necessity,  because  the  preserva 
tion  of  this  rule  would  have  prevented  a 
nomination  by  either. 

Mr.  Gushing  was  elected  and  took  the 
chair  as  President.  In  his  opening  ad 
dress  he  said:  "Gentlemen  of  the  Con 
vention,  we  assemble  here,  delegates  to  the 
National  Democratic  Convention,  duly 
accredited  thereto  from  more  than  twenty 


States  of  the  Union,  for  the  purpose  of 
nominating  candidates  of  the  Democratic 
party  for  the  offices  of  President  and  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
purpose  of  announcing  the  principles  of 
the  party,  and  for  the  purpose  of  continu 
ing  and  re-establishing  that  party  upon  . 
the  firm  foundations  of  the  Constitution, 
the  Union,  and  the  coequal  rights  of  the 
several  States." 

Mr.  Avery,  of  North  Carolina,  who  had 
reported  the  majority  resolutions  at 
Charleston,  now  reported  the  same  from 
the  committee  of  this  body,  and  they 
"were  adopted  unanimously,  amid  great 
applause." 

The  Convention  then  proceeded  to  select 
their  candidates.  Mr.  Loring,  on  behalf 
of  the  delegates  from  Massachusetts,  who 
with  Mr.  Butler  had  retired  from  the 
Douglas  Convention,  nominated  John  C. 
Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky,  which  Mr. 
Dent,  representing  the  Pennsylvania  dele 
gation  present,  "most  heartily  seconded." 
Mr.  Ward,  from  the  Alabama  delegation, 
nominated  K.  M.  T.  Hunter,  of  Virginia ; 
Mr.  Ewing,  from  that  of  Tennessee,  nomi 
nated  Mr.  Dickinson,  of  New  York  ;  and 
Mr.  Stevens,  from  Oregon,  nominated 
General  Joseph  Lane.  Eventually  all 
these  names  were  withdrawn  except  that 
of  Mr.  Breckinridge,  and  he  received  the 
nomination  by  a  unanimous  vote.  The 
whole  number  of  votes  cast  in  his  favor 
from  twenty  States  was  103^. 

General  Lane  was  unanimously  nomi 
nated  as  the  candidate  for  Vice-President. 
Thus  terminated  the  Breckinridge  Conven 
tion. 


Tin-  Chicago  Republican  Convention. 

The  Eepublicans  had  named  May  16th, 
1860,  as  the  date  and  Chicago  as  the  place 
for  holding  their  second  National  Conven 
tion.  They  had  been  greatly  encouraged 
by  the  vote  for  Fremont  and  "Dayton,  and, 
what  had  now  become  apparent  as  an  ir 
reconcilable  division  of  the  Democracy, 
encouraged  them  in  the  belief  that  they 
could  elect  their  candidates.  Those  of  the 
great  West  were  especially  enthusiastic, 
and  had  contributed  freely  to  the  erection 
of  an  immense  "  Wigwam,"  capable  of 
holding  ten  thousand  people,  at  Chicago. 
All  the  Northern  States  were  fully  repre 
sented,  and  there  were  besides  partial  de 
legations  from  Delaware,  Maryland,  Ken 
tucky,  Missouri  and  Virginia,  with  occa 
sional  delegates  from  other  Slave  States, 
there  being  none,  however,  from  the  Gulf 
States.  David  Wilmot,  of  Penna.,  author 
of  the  Wilmot  proviso,  was  made  tempo 
rary  chairman,  and  George  Ashman,  of 
Mass.,  permanent  President.  No  differ 
ences  were  excited  by  the  report  of  the  com 
mittee  on  platform,'  and  the  proceedings 


THE    AMERICAN    CONVENTION. 


87 


throughout  were  characterized  by  great 
harmony,  though  there  was  a  somewhat 
sharp  contest  for  the  Presidential  nomina 
tion.  The  prominent  candidates  were  Win. 
H.  Seward,  of  New  York ;  Abraham  Lin 
coln,  of  Illinois ;   Salmon   P.    Chase,    of 
Ohio ;  Simon  Cameron,  of  Pennsylvania, 
and   Edward  Bates,   of  Missouri.     There 
'  were  three  ballots,  Mr.  Lincoln  receiving 
in  the  last  354  out  of  446  votes.     Mr.  Sew 
ard  led  the  vote  at  the  beginning,  but  he 
was  strongly  opposed  by  gentlemen  in  his 
own  State  as  prominent  as  Horace  Greeley 
and  Thurlow  Weed,   and  his  nomination 
was  thought  to  be  inexpedient.     Lincoln's 
successful  debate  with  Douglas  was  still 
fresh  in  the  minds  of  the  delegates,  and 
every  addition  to  his  vote  so  heightened 
the  enthusiasm  that  the   convention  was 
finally  carried  "off  its  feet,"  the  delegations 
rapidly  changing  on  the  last  ballot.     Lin 
coln   had  been  a  known  candidate  but   a 
month  or  two  before,  while  Seward's  name 
had  been  everywhere  canvassed,  and  where 
opposed  in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States, 
it  was  mainly  because  of  the  belief  that  his 
views  on  slavery  were  too  radical.     He  was 
more   strongly  favored  by  the  Abolition 
branch  of  the  party  than  any  other  candi- 
didate.    When  the  news  of  his  success  was 
first  conveyed  to  Mr.  Lincoln  he  was  sit 
ting  in  the  office  of  the  State  Journal,  at 
Springfiald,    which    was    connected  by  a 
telegraph  wire  with  the  Wigwam.     On  the 
close  of  the  third  ballot  a  despatch  was 
handed  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  read  it  in  silence, 
and    then    announcing   the    result    said: 
"  There  is   a  little  woman   down  at  our 
house  would  like  to  hear  this — I'll  go  down 
and   tell  her,"  and  he  started  amid  the 
shout?   of  personal  admirers.      Hannibal 
Hamlin,  of  Maine,  was  nominated  for  Vice- 
President  with  much  unanimity,  and  the 
Chicago  Convention  closed  its  work  in  a 
single  day. 

The  American  Convention. 

A  "Constitutional  Union/'  really  an 
American  Convention,  had  met  at  Balti 
more  on  the  9th  of  May.  Twenty  States 
were  represented,  and  John  Bell,  of  Ten- 
ne3see,  and  Edward  Everett,  of  Massachu 
setts,  were  named  for  the  Presidency  and 
Vice-Presidency.  Their  friends,  though 
known  to  be  less  in  number  than  either  those 
of  Douglas,  Lincoln  or  Breckinridge,  yet 
made  a  vigorous  canvass  in  the  hope  that 
the  election  would  be  thrown  into  the 
House,  and  that  there  a  compromise  in  the 
vote  by  States  would  naturally  turn  toward 
their  candidates.  The  result  of  the  great 
contest  is  elsewhere  given  in  our  Tabulated 
History  of  Politics. 

THE  PRINCIPLES  INVOLVED. 

Lincoln  received  large  majorities  in 
nearly  all  of  the  free  States,  his  popular 


vote  being  1,866,452;  electoral  vote,  180. 
Douglas  was  next  in  the  popular  estimate, 
receiving  1,375,157  votes,  with  but  12  elec 
tors.  Breckinridge  had  847,953  votes,  with 
76  electors ;  Bell,  with  570,631  votes,  had 
39  electors. 

The  principles  involved  in  the  contro 
versy  are  given  at  length  in  the  Book  of 
Platforms,  and  were  briefly  these:  The 
Republican  party  asserted  that  slavery 
should  not  be  extended  to  the  territories"; 
that  it  could  exist  only  by  virtue  of  local 
and  positive  law;  that  freedom  was  na 
tional  ;  that  slavery  was  morally  wrong, 
and  the  nation  should  at  least  anticipate 
its  gradual  extinction.  The  Douglas  wing 
of  the  Democratic  party  adhered  to  the 
doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty,  and 
claimed  that  in  its  exercise  in  the  terri 
tories  they  were  indifferent  whether  slavery 
was  voted  up  or  down.  The  Breckinridge 
wing  of  the  Democratic  party  asserted  both 
the  moral  and  legal  right  to  hold  slaves, 
and  to  carry  them  to  the  territories,  and 
that  no  power  save  the  national  constitu 
tion  could  prohibit  or  interfere  with  it  out 
side  of  State  lines.  The  Americans  sup 
porting  Bell,  adhered  to  their  peculiar 
doctrines  touching  emigration  and  natural 
ization,  but  had  abandoned,  in  most  of  the 
States,  the  secrecy  and  oaths  of  the  Know- 
Nothing  order.  They  were  evasive  and 
non-committal  on  the  slavery  question. 

Preparing  for  Secession. 

Secession,  up  to  this  time,  had  not  been 
regarded  as  treasonable  in  all  sections  and 
at  all  times.  As  shown  in  many  previous 
pages,  it  had  been  threatened  by  the  Hart 
ford  Convention ;  certainly  by  some  of  the 
people  of  New  England  who  opposed  the 
war  of  1812.  Some  of  the  more  extreme 
Abolitionists  had  favored  a  division  of  the 
sections.  The  South,  particularly  the  Gulf 
States,  had  encouraged  a  secret  organiza 
tion,  known  as  the  "  Order  of  the  Lone 
Star,"  previous  to  and  at  the  time  of  the 
annexation  of  Texas.  One  of  its  objects 
was  to  acquire  Cuba,  so  as  to  extend  slave 
territory.  The  Gulf  States  needed  more 
slaves,  and  though  the  law  made  partici- 
pancy  in  the  slave  trade  piracy,  many  car 
goes  had  been  landed  in  parts  of  the  Gulf 
without  protest  or  prosecution,  just  prior 
to  the  election  of  1860.  Calhoun  had 
threatened,  thirty  years  before,  nullifica 
tion,  and  before  that  again,  secession  in 
the  event  of  the  passage  of  the  Public 
Land  Bill.  Jefferson  and  Madison  had 
indicated  that  doctrine  of  State  Bights  on 
which  secession  was  based  in  the  Kentucky 
and  Virginia  resolutions  of  1798,  facts 
which  were  daily  discussed  by  the  people 
of  the  South  during  this  most  exciting  of 
all  Presidential  campaigns. 

The  leaders  in  the  South  had  anticipated 
defeat  at  the  election,  and  many  of  them 


88 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


made  early  preparations  for  the  withdrawal 
of  their  States  from  the  Union.  Some  of 
the  more  extreme  anti-slavery  men  of  the 
North,  noting  these  preparations,  for  a 
time  favored  a  plan  of  letting  the  South 
go  in  peace.  South  Carolina  was  the  first 
to  adopt  a  secession  ordinance,  and  before 
it  did  so,  Horace  Greeley  said  in  the  New 
York  Tribune: 

"If  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
justified  the  secession  from  the  British 
Empire  of  three  millions  of  colonists  in 
1776,  we  can  not  see  why  it  would  not  jus 
tify  the  secession  of  five  millions  of  South 
rons  from  the  Federal  Union  in  1861." 

These  views,  however,  soon  fell  into  dis 
favor  throughout  the  North,  and  the  period 
of  indecision  on  either  side  ceased  when 
Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon.  The  Gulf 
States  openly  made  their  preparations  as 
soon  as  the  result  of  the  Presidential  elec 
tion  was  known,  as  a  rule  pursuant  to  a 
previous  understanding.  The  following, 
condensed  from  Hon.  Edward  McPher- 
son's  "  Political  History  of  the  United  States 
of  America  during  the  Great  Rebellion,"  is 
a  correct  statement  of  the  movements 
which  followed,  in  the  several  Southern 
States: 

SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

November  5th,  1860.  Legislature  met 
to  choose  Presidential  electors,  who  voted 
for  Breckinridge  and  Lane  for  President 
and  Vice  President.  Gov.  William  H. 
Gist  recommended  in  his  message  that  in 
the  event  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  election 
to  the  Presidency,  a  convention  of  the 
people  of  the  State  be  immediately  called 
to  consider  and  determine  for  themselves 
the  mode  and  measure  of  redress.  He  ex 
pressed  the  opinion  that  the  only  alterna 
tive  left  is  the  "  secession  of  South  Caro 
lina  from  the  Federal  Union." 

7th.  United  States  officials  resigned  at 
Charleston. 

10th.  U.  S.  Senators  James  H.  Ham 
mond  and  James  Chestnut,  Jr.,  resigned 
their  seats  in  the  Senate.  Convention 
called  to  meet  Dec.  17th.  Delegates  to  be 
elected  Dec.  6th. 

13th.  Collection  of  debts  due  to  citi 
zens  of  non-slaveholding  States  stayed. 
Francis  W.  Pickens  elected  Governor. 

17th.  Ordinance  of  Secession  adopted 
unanimously. 

21st.  Commissioners  appointed  (Barn- 
well,  Adams,  and  Orr)  to  proceed  to 
Washington  to  treat  for  the  possession  of 
U.  S.  Government  property  within  the  lim 
its  of  South  Carolina.  Commissioners  ap 
pointed  to  the  other  slaveholding  States. 
Southern  Congress  proposed. 

24th.  Representatives  in  Congress  with 
drew. 

Gov.  Pickens  issued  a  proclamation 
"  announcing  the  repeal,  Dec.  20th,  1860, 


by  the  good  people  of  South  Carolina,"  of 
the  Ordinance  of  May  23d,  1788,  and  "  the 
dissolution  of  the  union  between  the  State 
of  South  Carolina  and  other  States  under 
the  name  of  the  United  States  of  Ameri 
ca,"  and  proclaiming  to  the  world  "  that 
the  State  of  South  Carolina  is,  as  she  has 
a  right  to  be,  a  separate,  sovereign,  free 
and  independent  State,  and,  as  such,  has  a; 
right  to  levy  war,  conclude  peace,  negotiate 
treaties,  leagues,  or  covenants,  and  to  do 
all  acts  whatsoever  that  rightfully  apper 
tain  to  a  free  and  independent  State. 

"  Done  in  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  the 
sovereignty  and  independence  of  South 
Carolina." 

Jan.  3d,  1861.  South  Carolina  Com 
missioners  left  Washington. 

4th.  Convention  appointed  T.  J.  With 
ers,  L.  M.  Keitt,  W.  W.  Boyce,  Jas.  Chest 
nut,  Jr.,  R.  B.  Rhett,  Jr.,  R.  W.  Barnwell, 
and  C.  G.  Memminger,  delegates  to  South 
ern  Congress. 

5th.  Convention  adjourned,  subject  to 
the  call  of  the  Governor. 

14th.  Legislature  declared  that  any  at 
tempt  to  reinforce  Fort  Sumter  would  be 
considered  an  open  act  of  hostility  and  a 
declaration  of  war.  Approved  the  Gov 
ernor's  action  in  firing  on  the  Star  of  the 
West.  Accepted  the  services  of  the  Cataw- 
ba  Indians. 

27th.  Received  Judge  Robertson,  Com 
missioner  from  Virginia,  but  rejected  the 
proposition  for  a  conference  and  co-oper 
ative  action. 

March  26th.  Convention  met  in  Charles 
ton. 

April  3d.  Ratified  "Confederate"  Con 
stitution — yeas  114,  nays  16. 

8th.  Transferred  forts,  etc.,  to  "Con 
federate  "  government. 

GEORGIA. 

November  8th,  1860.  Legislature  met 
pursuant  to  previous  arrangement. 

18th.  Convention  called.  Legislature 
appropriated  $1,000,000  to  arm  the  State. 

Dec.  3d.  Resolutions  adopted  in  the  Leg 
islature  proposing  a  conference  of  the 
Southern  States  at  Atlanta,  Feb.  20th. 

January  17th,  1861.  Convention  met. 
Received  Commissioners  from  South  Caro 
lina  ind  Alabama 

18th.  Resolutions  declaring  it  the  right 
and  duty  of  Georgia  to  secede,  adopted— 
yeas  165,  nays  130. 

19th.  Ordinance  of  Secession  passed — 
yeas  208,  nays  89. 

21st.  Senators  and  Representatives  in 
Congress  withdrew. 

24th.  Elected  Delegates  to  Southern 
Congress  at  Montgomery,  Alabama. 

28th.  Elected  Commissioners  to  other 
Slaveholding  States. 

29th.  Adopted  an  address  "  to  the  South 
and  the  world." 


PREPARING    FOR    SECESSION. 


89 


March  7th.  Convention  reassembled. 

16th.  Ratified  the  "  Confederate  "  Consti 
tution—yeas  96,  nays  5. 

20th.  Ordinance  passed  authorizing  the 
"  Confederate"  government  to  occupy,  use 
and  possess  the  forts,  navy  yards,  arsenals, 
and  custom  houses  within  the  limits  of  said 
State. 

April  26th.  Governor  Brown  issued  a 
proclamation  ordering  the  repudiation  by 
Hie  citizens  of  Georgia  of  all  debts  due 
Northern  men. 

MISSISSIPPI. 

November  26th,  1860.  Legislature  met 
Nov.  26th,  and  adjourned  Nov.  30th.  Elec 
tion  for  Convention  fixed  for  Dec.  20th. 
Convention  to  meet  Jan  7th.  Convention 
bills  and  secession  resolutions  passed  unani 
mously.  Commissioners  appointed  to  other 
Slaveholding  States  to  secure  "their  co 
operation  in  effecting  measures  for  their 
common  defence  and  safety." 

Jan.  7th,  1861.    Convention  assembled. 

9th.  Ordinance  of  Secession  passed — 
yeas  84,  nays  15. 

In  the  ordinance  the  people  of  the  State 
of  Mississippi  express  their  consent  to  form 
a  federal  union  with  such  of  the  States  as 
have  seceded  or  may  secede  from  the  Union 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  upon  the 
basis  of  the  present  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  except  such  parts  thereof  as 
embrace  other  portions  than  such  seceding 
States. 

10th.  Commissioners  from  other  States 
received.  Resolutions  adopted,  recogniz 
ing  South  Carolina  as  sovereign  and  inde 
pendent. 

Jan.  12th.  Representatives  in  Congress 
withdrew. 

19th.  The  committee  on  the  Confederacy 
in  the  Legislature  reported  resolutions  to 
provide  for  a  Southern  Confederacy,  and 
to  establish  a  provisional  government  for 
seceding  States  and  States  hereafter  seced 
ing. 

21st.  Senators  in  Congress  withdrew. 

March  30th.  Ratified  "Confederate" 
Constitution — yeas  78,  nays  7. 

FLORIDA. 

November  26th,  1860.  Legislature  met. 
Governor  M.  S.  Perry  recommended  imme 
diate  secession. 

Dec.  1st.  Convention  bill  passed. 

Jan.  3d,  1861.  Convention  met. 

7th.  Commissioners  from  South  Carolina 
and  Alabama  received  and  heard. 

10th.  Ordinance  of  Secession  passed — 
yeas  62,  nays  7. 

18th.  Delegates  appointed  to  Southern 
Congress  at  Montgomery. 

21st.  Senators  and  Representatives  in 
Congress  withdrew. 

Feb.  14th.  Act  passed  by  the  Legisla 
ture  declaring  that  after  any  actual  collision 


between  Federal  troops  and  those  in  the 
employ  of  Florida,  the  act  of  holding  office 
under  the  Federal  government  shall  be 
declared  treason,  and  the  person  convicted 
shall  suffer  death.  Transferred  control  of 
government  property  captured,  to  the  "  Con 
federate"  government. 

LOUISIANA.  \ 

December  10th,  1860.     Legislature  met. 

llth.  Convention  called  for  Jan.  23d. 
Military  bill  passed. 

12th.  Commissioners  from  Mississippi  re 
ceived  and  heard.  Governor  instructed  to 
communicate  with  Governors  of  other 
southern  States. 

Jan  23d,  1861.  Convention  met  and 
organized.  Received  and  heard  Commis 
sioners  from  South  Carolina  and  Alabama. 

25th.  Ordinance  of  Secession  passed — • 
yeas  113,  nays  17.  Convention  refused  to 
submit  the  ordinance  to  the  people  by  a 
vote  of  84  to  45.  This  was  subsequently 
reconsidered,  and  the  ordinance  was  sub 
mitted.  The  vote  upon  it  as  declared  was 
20,448  in  favor,  and  17,296  against. 

Feb.  5th.  Senators  withdrew  from  Con 
gress,  also  the  Representatives,  except  John 
E.  Bouligny.  State  flag  adopted.  Pilots 
at  the  Balize  prohibited  from  bringing  over 
the  bar  any  United  States  vessels  of  war. 

March  7th.  Ordinance  adopted  in  secret 
session  transferring  to  "  Confederate  "  States 
government  $536,000,  being  the  amount  of 
bullion  in  the  U.  S.  mint  and  customs 
seized  by  the  State. 

16th.  An  ordinance  voted  down,  submit 
ting  the  "  Confederate  "  Constitution  to  the 
people — yeas  26,  nays  74. 

21st.  Ratified  the  "Confederate "Consti 
tution — yeas  101,  nays  7.  Governor  author 
ized  to  transfer  the  arms  and  property 
captured  from  the  United  States  to  the 
"  Confederate  "  Government. 

27th.  Convention  adjourned  sine  die. 

ALABAMA. 

January  7th,  1861.    Convention  met. 

8th.  Received  and  heard  the  Commis 
sioner  from  South  Carolina. 

llth.  Ordinance  of  Secession  passed  in 
secret  session — yeas  61,  nays  39.  Proposi 
tion  to  submit  ordinance  to  the  people  lost 
— yeas  47,  nays  53. 

14th.  Legislature  met  pursuant  to  pre 
vious  action. 

19th.  Delegates  elected  to  the  Southern 
Congress. 

21st.  Representatives  and  Senators  in 
Congress  withdrew.  ^ 

26th.  Commissioners  appointed  to  treat 
with  the  United  States  Government  relative 
to  the  United  States  forts,  arsenals,  etc., 
within  the  State. 

The  Convention  requested  the  people  of 
the  States  of  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Florida, 


90 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Georgia,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas, 
Arkansas,  Tennessee,  Kentucky  and  Mis 
souri  to  meet  the  people  of  Alabama  by 
their  delegate^  in  Convention,February  4th, 
18G1,  at  Montgomery,  for  the  purpose  tof 
consulting  as  to  the  most  effectual  mode  of 
securing  concerted  or  harmonious  action  in 
whatever  measures  may  be  deemed  most 
desirable  for  their  common  peace  and 
security.  Military  bill  passed.  Commis 
sioners  appointed  to  other  Slaveholding 
States. 

March  4th.  Convention  re-assembled. 

13th.  Katified  "Confederate"  Constitu 
tion,  yeas  87,  nays  6.  Transferred  control 
forts,  of  arsenals,  etc.,  to  "  Confederate" 
Government. 

ARKANSAS. 

January  16th,  1861.  Legislature  passed 
Convention  bill.  Vote  of  the  people  on 
the  Convention  was  27,412  for  it,  and  15,- 
826  against  it. 

February  18th.  Delegates  elected. 

March  4th.  Convention  met. 

18th.  The  Ordinance  of  Secession  de 
feated — yeas  35,  nays  39.  The  convention 
effected  a  compromise  by  agreeing  to  sub 
mit  the  question  of  co-operation  or  seces 
sion  to  the  people  on  the  1st  Monday  in 
August. 

May  6th.  Passed  Secession  Ordinance — 
yeas  69,  nays  1.  Authorized  her  delegates 
to  the  Provisional  Congress,  to  transfer  the 
arsenal  at  Little  Rock  and  hospital  at  Na 
poleon  to  the  "  Confederate  "  Government. 

.  TEXAS. 

January  21st,  1861.     Legislature  met. 

28th.    People's  State  Convention  met. 

29th.  Legislature  passed  a  resolution  de 
claring  that  the  Federal  Government  has 
no  power  to  coerce  a  Sovereign  State  after 
she  has  pronounced  her  separation  from 
the  Federal  Union. 

February  1st.  Ordinance  of  Secession 
passed  in  Convention — yeas  166,  nays  7. 
Military  bill  passed. 

7th.  Ordinance  passed,  forming  the  foun 
dation  of  a  Southern  Confederacy.  Dele 
gates  to  the  Southern  Congress  elected. 
Also  an  act  passed  submitting  the  Ordi 
nance  of  Secession  to  a  vote  of  the  people. 

23d.  Secession  Ordinance  voted  on  by 
the  people ;  adopted  by  a  vote  of  34,794  in 
favor,  and  11,235  against  it. 

March  4th.  Convention  declared  the 
State  out  of  the  Union.  Gov.  Houston 
issued  a  proclamation  to  that  effect. 

16th.  Convention  by  a  vote  of- 127  to  4 
deposed  Gov.  Houston,  declaring  his  seat 
vacant.  Gov.  Houston  issued  a  proclama 
tion  to  the  people  protesting  against  this 
action  of  the  Convention. 

20th.  Legislature  confirmed  the  action 
of  the  Convention  in  deposing  Gov.  Hous 
ton  by  a  vote  of  53  to  11.  Transferred 


forts,  etc.,  to  "Confederate"  Government 
23d.  Ratified  the  "  Confederate"  Consti 
tution — yeas  68,  nays  2. 

NORTH   CAROLINA. 

November  20th,  1860.  Legislature  met 
Gov.  Ellis  recommended  that  the  Legisla 
ture  invite  a  conference  of  the  Southern 
States,  or  failing  in  that,  send  one  or  more 
delegates  to  the  neighboring  States  so  as  to 
secure  concert  of  action.  He  recommended 
a  thorough  reorganization  of  the  militia, 
and  the  enrollment  of  all  persons  between 
18  and  45  years,  and  the  organization  of  a 
corps  of  ten  thousand  men ;  also,  a  Con 
vention,  to  assemble  immediately  after  the 
proposed  consultation  with  other  Southern 
States  shall  have  terminated. 

December  9th,  Joint  Committee  on  Fed 
eral  Relations  agreed  to  report  a  Conven 
tion  Bill. 

17th.  Bill  appropriating  $300,000  to 
arm  the  State,  debated. 

18th.  Senate  passed  above  bill — yeas, 
41,  nays,  3. 

20th.  Commissioners  from  Alabama  and 
Mississippi  received  and  heard — the  latter, 
J.  Thompson,  by  letter. 

22d.  Senate  bill  to  arm  the  State  failed 
to  pass  the  House. 

22d.     Adjourned  till  January  7th. 

January  8th,  1861.  Senate  Bill  arming 
the  State  passed  the  House,  yeas,  73,  nays, 
26. 

30th.  Passed  Convention  Bill — election 
to  take  place  February  28th.  No  Secession 
Ordinance  4.0  be  valid  without  being  rati 
fied  by  a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of 
the  State. 

31st.  Elected  Thos.  L.  Clingman  United 
States  Senator, 

February  13th.  Commissioners  from 
Georgia  publicly  received. 

20th.  Mr.  Hoke  elected  Adjutant  Gen 
eral  of  the  State.  Military  Bill  passed. 

28th.  Election  of  Delegates  to  Conven 
tion  took  place. 

28th.  The  vote  for  a  Convention  was 
46,671;  against  47,333 — majority  against  a 
Convention  661. 

May  1st.  Extra  session  of  the  Legisla 
ture  met  at  the  call  of  Gov.  Ellis.  The 
same  day  they  passed  a  Convention  Bill, 
ordering  the  election  of  delegates  on  the 
15th. 

2d.     Legislature  adjourned. 

13th.  Election  of  delegates  to  the  Con 
vention  took  place. 

20th.     Convention  met  at  Raleigh. 

21st.  Ordinance  of  Secession  passed; 
also  the  "  Confederate  "  Constitution  rati 
fied. 

June  5th.  Ordinance  passed,  ceded  the 
arsenal  at  Fayetteville,  and  transferred 
magazines,  etc.,  to  the  "Confederate" 
Government. 


PREPARING    FOR    SECESSION. 


91 


TENNESSEE. 

January  6th,  1861.     Legislature  met. 

12ih.     Passed  Convention  Bill. 

30th.  Commissioners  to  Washington 
appointed. 

February  8th.  People  voted  no  Conven 
tion  :  67,360  to  54,156. 

May  1st.  Legislature  passed  a  joint  re 
solution  authorizing  the  Governor  to  ap 
point  Commissioners  to  enter  into  a  mili 
tary  league  with  the  authorities  of  the 
"  Confederate  "  States. 

7th.  Legislature  in  secret  session  rati 
fied  the  league  entered  into  by  A.  O.  W. 
Totten,  Gustavus  A.  Henry,  Washington 
Barrow,  Commissioners  for  Tennessee,  and 
Henry  W.  Hilliard,  Commissioner  for 
"Confederate"  States,  stipulating  that 
Tennessee  until  she  became  a  member  of 
the  Confederacy  placed  the  whole  military 
force  of  the  State  under  the  control  of  the 
President  of  .the  "  Confederate"  States,  and 
turned  over  to  the  "  Confederate "  States 
all  the  public  property,  naval  stores  and 
munitions  of  war.  Passed  the  Senate, 
yeas  14,  nays  6,  absent  and  not  voting  5 ; 
the  House,  yeas  42,  nays  15,  absent  and 
not  voting,  18.  Also  a  Declaration  of  In 
dependence  and  Ordinance  dissolving  the 
Federal  relations  between  Tennessee  and 
the  United  States,  and  an  ordinance  adopt 
ing  and  ratifying  the  Confederate  Consti 
tution,  these  two  latter  to  be  voted  on  by 
the  people  on  June  8th  were  passed. 

June  24th.  Gov.  Isham  G.  Harris  de 
clared  Tennessee  out  of  the  Union,  the 
vote  for  Separation  being  104,019  against 
47,238. 

VIRGINIA. 

January  7th,  1861.  Legislature  con 
vened. 

8th.    Anti-coercion  resolution  passed. 

9th.  Resolution  passed,  asking  that  the 
status  quo  be  maintained. 

10th.  The  Governor  transmitted  a  des 
patch  from  the  Mississippi  Convention,  an 
nouncing  its  unconditional  secession  from 
the  Union,  and  desiring  on  the  basis  of  the 
old  Constitution  to  form  a  new  union  with 
the  seceding  States.  The  House  adopted — 
yeas  77,  nays  61, — an  amendment  submit 
ting  to  a  vote  of  the  people  the  question  of 
referring  for  their  decision  any  action  of 
the  Convention  dissolving  Virginia's  con 
nection  with  the  Union,  or  changing  its 
organic  law.  The  Richmond  Enquirer 
denounce  1  "  the  emasculation  of  the  Con 
vention  Bill  as  imperilling  all  that  Virgin 
ians  held  most  sacred  and  dear." 

16th.  Commissioners  Hopkins  and  Gil- 
mer  of  Alabama  received  in  the  Legisla 
ture. 

17th.  Resolutions  passed  proposing  the 
Crittenden  resolutions  as  a  basis  for  adjust 
ment,  and  requesting  General  Government 
to  avoid  collision  with  Southern  States. 


Gov.  Letcher  communicated  the  Resolu 
tions  of  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  ex 
pressing  the  utmost  disdain,  and  saying 
that  "  the  threat  conveyed  can  inspire  no 
terror  in  freemen."  The  resolutions  were 
directed  to  be  returned  to  the  Governor  of 
New  York. 

18th.  $1,000,000  appropriated  for  the 
defence  of  the  State. 

19th.  Passed  resolve  that  if  all  efforts 
to  reconcile  the  differences  of  the  country 
fail,  every  consideration  of  honor  and  in 
terest  demands  that  Virginia  shall  unite 
her  destinies  with  her  sister  slaveholding 
States.  Also  that  no  reconstruction  of  the 
Union  can  be  permanent  or  satisfactory, 
which  will  not  secure  to  each  section  self- 
protecting  power  against  any  invasion  of 
the  Federal  Union  upon  the  reserved  rights 
of  either.  (See  Hunter's  proposition  for 
adjustment.) 

21st.  Replied  to  Commissioners  Hop 
kins  and  Giliner,  expressing  inability  to 
make  a  definite  response  until  after  the 
meeting  of  the  State  Convention. 

22d.  The  Governor  transmitted  the  re 
solutions  of  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  with 
unfavorable  comment.  His  message  was 
tabled  by  a  small  majority. 

30th.  The  House  of  Delegates  to-day 
tabled  the  resolutions  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Legislature,  but  referred  those  of  Tennes 
see  to  the  Committee  on  Federal  Relations. 

February  20th.  The  resolutions  of  the 
Legislature  of  Michigan  were  returned 
without  comment. 

28th.  Ex-President  Tyler  and  James  A. 
Seddon,  Commissioners  to  the  Peace  Con 
gress,  presented  their  report,  and  denounced 
the  recommendation  of  that  body  as  a  de 
lusion  and  a  sham,  and  as  an  insult  and  an 
offense  to  the  South. 


Proceedings  of  Virginia  Convention. 

February  4th.  Election  of  delegates  to 
the  Convention. 

13th.     Convention  met. 

14th.  Credentials  of  John  S.  Preston, 
Commissioner  from  South  Carolina,  Fulton 
Anderson  from  Mississippi,  and  Henry  L. 
Benning  from  Georgia,  were  received. 

18th.  Commissioners  from  Mississippi 
and  Georgia  heard ;  both  pictured  the  dan 
ger  of  Virginia  remaining  with  the  North; 
neither  contemplated  such  an  event  as  re 
union. 

19th.  The  Commissioner  from  South 
Carolina  was  heard.  He  said  his  people 
believed  the  Union  unnatural  and  mon 
strous,  and  declared  that  there  was  no 
human  force  — no  sanctity  of  human  touch, 
—that  could  re-unite  the  people  of  the 
North  with  the  people  of  the  South— that 
it  could  never  be  done  unless  the  economy 
of  God  were  changed. 


92 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


20th.  A  committee  reported  that  in  all 
but  sixteen  counties,  the  majority  for  sub 
mitting  the  action  of  the  Convention  to  a 
vote  of  the  people  was  52,857.  Numerous 
resolutions  on  Federal  Relations  intro 
duced,  generally  expressing  'attachment  to 
the  Union,  but  denouncing  coercion. 

26th.  Mr.  Goggin  of  Bedford,  in  his 
speech,  denied  the  right  of  secession,  but 
admitted  a  revolutionary  remedy  for  wrongs 
committed  upon  a  State  or  section,  and 
said  wherever  Virginia  went  he  was  with 
her. 

March  2d.  Mr.  Goode  of  Bedford  offered 
a  resolution  that,  as  the  powers  delegated 
to  the  General  Government  by  Virginia 
had  been  perverted  to  her  injury,  and  as 
the  Crittenden  propositions  as  a  basis  of 
adjustment  had  been  rejected  by  their 
Northern  confederates,  therefore  every 
consideration  of  duty,  interest,  honor  and 
patriotism  requires  that  Virginia  should  de 
clare  her  connection  with  the  Government 
to  be  dissolved. 

5th.  The  thanks  of  the  State  were  voted 
to  Hon.  John  J.  Crittenden,  by  yeas  107, 
nays  16,  for  his  efforts  to  bring  about  an 
honorable  adjustment  of  the  national  diffi 
culties.  Mr.  Harvie  of  Amelia  offered  a 
resolution,  requesting  Legislature  to  make 
needftil  appropriations  to  resist  any  attempt 
of  the  Federal  authorities  to  hold,  occupy 
or  possess  the  property  and  places  claimed 
by  the  United  States  in  any  of  the  seceded 
States,  or  those  that  may  withdraw  or  col 
lect  duties  or  imposts  in  the  same. 

9th.  Three  reports  were  made  from  the 
Committee  on  Federal  Relations.  The 
majority  proposed  to  submit  to  the  other 
States  certain  amendments  to  the  Constitu 
tion,  awaiting  the  response  of  non-slave- 
holding  States  before  determining  whether 
"  she  will  resume  the  powers  granted  by 
her  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  throw  herself  upon  her  reserved 
rights ;  meanwhile  insisting  that  no  coer 
cion  be  attempted,  the  Federal  forts  in  se 
ceded  States  be  not  reinforced,  duties  be 
not  collected,  etc.,"  and  proposing  a  Con 
vention  at  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  the  last 
Monday  in  May,  of  the  States  of  Delaware, 
Maryland,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee, 
Kentucky,  Missouri  and  Arkansas.  Henry 
A.  Wise  differed  in  details,  and  went  fur 
ther  in  the  same  direction.  Messrs.  Lewis 
E.  Harvie,  Robert  L.  Montague  and  Sam 
uel  C.  Williams  recommended  the  immedi 
ate  passage  of  an  Ordinance  of  Secession. 
Mr.  Barbour  of  Culpeper  insisted  upon  the 
immediate  adoption  by  the  non-si  avehold- 
ing  States  of  needed  guarantees  of  safety, 
and  provided  for  the  appointment  of  three 
Commissioners  to  confer  with  the  Confed 
erate  authorities  at  Montgomery. 

19th.  Committee  on  Federal  Relations 
reported  proposed  amendments  to  the 
Constitution,  which  were  the  substitute  of 


Mr.  Franklin  of  Pa.,  in  "Peace  Confer 
ence,"  changed  by  using  the  expression 
"  involuntary  servitude  "  in  place  of  "  per 
sons  held  to  service."  The  right  of  owners 
of  slaves  is  not  to  be  impaired  by  congres 
sional  or  territorial  law,  or  any  pre-exist 
ing  law  in  territory  hereafter  acquired. 

Involuntary  servitude,  except  for  crime, 
to  be  prohibited  north  of  36°30',  but  shall 
not  be  prohibited  by  Congress  or  any  Ter 
ritorial  legislature  south  of  that  line.  The 
third  section  has  some  verbal  alterations, 
providing  somewhat  better  security  for 

Eroperty  in  transit.  The  fifth  section  pro- 
ibits  the  importation  of  slaves  from  places 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  United  States. 
The  sixth  makes  some  verbal  changes  in 
relation  to  remuneration  for  fugitives  by 
Congress,  and  erases  the  clause  relative  to 
the  securing  of  privileges  and  immunities. 
The  seventh  forbids  the  granting  of  the 
elective  franchise  and  right  to  hold  office 
to  persons  of  the  African  race.  The  eighth 
provides  that  none  of  these  amendments, 
nor  the  third  paragraph  of  the  second  sec 
tion  of  the  first  article  of  the  Constitution, 
nor  the  third  paragraph  of  the  second  sec 
tion  of  the  fourth  article  thereof,  shall  be 
amended  or  abolished  without  the  consent 
of  all  the  States. 

25th.  The  Committee  of  the  Whole  re 
fused  (yeas  4,  nays  116)  to  strike  out  the 
majority  report  and  insert  Mr.  Carlile's 
"  Peace  Conference  "  substitute. 

26th.  The  Constitution  of  the  "  Confede 
rate"  States,  proposed  by  Mr.  Hall  as  a  sub 
stitute  for  the  report  of  the  committee,  re 
jected — yeas  9,  nays  78. 

28th.  The  first  and  second  resolutions 
reported  by  the  committee  adopted. 

April  6th.  The  ninth  resolution  of  the 
majority  report  came  up.  Mr.  Bouldin 
offered  an  amendment  striking  out  the 
whole,  and  inserting  a  substitute  declaring 
that  the  independence  of  the  seceded 
States  should  be  acknowledged  without 
delav,  which  was  lost — yeas  68,  nays  71. 

9tn.  Mr.  Wise's  substitute  for  the  tenth 
resolution,  to  the  effect  that  Virginia  re 
cognizes  the  independence  of  the  seceding 
States  was  adopted — yeas  128,  nays  20. 

April  17.  Ordinance  of  Secession  passed 
in  secret  session — yeas  88,  nays  55,  one 
excused,  and  eight  not  voting. 

Same  day  the  Commissioners  adopted 
and  ratified  the  Constitution  of  the  Provi 
sional  Government  of  the  "  Confederate" 
States  of  America,  this  ordinance  to  cease 
to  have  legal  effect  if  the  people  of  Vir 
ginia  voting  upon  the  Ordinance  of  Seces 
sion  should  reject  it. 

25th.  A  Convention  was  made  between 
Commissioners  of  Virginia,  chosen  by  the 
Convention,  and  A.  H.  Stephens,  Commis 
sioner  for  "  Confederates,"  stipulating  that 
Virginia  until  she  became  a  member  of  the 
Confederacy  should  place  her  military 


PREPARING    FOR    SECESSION. 


93 


force  under  the  direction  of  the  President 
of  the  "Confederate"  States;  also  turn 
over  to  "  Confederate  "  States  all  her  pub 
lic  property,  naval  stores,  and  munitions  of 
war.  Signed  by  J.  Tyler,  W.  B.  Preston, 
S.  McD.  Moore,  James  P.  Holcombe,  Jas. 
I C.  Bruce,  Lewis  E.  Harvie — for  Virginia  ; 
'  and  A.  H.  Stephens  for  "  Confederate  " 
States. 

June  25th.  Secession  vote  announced  as 
123,884  for,  and  32,134  against. 

July.  The  Convention  passed  an  ordi 
nance  to  the  effect  that  any  citizen  of  Vir 
ginia  holding  office  under  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  after  the  31st  of  July, 
1861,  should  be  forever  banished  from  the 
State,  and  be  declared  an  alien  enemy. 
Also  that  any  citizen  of  Virginia,  hereafter 
undertaking  to  represent  the  State  of  Vir 
ginia  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
should,  in  addition  to  the  above  penalties, 
be  considered  guilty  of  treason,  and  his 
property  be  liable  to  confiscation.  A  pro 
vision  was  inserted  exempting  from  the 
penalties  of  the  act  all  officers  of  theUnited 
States  outside  of  the  United  States,  or  of 
the  Confederate  States,  until  after  July 
1st,  1862. 

KENTUCKY. 

December  12th,  1860.  Indiana  militia 
offer  their  services  to  quell  servile  insur 
rection.  Gov.  Magoffin  declines  accepting 
them. 

January  17th,  1861.  Legislature  con 
vened. 

22d.  The  House  by  a  vote  of  87  to  6  re 
solved  to  resist  the  invasion  of  the  South 
at  all  hazards. 

27th.  Legislature  adopted  the  Virginia 
resolutions  requiring  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  to  protect  Slavery  in  the  Territories 
and  to  guarantee  the  right  of  transit  of 
slaves  through  the  Free  States. 

February  2d.  The  Senate  passed  by  a 
vote  of  25  to  11,  resolutions  appealing  to 
the  Southern  States  to  stop  the  revolution, 
protesting  against  Federal  coercion  and 
providing  that  the  Legislature  reassemble 
on  the  24th  of  April  to  hear  the  responses 
from  sister  States,  also  in  favor  of  making 
an  application  to  call  a  National  Conven 
tion  for  proposing  amendments  to  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  also  by  a 
vote  of  25  to  14  declared  it  inexpedient  at 
this  time  to  call  a  State  Convention. 

5th.  The  House  by  a  vote  of  54  to  40 
passed  the  above  resolutions. 

March  22d.  State  Rights  Convention  as 
sembled.  Adopted  resolutions  denouncing 
any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Govern 
ment  to  collect  revenue  as  coercion ;  and 
affirming  that,  in  case  of  any  such  attempt, 
the  border  States  should  make  common 
cause  with  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
They  also  recommended  a  border  State 
Convention. 


April  24th.  Gov.  Magoffin  called  an  extra 
session  of  the  Legislature. 

May  20th.  Gov.  Magoffin  issued  a  neu 
trality  proclamation. 

September  llth.  The  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  by  a  vote  of  71  to  26,  adopted  a 
resolution  directing  the  Governor  to  issue 
a  proclamation  ordering  the  Confederate 
troops  to  evacuate  Kentucky  soil.  The 
Governor  vetoed  the  resolution,  which 
was  afterwards  passed  over  his  veto,  and 
accordingly  he  issued  the  required  procla 
mation. 

October  29th.  Southern  Conference  met 
at  Russellville.  H.  C.  Burnett  elected 
Chairman,  E.  McKee  Secretary,  T.  S. 
Bryan  Assistant  Secretary.  Remained  in 
secret  session  two  days  and  then  adjourned 
sine  die.  A  series  of  resolutions  reported 
by  G.  W.  Johnson  were  adopted.  They 
recite  the  unconstitutional  and  oppressive 
acts  of  the  Legislature,  proclaim  revolu 
tion,  provide  for  a  Sovereignty  Convention 
at  Russellville,  on  the  18th  of  November, 
recommend  the  organization  of  county 
guards,  to  be  placed  in  the  service  of  and 
paid  by  the  Confederate  States  Govern 
ment  ;  pledge  resistance  to  all  Federal  and 
State  taxes,  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States  ;  and  ap 
point  Robert  McKee,  John  C.  Breckin- 
ridge,  Humphrey  Marshall,  Geo.  W.  Ew- 
ing,  H.  W.  Bruce,  Geo.  B.  Hodge,  William 
Preston,  Geo.  W.  Johnson,  Blanton  Dun 
can,  and  P.  B.  Thompson  to  carry  out  the 
resolutions. 

November  18th.  Convention  met  and 
remained  in  session  three  days. 

20th.  It  passed  a  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  and  an  Ordinance  of  Secession. 
A  Provisional  Government  consisting  of  a 
Governor,  Legislative  Council  of  ten,  a 
Treasurer,  and  an  Auditor  were  agreed 
upon.  Geo.  W.  Johnson  was  chosen  Gov 
ernor.  Legislative  Council  were :  Willis 
B.  Machen,  John  W.  Crockett,  James  P. 
Bates,  Jas.  S.  Chrisman,  Phil.  B.  Thomp 
son,  J.  P.  Burnside,  H.  W.  Bruce,  J.  W. 
Moore,  E.  M.  Bruce,  Geo.  B.  Hodge. 

MARYLAND. 

Nov.  27th,  1860.  Gov.  Hicks  declined 
to  call  a  special  session  of  the  Legislature, 
in  response  to  a  request  for  such  convening 
from  Thomas  G.  Pratt,  Sprigg  Harwood, 
J.  S.  Franklin,  N.  H.  Green,  Llewellyn 
Boyle,  and  J.  Pinkney. 

December  19th.  Gov.  Hicks  replied  to 
A.  H.  Handy,  Commissioner  from  Missis 
sippi,  declining  to  accept  the  programme 
of  Secession. 

20th.  Wm.  H.  Collins,  Esq.,  of  Balti 
more,  issued  an  address  to  the  people,  in 
favor  of  the  Union,  and  in  March  a  second 
address. 

31st.  The  "  Clipper  "  denied  the  exist 
ence  of  an  organization  in  Maryland  to 


94 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


prevent  the  inauguration  of  President  Lin 
coln. 

A.  H.  Handy  of  Mississippi  addressed 
citizens  of  Baltimore  in  favor  of  disunion. 

January  3d,  1861.  Henry  Winter  Davis 
issued  an  address  in  favor  of  the  Union. 

3d.  Numerous  Union  meetings  in  vari 
ous  part  of  the  State.  Gov.  Hicks  issued 
jin  address  to  the  people  against  seces 
sion. 

llth.  John  C.  Legrand  in  a  letter  to 
Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson  replied  to  the 
Union  speech  of  the  latter. 

14th.  James  Carroll,  former  Democratic 
candidate  for  Governor,  announced  his  de 
sire  to  go  with  the  seceding  States. 

IGth.  Win.  A.  Spencer,  in  a  letter  to 
Walter  S.  Cox,  Esq.,  declared  against  the 
right  of  Secession  but  for  a  Convention. 

16.  Marshal  Kane,  in  a  letter  to  Mayor 
Berrett,  denied  that  any  organization  ex 
ists  to  prevent  the  inauguration  of  Presi 
dent  Lincoln,  and  said  that  the  President 
elect  would  need  no  armed  escort  in  pass 
ing  through  or  sojourning  within  the  limits 
of  Baltimore  and  Maryland. 

24th.  Coleman  Yellott  declared  for  a 
Convention. 

30th.  Messrs.  John  B.  Brooke,  President 
of  the  Senate,  and  E.  G.  Kilbourn,  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Delegates,  asked  the  Gov 
ernor  to  convene  the  Legislature  in  re 
sponse  to  public  meetings.  Senator  Ken 
nedy  published  his  opinion  that  Mary 
land  must  go  with  Virginia. 

February  18th.  State  Conference  Con 
vention  held,  and  insisted  upon  a  meeting 
of  the  Legislature.  At  a  meeting  in  How- 
ard  Co.,  which  Speaker  E.  G.  Kilbourn 
addressed,  a  resolution  was  adopted  that 
"immediate  steps  ought  to  be  taken  for 
the  establishment  of  a  Southern  Confed 
eracy,  by  consultation  and  co-operation 
with  such  other  Southern  and  Slave  States 
as  may  be  ready  therefor." 

April  21st.  Gov.  Hicks  wrote  to  Gen. 
Butler,  advising  that  he  do  not  land  his 
troops  at  Annapolis.  Butler  replied  that 
he  intended  to  land  there  and  march 
thence  to  Washington.  Gov.  Hicks  pro 
tested  against  this  and  also  against  his 
having  taken  forcible  possession  of  the 
Annapolis  and  Elkridge  railroad. 

24th.  A  special  election  of  ten  delegates 
to  the  Legislature  took  place  at  Baltimore. 
The  total  vote  cast  in  all  the  wards  was 
9,249.  The  total  vote  cast  at  the  Presi 
dential  election  in  November,  1860,  was 
30,148. 

26th.  Legislature  reassembled  at  Fred 
erick,  Annapolis  being  occupied  by  Union 
troops. 

29th.  Gov.  Hicks  sent  a  message  to  the 
Legislature  communicating  to  them  the 
correspondence  between  himself  and  Gen. 
Butler  and  the  Secretary  of  War  relative 
to  the  landing  of  troops  at  Annapolis, 


The  House  of  Delegates  voted  against 
Secession,  53  to  13.  Senate  unanimously. 

May  2d.  The  Committee  on  Federal  Re 
lations,  "  in  view  of  the  seizure  of  the 
railroads  by  the  General  Government  and 
the  erection  of  fortifications,"  presented 
resolutions  appointing  Commissioners  to 
the  President  to  ascertain  whether  smy  be 
coming  arrangements  with  the  General 
Government  are  practicable,  for  the  main 
tenance  of  the  peace  and  honor  of  the 
State  and  the  security  of  its  inhabitants. 
The  report  was  adopted,  and  Otho  Scott, 
Robt.  M.  McLane,  and  Wm.  J.  Ross  were 
appointed  such  Commissioners. 

Mr.  Yellott  in  the  Senate  introduced  a 
bill  to  appoint  a  Board  of  Public  Safety. 
The  powers  given  to  the  Board  included 
the  expenditure  of  the  two  millions  of  dol 
lars  proposed  by  Mr.  Brune  for  the  defence 
of  the  State,  and  the  entire  control  of  the 
military,  including  the  removal  and  ap 
pointment  of  commissioned  officers.  It 
was  ordered  to  a  second  reading  by  a  vote 
of  14  to  8.  The  Board  was  to  consist  of 
Ezekiel  F.  Chambers,  Enoch  Louis  Lowe, 
John  V.  L.  MacMahon,  Thomas  G.  Pratt, 
Walter  Mitchell,  and  Thomas  Winans. 
Gov.  Hicks  was  made  ex-officio  a  member 
of  the  Board.  This  measure  was  strongly 
pressed  by  the  Disunionists  for  a  long 
time,  but  they  were  finally  compelled  to 
give  way,  and  the  bill  never  passed. 

6th.  The  Commissioners  reported  the 
result  of  their  interview  with  the  Presi 
dent,  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  some 
modification  of  the  course  of  the  General 
Government  towards  Maryland  ought  to 
be  expected. 

10th.  The  House  of  Delegates  passed  a 
series  of  resolutions  reported  by  the  Com 
mittee  on  Federal  Relations  by  a  vote  of 
43  to  12.  The  resolutions  declare  that 
Maryland  protests  against  the  war,  and 
does  earnestly  beseech  and  implore  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  make 
peace  with  the  "  Confederate "  States ; 
also,  that  "  the  State  of  Maryland  desires 
the  peaceful  and  immediate  recogition  of 
the  independence  of  the  Confederate 
States."  Those  who  voted  in  the  negative 
are  Messrs.  Medders,  Lawson,  Keene, 
Routzahn,  Naill,  Wilson  of  Harford,  Bay- 
less,  McCoy,  Fiery,  Stake,  McCleary,  and 
Gorsuch. 

13th.  Both  Houses  adopted  a  resolution 
providing  for  a  committee  of  eight  mem 
bers,  (four  from  each  House)  to  visit  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  the 
President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
The  committee  to  visit  President  Davis 
were  instructed  to  convey  the  assurance 
that  Maryland  sympathizes  with  the  Con 
federate  States,  and  that  the  people  of 
Maryland  are  enlisted  with  their  whole 
hearts  on  the  side  of  reconciliation  and 
peace. 


PREPARING    FOR    SECESSION. 


95 


June  llth.  Messrs.  McKaig,  Yellott  and 
Harding,  Commissioners  to  visit  President 
Davis,  presented  their  report ;  accompany 
ing  which  is  a  letter  from  Jefferson  Davis, 
expressing  his  gratification  to  hear  that 
the  State  of  Maryland  was  in  sympathy 
with  themselves,  was  enlisted  on  the  side 
of  peace  and  reconciliation,  and  avowing 
his  perfect  willingness  for  a  cessation  of 
hostilities,  and  a  readiness  to  receive  any 
proposition  for  peace  from  the  United 
States  Government. 

20th.  The  House  of  Delegates,  and  June 
22d,  the  Senate  adopted  resolutions  un 
qualifiedly  protesting  against  the  arrest  of 
Ross  Winans  and  sundry  other  citizens  of 
Maryland,  as  an  "oppressive  and  tyran 
nical  assertion  and  exercise  of  military 
jurisdiction  within  the  limits  of  Maryland, 
over  the  persons  and  property  of  her  citi 
zens,  by  the  Government  of  the  United 
States." 

MISSOURI. 

January  15th,  1861.  Senate  passed  Con 
vention  Bill — yeas  31,  nays  2.  Passed 
House  also. 

February  28th.  Convention  met ;  motion 
to  go  into  secret  session,  defeated.  A  reso 
lution  requiring  members  to  take  an  oath 
to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  and  the  State  of  Missouri,  was  lost 
— 65  against  30. 

March  4.  Resolution  passed,  64  yeas,  35 
nays,  appointing  committee  to  notify  Mr. 
Glenn,  Commissioner  of  Georgia,  that  the 
Convention  was  ready  to  hear  any  com 
munication  from  his  State.  Mr.  Glenn  was 
introduced,  read  Georgia's  articles  of  se 
cession,  and  made  a  speech  urging  Mis 
souri  to  join  her. 

5th.  Resolutions  were  read,  ordering 
that  the  protest  of  St.  Louis  against  co 
ercion  be  reduced  to  writing,  and  a  copy 
sent  to  the  President  of  the  United  States; 
also,  resolutions  were  adopted  informing  the 
Commissioner  from  Georgia  that  Missouri 
dissented  from  the  position  taken  by  that 
State,  and  refused  to  share  the  honors  of 
secession  with  her. 

6th.  Resolutions  were  offered  by  several 
members  and  referred,  calling  a  Conven 
tion  of  the  Southern  States  which  have 
not  seceded,  to  meet  at  Nashville,  April 
15th,  providing  for  such  amendments  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  as 
shall  secure  to  all  the  States  equal  rights 
in  the  Union,  and  declaring  strongly 
against  secession. 

9th.  The  Committee  on  Federal  Rela 
tions  reported  a  series  of  resolutions,  set 
ting  forth  that  at  present  there  is  no  ade 
quate  cause  to  impel  Missouri  to  leave  the 
Union,  but  that  on  the  contrary  she  will 
labor  for  such  an  adjustment  of  existing 
troubles  as  will  secure  peace  and  the  rights 
and  equality  of  all  the  States ;  that  the 


people  of  Missouri  regard  the  amendments 
to  the  Constitution  proposed  by  Mr.  Crit- 
tenden,  with  their  extension  to  territory 
hereafter  to  be  required,  a  basis  of  adjust 
ment  which  would  forever  remove  all  diffi 
culties  ;  and  that  it  is  expedient  for  the 
Legislature  to  call  a  Convention  for  pro 
posing  amendments  to  the  Constitution. 

The  Senate  passed  resolutions  that  their 
Senators  be  instructed,  and  their  Repre 
sentatives  requested,  to  oppose  the  pas 
sage  of  all  acts  granting  supplies  of  men 
and  money  to  coerce  the  seceding  States 
into  submission  or  subjugation ;  and  that, 
should  such  acts  be  passed  by  Congress, 
their  Senators  be  instructed,  and  their  Re 
presentatives  requested,  to  retire  from  the 
halls  of  Congress. 

16th.  An  amendment  of  the  fifth  resolu 
tion  of  the  majority  report  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Federal  Relations,  asserting  that 
Missouri  would  never  countenance  nor  aid 
a  seceding  State  in  making  war  upon  the 
General  Government,  nor  provide  men 
and  money  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  the 
General  Government  to  coerce  a  seceding 
State,  was  voted  down. 

27th.  The  following  resolution  was 
passed  by  a  vote  in  the  House  of  62  against 
42:— 

Resolved,  That  it  is  inexpedient  for  the 
General  Assembly  to  take  any  steps  for 
calling  a  National  Convention  to  propose 
amendments  to  the  Constitution,  as  recom 
mended  by  the  State  Convention. 

July  22d.  The  Convention  reassembled. 

23d.  Resolution  passed,  by  a  vote  of  65 
to  21,  declaring  the  office  of  President, 
held  by  General  Sterling  Price  at  the  last 
session  of  the  Convention,  vacant.  A 
committee  of  seven  were  appointed  to  re 
port  what  action  they  deem  it  advisable  to 
take  in  the  dislocated  condition  of  the 
State. 

25th.  The  committee  presented  their  re 
port.  It  alludes  at  length  to  the  present 
unparalleled  condition  of  things,  the  reck 
less  course  of  the  recent  Government,  and 
flight  of  the  Governor  and  other  State 
officers  from  the  capitol.  It  declares  the 
offices  of  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor, 
and  Secretary  of  State  vacant,  and  pro 
vides  that  their  vacancies  shall  be  filled  by 
the  Convention,  the  officers  so  appointed 
to  hold  their  positions  till  August,  1862, 
at  which  time  it  provides  for  a  special  elec 
tion  by  the  people.  It  repeals  the  ninth 
section  of  the  sixth  article  of  the  Consti 
tution,  and  provides  that  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State  shall  consist  of  seven 
members ;  and  that  four  members,  in  ad 
dition  to  the  three  now  comprising  the 
Court,  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Governor 
chosen  by  this  Convention  to  hold  office 
till  1862,  when  the  people  shall  decide 
whether  the  change  shall  be  permanent. 
It  abolishes  the  State  Legislature,  and  or- 


96 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


dams  that  in  case,  before  the  1st  of  August, 
1862,  the  Governor  chosen  by  this  Con 
vention  shall  consider  the  public  exigen 
cies  demand,  he  shall  order  a  special  elec 
tion  for  the  members  of  the  State  Legisla 
ture.  It  recommends  the  passage  of  an 
ordinance  repealing  the  following  bills, 
passed  by  the  Legislature  in  secret  session, 
(in  Mayjast :  The  military  fund  bill,  the 
bill  to  suspend  the  distribution  of  the 
school  fund,  and  the  bill  for  cultivating 
friendly  relations  with  the  Indian  tribes. 
It  repeals  the  bill  authorizing  the  appoint 
ment  of  one  major-general  of  the  Missouri 
militia,  and  revives  the  militia  law  of  1859. 

A  resolution  was  passed  that  a  commit 
tee  of  seven  be  appointed  by  the  President 
to  prepare  an  address  to  the  people  of  the 
State  of  Missouri. 

November  26th.  Jefferson  Davis  trans 
mitted  to  the  "  Confederate "  Congress  a 
message  concerning  the  secession  of  Mis 
souri.  It  was  accompanied  by  a  letter 
from  Governor  Jackson,  and  also  by  an 
act  dissolving  the  union  with  the  United 
States,  and  an  act  ratifying  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  Provisional  Government  of  the 
Confederate  States;  also,  the  Convention 
between  the  Commissioners  of  Missouri 
and  the  Commissioners  of  the  Confederate 
States.  Congress  unanimously  ratified  the 
Convention  entered  into  between  the  Hon. 
R.  M.  T.  Hunter  for  the  rebel  Government 
and  the  Commissioners  for  Missouri. 


Inter-State  Commissioners. 

The  seceding  States,  as  part  of  their  plan 
of  operation,  appointed  Commissioners  to 
visit  other  slaveholding  States.  They 
were  as  follows,  as  announced  in  the  news 
papers  : 

South  Carolina. 

To  Alabama,  A.  P.  Calhoun. 

To  Georgia,  James  L.  Orr,  Ex-M.  C. 

To  Florida,  L.  W.  Spratt. 

To  Mississippi,  M.  L.  Bonham,  Ex-M.  C. 

To  Louisiana,  J.  L.  Manning. 

To  Arkansas,  A.  C.  Spain. 

To  Texas,  J.  B.  Kershaw. 

To  Virginia,  John  S.  Preston. 

Alabama. 

To  North  Carolina,  Isham  W.  Garrett. 
To  Mississippi,  E.  W.  Pettus. 
To  South  Carolina,  J.  A.  Elmore. 
To  Maryland,  A.  F.  Hopkins. 
To  Virginia,  Frank  Gilmer. 
To  Tennessee,  L.  Pope  Walker. 
To  Kentucky,  Stephen  F.  Hale. 
To  Arkansas,  John  Anthony  Winston. 

Georgia. 

To  Missouri,  Luther  J.  Glenn. 
To  Virginia,  Henry  L.  Benning. 


.    Mississippi. 

To  South  Carolina,  C.  E.  Hooker. 
To  Alabama,  Jos.  W.  Matthews,  Ex-Gov. 
To  Georgia,  William  L.  Harris. 
To  Louisiana,  Wirt  Adams. 
To  Texas,  H.  H.  Miller. 
To  Arkansas,  George  E.  Fall. 
To  Florida,  E.  M.  Yerger. 
To  Tennessee,  T.  J.  Wharton,  Att'y-Gen. 
To  Kentucky  ,W.  S.  Featherstone,  Ex-M.  C. 
To  North  Carolina,  Jacob  Thompson,  Ex- 

M.  C. 

To  Virginia,  Fulton  Anderson. 
To  Maryland,  A.  H.  Handy,  Judge. 
To  Delaware,  Henry  Dickinson. 
To  Missouri, Russell. 


Southern  Congress* 

This  body,  composed  of  Deputies  elected 
by  the  Conventions  of  the  Seceding  States, 
met  at  Montgomery,  Alabama,  February 
4th,  1861,  to  organize  a  Southern  Confed 
eracy.  Each  State  had  a  representation 
equal  to  the  number  of  members  of  the 
Thirty-sixth  Congress.  The  members 
were: 

South  Carolina. 

Robert  W.  Barnwell,  Ex-U.  S.  Senator. 
R.  Barnwell  Rhett,        "        "        " 
James  Chestnut,  jr.,      "        "        " 
Lawrence  M.  Keitt,  Ex-M.  C. 
William  W.  Boyce,     "      " 
Wn.  Porcher  Miles,    "      " 
C.  G.  Memminger. 
Thomas  J  Withers. 

Alabama. 
W.  P.  Chilton. 
Stephen  F.  Hale. 
David  P.  Lewis. 
Thomas  Fearn, 
Richard  W.  Walker. 
Robert  H.  Smith. 
Colin  J.  McRae. 
John  Gill  Shorter. 
J.  L.  M.  Curry,  Ex-M.  C. 

Florida. 
J.  Patten    Anderson,   Ex-Delegate  from 

Washington  Territory. 
Jackson  Morton,  Ex-U.  S.  Senator. 
James  Powers, 

Mississippi. 
W.  S.  Wilson. 
Wiley  P.  Harris,  Ex-M.  C. 
James  T.  Harrison. 
Walter  Brooke,  Ex-U.  S.  Senator. 
William  S.  Barry,  Ex-M.  C. 
A.  M.  Clayton. 

Georgia. 

Robert  Toombs,  Ex-U.  S.  Senator. 
Howell  Cobb,  Ex-M.  C. 

Martin  J.  Crawford, 
Augustus  R  Wright,  " 


PREPARING    FOR    SECESSION. 


9T 


Augustus  H.  Keenan. 

Benjamin  H.  Hill. 

Francis  S.  Bartow. 

E.  A.  Nisbet. 

Thomas  R.  R.  Cobb. 

Alexander  H.  Stephens,  Ex-M.  0. 

Louisiana. 
Duncan  F.  Kenner. 
Charles  M.  Conrad,  Ex-U.  S.  Senator. 
Henry  Marshall. 
John  Perkins,  jr. 
G.  E.  Sparrow. 
E.  De  Clouet. 

Texas. 

(Admitted  March  2d,  1861.) 

Louis  T.  Wigfall,  Ex-U.  S.  Senator. 

John  Hemphill,      " 

John  H.  Reagan,  Ex-M.  C. 

T.  N.  Waul. 

John  Gregg. 

W.  S.  Oldiiam. 

W.  B.  Ochiltree. 


Proceedings  of  the  Southern  Congress. 

February  4th,  1881.  Howell  Cobb  of 
Georgia  elected  President,  Johnson  J. 
Hooper  of  Alabama,  Secretary.  Mr.  Cobb 
announced  that  secession  "  is  now  a  fixed 
and  irrevocable  fact,  and  the  separation  is 
perfect,  complete  and  perpetual." 

6th.  David  L.  Swain,  M.  W.  Ransom, 
and  John  L.  Bridgers,  were  admitted  as 
Commissioners  from  North  Carolina,  un 
der  resolutions  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
that  State,  passed  January  29th,  1861,  "  to 
effect  an  honorable  and  amicable  adjust 
ment  of  all  the  difficulties  that  disturb 
the  country,  upon  the  basis  of  the  Critten- 
den  resolutions,  as  modified  by  the  Legis 
lature  of  Virginia,"  and  to  consult  with 
the  delegates  to  the  Southern  Congress 
for  their  "common  peace,  honor  and 
safety." 

7th.  Congress  notified  that  the  State  of 
Alabama  had  placed  $500,000  at  its  dispo 
sal,  as  a  loan  to  the  provisional  government 
of  the  Confederacy  of  Seceding  States. 

8th.  The  Constitution  of  the  Provisional 
Government  adopted.  * 

*The  Provisional  Constitution  adopted  by  the  Seceded 
States  differs  from  the  Constitution  of  the'United  States 
in  several  important  particulars.  The  alterations  and 
additions  are  as  follows : 

ALTERATIONS. 

1st.  The  Provisional  Constitution  differs  from  the  other 
in  this :  That  the  legislative  powers  of  the  Provisional 
Government  are  vested  in  the  Congress  now  assembled. 
and  this  body  exercises  all  the  functions  that  are  exer 
cised  by  either  or  both  branches  of  the  United  States 
Government. 

2d.  The  Provisional  President  holds  his  office  for  one 
year,  unless  sooner  superseded  by  the  establishment  of  a 
permanent  Government. 

3d.  Each  State  is  erected  into  a  distinct  judicial  din-  j 
trict,  the  judge  having  all  the  powers  heretofore  vested; 
in  the  district  and  circuit  courts ;  and  the  several  district  I 
judges  together  compose  the  supreme  bench— a  majority  j 
of  them  constituting  a  quorum. 


9th.  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi, 
elected  Provisional  President  of  the  Con 
federate  States  of  America,  and  Alexander 
H.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  Vice-President. 
The  question  of  attacking  Fort  Sumter  has 
been  referred  to  the  Congress. 

llth.  Mr.  Stephens  announced  his  ac 
ceptance.  Committee  appointed  to  prepare 
a  permanent  Constitution. 

12th.  The  Congress  assumed  "charge 
of  all  questions  and  difficulties  now  exist 
ing  between  the  sovereign  States  of  this 
Confederacy  and  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  relating  to  the  occupation  ot 
forts,  arsenals,  navy  yards,  custom-houses, 
and  all  other  public  establishments."  The 
resolution  was  directed  to  be  communicated 
to  the  Governors  of  the  respective  States  of 
the  Confederacy. 

15th.  Official  copy  of  the  Texas  Ordi 
nance  of  Secession  presented. 

16th.  President  Davis  arrived  and  re 
ceived  with  salute,  etc. 

18th.    President  Davis  inaugurated. 

19th.    Tariff  law  passed. 

21st.  Robert  Toombs  appointed  Secre 
tary  of  the  State ;  C.  G.  Memminger,  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury ;  L.  Pope  Walker,  of 

4th.  Whenever  the  word  "  Union "  occurs  in  th» 
United  States  Constitution  the  word  "  Confederacy "  to 
substituted. 

THE  FOLLOWING  ARE  THE  ADDITIONS. 

1  st.  The  President  may  veto  any  separate  appropriation 
without  vetoing  the  whole  bill  in  which  it  is  con 
tained. 

2d.  The  African  slave-trade  is  prohibited. 

3d.  Congress  is  empowered  to  prohibit  the  introduction 
of  slaves  from  any  State  not  a  member  of  thia  Confed- 
racy. 

4th.  All  appropriations  must  be  upon  the  demand  of 
the  President  or  heads  of  departments. 

OMISSIONS. 

1st,  There  is  no  prohibition  on  members  of  Congrew 
lolding  other  offices  of  honor  and  emolument  under  tha 
Provisional  Government. 

2d.  There  is  no  provision  for  a  neutral  spot  for  th» 
oeation  of  a  scat  of  government,  or  for  sites  for  forts,  ar- 
renals,  and  dock -yards ;  consequently  there  is  no  refarenc* 
made  to  the  territorial  powers  of  the  Provisional  Govern 
ment. 

3d.  The  section  in  the  old  Constitution  in  reference  to 
:apitation  and  other  direct  tax  is  omitted  ;  also,  the  sec- 
ion  providing  that  no  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  any 
exports. 

4th.  The  prohibition  on  States  keeping  troops  or  ships 
of  war  in  time  of  peace  is  omitted 

5th.  The  Constitution  being  provisional  merely,  no 
provision  is  made  for  its  ratification. 

AMENDMENTS. 

1st.  The  fugitive  slave  clause  of  the  old  Constitution  i* 
so  amended  as  to  contain  the  word  "slave,"  and  to  pro- 
vide  for  full  compensation  in  cases  of  abduction  of  forci 
ble  rescue  on  the  part  of  the  State  in  which  such  abduc 
tion  or  rescue  may  take  place. 

2d.  Congress,  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds,  may  at  any  time 
alter  or  amend  the  Constitution. 

TEMPORARY  PROVISIONS. 

1st.  The  Provisional  Government  is  required  to  tak« 
immediate  steps  for  the  settlement  of  all  matters  between 
the  States  forming  it  and  their  other  late  confederates  of 
the  United  Spates  in  relation  to  the  public  property  and 
the  public  debt. 

lid.  Montgomery  is  made  the  temporary  seat  of  govern 
ment. 

3d.  This  Constitution  is  to  continue  one  year,  unleac 
altered  by  a  two  thirds  vote  or  superseded  by  a  perm*- 
neat  Government, 


98 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Alabama,  Secretary  of  War ;  Stephen  R. 
Mallory ,  Secretary  of  the  Navy ;  J  udah  P. 
Benjamin,  Attorney-General,  and  John  H. 
Reagan,  Postmaster-General ;  Philip  Clay 
ton,  of  Georgia  appointed  Assistant  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  and  Wm.  M.  Browne, 
late  of  the  Washington  Constitution, 
Assistant  Secretary  of  State. 

March   2d.    The    Texas    Deputies   re 
ceived. 


The  Confederate  States. 

The  Confederate  States  was  the  name  of 
the  government  formed  in  1861  by  the 
seven  States  which  first  seceded.  Bellige 
rent  rights  were  accorded  to  it  by  the  lead 
ing  naval  powers,  but  it  was  never  recog 
nized  as  a  government,  notwithstanding 
the  persevering  efforts  of  its  agents  near 
the  principal  courts.  This  result  was  mainly 
due  to  the  diplomacy  of  the  federal  Sec 
retary  of  State,  Wm  H.  Seward,  to  the 
proclamations  of  emancipation  in  1862-3, 
which  secured  the  sympathy  of  the  best 
elements  of  Great  Britain  and  France  for 
the  federal  government,  and  the  obstinate 
persistence  of  the  federal  government  in 
avoiding,  as  far  as  possible,  any  recognition 
of  the  existence,  even  de  facto,  of  a  con 
federate  government.  The  federal  generals 
in  the  field,  in  their  communications  with 
confederate  officers,  did  not  hesitate,  upon 
occasion,  even  to  give  "  president  "  Davis 
his  official  title,  but  no  such  embarrassing 
precedent  was  ever  admitted  by  the  civil 
government  of  the  United  States.  It  at 
first  endeavored,  until  checked  by  active 
preparations  for  retaliation,  to  treat  the 
crews  of  confederate  privateers  as  pirates  ; 
it  avoided  any  official  communication  with 
the  confederate  government,  even  when 
compelled  to  exchange  prisoners,  confining 
its  negotiations  to  the  confederate  commis 
sioners  of  exchange ;  and,  by  its  persistent 
policy  in  this  direction,  it  succeeded,  with 
out  any  formal  declaration,  in  impressing 
upon  foreign  governments  the  belief  that 
any  recognition  of  the  confederate  States 
as  a  separate  people  would  be  actively  re 
sented  by  the  government  of  the  United 
States  as  an  act  of  excessive  unfriendliness. 
The  federal  courts  have  steadily  held  the 
same  ground,  that  "  the  confederate  states 
was  an  unlawful  assemblage,  without  cor 
porate  power;"  and  that,  though  the 
separate  States  were  still  in  existence  and 
were  indestructible,  their  state  govern 
ments,  while  they  chose  to  act  as  part  of 
the  confederate  States,  did  not  exist,  even 
de  facto.  Early  in  January,  1861,  while 
only  South  Carolina  had  actually  seceded, 
though  other  Southern  States  had  called 
conventions  to  consider  the  question,  the 
Senators  of  the  seven  States  farthest  South 
practically  assumed  control  of  the  whole 
movement,  and  their  energy  and  unswer 


ving  singleness  of  purpose,  aided  by  the 
telegraph,  secured  a  rapidity  of  execution 
to  which  no  other  very  extensive  conspi 
racy  of  history  can  afford  a  parallel.  The 
ordinance  of  secession  was  a  negative  in 
strument,  purporting  to  withdraw  the  state 
from  the  Union  and  to  deny  the  authority 
of  the  federal  government  over  the  people 
of  the  State ;  the  cardinal  object  of  the 
senatorial  group  was  to  hurry  the  forma- 
mation  of  a  new  national  government,  as 
an  organized  political  reality  which  would 
rally  the  outright  secessionists,  claim  the 
allegiance  of  the  doubtful  mass,  and  coerce 
those  who  still  remained  recalcitrant.  At 
the  head  of  the  senatorial  group,  and  of 
its  executive  committee,  was  Jefferson 
Davis,  Senator  from  Mississippi,  and  natu 
rally  the  first  official  step  toward  the  for 
mation  of  a  new  government  came  from 
the  Mississippi  Legislature,  where  a  com 
mittee  reported,  January  19th,  1861,  reso 
lutions  in  favor  of  a  congress  of  delegates 
from  the  seceding  States  to  provide  for  a 
southern  confederacy,  and  to  establish  a 
provisional  government,  therefore.  The 
other  seceding  States  at  once  accepted  the 
proposal,  through  their  State  conventions, 
which  also  appointed  the  delegates  on  the 
ground  that  the  people  had  intrusted  the 
State  conventions  with  unlimited  pow 
ers.  The  new  government  therefore  began 
its  existence  without  any  popular  ratio  of 
representation,  and  with  only  such  popular 
ratification  as  popular  acquiescence  gave. 
The  provisional  congress  met  Feb.  4th,  at 
Montgomery,  Ala.,  with  delegates  from 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Louisi 
ana,  Florida  and  Mississippi.  The  Texas 
delegates  were  not  appointed  until  Feb. 
14th.  Feb,  8th,  a  provisional  constitution 
was  adopted,  being  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States,  with  some  changes.  Feb. 
9th,  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  was 
unanimously  chosen  provisional  president, 
and  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  of  Georgia, 
provisional  vice-president,  each  State  hav 
ing  one  vote,  as  in  all  other  proceedings  of 
the  body.  By  acts  of  Feb.  9th  and  12th, 
the  laws  and  revenue  officers  of  the  United 
States  were  continued  in  the  confederate 
States  until  changed.  Feb.  18th,  the 
president  and  vice-president  were  inaugu 
rated.  Feb.  20th-26th,  executive  depart 
ments  and  a  confederate  regular  army  were 
organized,  and  provision  was  made  for 
borrowing  money.  March  llth,  the  per 
manent  constitution  was  adopted  by 
Congress. 

The  Internal  legislation  of  the  provi  - 
sional  congress  was,  at  first,  mainly  the 
adaptation  of  the  civil  service  in  the  South 
ern  States  to  the  uses  of  the  new  govern 
ment.  Wherever  possible,  judges,  post 
masters,  and  civil  as  well  as  military  and 
naval  officers,  who  had  resigned  from  the 
service  of  the  United  States,  were  given 


BUCHANAN'S    VIEWS. 


99 


an  equal  or  higher  rank  in  the  confederate 
service.  Postmasters  were  directed  to  make 
their  final  accounting  to  the  United  States, 
May  31st,  thereafter  accounting  to  the  Con 
federate  States.  April  29th,  the  provi 
sional  congress,  which  had  adjourned  March 
16th,  re-assembled  at  Montgomery,  having 
been  convoked  by  President  Davis  in  con 
sequence  of  President  Lincoln's  prepa 
rations  to  enforce  federal  authority  in  the 
South.  Davis'  message  announced  that 
all  the  seceding  States  had  ratified  the 
permanent  constitution ;  that  Virginia, 
which  had  not  yet  seceded  and  entered  in 
to  alliance  with  the  confederacy,  and  that 
other  States,  were  expected  to  follow  the 
same  plan.  He  concluded  by  declaring 
that  "  all  we  ask  is  to  be  let  alone."  May 
6th,  an  act  was  passed  recognizing  the  ex 
istence  of  war  with  the  United  States. 
Congress  adjourned  May  22d,  re-convened 
at  Richmond,  Va.,  July  20th,  and  ad 
journed  August  22d,  until  November  18th. 
Its  legislation  had  been  mainly  military 
and  financial.  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
Tennessee  and  Arkansas,  had  passed  ordi 
nances  of  secession,  and  been  admitted  to 
the  confederacy.  (See  the  States  named, 
and  secession.)  Although  Missouri  and 
Kentucky  had  not  seceded,  delegates  from 
these  States  were  admitted  in  December 
1861.  Nov.  6,  1861,  at  an  election  under 
the  permanent  constitution,  Davis  and 
Stephens  were  again  chosen  to  their  re 
spective  offices  by  a  unanimous  electoral 
vote.  Feb.  18th,  1862,  the  provisional  con 
gress  (of  one  house)  gave  way  to  the  per 
manent  congress,  and  Davis  and  Stephens 
were  inaugurated  February  22nd.  The 
cabinet,  with  the  successive  Secretaries  of 
each  department,  was  as  follows,  including 
both  the  provisional  and  permanent  cabi 
nets  : 

State  Department. — Robert  Toombs, 
Georgia,  February  21st,  1861 ;  R.  M.  T. 
Hunter,  Virginia,  July  30th,  1861 ;  Judah 
P.  Benjamin,  Louisiana,  February  7th, 
1862. 

Treasury  Department. — Charles  G.  Mem- 
minger,  South  Carolina,  February  21st, 
1861,  and  M.irch  22d,  1862;  James  L. 
Trenholm,  South  Carolina,  June  13th, 
1861. 

War  Department.— L.  Pope  Walker, 
Mississippi,  February  21st,  1861 ;  Judah  P. 
Benjamin,  Louisiana,  November  10th. 
1861 ;  James  A.  Seddon,  Virginia,  March 
22d,  1862;  John  C.  Breckinridge,  Ken 
tucky,  February  15th,  1865. 

Navy  Department.— Stephen  R.  Mallory, 
Florida,  March  4th,  1861,  and  March  22d. 

Attorney  General. — Judah  P.  Benjamin, 
Louisiana,  February  21st,  1861 ;  Thomas 
H.  Watts,  Alabama,  September  10th,  1861, 
and  March  22nd,  1862;  George  Davis, 
North  Carolina,  November  10th,  1863. 

Postmaster-  General. — Henry    J.   Elliot, 


Mississippi,  February  21st,  1865 ;  John  H. 
Reagan,  Texas,  March  6th,  1861,  arid 
March  22d,  1862. 

The  provisional  Congress   held  four  ses 
sions,   as   follows:     1.  February  4-Mareh 
16th,  1861 ;  2.  April  29-May22d,  1861  j  3. 
I  July  20-August  22d,  1861 ;  and  4.  Novem 
ber"!  8th,  1861-February  17th,  1862. 

Under  the  permanent  Constitution  there 
were  two  Congresses.  The  first  Congress 
held  four  sessions,  as  follows :  1.  Febru 
ary  18- April  21st,  1862;  2.  August  12- 
October  13th,  1862;  3.  January  12-May 
8th  1863 ;  and  4.  December  7,  1863-Feb- 
ruary  18th,  1864.  The  second  Congress 
held  two  sessions,  as  follows :  1.  May  2-  • 
June  15th,  1864 ;  and  2.  From  November 
7th,  1864,  until  the  hasty  and  final  ad 
journment,  March  18th,  1865. 

In  the  first  Congress  members  chosen  by 
rump  State  conventions,  or  by  regiments  in 
the  confederate  service,  sat  for  districts  in 
Missouri  and  Kentucky,  though  these 
States  had  never  seceded.  There  were 
thus  thirteen  States  in  all  represented  at 
the  close  of  the  first  Congress  ;  but,  as  the 
area  of  the  Confederacy  narrowed  before 
the  advance  of  the  Federal  armies,  the  va 
cancies  in  the  second  Congress  became 
significantly  more  numerous.  At  its  best 
estate  the  Confederate  Senate  numbered 
26,  and  the  house  106,  as  follows:  Ala 
bama,  9 ;  Arkansas,  4 ;  Florida,  2 ;  Geor 
gia,  10 ;  Kentucky,  12 ;  Louisiana,  6 ;  Mis 
sissippi,  1 ;  Missouri,  7 ;  North  Carolina, 
10;  South  Carolina,  6;  Tennessee,  11; 
Texas,  6 ;  Virginia,  16.  In  both  Con 
gresses  Thomas  S.  Bocock,  of  Virginia,  was 
Speaker  of  the  House.* 

For  four  months  between  the  Presiden 
tial  election  and  the  inauguration  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  those  favoring  secession  in  the 
South  had  practical  control  of  their  sec 
tion,  for  while  President  Buchanan  hesi 
tated  as  to  his  constitutional  powers,  the 
more  active  partisans  in  his  Cabinet  were 
aiding  their  Southern  friends  in  every 
aractical  way.  In  answer  to  the  visit- 
ng  Commissioners  from  South  Carolina, 
Messrs.  R.  W.  Barn  well,  J.  H.  Adams  and 
Jas.  L.  Orr,  who  formally  submitted  that 
State's  ordinance  of  secession,  and  de 
manded  possession  of  the  forts  in  Charles 
ton  harbor,  Buchanan  said : — 

"In  answer  to  this  communication,  I 
lave  to  say  that  my  position  as  President 
of  the  United  States  was  clearly  defined  in 
;he  message  to  Congress  on  the  3d  inst. 
[n  that  I  stated  that  '  apart  from  the  exe 
cution  of  the  laws,  so  far  as  this  may  be 
Dracticable,  the  Executive  has  no  authority 
*>  decide  what  shall  be  the  relations  be- 
;ween  the  Federal  Government  and  South 
Carolina.  He  has  been  invested  with  no 
such  discretion.  He  possesses  no  power  to 

*  From   Lalor's  Thu~>ictop<xdin  of  Pnlitioal  Science,  pub* 
liahed  by  Bund  &  McNally,  Chicago,  111. 


100 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


change  the  relations  heretofore  existing 
between  them,  much  less  to  acknowledge 
the  independence  of  that  State.  This 
would  be  to  invest  a  mere  executive  officer 
with  the  power  of  recognizing  the  dissolu 
tion  of  the  Confederacy  among  our  thirty- 
three  sovereign  States.  It  bears  no  re 
semblance  to  the  recognition  of  a  foreign 
de  facto  Government,  involving  no  such 
responsibility.  Any  attempt  to  do  this 
would,  on  his  part,  be  a  naked  act  of 
usurpation.  It  is,  therefore,  my  duty  to 
submit  to  Congress  the  whole  question  in 
all  its  bearings.' 

"Such  is  my  opinion  still.  I  could, 
therefore,  meet  you  only  as  private  gentle 
men  of  the  highest  character,  and  was  en 
tirely  willing  to  communicate  to  Congress 
any  proposition  you  might  have  to  make 
to  that  body  upon  the  subject.  Of  this  you 
were  well  aware.  It  was  my  earnest  desire 
that  such  a  disposition  might  be  made  of 
the  whole  subject  by  Congress,  who  alone 
possess  the  power,  as  to  prevent  the  inau 
guration  of  a  civil  war  between  the  parties 
in  regard  to  the  possession  of  the  Federal 
forts  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston." 

Further  correspondence  followed  between 
the  President  and  other  seceding  State  Com 
missioners,  and  the  attitude  of  the  former 
led  to  the  following  changes  in  his  Cabi 
net:  December  12th,  1860,  LEWIS  CASS 
resigned  as  Secretary  of  State,  because  the 
President  declined  to  reinforce  the  forts  in 
Charleston  harbor.  December  17th,  JERE 
MIAH  S.  BLACK  was  appointed  his  suc 
cessor. 

December  10th,  HOWELL  COBB,  resigned 
as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury — "  his  duty  to 
Georgia  requiring  it."  December  12th, 
PHILIP  F.  THOMAS  was  appointed  his  suc- 
ceisor,  and  resigned,  January  llth,  1861, 
because  differing  from  the  President  and  a 
majority  of  tfi~e  Cabinet,  "in  the  measures 
which  have  been  adopted  in  reference  to 
the  recent  condition  of  things  in  South 
Carolina,"  especially  "touching  the  au 
thority,  under  existing  laws,  to  enforce  the 
collection  of  the  customs  at  the  port  of 
Charleston."  January  llth,  1861,  JOHN  A. 
Dix  appointed  his  successor. 

29th,  JOHN  B.  FLOYD  resigned  as  Secre 
tary  of  War,  because,  after  the  transfer  of 
Major  Anderson's  command  from  Fort 
Moultrie  to  Fort  Sumter,  the  President  de 
clined  "to  withdraw  the  garrison  from  the 
harbor  of  Charleston  altogether." 

December  31st,  JOSEPH  HOLT,  Postmas 
ter-General,  was  entrusted  with  the  tem 
porary  charge  of  the  War  Department,  and 
January  18th,  1861,  was  appointed  Secre 
tary  of  War. 

January  8th,  1861,  JACOB  THOMPSON 
resigned  as  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  be 
cause  "additional  troops,  he  had  heard, 
have  been  ordered  to  Charleston"  in  the 
Star  of  the  West 


December  17th,  I860,'  JEREMIAH  S. 
BLACK  resigned  as  Attorney-General,  and 
EDWIN  M.  STANTON,  December  20th,  was 
appointed  his  successor. 

January  18th,  1861,  JOSEPH  HOLT  re 
signed  as  Postmaster-General,  and  HO 
RATIO  KING,  February  12th,  1861,  was  ap 
pointed  his  successor. 

President  Buchanan,  in  his  annual  mes 
sage  of  December  3d,  1860,  appealed  to 
Congress  to  institute  an  amendment  to  the 
constitution  recognizing  the  rights  of  the 
Southern  States  in  regard  to  slavery  in  the 
territories,  and  as  this  document  embraced 
the  views  which  subsequently  led  to  such 
a  general  discussion  of  the  right  of  seces 
sion  and  the  right  to  coerce  a  State,  we 
make  a  liberal  quotation  from  it: — 

"  I  have  purposely  confined  my  remarks 
to  revolutionary  resistance,  because  it  has 
been  claimed  within  the  last  few  years  that 
any  State,  whenever  this  shall  be  its 
sovereign  will  and  pleasure,  may  secede 
from  the  Union  in  accordance  with  the 
Constitution,  and  without  any  violation  of 
the  constitutional  rights  of  the  other  mem 
bers  of  the  Confederacy.  That  as  each  be 
came  parties  to  the  Union  by  the  vote  of 
its  own  people  assembled  in  convention, 
so  any  one  of  them  may  retire  from  the 
Union  in  a  similar  manner  by  the  vote  of 
such  a  convention. 

"  In  order  to  justify  secession  as  a  con 
stitutional  remedy,  it  must  be  on  the  prin 
ciple  that  the  Federal  Government  is  a 
mere  voluntary  association  of  States,  to  be 
dissolved  at  pleasure  by  any  one  of  the 
contracting  parties.  If  this  be  so,  the 
Confederacy  is  a  rope  of  sand,  to  be  pene 
trated  and  dissolved  by  the  first  adverse 
wave  of  public  opinion  in  any  of  the  States. 
In  this  manner  our  thirty-three  States  may 
resolve  themselves  into  as  many  petty, 
jarring,  and  hostile  republics,  each  one  re 
tiring  from  the  Union  without  responsi 
bility  whenever  any  sudden  excitement 
might  impel  them  to  such  a  course.  By 
this  process  a  Union  might  be  entirely 
broken  into  fragments  in  a  few  weeks, 
which  cost  our  forefathers  many  years  of 
toil,  privation,  and  blood  to  establish. 

<l  Such  a  principle  is  wholly  inconsistent 
with  the  history  as  well  as  the  character  of 
the  Federal  Constitution.  After  it  was 
framed  with  the  greatest  deliberation  and 
care,  it  was  submitted  to  conventions  of 
the  people  of  the  several  States  for  ratifi 
cation.  Its  provisions  were  discussed  at 
length  in  these  bodies,  composed  of  the 
first  men  of  the  country.  Its  opponents 
contended  that  it  conferred  powers  upon 
the  Federal  Government  dangerous  to  the 
rights  of  the  States,  whilst  its  advocates 
maintained  that,  under  a  foir  construction 
of  the  instrument,  there  was  no  foundation 
for  such  apprehensions.  In  that  mighty 
struggle  between  the  first  intellects  of  thia 


BUCHANAN'S    VIEWS. 


101 


or  any  other  country,  it  never  occurred  to 
any  individual,  either  among  its  opponents 
or  advocates,  to  assert  or  even  to  intimate 
that  their  efforts  were  all  vain  labor,  be 
cause  the  moment  that  any  State  felt  her 
self  aggrieved  she  might  secede  from  the 
Union.  What  a  crashing  argument  would 
this  have  proved  against  those  who  dreaded 
that  the  rights  of  the  States  would  be  en 
dangered  by  the  Constitution.  The  truth 
is,  that  it  was  not  until  some  years  after 
the  origin  of  the  Federal  Government  that 
sujh  a  proposition  was  first  advanced.  It 
was  afterwards  met  and  refuted  by  the 
conclusive  arguments  of  General  Jackson, 
who,  in  his  message  of  the  16th  of  January, 
1833,  transmitting  the  nullifying  ordinance 
of  South  Carolina  to  Congress,  employs  the 
following  language :  *  The  right  of  the  peo 
ple  of  a  single  State  to  absolve  themselves 
at  will  and  without  the  consent  of  the 
other  States  from  their  most  solemn  obli 
gations,  and  hazard  the  liberty  and  happi 
ness  of  the  millions  composing  this  Union, 
cannot  be  acknowledged.  Such  authority 
is  believed  to  be  utterly  repugnant  both  to 
the  principles  upon  which  the  General 
Government  is  constituted,  and  to  the  ob 
jects  which  it  was  expressly  formed  to 
attain.' 

"  It  is  not  pretended  that  any  clause  in 
the  Constitution  gives  countenance  to  such 
a  theory.  It  is  altogether  founded  upon 
inference,  not  from  any  language  con 
tained  in  the  instrument  itself,  but  from 
the  sovereign  character  of  the  several 
States  by  which  it  was  ratified.  But  it  is 
beyond  the  power  of  a  State  like  an  indi 
vidual,  to  yield  a  portion  of  its  sovereign 
rights  to  secure  the  remainder?  In  the 
language  of  Mr.  Madison,  who  has  been 
called  the  father  of  the  Constitution,  '  It 
was  formed  by  the  States — that  is,  by  the 
people  in  each  of  the  States  acting  in  their 
highest  sovereign  capacity,  and  formed  con 
sequently  by  the  same  authority  which 
formed  the  State  constitutions.'  'Nor  is 
the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
created  by  the  Constitution,  less  a  Govern 
ment,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term  with 
in  the  sphere  of  its  powers,  than  the  gov 
ernments  created  by  the  constitutions  of 
the  States  are  within  their  several  spheres. 
It  is  like  them  organized  into  legislative, 
executive,  and  judiciary  departments.  It 
operates,  like  them,  directly  on  persons 
and  things ;  and,  like  them,  it  has  at  com 
mand  a  physical  force  for  executing  the 
powers  committed  to  it.' 

"  It  was  intended  to  be  perpetual,  and 
not  to  be  annulled  at  the  pleasure  of  any 
one  of  the  contracting  parties.  The  old 
Articles  of  Confederation  were  entitled 
'  Articles  of  Confederation  and  Perpetual 
Union  between  the  States ; '  and  by  the 
thirteenth  article  it  is  expressly  declared 
that  '  the  articles  of  this  confederation 


shall  be  inviolably  observed  "by  every 
State,  and  the  Union  shall  be  perpetual.' 
The  preamble  to  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States,  having  express  reference  to 
the  Articles  of  Confederation,  recites  that 
it  was  established  'in  order  to  form  a  more 
perfect  union.'  And  yet  it  is  contended 
that  this  '  more  perfect  union '  does  not  in 
clude  the  essseutial  attribute  of  perpe 
tuity. 

"But  that  the  Union  was  designed  to 
be  perpetual,  appears  conclusively  from 
the  nature  and  extent  of  the  powers  con 
ferred  by  the  Constitution  of  the  Federal 
Government.  These  powers  embrace  the 
very  highest  attributes  of  national  sov 
ereignty.  They  place  both  the  sword  and 
purse  under  its  control.  Congress  has 
power  to  make  war  and  to  make  peace ;  to 
raise  and  support  armies  and  navies,  and 
to  conclude  treaties  with  foreign  govern 
ments.  It  is  invested  with  the  power  to 
coin  money,  and  to  regulate  the  value 
thereof,  and  to  regulate  commerce  with 
foreign  nations  and  among  the  several 
States.  It  is  not  necessary  to  enumerate 
the  other  high  powers  which  have  been 
conferred  upon  the  Federal  Government. 
In  order  to  carry  the  enumerated  powers 
into  effect,  Congress  possesses  the  exclusive 
right  to  lay  and  collect  duties  on  imports, 
and,  in  common  with  the  States,  to  lay 
and  collect  all  other  taxes. 

"  But  the  Constitution  has  not  only  con 
ferred  these  high  powers  upon  Congress, 
but  it  has  adopted  effectual  means  to  re 
strain  the  States  from  interfering  with  their 
exercise.  For  that  purpose  it  has  in  strong 
prohibitory  language  expressly  declared 
that '  no  State  shall  enter  into  any  treaty, 
alliance,  or  confederation ;  grant  letters  of 
marque  and  reprisal;  coin  money;  emit 
bills  of  credit;  make  anything  but  gold 
and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of 
debts;  pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  ex  post 
facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the  obligation 
of  contracts.'  Moreover,  *  without  the  con 
sent  of  Congress  no  State  shall  lay  any  im 
posts  or  duties  on  any  imports  or  exports, 
except  what  may  be  absolutely  necessary 
for  executing  its  inspection  laws,'  and  if 
they  exceed  this  amount,  the  excess  shall 
belong  to  the  United  States.  And  'no 
State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Con 
gress,  lay  any  duty  of  tonnage,  keep  troops 
or  ships  of  war  in  time  of  peace,  enter  into 
any  agreement  or  compact  with  another 
State,  or  with  a  foreign  power,  or  engage 
in  war,  unless  actually  invaded  or  in  such 
imminent  danger  as  will  not  admit  of 
delay.' 

"  In  order  still  further  to  secure  the  un 
interrupted  exercise  of  these  high  powers 
against  State  interposition,  it  is  provided 
'  that  this  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  which  shall  be  made  in  pur 
suance  thereof,  and  all  treaties  made  or 


102 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


which  shall  be  made  under  the  authority 
of  the  United  States,  shall  be  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land;  and  the  judges  in  every 
State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  any  thing  in 
the  Constitution  or  laws  of  any  State  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding/ 

"  The  solemn  sanction  of  religion  has 
been  superadded  to  the  obligations  of 
official  duty,  and  all  Senators  and  Repre 
sentatives  of  the  United  States,  all  mem 
bers  of  State  Legislatures,  and  all  execu 
tive  and  judicial  officers,  '  both  of  the 
United  States  and  of  the  several  States, 
shall  be  bound  by  oath  or  affirmation  to 
support  this  Constitution.' 

"In  order  to  carry  into  effect  these 
powers,  the  Constitution  has  established  a 
perfect  Government  in  all  its  forms,  legis 
lative,  executive,  and  judicial ;  and  this 
Government  to  the  extent  of  its  powers 
acts  directly  upon  the  individual  citizens 
of  every  State,  and  executes  its  own  de 
crees  by  the  agency  of  its  own  officers.  In 
this  respect  it  differs  entirely  from  the 
Government  under  the  old  confederation, 
which  was  confined  to  making  requisitions 
on  the  States  in  their  sovereign  character. 
This  left  it  in  the  discretion  of  each 
whether  to  obey  or  refuse,  and  they  often 
declined  to  comply  with  such  requisitions. 
It  thus  became  necessary,  for  the  purpose 
of  removing  this  barrier,  and  '  in  order  to 
form  a  more  perfect  union,'  to  establish  a 
Government  which  could  act  directly  upon 
the  people  and  execute  its  own  laws  with 
out  the  intermediate  agency  of  the  States. 
This  has  been  accomplished  by  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States.  In  short, 
the  Government  created  by  the  Constitu 
tion,  and  deriving  its  authority  from  the 
sovereign  people  of  each  of  the  several 
States,  has  precisely  the  same  right  to 
exercise  its  power  over  the  people  of  all 
these  States  in  the  enumerated  cases,  that 
each  one  of  them  possesses  over  subjects 
not  delegated  to  the  United  States,  but 
'reserved  to  the  States  respectively  or  to 
the  people.' 

"  To  the  extent  of  the  delegated  powers 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  as 
much  a  part  of  the  constitution  of  each 
State,  and  is  as  binding  upon  its  people, 
as  though  it  had  been  textually  inserted 
therein. 

"  This  Government,  therefore,  is  a  great 
and  powerful  Government,  invested  with 
all  the  attributes  of  sovereignty  over  the 
special  subjects  to  which  its  authority  ex 
tends.  Its  framers  never  intended  to  im 
plant  in  its  bosom  the  seeds  of  its  own 
destruction  nor  were  they  at  its  creation 
guilty  of  the  absurdity  of  providing  for  its 
own  dissolution.  It  was  not  intended  by 
its  framers  to  be  the  baseless  fabric  of  a 
vision,  which,  at  the  touch  of  the  en 
chanter,  would  vanish  into  thin  air,  but  a 
substantial  and  mighty  fabric,  capable  of 


resisting  the  slow  decay  of  time,  and  of 
defying  the  storms  of  ages.  Indeed,  well 
may  the  jealous  patriots  of  that  day  have 
indulged  fears  that  a  Government  of  such 
high  power  might  violate  the  reserved  rights 
of  the  States,  and  wisely  did  they  adopt 
the  rule  of  a  strict  construction  of  thes-e 
powers  to  prevent  the  danger.  But  they  did 
not  fear,  nor  had  they  any  reason  to  imagine 
that  the  Constitution  would  ever  be  so  in 
terpreted  as  to  enable  any  State  by  her 
own  act,  and  without  the  consent  of  her 
sister  States,  to  discharge  her  people 
from  all  or  any  of  their  federal  obliga 
tions. 

"It  may  be  asked,  then,  are  the  people 
of  the  States  without  redress  against  the 
tyranny  and  oppression  of  the  Federal 
Government?  By  no  means.  The  right 
of  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  governed 
against  the  oppression  of  their  govern 
ments  cannot  be  denied.  It  exists  inde 
pendently  of  all  constitutions,  and  has  been 
exercised  at  all  periods  of  the  world's  his 
tory.  Under  it,  old  governments  have  been 
destroyed  and  new  ones  have  taken  their 
place.  It  is  embodied  in  strong  and  ex 
press  language  in  our  own  Declaration  of 
Independence.  But  the  distinction  must 
ever  be  observed  that  this  is  revolution 
against  an  established  Government,  and 
not  a  voluntary  secession  from  it  by  virtue 
of  an  inherent  constitutional  right.  In 
short,  let  us  look  the  danger  fairly  in  the 
face;  secession  is  neither  more  nor  less 
than  revolution.  It  may  or  it  may  not  be 
a  justifiable  revolution ;  but  still  it  is  rev 
olution." 

The  President  having  thus  attempted  to 
demonstrate  that  the  Constitution  affords 
no  warrant  for  secession,  but  that  this  was 
inconsistent  both  with  its  letter  and  spirit, 
then  defines  his  own  position.  He  says: 

"  What,  in  the  mean  time,  is  the  respon 
sibility  and  true  position  of  the  Executive  ? 
He  is  bound  by  solemn  oath,  before  God 
and  the  country,  'to  take  care  that  the 
laws  be  faithfully  executed,'  and  from  this 
obligation  he  cannot  be  absolved  by  any 
human  power.  But  what  if  the  perfor 
mance  of  this  duty,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
has  been  rendered  impracticable  by  events 
over  which  he  could  have  exercised  no 
control?  Such,  at  the  present  moment,  is 
the  case  throughout  the  State  of  South 
Carolina,  so  far  as  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  to  secure  the  administration  of  jus 
tice  by  means  of  the  Federal  judiciary  are 
concerned.  All  the  Federal  officers  within 
its  limits,  through  whose  agency  alone 
these  laws  can  be  carried  into  execution, 
have  already  resigned.  We  no  longer 
have  a  district  judge,  a  district  attorney, 
or  a  marshal  in  South  Carolina.  In  fact, 
the  whole  machinery  of  the  Federal  gov 
ernment  necessary  for  the  distribution  of 
remedial  justice  among  the  people  has  been 


BUCHANAN'S    VIEWS. 


103 


demolished,  and  it  would  be  difficult,  if 
not  impossible,  to  replace  it. 

"  The  only  acts  of  Congress  on  the  stat 
ute  book  bearing  upon  this  subject  are 
those  of  the  28th  Februrry,  1795,  and  3rd 
March,  1807.  These  authorize  the  Presi 
dent,  after  he  shall  have  ascertained  that 
the  marshal,  with  his  posse  comitatus,  is 
unable  to  execute  civil  or  criminal  process 
in  any  particular  case,  to  call  forth  the 
militia  and  employ  the  army  and  navy  to 
aid  him  in  performing  this  service,  having 
first  by  proclamation  commanded  the  in 
surgents  '  to  disperse  and  retire  peaceably 
to  their  respective  abodes  within  a  limited 
time/  This  duty  cannot  by  possibility  be 
performed  in  a  State  where  no  judicial  au 
thority  exists  to  issue  process,  and  where 
there  is  no  marshal  to  execute  it,  and 
where,  even  if  there  were  such  an  officer, 
the  entire  population  would  constitute  one 
solid  combination  to  resist  him. 

"  The  bare  enumeration  of  these  provi 
sions  proves  how  inadequate  they  are  with 
out  further  legislation  to  overcome  a  united 
opposition  in  a  single  State,  not  to  speak 
of  other  States  who  may  place  themselves 
in  a  similar  attitude.  Congress  alone  has 
power  to  decide  whether  the  present  laws 
can  or  cannot  be  amended  so  as  to  carry 
out  more  effectually  the  objects  of  the 
Constitution. 

"  The  same  insuperable  obstacles  do  not 
lie  in  the  way  of  executing  the  laws  for  the 
collection  of  customs.  The  revenue  still 
continues  to  be  collected,  as  heretofore,  at 
the  custom-house  in  Charleston,  and  should 
the  collector  unfortunately  resign,  a  suc 
cessor  may  be  appointed  to  perform  this 
duty. 

"  Then,  in  regard  to  the  property  of  the 
United  States  in  South  Carolina.  This  has 
been  purchased  for  a  fair  equivalent,  '  by 
the  consent  of  the  Legislature  of  the 
State/  '  for  the  erection  of  forts,  magazines, 
arsenals,'  &c.,  and  over  these  the  authority 
'to  exercise  exclusive  legislation'  has  been 
expressly  granted  by  the  Constitution  to 
Congress.  It  is  not  believed  that  any  at 
tempt  will  be  made  to  expel  the  United 
States  from  this  property  by  force ;  but  if 
in  this  I  should  prove  to  be  mistaken,  the 
officer  in  command  of  the  forts  has  re 
ceived  orders  to  act  strictly  on  the  defen 
sive.  In  such  a  contingency  the  respon 
sibility  for  consequences  would  rightfully 
rest  upon  the  heads  of  the  assailants. 

"  Apart  from  the  execution  of  the  laws, 
so  far  as  this  may  be  practicable,  the  Ex 
ecutive  has  no  authority  to  decide  what 
shall  be  the  relations  between  the  Federal 
Government  and  South  Carolina.  He  has 
been  invested  with  no  such  discretion.  He 
possesses  no  power  to  change  the  relations 
heretofore  existing  between  them,  much 
less  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of 
that  State.  This  would  be  to  invest  a  mere 


executive  officer  with  the  power  of  recog 
nizing  the  dissolution  of  the  Confederacy 
among  our  thirty-three  sovereign  States. 
It  bears  no  relation  to  the  recognition  of  a 
foreign  de  facto  Government,  involving  no 
such  responsibility.  Any  attempt  to  do 
this  would,  on  his  part,  be  a  naked  act  of 
usurpation.  It  is,  therefore,  my  duty  to 
submit  to  Congress  the  whole  question  in 
all  its  bearings." 

Then  follows  the  opinion  expressed  in 
the  message,  that  the  Constitution  has  con 
ferred  no  power  on  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  to  coerce  a  State  to  remain  in  the 
Union.  The  following  is  the  language : 
"The  question  fairly  stated  is,  'Has  the 
Constitution  delegated  to  Congress  the 
power  to  coerce  a  State  into  submission 
which  is  attempting  to  withdraw,  or  has 
actually  withdrawn  from  the  Confedera 
cy?'  If  answered  in  the  affirmative,  it 
must  be  on  the  principle  that  the  power 
has  been  conferred  upon  Congress  to  make 
war  against  a  State. 

"  After  much  serious  reflection,  I  have 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  no  such 
power  has  been  delegated  to  Congress  or 
to  any  other  department  of  the  Federal 
Government.  It  is  manifest,  upon  an  in 
spection  of  the  Constitution,  that  this  is 
not  among  the  specific  and  enumerated 
powers  granted  to  Congress;  and  it  is 
equally  apparent  that  its  exercise  is  not 
'  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into 
execution '  any  one  of  these  powers.  So  far 
from  this  power  having  been  delegated  to 
Congress,  it  was  expressly  refused  by  the 
Convention  which  framed  the  Constitu 
tion. 

"  It  appears  from  the  proceedings  of  that 
body  that  on  the  31st  May,  1787,  the 
clause  '  authorizing  an  exertion  of  the  force 
of  the  whole  against  a  delinquent  State ' 
came  up  for  consideration.  Mr.  Madison 
opposed  it  in  a  brief  but  powerful  speech, 
from  which  I  shall  extract  but  a  single 
sentence.  He  observed :  '  The  use  of  force 
against  a  State  would  look  more  like  a 
declaration  of  war  than  an  infliction  of 
punishment,  and  would  probably  be  con 
sidered  by  the  party  attacked  as  a  dissolu 
tion  of  all  previous  compacts  by  which  it 
might  be  bound.'  Upon  his  motion  the 
clause  was  unanimously  postponed,  and 
was  never,  I  believe,  again  presented.  Soon 
afterwards,  on  the  8th  June,  1787,  when 
incidentally  adverting  to  the  subject^  he 
said:  'Any  government  for  the  United 
States,  formed  on  the  supposed  practica 
bility  of  using  force  against  the  unconsti 
tutional  proceedings  of  the  States,  would 
prove  as  visionary  and  fallacious  as  the 
government  of  Congress,'  evidently  mean 
ing  the  then  existing  Congress  of  the  old 
confederation." 

At  the  time  of  the  delivery  of  this  mes 
sage  the  excitement  was  very  high.  The 


104 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


extreme  Southerners  differed  from  it,  in  so 
far  as  it  disputed  both  the  right  of  revolu 
tion  and  secession  under  the  circumstances, 
but  quickly  made  a  party  battle-cry  of  the 
denial  of  the  right  of  the  National  Gov 
ernment  to  coerce  a  State — a  view  which 
for  a  time  won  the  President  additional 
friends,  but  which  in  the  end  solidified  all 
friends  of  the  Union  against  his  adminis 
tration.  To  show  the  doubt  which  this 
ingenious  theory  caused,  we  quote  from  the 
speech  of  Senator  Andrew  Johnson,  of 
Tennessee  (subsequently  Vice-President 
and  acting  President),  delivered  Dec.  18th, 
1860,  (Congressional  Globe,  page  119)  :— 

"  I  do  not  believe  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  has  the  power  to  coerce  a  State,  for 
by  the  eleventh  amendment  of  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  it  is  expressly 
provided  that  you  cannot  even  put  one  of 
the  States  of  this  confederacy  before  one 
of  the  courts  of  the  country  as  a  party. 
As  a  State,  the  Federal  Government  has 
no  power  to  coerce  it ;  but  it  is  a  member 
of  the  compact  to  which  it  agreed  in  com 
mon  with  the  other  States,  and  this  Gov 
ernment  has  the  right  to  pass  laws,  and  to 
enforce  those  laws  upon  individuals  within 
the  limits  of  each  State.  While  the  one 
proposition  is  clear,  the  other  is  equally  so. 
This  Government  can,  by  the  Constitution 
of  the  country,  and  by  the  laws  enacted  in 
conformity  with  the  Constitution,  operate 
upon  individuals,  and  has  the  right  and 
power,  not  to  coerce  a  State,  but  to  enforce 
and  execute  the  law  upon  individuals 
within  the  limits  of  a  State." 

Senator  Jefferson  Davis  of  Mississippi, 
publicly  objected  to  the  message  because  of 
its  earnest  argument  against  secession,  and 
the  determination  expressed  to  collect  the 
revenue  in  the  ports  of  South  Carolina,  by 
means  of  a  naval  force,  and  to  defend  the 
public  property.  From  this  moment  they 
alienated  themselves  from  the  President. 
Soon  thereafter,  when  he  refused  to  with 
draw  Major  Anderson  from  Fort  Sumter, 
on  the  demand  of  the  self-styled  South 
Carolina  Commissioners,  the  separation  be 
came  complete.  For  more  than  two  months 
before  the  close  of  the  session  all  friendly 
intercourse  between  them  and  the  Presi 
dent,  whether  of  a  political  or  social  cha 
racter,  had  ceased. 

The  Crlttenden  Compromise. 

Congress  referred  the  request  in  the 
message,  to  adopt  amendments  to  the  con 
stitution  recognizing  the  rights  of  the 
Blave  States  to  take  slavery  into  the  terri 
tories  to  a  committee  of  thirteen,  consisting 
of  five  Republicans :  Messrs.  Seward,  Col- 
lamer,  Wade,  Doolittle,  and  Grimes ;  five 
from  slave-holding  States :  Messrs.  Powell, 
Hunter,  Crittenden,  Toombs,  and  Davis  ; 
and  three  Northern  Democrats;  Messrs. 
Pouglas,  Bigler,  and  Bright.  The  latter 


three  were  intended  to  act  as  mediators 
between  the  extreme  parties  on  the  com 
mittee. 

The  committee  first  met  on  the  21st  De 
cember,  1860,  and  preliminary  to  any  other 
proceeding,  they  "  resolved  that  no  propo 
sition  shall  be  reported  as  adopted,  unless 
sustained  by  a  majority  of  each  of  the 
classes  of  the  committee ;  Senators  of  the 
Republican  party  to  constitute  one  class, 
and  Senators  of  the  other  parties  to  con 
stitute  the  other  class."  This  resolution 
was  passed,  because  any  report  they  might 
make  to  the  Senate  would  be  in  vain  unless 
sanctioned  by  at  least  a  majority  of  the  five 
Republican  Senators.  On  the  next  day 
(the  22d),  Mr.  Crittenden  submitted  to  the 
committee  "  A  Joint  Resolution "  (the 
same  which  he  had  two  days  before  pre 
sented  to  the  Senate),  "  proposing  certain 
amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,"  now  known  as  the  Critten 
den  Compromise.  This  was  truly  a  com 
promise  of  conflicting  claims,  beVause  it 
proposed  that  the  South  should  surrender 
their  adjudged  right  to  take  slaves  into  all 
our  Territories,  provided  the  North  would 
recognize  this  right  in  the  Territories  south 
of  the  old  Missouri  Compromise  line. 
The  committee  rejected  this  compromise, 
every  one  of  its  five  Republican  members, 
together  with  Messrs.  Davis  and  Toombs, 
from  the  cotton  States,  having  voted 
against  it.  Indeed,  not  one  of  all  "the  Re 
publicans  in  the  Senate,  at  any  period  or 
in  any  form,  voted  in  its  favor. 

The  committee,  having  failed  to  arrive 
at  a  satisfactory  conclusion,  reported  their 
disagreement  to  the  Senate  on  the  31st 
December,  1860,  in  a  resolution  declaring 
that  they  had  "not  been  able  to  agree 
upon  any  general  plan  of  adjustment." 

Mr.  Crittenden  did  not  despair  of 
ultimate  success,  notwithstanding  his  de 
feat  before  the  Committee  of  Thirteen. 
After  this,  indeed,  he  could  no  longer  ex 
pect  to  carry  his  compromise  as  an  amend 
ment  to  the  Constitution  by  the  necessary 
two-thirds  vote  of  Congress.  It  was, 
therefore,  postponed  by  the  Senate  on  his 
own  motion.  As  a  substitute  for  it  he 
submitted  to  the  Senate,  on  the  3d 
January,  1861,  a  joint  resolution,  which 
might  be  passed  by  a  majority  of  both 
Houses.  This  was  to  refer  his  rejected 
amendment,  by  an  ordinary  act  of  Con 
gress,  to  a  direct  vote  of  the  people  of  the 
several  States. 

He  offered  his  resolution  in  the  following 
language :  "  Whereas  the  Union  is  in 
danger,  and,  owing  to  the  unhappy  divi 
sion  existing  in  Congress,  it  would  be  dif 
ficult,  if  not  impossible,  for  that  body  to 
concur  in  both  its  branches  by  the  re 
quisite  majority,  so  as  to  enable  it  either 
to  adopt  suoh  measures  of  legislation,  or 
to  recommend  to  the  States  such  amend- 


THE    CRITTENDEN    COMPROMISE. 


105 


ments  to  the  Constitution,  as  are  deemed 
necessary  and  proper  to  avert  that  danger  ; 
and  whereas  in  so  great  an  emergency  the 
opinion  and  judgment  of  the  people  ought 
to  be  heard,  and  would  be  the  best  and 
surest  guide  to  their  Representatives ; 
Therefore,  Resolved,  That  provision  ought 
to  be  made  by  law  without  delay  for  tak 
ing  the  sense  of  the  people  and  submitting 
to  their  vote  the  following  resolution  [the 
same  as  in  his  former  amendment],  as  the 
basis  for  the  final  and  permanent  settle 
ment  of  those  disputes  that  now  disturb 
the  peace  of  the  country  and  threaten  the 
existence  of  the  Union." 

Memorials  in  its  favor  poured  into  Con 
gress  from  portions  of  the  North,  even 
from  New  England.  One  of  these  pre 
sented  to  the  Senate  was  from  "  the  Mayor 
and  members  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen 
and  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  of 
Boston,  and  over  22,000  citizens  of  the 
State  of  Massachusetts,  praying  the  adop 
tion  of  the  compromise  measures  proposed 
by  Mr.  Crittenden."  It  may  be  proper 
here  to  observe  that  the  resolution  of  Mr. 
Crittenden  did  not  provide  in  detail  for 
holding  elections  by  which  "  the  sense  of 
the  people  "  could  be  ascertained.  To  sup 
ply  this  omission,  Senator  Bigler,  of 
Pennsylvania,  on  the  14th  January,  1861, 
brought  in  "  A  bill  to  provide  for  taking 
the  sense  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  on  certain  proposed  amendments  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States;" 
but  never  was  he  able  to  induce  the  Senate 
even  to  consider  this  bill. 

President  Buchanan  exerted  all  his  in 
fluence  in  favor  of  these  measures.  In  his 
special  message  to  Congress  of  the  8th  of 
January,  1831,  after  depicting  the  conse 
quences  which  had  already  resulted  to  the 
country  from  the  bare  apprehension  of 
civil  war  and  the  dissolution  of  the  Union, 
he  savs : 

"  Let  the  question  be  transferred  from 
political  assemblies  to  the  ballot-box,  and 
the  people  themselves  would  speedily  re 
dress  the  serious  grievances  which  the 
South  have  suffered.  But,  in  Heaven's 
name,  let  the  trial  be  made  before  we 
plunge  into  armed  conflict  upon  the  mere 
assumption  that  there  is  no  other  alterna 
tive.  Time  is  a  great  conservative  power. 
Let  us  pause  at  this  momentous  point,  and 
afford  the  people,  both  North  and  South, 
an  opportunity  for  reflection.  Would  that 
South  Carolina  had  been  convinced  of  this 
truth  before  her  precipitate  action  1  I, 
therefore,  appeal  through  you  to  the  peo 
ple  of  th 3  country,  to  declare  in  their 
might  that  the  Union  must  and  shall  be 
preserved  by  all  constitutional  means.  I 
most  earnestly  recommend  that  you  devote 
yourselves  exclusively  to  the  question  how 
this  can  be  accomplished  in  peace.  All 
other  questions,  when  compared  with  this, 


sink  into  insignificance.  The  present  is  no 
time  for  palliatives;  action,  prompt  action 
is  required.  A  delay  in  Congress  to  pre 
scribe  or  to  recommend  a  distinct  and 
practical  proposition  for  conciliation,  may 
drive  us  to  a  point  from  which  it  will  be 
almost  impossible  to  recede. 

"  A  common  ground  on  which  concilia 
tion  and  harmony  can  be  produced  is 
surely  not  unattainable.  The  proposition 
to  compromise  by  letting  the  North  have 
exclusive  control  of  the  territory  above  a 
certain  line,  and  to  give  Southern  institu 
tions  protection  below  that  line,  ought  to 
receive  universal  approbation.  In  itself, 
indeed,  it  may  not  be  entirely  satisfactory, 
but  when  the  alternative  is  between  a 
reasonable  concession  on  both  sides  and  a 
dissolution  of  the  Union,  it  is  an  imputa 
tion  on  the  patriotism  of  Congress  to  assert 
that  its  members  will  hesitate  for  a  mo 
ment." 

This  recommendation  was  totally  disre 
garded.  On  the  14th  January,  1861,  Mr. 
Crittenden  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
to  have  it  considered,  but  it  was  postponed 
until  the  day  following.  On  this  day  it 
was  again  postponed  by  the  vote  of  every 
Republican  Senator  present,  in  order  to 
make  way  for  the  Pacific  Railroad  bill.  On 
the  third  attempt  (January  16,)  he  suc 
ceeded,  but  by  a  majority  of  a  single  vote, 
in  bringing  his  resolution  before  the  body. 
Every  Republican  Senator  present  voted 
against  its  consideration.  Mr.  Clark,  a 
Republican  Senator  from  New  Hampshire, 
moved  to  strike  out  the  entire  preamble 
and  resolution  of  Mr.  Crittenden,  and  in 
lieu  thereof  insert  as  a  substitute  a  pream 
ble  and  resolution  in  accordance  with  the 
Chicago  platform.  This  motion  prevailed 
by  a  vote  of  25  to  23,  every  Republican 
Senator  present  having  voted  in  its  favor. 
Thus  Mr.  Crittenden's  proposition  to  refer 
the  question  to  the  people  was  buried 
under  the  Clark  amendment.  This  con 
tinued  to  be  its  position  for  more  than  six 
weeks,  until  the  day  before  the  final  ad 
journment  of  Congress,  2d  March,  when 
the  proposition  itself  was  defeated  by  a 
vote  of  19  in  the  affirmative  against  20  in 
the  negative. 

The  Clark  Amendment  prevailed  only 
in  consequence  of  the  refusal  of  six  Seces 
sion  Senators  to  vote  against  it.  These 
were  Messrs.  Benjamin  and  Slidell,  of 
Louisiana ;  Mr.  Iverson,  of  Georgia ; 
Messrs.  Hem  phi  11  and  Wigfall,  of  Texas ; 
and  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Arkansas.  Had  these 
gentlemen  voted  with  the  border  slave- 
holding  States  and  the  other  Democratic 
Senators,  the  Clark  Amendment  would 
hare  been  defeated,  and  the  Senate  would 
then  have  been  brought  to  a  direct  vote 
on  the  Crittenden  resolution. 

It  is  proper  far  reference  that  the  names 
of  those  Senators  who  constituted  the  ma- 


106 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


jority  on  this  question,  should  be  placed 
upon  record.  Every  vote  given  from  the 
six  New  England  States  was  in  opposition 
to  Mr.  Crittenden's  resolution.  The.se  con 
sisted  of  Mr.  Clark,  of  New  Hampshire ; 
Messrs.  Surnner  and  Wilson,  of  Massachu 
setts  ;  Mr.  Anthony,  of  Rhode  Island ; 
Messrs.  Dixon  and  Foster,  of  Connecticut ; 
Mr.  Foot,  of  Vermont ;  and  Mr.  Fessen- 
den,  of  Maine.  The  remaining  twelve 
votes,  in  order  to  make  up  the  20,  were 
given  by  Messrs.  Bingham  and  Wade,  of 
Ohio ;  Mr.  Trumbull,  of  Illinois  ;  Messrs. 
Bingham  and  Chandler,  of  Michigan ; 
Messrs.  Grimes  and  Harlan,  of  Iowa  ; 
Messrs.  Doolittle  and  Durkee,  of  Wiscon 
sin  ;  Mr.  Wilkinson,  of  Minnesota  ;  Mr. 
King,  of  New  York  ;  and  Mr.  Ten  Eyck, 
of  New  Jersey.  The  Republicans  not 
voting  were  Hale  of  New  Hampshire ; 
Simmons  of  Rhode  Island ;  Col  lamer  of 
Vermont;  Seward  of  New  York,  and 
Cameron  of  Pennsylvania.  They  refrained 
from  various  motives,  but  in  the  majority 
of  instances  because  they  disbelieved  In 
any  effort  to  compromise,  for  nearly  .all 
were  recognized  leaders  of  the  more  radi 
cal  sentiment,  and  in  favor  of  coercion  of 
the  South  by  energetic  use  of  the  war 
powers  of  the  government.  This  was  spe 
cially  true  of  Hale,  Seward,  and  General 
Cameron,  shortly  after  Secretary  of  War, 
and  the  first  Cabinet  officer  who  favored 
the  raising  of  an  immense  army  and  the 
early  liberation  and  arming  of  the  slaves. 

On  December  4th,  1860,  on  motion  of 
Mr.  Boteler  of  Virginia,  so  much  of  Presi 
dent  Buchanan's  message  as  related  to  the 
perilous  condition  of  the  country,  was  re 
ferred  to  a  special  committee  of  one  from 
each  State,  as  follows : 

Corwin  of  Ohio ;  Millson  of  Virginia ; 
Adams  of  Massachusetts;  Winslow  of 
North  Carolina ;  Humphrey  of  New  York ;  : 
Boyce  of  South  Carolina;  Campbell  of  | 
Pennsylvania;  Love  of  Georgia;  Ferry  of 
Connecticut ;  Davis  of  Maryland ;  Robin 
son  of  Rhode  Island ;  Whiteley  of  Dela 
ware  ;  Tappan  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Strat- 
ton  of  New  Jersey  ;  Bristow  of  Kentucky ; 
Morrill  of  Vermont ;  Nelson  of  Tennessee ; 
Dunn  of  Indiana;  Taylor  of  Louisiana; 
Davis  of  Mississippi;  Kellogg  of  Illinois; 
Houston  of  Alabama;  Morse  of  Maine; 
Phelps  of  Missouri ;  Rust  of  Arkansas ; 
Howard  of  Michigan  ;  Hawkins  of  Florida ; 
Hamilton  of  Texas ;  Washburn  of  Wiscon 
sin  ;  Curtis  of  Iowa ;  Burch  of  California; 
Windorn  of  Minnesota ;  Stout  of  Oregon. 

Messrs.  Hawkins  and  Boyce  asked  to  be 
excused  from  service  on  the  Committee, 
but  the  House  refused. 

From  this  Committee  Mr.  Corwin  report 
ed,  January  14th,  1861,  a  series  of  proposi 
tions  with  a  written  statement  in  advocacy 
thereof.  Several  minorrity  reports  were 
presented,  but  the  following  Joint  Reso 


lution  is  the  only  one  which  secured  the 
assent  of  both  Houses. 

CONSTITUTIONAL  AMENDMENT. 

Be  it  resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  Congress  assembled,  two-thirds 
of  both  Houses  concurring,  That  the  fol 
lowing  article  be  proposed  to  the  Legisla 
tures  of  the  several  States  as  an  amend 
ment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  which,  when  ratified  by  three- 
fourths  of  said  Legislatures,  shall  be  valid, 
to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  a  part  of  the 
said  Constitution,  namely: 

ART.  XII.  No  amendment  shall  be 
made  to  the  Constitution  which  will  auth 
orize  or  give  to  Congress  the  power  to 
abolish  or  interfere  within  any  State,  with 
the  domestic  institutions  thereof,  including 
that  of  persons  held  to  labor  or  service  by 
the  laws  of  said  State. 

The  Legislatures  of  Ohio  and  Maryland 
agreed  to  the  amendment  promptly,  but 
events  followed  so  rapidly,  that  the  atten^ 
tion  of  other  States  was  drawn  from  it,  and 
nothing  came  of  this,  the  only  Congres^ 
sional  movement  endorsed  which  looked  to 
reconciliation.  Other  propositions  came 
from  the  Border  and  individual  states,  but 
all  alike  failed. 


Tin-  Peace  Convention. 

The  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  OR 
the  19th  of  January,  adopted  resolutions 
inviting  Representatives  of  the  several 
States  to  assemble  in  a  Peace  Convention 
at  Washington,  which  met  on  the  4th  of 
February.  It  was  composed  of  133  Com 
missioners,  many  from  the  border  States, 
and  the  object  of  these  was  to  prevail  upon 
their  associates  from  the  North  to  unite 
with  them  in  such  recommendations  to 
Congress  as  would  prevent  their  own  States 
from  seceding  and  enable  them  to  bring 
back  six  of  the  cotton  States  which  had 
already  seceded. 

One  month  only  of  the  session  of  Con 
gress  remained.  Within  this  brief  period 
it  was  necessary  that  the  Convention 
should  recommend  amendments  to  the 
Constitution  in  sufficient  time  to  enable 
both  Houses  to  act  upon  them  before  their 
final  adjournment.  It  was  also  essential 
to  success  that  these  amendments  should 
be  sustained  by  a  decided  majority  of  the 
commissioners  both  from  the  Northern 
and  the  border  States. 

On  Wednesday,  the  6th  February,  a  re 
solution  was  adopted,*  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Guthrie,  of  Kentucky,  to  refer  the  resolu> 
tions  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia, 
and  all  other  kindred  subjects,  to  a  com 
mittee  to  consist  of  one  commissioner 

*  Official  Journal  of  the  Convention,  pp.  9  and  10. 


THE    PEACE    CONVENTION. 


107 


from  each  State,  to  be  selected  by  the 
respective  State  delegations ;  and  to  pre 
vent  delay  they  were  instructed  to  report 
on  or  before  the  Friday  following  (the  8th), 
"  what  they  may  deem  right,  necessary, 
and  proper  to  restore  harmony  and  pre 
serve  the  Union." 

This  committee,  instead  of  reporting  on 
the  day  appointed,  did  not  report  until 
Friday,  the  15th  February. 

The  amendments  reported  by  a  majority 
of  the  committee,  through  Mr.  Guthrie, 
their  chairman,  were  substantially  the 
same  with  the  Crittenden  Compromise; 
but  on  motion  of  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Mary 
land,  the  general  terms  of  the  first  and  by  far 
the  most  important  section  were  restricted 
to  the  present  Territories  of  the  United 
States.  On  motion  of  Mr.  Franklin,  of 
Pennsylvania,  this  section  was  further 
amended,  but  not  materially  changed,  by 
the  adoption  of  the  substitute  offered  by 
him.  Nearly  in  this  form  it  was  afterwards 
adopted  by  the  Convention.  *  The  follow 
ing  is  a  copy  :  "  In  all  the  present  territory 
of  the  United  States  north  of  the  parallel' 
of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes  of 
north  latitude,  involuntary  servitude,  ex 
cept  in  punishment  of  crime,  is  prohibited. 
In  all  the  present  territory  south  of  that 
line,  the  status  of  persons  held  to  involun 
tary  service  or  labor,  as  it  now  exists,  shall 
not  be  changed;  nor  shall  any  law  be 
passed  by  Congress  or  the  Territorial  Le 
gislature  to  hinder  or  prevent  the  taking 
of  such  persons  from  any  of  the  States  of 
this  Union  to  said  territory,  nor  to  impair 
the  rights  arising  from  said  relation;  but 
the  same  shall  be  subject  to  judicial  cogni 
zance  in  the  Federal  courts,  according  to 
the  course  of  the  common  law.  When  any 
Territory  north  or  south  of  said  line,  with 
in  such  boundary  as  Congress  may  pre 
scribe,  shall  contain  a  population  equal  to 
that  required  for  a  member  of  Congress,  it 
shall,  if  its  form  of  government  be  repub 
lican,  be  admitted  into  the  Union  on  an 
equal  footing  with  the  original  States,  with 
or  without  involuntary  servitude,  as  the 
Constitution  of  such  State  may  provide." 

Mr.  Baldwin,  of  Connecticut,  and  Mr. 
Seddon,  of  Virginia,  made  minority  re 
ports,  which  they  proposed  to  substitute 
for  that  of  the  majority.  Mr.  Baldwin's 
report  was  a  recommendation  "to  the 
several  States  to  unite  with  Kentucky  in 
her  application  to  Congress  to  call  a  Con 
vention  for  proposing  amendments  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  to  be 
submitted  to  the  Legislatures  of  the  several 
States,  or  to  Conventions  therein,  for  rati 
fication,  as  the  one  or  the  other  mode  of 
ratification  may  be  proposed  by  Congress, 
in  accordance  with  the  provisions  in  the 
fifth  article  of  the  Constitution.'' 

The  proposition  of  Mr.  Baldwin,  re 
ceived  the  votes  of  eight  of  the  twenty -one 


States.  These  consisted  of  the  whole  of 
the  New  England  States,  except  Rhode 
Island,  and  of  Illinois,  Iowa,  and  New 
York,  all  being  free  States. 

The  first  amendment  reported  by  Mr. 
Seddon  differed  from  that  of  the  majority 
inasmuch  as  it  embraced  not  only  the 
present  but  all  future  Territories.  This 
was  rejected.  His  second  amendment, 
which,  however,  was  never  voted  upon  by 
the  Convention,  went  so  far  as  distinctly 
to  recognize  the  right  of  secession. 

More  than  ten  days  were  consumed  in 
discussion  and  in  voting  upon  various  pro 
positions  offered  by  individual  commis 
sioners.  The  final  vote  was  not  reached 
until  Tuesday,  the  26th  February,  when 
it  was  taken  on  the  first  vitally  important 
section,  as  amended. 

This  section,  on  which  all  the  rest  de 
pended,  was  negatived  by  a  vote  of  eight 
States  to  eleven.  Those  which  voted  in 
its  favor  were  Delaware,  Kentucky,  Mary 
land,  New  Jersey,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania, 
Rhode  Island,  and  Tennessee.  And  those 
iii  the  negative  were  Connecticut,  Illinois, 
Iowa,  Maine,  Massachusetts,  Missouri, 
New  York,  North  Carolina,  New  Hamp 
shire,  Vermont,  and  Virginia.  "It  is  but 
justice  to  say  that  Messrs.  Ruffin  and  More- 
head,  of  North  Carolina,  and  Messrs.  Rives 
and  Summers,  of  Virginia,  two  of  the  five 
commissioners  from  each  of  these  States, 
declared  their  dissent  from  the  vote  of 
their  respective  States.  So,  also,  did 
Messrs.  Bronson,  Corning,  Dodge,  Wool, 
and  Granger,  five  of  the  eleven  New  York 
commissioners,  dissent  from  the  vote  of 
their  State.  On  the  other  hand,  Messrs. 
Meredith  and  Wilmot,  two  of  the  seven 
commissioners  from  Pennsylvania,  dis 
sented  from  the  majority  in  voting  in  favor 
of  the  section.  Thus  would  the  Conven 
tion  have  terminated  but  for  the  inter 
position  of  Illinois.  Immediately  after 
the  section  had  been  negatived,  the  com 
missioners  from  that  State  made  a  motion 
to  reconsider  the  vote,  and  this  prevailed. 
The  Convention  afterwards  adjourned  un 
til  the  next  morning.  When  they  reassem 
bled  (February  27,)  the  first  section  was 
adopted,  but  only  by  a  majority  of  nine  to 
eight  States,  nine  being  less  than  a  ma 
jority,  of  the  States  represented.  This 
change  was  effected  by  a  change  of  the  vote 
of  Illinois  from  the  negative  to  the  affirm 
ative,  by  Missouri  withholding  her  vote, 
and  by  a  tie  in  the  New  York  commis 
sioners,  on  account  of  the  absence  of  one 
of  their  number,  rendering  it  impossible 
for  the  State  to  vote.  Still  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina,  and  Connecticut,  Maine, 
Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  and  Ver 
mont,  persisted  in  voting  in  the  negative. 
From  the  nature  of  this  vote,  it  was  mani 
festly  impossible  that  two-thirds  of  both 
Houses  of  Congress  should  act  favorably 


108 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


on  the  amendment,  even  if  the  delay  had 
not  already  rendered  such  action  imprac 
ticable  before  the  close  of  the  session. 

The  remaining  sections  of  the  amend 
ment  were  carried  by  small  majorities. 
The  Convention,  on  the  same  day,  through 
Mr.  Tyler,  their  President,  communicated 
to  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa 
tives  the  amendment  they  had  adopted, 
embracing  all  the  sections,  with  a  request 
that  it  might  be  submitted  by  Congress, 
under  the  Constitution,  to  the  several  State 
Legislatures.  In  the  Senate  this  was  im 
mediately  referred  to  a  select  committee, 
on  motion  of  Mr.  Crittenden.  The  com 
mittee,  on  the  next  day  (28th  Feb.),  re 
ported  a  joint  resolution  proposing  it  as  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution,  but  he  was 
never  able  to  bring  the  Senate  to  a  direct 
vote  upon  it.  Failing  in  this,  he  made  a 
motion  to  substitute  the  amendment  of  the 
Peace  Convention  for  his  own. 

Mr.  Critten den's  reasons  failed  to  con 
vince  the  Senate,  and  his  motion  was  re 
jected  by  a  large  majority  (28  to  7).  Then 
next  in  succession  came  the  memorable 
vote  on  Mr.  Crittenden's  own  resolution, 
and  it  was  in  its  turn  defeated,  as  we  have 
already  stated,  by  a  majority  of  20  against 
19. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  the 
amendment  proposed  bv  the  Convention 
was  treated  with  still  less  consideration 
than  it  had  been  by  the  Senate.  The 
Speaker  was  refused  leave  even  to  present 
it.  Every  effort  made  for  this  purpose 
was  successfully  resisted  by  leading  Repub 
lican  members.  The  consequence  is  that 
a  copy  of  it  does  not  even  appear  in  the 
Journal. 

The  refusal  to  pass  the  Crittenden  or  any 
other  Compromise  heightened  the  excite 
ment  in  the  South,  where  many  showed 
great  reluctance  to  dividing  the  Union. 
Georgia,  though  one  of  thd  cotton  States, 
under  the  influence  of  conservative  men 
like  Alex.  H.  Stephens,  showed  greater 
concern  for  the  Union  than  any  other,  and 
it  took  all  the  influence  of  spirits  like  that 
of  Robert  Toombs  to  bring  her  to  favor 
secession.  She  was  the  most  powerful  of 
the  cotton  States  and  the  richest,  as  she  is 
to-day.  On  the  22d  of  December,  1860, 
Robert  Toombs  sent  the  following  exciting 
telegraphic  manifesto  from  Washington : 

fellow- Citizens  of  Georgia  :  I  came  here 
to  secure  your  constitutional  rights,  or  to 
demonstrate  to  you  that  you  can  get  no 
guarantees  for  these  rights  from  your  North 
ern  Confederates. 

The  whole  subject  was  referred  to  a  com 
mittee  of  thirteen  in  the  Senate  yesterday. 
I  was  appointed  on  the  committee  and  ac 
cepted  the  trust.  I  submitted  propositions 
which,  so  far  from  receiving  decided  sup 
port  from  a  single  member  of  the  Repub 
lican  party  on  the  committee,  were  all 


treated  with  either  derision  or  contempt. 
The  vote  was  then  taken  in  committee  on 
the  amendments  to  the  Constitution,  pro 
posed  by  Hon.  J.  J.  Crittenden  of  Ken 
tucky,  and  each  and  all  of  them  were  voted 
against,  unanimously,  by  the  Black  Re 
publican  members  of  the  committee. 

In  addition  to  these  facts,  a  majority  of 
the  Black  Republican  members  of  the 
committee  declared  distinctly  that  they 
had  no  guarantees  to  offer,  which  was  si 
lently  acquiesced  in  by  the  other  members. 

The  Black  Republican  members  of  this 
Committee  of  Thirteen  are  representative 
men  of  their  party  and  section,  and  to  the 
extent  of  my  information,  truly  represent 
the  Committee  of  Thirty -three  in  the  House, 
which  on  Tuesday  adjourned  for  a  week 
without  coming  to  any  vote,  after  solemnly 
pledging  themselves  to  vote  on  all  proposi 
tions  then  before  them  on  that  date. 

That  committee  is  controlled  by  Black 
Republicans,  your  enemies,  who  only  seek  to 
amuse  you  with  delusive  hope  until  your 
election,  in  order  that  you  may  defeat  the 
friends  of  secession.  If  you  are  deceived 
by  them,  it  shall  not  be  my  fault.  I  have 
put  the  test  fairly  and  frankly.  It  is  de 
cisive  against  you ;  and  now  I  tell  you  up 
on  the  faith  of  a  true  man  that  all  further 
looking  to  the  North  for  security  for  your 
constitutional  rights  in  the  Union  ought  to 
be  instantly  abandoned.  It  is  fraught  with 
nothing  but  ruin  to  yourselves  and  your 
posterity. 

Secession  by  the  fourth  of  March  next 
should  be  thundered  from  the  ballot-box 
by  the  unanimous  voice  of  Georgia  on  the 
second  day  of  January  next.  Such  a  voice 
will  be  your  best  guarantee  for  LIBERTY, 

SECURITY,  TRANQUILLITY  and  GLORY. 

ROBERT  TOOMBS. 

IMPORTANT  TELEGRAPHIC  CORRESPOND 
ENCE. 

Atlanta,  Georgia,  December  26th,  1860. 
Hon.  S.  A.  Douglas  or  Hon.  J.  J.  Critttn- 
den : 

Mr.  Toombs's  despatch  of  the  22d  inst. 
unsettled  conservatives  here.  Is  there  any 
hope  for  Southern  rights  in  the  Union  ?  We 
are  for  the  Union  of  our  fathers,  if  South 
ern  rights  can  be  preserved  in  it.  If  not, 
we  are  for  secession.  Can  we  yet  hope 
the  Union  will  be  preserved  on  this  prin 
ciple?  You  are  looked  to  in  this  emer 
gency.  Give  us  your  views  by  despatch 
and  oblige 

WILLIAM  EZZARD. 

ROBERT  W.  SIMS. 

JAMES  P.  HAMBLETON. 

THOMAS  S.  POWELL. 

S.  G.  HOWELL. 

J.  A.  HAYDEN. 

G.  W.  ADAIR. 

R.  C.  HONLESTER. 


SECESSION.. 


109 


Washington,  December  29th,  1860. 
In  reply  to  your  inquiry,  we  have  hopes 
that  the  rights  of  the  South,  and  of  every 
State  and  section,  may  be  protected  within 
the  Union.  Don't  give  up  the  ship.  Don't 
despair  of  the  Eepublic. 

J.  J.  CRITTENDES". 
S.  A.  DOUGLAS. 

Congress,  amid  excitement  which  the 
above  dispatches  indicate,  and  which  was 
general,  remained  for  several  weeks  com 
paratively  inactive.  Buchanan  sent  mes 
sages,  but  his  suggestions  were  distrusted 
by  the  Republicans,  who  stood  firm  in  the 
conviction  that  when  Lincoln  took  his  seat, 
and  the  new  Congress  came  in,  they  could 
pass  measures  calculated  to  restore  the 
property  of  and  protect  the  integrity  of  the 
Union.  None  of  them  believed  in  the 
right  of  secession ;  all  had  lost  faith  in 
compromises,  and  all  of  this  party  repudi 
ated  the  theory  that  Congress  had  no  right 
to  coerce  a  State.  The  revival  of  these 
questions,  revived  also  the  logical  thoughts 
of  Webster  in  his  great  reply  to  Hayne, 
and  the  way  in  which  he  then,  expanded 
the  constitution  was  now  accepted  as  the 
proper  doctrine  of  Republicanism  on  that 
question.  No  partisan  sophistry  could 
shake  the  convictions  made  by  Webster, 
and  so  apt  were  his  arguments  in  their 
application  to  every  new  development  that 
they  supplied  every  logical  want  in  the 
Northern  mind.  Republican  orators  and 
newspapers  quoted  and  endorsed,  until 
nearly  every  reading  mind  was  imbued 
with  the  same  sentiments,  until  in  fact  the 
Northern  Democrats,  and  at  all  times  the 
Douglas  Democrats,  were  ready  to  stand 
by  the  flaw  of  the  Union.  George  W. 
Curtis,  in  Harper's  Weekly  (a  journal  which 
at  the  time  graphically  illustrated  the  best 
Union  thoughts  and  sentiments),  in  an 
issue  as  late  as  January  12th,  1872,  well 
described  the  power  of  Webster's  grand 
ability  *  over  a  crisis  which  he  did  not  live 
to  see,  Mr.  Curtis  says  : — 

"  The  Avar  for  the  Union  was  a  vindica 
tion  of  that  theory  of  its  nature  which 
Webster  had  maintained  in  a  memorably 
impregnable  and  conclusive  manner.  His 
second  speech  on  Foot's  resolution  —  the 
reply  to  Hayne — was  the  most  famous 
and  effective  speech  ever  delivered  in  this 
country.  It  stated  clearly  and  fixed  firmly 
in  the  American  mind  the  theory  of  the 
government,  which  was  not,  indeed,  origi 
nal  with  Webster,  but  which  is  nowhere 
else  presented  with  such  complete  and  in 
exorable  reason  as  in  this  speech.  If  the 
poet  be  the  man  who  is  so  consummate  a 
master  of  expression  that  he  only  says  per- 

*  The  text  nf  Webster's  speech  In  reply  to  Hayne,  now 
accepted  as  the  greatest  constitutional  exposition  ever 
made  by  any  American  orator,  will  be  found  to  our  book 
•evoted  to  Great  Speeches  ou  Great  Issues. 


fectly  what  everybody  thinks,  upon  this 
great  occasion  the  orator  was  the  poet.  He 
spoke  the  profound  but  often  obscured  and 
dimly  conceived  conviction  of  a  nation. 
He  made  the  whole  argument  of  the  civil 
war  a  generation  before  the  war  occurred, 
and  it  hus  remained  unanswered  and  un 
answerable.  Mr.  Everett,  in  his  discourse 
at  the  dedication  of  the  statute  of  Webster, 
in  the  State-House  grounds  in  Boston  in 
1859,  described  the  orator  at  the  delivery 
of  this  great  speech.  The  evening  before 
he  seemed  to  be  so  careless  that  Mr.  Ever 
ett  feared  that  he  might  not  be  fully  aware 
of  the  gravity  of  the  occasion.  But  when 
the  hour  came,  the  man  was  there.  '  As  I 
saw  him  in  the  evening,  if  I  may  borrow 
an  illustration  from  his  favorite  amuse 
ment/  said  Mr.  Everett,  '  he  was  as  un 
concerned  and  as  free  of  spirit  as  some  here 
have  often  seen  him  while  floating  in  his 
fishing-boat  along  a  hazy  shore,  gently 
rocking  on  the  tranquil  tide,  dropping  his 
line  here  and  there  with  the  varying  for 
tune  of  the  sport.  The  next  morning  he 
was  like  some  mighty  admiral,  dark  and 
terrible,  casting  the  long  shadow  of  his 
frowning  tiers  far  over  the  sea,  that  seemed 
to  sink  beneath  him;  his  broad  pennant 
streaming  at  the  main,  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
at  the  fore,  the  mizzen,  and  the  peak,  and 
bearing  down  like  a  tempest  upon  his  an 
tagonist,  with  all  his  canvas  strained  to  the 
wind,  and  all  his  thunders  roaring  from 
his  broadsides.'  This  passage  well  sug 
gests  that  indescribable  impression  of  great 
oratory  which  Rufus  Choate,  in  his  eulogy 
of  Webster  at  Dartmouth  College,  conveys 
by  a  felicitous  citation  of  what  Quintilian 
says  of  Hortensius,  that  there  was  some 
spell  in  the  spoken  word  which  the  reader 
misses." 

As  we  have  remarked,  the  Republicans 
were  awaiting  the  coming  of  a  near  and 
greater  power  to  themselves,  and  at  the 
same  time  jealously  watching  the  move 
ments  of  the  friends  of  the  South  in  Con 
gress  and  in  the  President's  Cabinet.  It 
needed  all  their  watchfulness  to  prevent 
advantages  which  the  secessionists  thought 
they  had  a  right  to  take.  Thus  Jefferson 
Davis,  on  January  9th,  1860,  introduced 
to  the  senate  a  bill  "  to  authorize  the  sale 
of  public  arms  to  the  several  States  and 
Territories,"  and  as  secession  became  more 
arobable  he  sought  to  press  its  passage,  but 
Bailed.  Floyd,  the  Secretary  of  War,  was 
far  more  successful,  and  his  conduct  was 
made  the  subject  of  the  following  historic 
and  most  remarkable  report : — 


Transfer  of  U.  S.  Arms  South  in  1859-60. 

Report   (Abstract  of)  made  by  Mr.  B. 
Stanton,  from  the  Committee  on  Military 


110 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Affairs,  in  House  of  Representatives,  Feb. 
18th,  1861. 

The  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  to 
whom  was  referred  the  resolution  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  31st  of  De 
cember  last,  instructing  said  committee  to 
inquire  and  report  to  the  House,  how,  to 
whom,  and  at  what  price,  the  public  arms 
distributed  since  the  first  day  of  January, 
A.  D.  1860,  have  been  disposed  of;  and 
also  into  the  condition  of  the  forts,  arsenals, 
dock-yards,  etc.,  etc.,  submit  the  following 
report : 

That  it  appears  from  the  papers  herewith 
submitted,  that  Mr.  Floyd,  the  late  Secre 
tary  of  War,  by  the  authority  or  under 
color  of  the  law  of  March  3d,  1825,  author 
izing  the  Secretary  of  War  to  sell  any  arms, 
ammunition,  or  other  military  stores  which 
should  be  found  unsuitable  for  the  public 
service,  sold  to  sundry  persons  and  States 
31,610  flint-lock  muskets,  altered  to  per 
cussion,  at  $2.50  each,  between  the  1st 
day  of  January,  A.  D.  1860,  and  the  1st  day 
of  January,  A.D.,  1861.  It  will  be  seen  from 
the  testimony  of  Colonel  Craig  and  Captain 
Maynadier,  that  they  differ  as  to  whether 
the  arms  so  sold  had  been  found,  "  upon 
proper  inspection,  to  be  unsuitable  for  the 
public  service." 

Whilst  the  Committtee  do  not  deem  it 
important  to  decide  this  question,  they  say, 
that  in  their  judgment  it  would  require  a 
very  liberal  construction  of  the  law  to 
bring  these  sales  within  its  provisions. 

It  also  appears  that  on  the  21st  day  of 
November  last,  Mr.  Belknap  made  applica 
tion  to  the  Secretary  of  War  for  the  pur 
chase  of  from  one  to  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  United  States  muskets,  flint-locks 
and  altered  to  percussion,  at  $2.15  each; 
but  the  Secretary  alleges  that  the  acceptance 
was  made  under  a  misapprehension  of  the 
price  bid,  he  supposing  it  was  $2.50  each, 
instead  of  $2.15. 

Mr.  Belknap  denies  all  knowledge  of  any 
mistake  or  misapprehension,  and  insists 
upon  the  performance  of  his  contract. 

The  present  Secretary  refuses  to  recog 
nize  the  contract,  and  the  muskets  have 
not  been  delivered  to  Mr.  Belknap. 

Mr.  Belknap  testifies  that  the  muskets 
were  intended  for  the  Sardinian  govern 
ment. 

It  will  appear  by  the  papers  herewith 
submitted,  that  on  the  29th  of  December, 
1859,  the  Secretary  of  War  ordered  the 
transfer  of  65,000  percussion  muskets,  40- 
000  muskets  altered  to  percussion,  and  10- 
000  percussion  rifles,  from  the  Springfield 
Armory  and  the  Watertown  and  Water- 
vliet  Arsenals,  to  the  Arsenals  at  Fayette- 
ville,  N.  C.,  Charleston,  S.  C.,  Augusta,  Ga., 
Mount  Vernon,  Ala.,  and  Baton  Rous^e, 
La.,  and  that  these  arms  were  distributed 
during  the  spring  of  1860  as  follow* : 


To  Charleston  Arsenal, 
To  Nun  h  Carolina  Arsenal, 
To  Augusta  Arsenal, 
To  Mount  Vernon  Arsenal, 
To  Baton  Rouge  Arse  ual, 


Percussion    Altered 

muskets. 
5,720 
9/.20 
7,C20 
6,7.0 
11,420 


9,'2«0 
15480 
12,380 

9,280 
18,580 


Rifles. 
£,000 
2,000 
2,000 
2,000 
2,'JOO 


65,000        40,000         10,000 

All  of  these  arms,  except  those  sent  to 
the  North  Carolina  Arsenal,*  have  been 
seized  by  the  authorities  of  the  several 
States  of  South  Carolina,  Alabama,  Loui 
siana  and  Georgia,  and  are  no  longer  in 
possession  of  the  United  States. 

It  will  appear  by  the  testimony  herewith 
presented,  that  on  the  20th  of  October  last 
the  Secretary  of  War  ordered  forty  colum- 
biads  and  four  thirty-two  pounders  to  be 
sent  from  the  Arsenal  at  Pittsburg  to  the 
fort  on  Ship  Island,  on  the  coast  of  Missis 
sippi,  then  in  an  unfinished  condition,  and 
seventy  columbiads  and  seven  thirty-two 
pounders  to  be  sent  from  the  same  Arsenal 
to  the  fort  at  Galveston,  in  Texas,  the 
building  of  which  had  scarcely  been  com 
menced. 

This  order  was  given  to  the  Secretary  of 
War,  without  any  report  from  the  Engineei 
department  showing  that  said  works  were 
ready  for  their  armament,  or  that  the  guns 
were  needed  at  either  of  said  points. 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  testimony  of  Cap 
tain  Wright,  of  the  Engineer  department, 
that  the  fort  at  Galveston  cannot  be  ready 
for  its  entire  armament  in  less  than  about 
five  years,  nor  for  any  part  of  it  in  less  than 
two  ;  and  that  the  fort  at  Ship  Island  will 
require  an  appropriation  of  $85,000  and 
one  year's  time  before  it  can  be  ready  for 
any  part  of  its  armament.  This  last  named 
fort  has  been  taken  possession  of  by  the 
State  authorities  of  Mississippi. 

The  order  of  the  late  Secretary  of  War 
(Floyd)  was  countermanded  by  the  present 
Secretary  (Holt)  before  it  had  been  fully 
executed  by  the  shipment  of  said  guns  from 
Pittsburgh 

It  will  be  seen  by  a  communication  from 
the  Ordnance  office  of  the  21st  of  January 
last,  that  by  the  last  returns  there  were  re 
maining  in  the  United  States  arsenals  and 
armories  the  following  small  arms,  viz  : 
Percussion  muskets  and  muskets 

altered  to  percussion  of  calibre 

69  ........................................  499,554 

Percussion  rifles,  calibre  54  ..........    42,01  1 

Total  ..................................  541,565 

*  These  were  afterwards  seized. 

t  The  attempted  removal  of  these  heavy  Rims  from  Al 
legheny  Arsenal,  late  in  December,  I860,  crwited  intense 
excitement.  A  monster  mass  meeting  assembled  at  the 
call  of  the  Mayor  of  the  city,  and  citizens  of  all  parties 
aided  in  the  effort  to  prevent  the  shipment.  Through 
the  interposition  of  Hon.  .1  K.  Moorheftd,  Hon.  R.  Mc- 
Knight,  Judge  Shaler.  Judge  Wilkins.  Judge  Shannon, 
and  others  inquiry  was  instituted,  and  a  revocation  of 
the  order  obtained.  The  Secessionists  in  Congress  bitterly 
complained  of  the  "  mob  law"  which  thus  interfered  with 
the  routine  of  governmental  affair8.-McPhen)on's  Uibtory. 


SECESSION. 


Ill 


Of  these  60,878  were  deposited  in  th 
arsenals  of  South  Carolina,  Alabama,  an 
Louisiana,  and  are  in  the  possession  of  th 
authorities  of  those  States,  reducing  th 
number  in  possession  of  the  United  State 
to  480,687. 

Since  the  date  of  said  communication 
the  following  additional  forts  and  militar; 
po^ts  have  been  taken  possession  of  b; 

Parties  acting  under  the  authority  of  th 
tates  in  which  they  are  respectively  situ 
ated,  viz : 


Fort  Moultrie,  South  Carolina. 

Fort  Morgan,  Alabama. 

Baton  Rouge  Barracks,  Louisiana. 

Fort  Jackson,  Louisiana. 

Fort  St.  Philip,         " 

Fort  Pike,  Louisiana. 

Oglethorpe  Barracks,  Georgia. 

And  the  department  has  been  unofficially 
advised  that  the  arsenal  at  Chattahoochee 
Forts  McRea  and  Barrancas,  and  Barracks 
hive  been  seized  by  the  authorities  o 
Florida. 

To  what  further  extent  the  small  arms 
in  possession  of  the  United  States  may 
have  been  reduced  by  these  figures,  your 
committee  have  not  been  advised. 

The  whole  number  of  the  sea-board  forts 
in  the  United  States  is  fifty-seven ;  their 
appropriate  garrison  in  war  would  require 
26,420  men ;  their  actual  garrison  at  this 
time  is  1,334  men,  1,308  of  whom  are  in 
the  forts  at  Governor's  Island,  New  York  ; 
Fort  McHenry,  Maryland;  Fort  Monroe, 
Virginia,  and  at  Alcatraz  Island,  California, 
in  the  harbor  of  San  Francisco. 

From  the  facts  elicited,  it  is  certain  that 
the  regular  military  force  of  the  United 
States,  is  wholly  inadequate  to  the  pro 
tection  of  the  forts,  arsenals,  dockyards, 
and  other  property  of  the  United  States 
in  the  present  disturbed  condition  of 
the  country.  The  regular  army  numbers 
only  18,000  men  when  recruited  to  its 
maximum  strength,  and  the  whole  of  this 
force  is  required  for  the  protection  of  the 
border  settlements  against  Indian  depreda 
tions.  Unless  it  is  the  intention  or  Con 
gress  that  the  forts,  arsenals,  dock-yards 
and  other  public  property,  shall  be  exposed 
to  capture  and  spoliation,  the  President 
must  be  armed  with  additional  force  for 
their  protection. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  Committee  the  law 
of  February  28th,  1795,  confers  upon  the 
President  ample  power  to  call  out  the  mili 
tia,  to  execute  the  laws  and  protect  the  public 
property.  But  as  the  late  Attorney-General 
has  given  a  different  opinion,  the  Commit 
tee  to  remove  all  doubt  upon  the  subject, 
report  the  accompanying  bill,  etc. 


OTHER  ITEMS. 


Statement  of  Arms  distributed  &//  Sale  since  the  first  of 
/0/warjf,  I860,  to  wttoni  soM  an  I  the  place  ivhence  sold. 


To  whom  sold. 
J.  W.  Zacharie  &  Co.. 

James  T.  Ames    

Captain  G.  Barry 

W.  C.  N.  Swift.. 

do 

State  of  Alabama  .... 

do 

State  of  Virginia 

Phillips  county,  Ark 
G.  li.  Lamar 


Kb. 

...4,000 
...1,000 
....  «0 
....  400 
....  80 
...1  000 
....2,500 


...      60 

.10,000 


1860.  Arsenals. 

Date  of  Sale.      Where  sold. 
Feb  3        St.  Louis. 
New  York. 
St.  Louis. 
Springfield. 

do. 
Baton  Rouge. 

do. 
Washington. 


Mar.  14 
June  11 
Aug.  31 
Nov.  13 
Sep.  27 
Nov.  14 
Nov.  6 
Nov.  16 
Nov.  24 


St.  Louis. 
Watervliet. 


The  arms  were  all  flinMock  muskets 
altered  to  percussion,  and  were  all  sold  at 
$2.50  each,  except  those  purchased  by  Cap 
tain  G.  Barry  and  by  the  Phillips  county 
volunteers,  for  which  $2  each  were  paid. 

The  Mobile  Advertiser  says:  "During 
the  past  year  135,430  muskets  have  been 
quietly  transferred  from  the  Northern  Ar 
senal  at  Springfield  alone,  to  those  in  the 
Southern  States.  We  are  much  obliged  to 
Secretary  Floyd  for  the  foresight  he  has 
thus  displayed  in  disarming  the  North  and 
—tipping  the  South  for  this  emergency. 
:ere  is  no  telling  the  quantity  of  arms 
and  munitions  which  were  sent  South  from 
other  Northern  arsenals.  There  is  no  doubt 
jut  that  every  man  in  the  South  who  can 
carry  a  gun  can  now  be  supplied  from  pri 
vate  or  public  sources.  The  Springfield 
contribution  alone  would  arm  all  the  mili- 
iamen  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi." 

General  Scott,  in  his  letter  of  December 
2d,  1862,  on  the  early  history  of  the  Rebel- 
ion,  states  that  "  Rhode  Island,  Delaware 

and  Texas  had  not  drawn,  at  the  end  of 
1860,  their  annual  quotas  of  arms  for  that 
rear,  and  Massachusetts,  Tennessee,  and 
Kentucky  only  in  part;  Virginia,  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama, 
^ouisiana,  Mississippi  and  Kansas  were,  by 

order  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  supplied 
vith  their  quotas  for  1861  in  advance,  and 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  in  part." 
This  advance  of  arms  to  eight  Southern 

States  is  in  addition  to  the  transfer,  about 
he  same  time,  of  115,000  muskets  to  South- 
rn  arsenals,  as  per  Mr.  Stanton's  report. 
Governor  Letcher  of  Virginia,  in  his 
Message  of  December,  1861,  says,  that  for 
ome  time  prior  to  secession,  he  had  been 
ngaged  in  purchasing  arms,  ammunition, 
tc. ;  among  which  were  13  Parrott  rifled 
annon,  and  5,000  muskets.  He  desired  to 
uy  from  the  United  States  Government 
0,000  more,  when  buying  the  5,000,  but 
e  says  "the  authorities  declined  to  sell 
hem  to  us,  although  five  times  the  number 
"ere  then  in  the  arsenal  at  Washington. " 
Had  Jefferson  Davis'  bill  relative  to  the 
urchase  of  arms  become  a  law,  the  result 

might  have  been  different. 

This  and  similar  action  on  the  part  of 
le  South,  especially  the  attempted  seizure 

and  occupation  of  forts,  convinced  many 


112 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


of  the  Republicans  that  no  compromise 
could  endure,  however  earnest  its  advo 
cates  from  the  Border  States,  and  this 
earnestness  was  unquestioned.  Besides 
their  attachment  to  the  Union,  they  knew 
that  in  the  threatened  war  they  would  be 
the  greatest  sufferers,  with  their  people  di 
vided  neighbor  against  neighbor,  their 
lands  laid  waste,  and  their  houses  destroy 
ed.  They  had  every  motive  for  earnest- 
'  ness  in  the  effort  to  conciliate  the  disagree 
ing  sections. 

The  oddest  partisan  feature  in  the  en 
tire  preliminary  and  political  struggle  was 
the  attempt,  in  the  parlance  of  the  day,  of 
"  New  York  to  secede  from  New  York" — 
an  oddity  verified  by  Mayor  Wood's  recom 
mendation  in  favor  of  the  eecession  of  New 
York  city,  made  January  6th,  1861.  The 
document  deserves  a  place  in  this  history, 
as  it  shows  the  views  of  a  portion  of  the 
citizens  then,  and  an  exposition  of  their 
interests  as  presented  by  a  citizen  before 
and  since  named  by  repeated  elections  to 
Congress. 


Mayor  Wood's  Secession  Message. 

To  the  Honorable  the  Common  Council  : 

GENTLEMEN: — We  are  entering  upon 
•the  public  duties  of  the  year  under  circum 
stances  as  unprecedented  as  they  are 
gloomy  and  painful  to  contemplate.  The 
great  trading  and  producing  interests  of 
not  only  the  city  of  New  York,  but  of  the 
entire  country,  are  prostrated  by  a  mone 
tary  crisis ;  and  although  similar  calami 
ties  have  before  befallen  us,  it  is  the  first 
time  that  they  have  emanated  from  causes 
having  no  other  origin  than  that  which 
may  be  traced  to  political  disturbances. 
Truly,  may  it  now  be  said,  "  We  are  in  the 
midst  of  a  revolution  bloodless  AS  YET." 
Whether  the  dreadful  alternative  implied 
as  probable  in  the  conclusion  of  this  pro 
phetic  quotation  may  be  averted,  "  no  hu 
man  ken  can  divine."  It  is  quite  certain 
that  the  severity  of  the  storm  is  unexam 
pled  in  our  history,  and  if  the  disintegra 
tion  of  the  Federal  Government,  with  the 
consequent  destruction  of  all  the  material 
interests  of  the  people  shall  not  follow,  it 
will  be  owing  more  to  the  interposition  of 
Divine  Providence,  than  to  the  inherent 
preventive  power  of  our  institutions,  or 
the  intervention  of  any  other  human 
agency. 

It  would  seem  that  a  dissolution  of  the 
Federal  Union  is  inevitable.  Having  been 
formed  originally  on  a  basis  of  general  and 
mutual  protection,  but  separate  local  inde 
pendence — each  State  reserving  the  entire 
and  absolute  control  of  its  own  domestic 
affairs,  it  is  evidently  impossible  to  keep 
them  together  longer  than  they  deem 
themselves  fairly  treated  by  each  other,  or 


longer  than  the  interests,  honor  and  fra 
ternity  of  the  people  of  the  several  States 
are  satisfied.  Being  a  Government  created 
by  opinion,  its  continuance  is  dependent 
upon  the  continuance  of  the  sentiment 
which  formed  it.  It  cannot  be  preserved 
by  coercion  or  held  together  by  force.  A 
resort  to  this  last  dreadful  alternative 
would  of  itself  destroy  not  only  the  Gov 
ernment,  but  the  lives  and  property  of  the 
people. 

If  these  forebodings  shall  be  realized, 
and  a  separation  of  the  States  shall  occur, 
momentous  considerations  will  be  pre 
sented  to  the  corporate  authorities  of  this 
city.  We  must  provide  for  the  new  re 
lations  which  will  necessarily  grow  out  of 
the  new  condition  of  public  affairs. 

It  will  not  only  be  necessary  for  us  to 
settle  the  relations  which  we  shall  hold  to 
other  cities  and  States,  but  to  establish,  if 
we  can,  new  ones  with  a  portion  of  our 
own  State.  Being  the  child  of  the  Union, 
having  drawn  our  sustenance  from  its 
bosom,  and  arisen  to  our  present  power 
and  strength  through  the  vigor  of  our 
mother — when  deprived  of  her  maternal 
advantages,  we  must  rely  upon  our  own 
resources  and  assume  a  position  predicated 
upon  the  new  phase  which  public  affairs 
will  present,  and  upon  the  inherent 
strength  which  our  geographical,  commer 
cial,  political,  and  financial  pre-eminence 
imparts  to  us. 

With  our  aggrieved  brethren  of  the 
Slave  States,  we  have  friendly  relations 
and  a  common  sympathy.  We  have  not 
participated  in  the  warfare  upon  their  con 
stitutional  rights  or  their  domestic  insti 
tutions.  While  other  portions  of  our  State 
have  unfortunately  been  imbued  with  the 
fanatical  spirit  which  actuates  a  portion 
of  the  people  of  New  England,  the  city  of 
New  York  has  unfalteringly  preserved  the 
integrity  of  its  principles  in  adherence  to 
the  compromises  of  the  Constitution  and 
the  equal  rights  of  the  people  of  all  the 
States.  We  have  respected  the  local  in 
terests  of  every  section,  at  no  time  oppress 
ing,  but  all  the  while  aiding  in  the  devel 
opment  of  the  resources  of  the  whole 
country.  Our  ships  have  penetrated  to 
every  clime,  and  so  have  New  York  capi 
tal,  energy  and  enterprise  found  their  way 
to  every  State,  and,  indeed,  to  almost  every 
county  and  town  of  the  American  Union. 
If  we  have  derived  sustenance  from  the 
Union,  so  have  we  in  return  disseminated 
blessings  for  the  common  benefit  of  all. 
Therefore,  New  York  has  a  right  to  ex 
pect,  and  should  endeavor  to  preserve  a 
continuance  of  uninterrupted  intercourse 
with  every  section. 

It  is,  however,  folly  to  disguise  the  fact 
that,  judging  from  the  past,  New  York  may 
have  more  cause  of  apprehension  from  the 
aggressive  legislation  of  our  own  State 


CONGRESS  ON  THE  EVE  OF  THE  REBELLION. 


113 


than  from  external  dangers.  We  have 
already  largely  suffered  from  this  cause. 
For  the  past  five  years,  our  interests  and 
corporate  rights  have  been  repeatedly 
trampled  upon.  Being  an  integral  portion 
of  the  State,  it  has  been  assumed,  and  in 
effect  tacitly  admitted  on  our  part  by  non- 
resistance,  that  all  political  and  govern 
mental  power  over  us  rested  in  the  State 
Legislature.  Even  the  common  right  of 
taxing  ourselves  for  our  own  government, 
has  been  yielded,  and  we  are  not  permit 
ted  to  do  so  without  this  authority.  *  *  * 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  political 
connection  between  the  people  of  the  city 
and  the  State  has  been  used  by  the  latter 
to  our  injury.  The  Legislature,  in  which 
the  present  partizan  majority  has  the 
power,  has  become  the  instrument  by 
which  we  are  plundered  to  enrich  their 
speculators,  lobby  agents,  and  Abolition 
politicians.  Laws  are  passed  through  their 
malign  influence  by  which,  under  forms  of 
legal  enactment,  our  burdens  have  been 
increased,  pur  substance  eaten  out,  and 
our  municipal  liberties  destroyed.  Self- 
government,  though  guaranteed  by  the 
State  Constitution,  and  left  to  every  other 
county  and  city,  has  been  taken  from  us 
by  this  foreign  power,  whose  dependents 
have  been  sent  among  us  to  destroy  our 
liberties  by  subverting  our  political  sys 
tem. 

How  we  shall  rid  ourselves  of  this  odi 
ous  and  oppressive  connection,  it  is  not 
for  me  to  determine.  It  is  certain  that  a 
dissolution  cannot  be  peacefully  accom 
plished,  except  by  the  consent  of  the 
Legislature  itself.  Whether  this  can  be 
obtained  or  not,  is,  in  my  judgment,  doubt 
ful.  Deriving  so  much  advantage  from 
its  power  over  the  city,  it  is  not  probable 
that  a  partizan  majority  will  consent  to  a 
separation — and  the  resort  to  force  by  vio 
lence  and  revolution  must  not  be  thought 
of  for  an  instant.  We  have  been  distin 
guished  as  an  orderly  and  law-abiding 
people.  Let  us  do  nothing  to  forfeit  this 
character,  or  to  add  to  the  present  dis 
tracted  condition  of  public  affairs. 

Much,  no  doubt,  can  be  said  in  favor  of 
the  justice  and  policy  of  a  separation.  It 
may  be  said  that  secession  or  revolution  in 
any  of  the  United  States  would  be  subver 
sive  of  all  Federal  authority,  and,  so  far 
as  the  Central  Government  is  concerned, 
the  resolving  of  the  community  into  its 
original  elements — that,  if  part  of  the 
States  form  new  combinations  and  Gov 
ernments,  other  States  may  do  the  same. 
California  and  her  sisters  of  the  Pacific 
will  no  doubt  set  up  an  independent  Re 
public  and  husband  their  own  rich  min 
eral  resources.  The  Western  States,  equally 
rich  in  cereals  and  other  agricultural  pro 
ducts,  will  probably  do  the  same.  Then 
it  may  be  said,  why  should  not  New  York 
8 


city,  instead  of  supporting  by  her  contri 
butions  in  revenue  two-thirds  of  the  ex 
penses  of  the  United  States,  become  also 
equally  independent  r  As  a  free  city,  with 
but  nominal  duty  on  imports,  her  local 
Government  could  be  supported  without 
taxation  upon  her  people.  Thus  we  could 
live  free  from  taxes,  and  have  cheap  goods 
nearly  duty  free.  In  this  she  would  have 
the  whole  and  united  support  of  the 
Southern  States,  as  well  as  all  the  other 
States  to  whose  interests  and  rights  under 
the  Constitution  she  has  always  been  true. 

It  is  well  for  individuals  or  communi 
ties  to  look  every  danger  vsquare  in  the 
face,  and  to  meet  it  calmly  and  bravely. 
As  dreadful  as  the  severing  of  the  bonds 
that  have  hitherto  united  the  States  has 
been  in  contemplation,  it  is  now  appar 
ently  a  stern  and  inevitable  fact.  We 
have  now  to  meet  it  with  all  the  conse 
quences,  whatever  they  may  be.  If  the 
Confederacy  is  broken  up  the  Government 
is  dissolved,  and  it  behooves  every  distinct 
community,  as  well  as  every  individual,  to 
take  care  of  themselves. 

When  Disunion  has  become  a  fixed  and 
certain  fact,  why  may  not  New  York  dis 
rupt  the  bands  which  bind  her  to  a  venal 
and  corrupt  master — to  a  people  and  a 
party  that  have  plundered  her  revenues, 
attempted  to  ruin  her  commerce,  taken 
away  the  power  of  self-government,  and 
destroyed  the  Confederacy  of  which  she 
was  the  proud  Empire  City?  Amid  the 
gloom  which  the  present  and  prospective 
condition  of  things  must  cast  over  the 
country,  New  York,  as  a  Free  City,  may 
shed  the  only  light  and  hope  of  a  future 
reconstruction  of  our  once  blessed  Con 
federacy. 

But  I  am  not  prepared  to  recommend 
the  violence  implied  in  these  views.  In 
stating  this  argument  in  favor  of  freedom, 
"  peaceably  if  we  can,  forcibly  if  we  must,** 
let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  The  redress 
can  be  found  only  in  appeals  to  the  mag 
nanimity  of  the  people  of  the  whole  State. 
The  events  of  the  past  two  months  have 
no  doubt  effected  a  change  in  the  popular 
sentiment  of  the  State  and  National  poli 
tics.  This  change  may  bring  us  the  de 
sired  relief,  and  we  may  be  able  to  obtain 
a  repeal  of  the  law  to  which  I  have  re 
ferred,  and  a  consequent  restoration  of  our 
corporate  rights. 

FERNANDO  WOOD,  Mayor. 

January  6th,  1861. 


Congress  on  the  Eve  of  the  Rebellion. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  all  of 
the  propositions,  whether  for  compromise, 
authority  to  suppress  insurrection,  or  new 
laws  to  collect  duties,  had  to  be  considered 
by  the  Second  Session  of  the  36th  Con 
gress,  which  was  then,  with  the  exception 


114 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


of  the  Republicans,  a  few  Americans,  and 
the  anti-Lecompton  men,  supporting  the 
administration  of  Buchanan.  No  Congress 
ever  had  so  many  and  such  grave  proposi 
tions  presented  to  it,  and  none  ever  showed 
more  exciting  political  divisions.  It  was 
composed  of  the  following  persons,  some 
of  whom  survive,  and  most  of  whom  are 
historic  characters : 

SENATE. 

JOHN  C.  BRECKINRIDGE,  of  Kentucky, 
Vice- President; 

Maine— H.  Hamlin,*  W.  P.  Fessenden. 

New  Hampshire — John  P.  Hale,  Daniel 
Clark. 

Vermont — Solomon  Foot,  J.  Collamer. 

Massachusetts — Henry  Wilson,  Charles 
Sumner. 

Rhode  Island — James  F.  Simmons,  H. 
B.  Anthony. 

Connecticut — L.  S.  Foster,  Jas.  Dixon. 

New  York — William  H.  Seward,  Preston 
King. 

New  Jersey— J.  C.  Ten  Eyck,  J.  R.  Thom 
son. 

Pennsylvania — S.  Cameron,  Wm.  Bigler. 

Delaware — J.  A.  Bayard,  W.  Saulsbury. 

Maryland — J.  A.  Pearce,  A.  Kennedy. 

Virginia — R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  James  M. 
Mason. 

South  Carolina — Jas.  Chesnut,f  James 
H.  Hammond.f 

North   Carolina— Thomas  Bragg,  T.  L. 
Clingman. 

Alabama — B.  Fitzpatrick,  C.  C.  Clay,  Jr. 

Mississippi — A.  G.  Brown,  Jeff.  Davis. 

Louisiana — J.  P.  Benjamin.  John  Sli- 
dell. 

Tennessee — A.  O.  P.  Nicholson,  A.  John 
son. 

Arkansas— R.  W.  Johnson,  W.  K.  Se 
bastian. 

Kentucky— L.  W.  Powell,  J.  J.  Critten- 
den. 

Missouri — Jas.  S.  Green,  Trusten  Polk. 

Ohio—E.  F.  Wade,  Geo.  E.  Pugh. 

Indiana— J.  D.  Bright,  G.  N.  Fitch. 

Illinois — S.  A.  Douglas,  L.  Trumbull. 

Michigan — Z.  Chandler,  K.  S.  Bingham. 

Florida— D.  L.  Yulee,  S.  R,  Mallory. 

Georgia — Alfred  Iverson,  Robt.  Toombs. 

Texas— John  Hemphill,  L.  T.  Wigfall. 

Wisconsin — Charles  Durkee,  J.  R.  Doo- 
little. 

Iowa — J.  M.  Grimes,  Jas.  Harlan. 

California— M.  S.  Latham.  William  M. 
Gwin. 

Minnesota— H.  M.  Rice,  M.  S.  Wilkin 
son. 

Oregon — Joseph  Lane,  Edward  D.  Ba 
ker. 


*R««ignfd  January  17th,  1861,  and  succeeded  by  Hon. 
Lot  M.  llurrill. 

t  Did  not  attend. 


HOUSE   OF   REPRESENTATIVES. 

WILLIAM  PENXINGTON,  of  New  Jersey, 

Ci  1  *  * 

speaker. 

Maine — D.  E.  Somes,  John  J.  Perry,  E 
B.  French,  F.  H.  Morse,  Israel  Washburn, 
Jr.,*  S.  C.  Foster. 

New  Hampshire — Gilman  Marston,  M. 
W.  Tappan,  T.  M.  Edwards. 

Vermont— E.  P.  Walton,  J.  S.  Merrill, 
H.  E.  Royce. 

Massachusetts — Thomas  D.  Eliot,  James 
Buffinton,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Alexan 
der  H.  Rice,  Anson  Burlingame,  John  B. 
Alley,  Daniel  W.  Gooch,  Charles  R.  Train, 
Eli  Thayer,  Charles  Delano,  Henry  L. 
Dawes. 

Rhode  Island— C.  Robinson,  W.  D. 
Brayton. 

Connecticut  —  Dwight  Loomis,  John 
Woodruff,  Alfred  A.  Burnham,  Orris  S. 
Ferry. 

Delaware— W.  G.  Whiteley. 

New  York — Luther  C.  Carter,  James 
Humphreys,  Daniel  E.  Sickles,  W.  B.  Ma- 
clay,  Thomas  J.  Barr,  John  Cochrane, 
Gorge  Briggs,  Horace  F.  Clark,  John  B. 
Haskin,  Chas.  H.  Van  Wyck,  William  S. 
Kenyon,  Charles  L.  Beale,  Abm.  B.  Olin, 
John  H..Reynolds,  Jas.  B.  McKean,  G.  W. 
Palmer,  Francis  E.  Spinner,  Clark  B. 
Cochrane,  James  H.  Graham,  Richard 
Franchot,  Roscoe  Conkling,  R.  H.  Duell, 
M.  Ludley  Lee,  Charles  B.  Hoard,  Chas. 

B.  Sedgwick,   M.  Butterfield,    Emory  B. 
Pottle,  Alfred  Wells,  William  Irvine,  Al 
fred  Ely,  Augustus  Frank,  Edwin  R.  Rey 
nolds,  Elbridge  G.  Spaulding  Reuben  E. 
Fenton. 

New  Jersey — John  T.  Nixon,  John  L.  N. 
Stratton,  Garnett  B.  Adrain,  Jetur  R. 
Riggs,  Wm.  Pennington  (Speaker). 

Pennsylvania — Thomas  B.  Florence,  E 
Joy  Morris,  John  P.  Verree,  William  Mill- 
ward,  John  Wood,  John  Hickman,  Henry 

C.  Longnecker,  Jacob  K.  McKenty,  Thacl- 
deus  Stevens,  John  W.  Kellinger,  James 
H.  Campbell,  George  W.  Scranton,  Wil 
liam   H.    Dimmick,   Galusha    A.    Grow, 
James    T.   Hale,   Benjamin    F.    Junkin, 
Edward    McPherson,    Samuel    S.    Blair, 
John      Covode,     William     Montgomery, 
James  fc.  Moorhead,   Robert  McKnight, 
William    Stewart,    Chapin    Hall,    Elijah 
Babbitt. 

Maryland — Jas.  A.  Stewart,  J.  M.  Harrs, 
H.  W.  Davis,  J.  M.  Kunkel,  G.  W. 
Hughes. 

Virginia — John  S.  Millson,  Muscoe  R. 
II.  Garnett,  Daniel  C.  De  Jarnette,  Roger 
A.  Pryor,  Thomas  S.  Bocock,  William 
Smith,  Alex.  R.  Boteler,  John  T.  Harris, 
Albert  G.  Jenkins,  Shelton  F.  Leake, 
Henry  A.  Edmundson,  Elbert  S.  Martin, 
Sherrard  Clemens. 

*  Resigned  and  succeeded  January  2d,  1861,  by  He*. 
Stephen  Coburn. 


SECESSION. 


115 


South  Carolina — John  McQueen,  Wm. 
Porcher  Miles,  Lawrence  M.  Keitt,  Mill- 
edge  L.  Bonham,  John  D.  Ash  more,  Win. 
W.  Boyce. 

North  Carolina— W.  N.  H.  Smith,  Thos. 
Ruffin,  W.  Winslow,  L.  O'B.  Branch, 
John  A.  Gilmer,  Jas.  M.  Leach,  Burton 
Craige,  Z.  B.  Vance. 

Georgia — Peter  E.  Love,  M.  J.  Crawford, 
Thos.  Hardeman,  Jr.,  L.  J.  Gartrell,  J.  W. 
H.  Underwood,  James  Jackson,  Joshua 
Hill,  John  J.  Jones. 

Alabama — Jas.  L.  Pugh,  David  Clopton, 
Sydenh.  Moore,  Geo.  S.  Houston,  W.  R, 
W.  Cobb,  J.  A.  Stalhvorth,  J.  L.  M.  Curry. 

Mississippi — L.  Q.  C.  Lamar,  Reuben 
Davis,  William  Barksdale,  O.  R.  Single 
ton,  John  J.  McRae. 

Louisiana — John  E.  Bouligny,  Miles 
Taylor,  T.  G.  Davidson,  John  M.  Landrum. 

0/uo— G.  H.  Pendleton,  John  A.  Gur- 
ley,  C.  L.  Vallandigham,  William  Allen, 
James  M.  Ashley,  Wm.  Howard,  Thomas 
Cor  win,  Benj.  Stanton,  John  Carey,  C.  A. 
Trimble,  Chas.  D.  Martin,  Saml.  S.  Cox, 
John  Sherman,  H.  G.  Blake,  William  Hel- 
mick,  C.  B.  Tompkins,  T.  C.  Theaker,  S. 
Edgerton,  Edward  Wade,  John  Hutchins, 
John  A.  Bingham. 

Kentucky — Henry  C.  Burnett,  Green 
Adams,  S.  O.  Peyton,  F.  M.  Bristow,  W. 
C.  Anderson,  Robert  Mallory,  Wm.  E. 
Simms,  L.  T.  Moore,  John  Y.  Brown,  J. 
W.  Stevenson. 

Tennessee — T.  A.  R..  Nelson,  Horace 
Maynard,  R.  B.  Brabson,  William  B. 
Stokes,  Robert  Hatton,  James  H.  Thomas, 
John  V.  Wright,  James  M.  Quarles,  Em 
erson  Etheridge,  Wm.  T.  Avery. 

Indiana— Wm.  E.  Niblack,  Wm.  H. 
English,  Wm.  M'Kee  Dunn,  Wm.  S.  Hol- 
rnan,  David  Kilgore,  Albert  G.  Porter, 
John  G.  Davis,  James  Wilson,  Schuyler 
Col  fax,  Chas.  Case,  John  U.  Pettit. 

Illinois— E.  B.  Washburne,  J.  F.  Farns- 
worth,  Owen  Lovejoy,  Win.  Kellogg,  I.  N. 
Morris,  John  A.  McClernand,  James  C. 
Robinson,  P.  B.  Fouke,  John  A.  Logan. 

Arkansas — Thomas  C.  Hindman,  Albert 
Rust, 

Missouri — J.  R.  Barrett,  T.  L.  Anderson, 
John  B.  Clark,  James  Craig,  L.  H.  Wood- 
son,  John  S.  Phelps,  John  W.  Noell. 

Michigan — William  A.  Howard,  Henry 
Waldron,  F.  W.  Kellogg,  De  W.  C.  Leach. 

Florida — George  S.  Hawkins. 

Texas — John  H.  Regan,  A.  J.  Hamilton. 

Iowa — S.  R.  Curtis,  Wm.  Vandever. 

California— Charles  L.  Scott,  John  C. 
Burch. 

Wisconsin— John  F.  Porter,  C.  C.  Wash 
burne,  C.  II.  Larrabee. 

Minnesota — Cyrus  Aldrich,  Win.  Win- 
dom. 

Oregon — Lansing  Stout. 

Kansas — Martin  F.  Conway,  (sworn  Jan. 
80th,  1861). 


MB.  LINCOLN'S  VIEWS. 

While  the  various  propositions  above 
given  were  under  consideration,  Mr.  Lin 
coln  was  of  course  an  interested  observer 
from  his  home  in  Illinois,  where  he 
awaited  the  legal  time  for  taking  his  seat 
as  President.  His  views  on  the  efforts  at 
compromise  were  sought  by  the  editor  of 
the  New  York  Tribune,  and  expressed  as 
follows : 

" '  I  will  suffer  death  before  I  will  con 
sent  or  advise  my  friends  to  consent  to 
any  concession  or  compromise  which  looks 
like  buying  the  privilege  of  taking  posses 
sion  of  the  Government  to  which  we  have 
a  constitutional  right ;  because,  whatever 
I  might  think  of  the  merits  of  the  various 
propositions  before  Congress,  I  should  re 
gard  any  concession  in  the  face  of  menace 
as  the  destruction  of  the  government  it 
self,  and  a  consent  on  all  hands  that  our 
system  shall  be  brought  down  to  a  level 
with  the  existing  disorganized  state  of  af 
fairs  in  Mexico.  But  this  thing  will  here 
after  be,  as  it  is  now,  in  the  hands  of  the 
people;  and  if  they  desire  to  call  a  conven 
tion  to  remove  any  grievances  complained 
of,  or  to  give  new  guarantees  for  the  per 
manence  of  vested  rights,  it  is  not  mine  to 
oppose.' " 

JUDGE  BLACK'S  VIEWS. 

Jeremiah  S.  Black,  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  then  Buchanan's  Attorney  General, 
and  as  his  position  has  since  been  made 
the  subject  of  lengthy  controversy,  it  is 
pertinent  to  give  the  following  copious  ex 
tract  from  his  "  Opinion  upon  the  Powers 
of  the  President,"  in  response  to  an  official 
inquiry  from  the  Executive : — • 

The  existing  laws  put  and  keep  the 
Federal  Government  strictly  on  the  defen 
sive.  You  can  use  force  only  to  repel  an 
assault  on  the  public  property,  and  aid  the 
courts  in  the  performance  of  their  duty. 
If  the  means  given  you  to  collect  the 
revenue  and  execute  the  other  laws  be  in 
sufficient  for  that  purpose,  Congress  may 
xtend  and  make  them  more  effectual  to 
that  end. 

If  one  of  the  States  should  declare  her 
independence,  your  action  cannot  depend 
upon  the  rightful  ness  of  the  cause  upon 
which  such  declaration  is  based.  Whether 
the  retirement  of  a  State  from  the  Union 
be  the  exercise  of  a  right  reserved  in  the 
onstitution  or  a  revolutionary  movement, 
it  is  certain  that  you  have  not  in  either 
case  the  authority  to  recognize  her  in 
dependence  or  to  absolve  her  from  her 
Federal  obligations.  Congress  or  the 
other  States  in  convention  assembled  must 
take  such  measures  as  may  be  necessary 
and  proper.  In  such  an  event  I  see  no 
course  for  you  but  to  go  straight  onward 
in  the  path  you  have  hitherto  trodden, 
that  is,  execute  the  laws  .to  the  extent  of 


116 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


the  defensive  means  placed  in  your  hands, 
and  act  generally  upon  the  assumption 
that  the  present  constitutional  relations 
between  the  States  and  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  continue  to  exist  until  a  new  order 
of  things  shall  be  established,  either  by 
law  or  force. 

Whether  Congress  has  the  constitutional 
right  to  make  war  against  one  or  more 
States,  and  require  the  Executive  of  the 
Federal  Government  to  carry  it  on  by 
means  of  force  to  be  drawn  from  the  other 
States,  is  a  question  for  Congress  itself  to 
consider.  It  must  be  admitted  that  no 
such  power  is  expressly  given  ;  nor  are 
there  any  words  in  the  Constitution  which 
imply  it.  Among  the  powers  enumerated 
in  article  I.  section  8,  is  that  "  to  declare 
war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal, 
and  to  make  rules  concerning  captures  on 
land  and  water."  This  certainly  means 
nothing  more  than  the  power  to  commence, 
and  carry  on  hostilities  against  the  foreign 
enemies  of  the  nation.  Another  clause  in 
the  same  section  gives  Congress  the  power 
"  to  provide  for  Calling  forth  the  militia," 
and  to  use  them  within  the  limits  of  the 
State.  But  this  power  is  so  restricted  by 
the  words  which  immediately  follow,  that 
it  can  be  exercised  only  for  one  of  the  fol 
lowing  purposes :  1.  To  execute  the  laws 
of  the  Union;  that  is,  to  aid  the  Federal 
officers  in  the  performance  of  their  regular 
duties.  2.  To  suppress  insurrections  against 
the  States ;  but  this  is  confined  by  article 
IV.  section  4,  to  cases  in  which  the  State 
herself  shall  apply  for  assistance  against 
her  own  people.  3.  To  repel  the  invasion 
of  a  State  by  enemies  who  come  from 
abroad  to  assail  her  in  her  own  territory. 
All  these  provisions  are  made  to  protect 
the  States,  not  to  authorize  an  attack  by 
one  part  of  the  country  upon  another ;  to 
preserve  their  peace,  ana  not  to  plunge 
them  into  civil  war.  Our  forefathers  do 
not  seem  to  have  thought  that  war  was 
calculated  "to  form  a  more  perfect  union, 
establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tran 
quillity,  provide  for  the  common  defence, 
promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure 
the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and 
our  posterity."  There  was  undoubtedly  a 
strong  and  universal  conviction  among  the 
men  who  framed  and  ratified  the  Constitu 
tion,  that  military  force  would  not  only  be 
useless,  but  pernicious  as  a  means  of  hold 
ing  the  States  together. 

If  it  be  true  that  war  cannot  be  declared, 
nor  a  system  of  general  hostilities  carried 
on  by  the  central  government  against  a 
State,  then  it  seems  to  follow  that  an 
attempt  to  do  so  would  be  ipso  facto  nn  ex 
pulsion  of  such  State  from  the  Union. 
Being  treated  as  an  alien  and  an  enemy, 
she  would  be  compelled  to  act  accordingly. 
And  if  Congress  shall  break  up  the  present 
Union  by  unconstitutionally  putting  strife 


and  enmity,  and  armed  hostility,  between 
different  sections  of  the  country,  instead  of 
the  "  domestic  tranquillity "  which  the 
Constitution  was  meant  to  insure,  will  not 
all  the  States  be  absolved  from  their 
Federal  obligations?  Is  any  portion  of 
the  people  oound  to  contribute  their 
money  or  their  blood  to  carry  on  a  contest 
like  that? 

The  right  of  the  General  Government  to 
preserve  itself  in  its  whole  constitutional 
vigor  by  repelling  a  direct  and  positive 
aggression  upon  its  property  or  its  officers, 
cannot  be  denied.  But  this  is  a  totally 
different  thing  from  an  offensive  war  to 
punish  the  people  for  the  political  mis 
deeds  of  their  State  governments,  or  to 
prevent  a  threatened  violation  of  the  Con 
stitution,  or  to  enforce  an  acknowledgment 
that  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
is  supreme.  The  States  are  colleagues  of 
one  another,  and  if  some  of  them  shall 
conquer  the  rest  and  hold  them  as  sub 
jugated  provinces,  it  would  totally  destroy 
the  whole  theory  upon  which  they  are 
now  connected. 

If  this  view  of  the  subject  be  as  correct 
as  I  think  it  is,  then  the  Union  must 
totally  perish  at  the  moment  when  Con 
gress  shall  arm  one  part  of  the  people 
against  another  for  any  purpose  beyond 
that  of  merely  protecting  the  General 
Government  in  the  exercise  of  its  proper 
constitutional  functions.  I  am,  very  re 
spectfully,  yours,  etc., 

J.  S.  BLACK. 
To  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  above  expressions  from  Lincoln  and 
Black  well  state  the  position  of  the  Repub 
lican  and  the  administration  Democrats 
on  the  eve  of  the  rebellion,  and  they  are 
given  for  that  purpose.  The  views  of  the 
original  secessionists  are  given  in  South 
Carolina's  declaration.  Those  oi  the  con 
servatives  of  the  South  who  hesitated  and 
leaned  toward  the  U^nion,  were  best  ex 
pressed  before  the  Convention  of  Georgia 
in  the 

SPEECH  OF  ALEX.  H.  STEPHENS. 

This  step  (of  secession)  once  taken  can 
never  be  recalled ;  and  all  the  baleful  and 
withering  consequences  that  must  follow, 
will  rest  on  the  convention  for  all  coming 
time.  When  we  and  our  posterity  shall 
see  our  lovely  South  desolated  by  the  de 
mon  of  war,  which  this  act  of  yours  will  in 
evitably  invite  and  call  forth ;  when  our 
green  fields  of  waving  harvest  shall  be 
trodden  down  by  the  murderous  soldiery 
and  fiery  car  of  war  sweeping  over  our 
land  ;  our  temples  of  justice  laid  in  ashes ; 
all  the  horrors  and  desolations  of  war  upon 
us  ;  who  but  this  Convention  trill  be  held  re 
sponsible  for  it  ?  and  who  but  him  who 
shall  have  given  his  vote  for  this  unwise 


SECESSION. 


117 


and  ill-timed  measure,  as  I  honestly  think 
and  believe,  shall  be  held  to  strict  account 
for  this  suicidal  act  by  the  present  genera 
tion,  and  probably  cursed  and  execrated  by 
posterity  for  all  coming  time,  for  the  wide 
and  desolating  ruin  that  will  inevitably 
follow  this  act  you  now  propose  to  perpe 
trate?  Pause,  I  entreat  you,  and  consider 
for  a  moment  what  reasons  you  can  give 
that  will  even  satisfy  yourselves  in  calmer 
moments — what  reason  you  can  give  to 
your  fellow  sufferers  in  the  calamity  that 
it  will  bring  upon  us.  What  reasons  can  you 
give  to  the  nations  of  the  earth  to  justify  it  ? 
They  will  be  the  calm  and  deliberate 
judges  in  the  case;  and  what  cause  or  one 
overt  act  can  you  name  or  point,  on  which 
to  rest  the  plea  of  justification?  What 
right  has  the  North  assailed  f  What  inter 
est  of  the  South  has  been  invaded  ?  What 
justice  has  been  denied?  and  what  claim 
founded  in  justice  and  right  has  been 
withheld?  Can  either  of  you  to-day  name 
one  governmental  act  of  wrong,  deliber 
ately  and  purposely  done  by  the  govern 
ment  of  Washington,  of  which  the  South 
has  a  right  to  complain  ?  I  challenge  the 
answer.  While  on  the  other  hand,  let  me 
show  the  facts  (and  believe  me,  gentlemen, 
I  am  not  here  the  advocate  of  the  North ; 
but  I  am  here  the  friend,  the  firm  friend, 
and  lover  of  the  South  and  her  institutions, 
and  for  this  reason  I  speak  thus  plainly 
and  faithfully  for  yours,  mine,  and  every 
other  man's  interest,  the  words  of  truth 
and  soberness),  of  which  I  wish  you  to 
judge,  and  I  will  only  state  facts  which  are 
clear  and  undeniable,  and  which  now 
stand  as  records  authentic  in  the  history  of 
our  country.  When  we  of  the  South  de 
manded  the  slave-trade,  or  the  importation 
of  Africans  for  the  cultivation  of  our  lands, 
did  they  not  yield  the  right  for  twenty 
years  ?  When  we  asked  a  three-fifths  rep 
resentation  in  Congress  for  our  slaves,  was 
it  not  granted  ?  When  we  asked  and  de 
manded  the  return  of  any  fugitive  from 
justice,  or  the  recovery  of  those  persons 
owing  labor  or  allegiance,  was  it  not  incor 
porated  in  the  Constitution,  and  again  rat 
ified  and  strengthened  by  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  of  1850?  But  do  you  reply 
that  in  many  instances  they  have  violated 
this  compact,  and  have  not  been  faithful 
to  their  engagements?  As  individual  and 
local  communities,  they  may  have  done  so  ; 
but  not  by  the  sanction  of  Government ; 
for  that  has  always  been  true  to  Southern 
interests.  Again,  gentlemen,  look  at 
another  act :  when  we  have  asked  that 
more  territory  should  be  added,  that  we 
might  spread  the  institution  of  slavery, 
have  they  not  yielded  to  our  demands  in 
giving  us  Louisiana,  Florida  and  Texas, 
out  of  which  four  States  have  been  carved, 
and  ample  territory  for  four  more  to  be  add 
ed  in  due  time,  if  you  by  this  unwise  and 


impolitic  act  do  not  destroy  this  hope,  and 
perhaps,  by  it  lose  all,  and  have  your  last 
slave  wrenched  from  you  by  stern  military 
rule,  as  South  America  and  Mexico  were ; 
or  by  the  vindictive  decree  of  a  universal 
emancipation,  which  may  reasonably  be  ex 
pected  to  follow  f 

But,  again,  gentlemen,  what  have  we  to 
gain  by  this  proposed  change  of  our  rela 
tion  to  the  General  Government?  We 
have  always  had  the  control  of  it,  and  can 
yet,  if  we  remain  in  it,  and  are  as  united 
as  we  have  been.  We  have  had  a  majority 
of  the  Presidents  chosen  from  the  South  ; 
as  well  as  the  control  and  management  of 
most  of  those  chosen  from  the  North.  We 
have  had  sixty  years  of  Southern  Presi 
dents  to  their  twenty-four,  thus  controlling 
the  Executive  department.  So  of  the 
Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  we  have  had 
eighteen  from  the  South,  and  but  eleven 
from  the  North;  although  nearly  four- 
fifths  of  the  judicial  business  has  arisen  in 
the  Free  States,  yet  a  majority  of  the  Court 
has  always  been  from  the  South.  This  we 
have  required  so  as  to  guard  against  any 
interpretation  of  the  Constitution  unfa 
vorable  to  us.  In  like  manner  we  have 
been  equally  watchful  to  guard  our  inter 
ests  in  the  Legislative  branch  of  Govern 
ment.  In  choosing  the  presiding  Presi 
dents  (pro  tern.}  of  the  Senate,  we  have 
had  twenty-four  to  their  eleven.  Speaker? 
of  the  House  we  have  had  twenty-three, 
and  they  twelve.  While  the  majority  of 
the  Representatives,  from  their  greater 
population,  have  always  been  from  the 
North,  yet  we  have  so  generally  secured 
the  Speaker,  because  he,  to  a  great  extent, 
shapes  and  controls  the  legislation  of  the 
country.  Nor  have  we  had  less  control  in 
every  other  department  of  the  General 
Government.  Attorney-Generals  we  have 
had  fourteen,  while  the  North  have  had 
but  five.  Foreign  ministers  we  have  had 
eighty-six,  and  they  but  fifty-four.  While 
three-fourths  of  the  business  which  de 
mands  diplomatic  agents  abroad  is  clearly 
from  the  Free  States,  from  their  greater 
commercial  interest,  yet  we  have  had  the 
principal  embassies  so  as  to  secure  the 
world-markets  for  our  cotton,  tobacco,  and 
sugar  on  the  best  possible  terms.  We  have 
had  a  vast  majority  of  the  higher  offices  of 
both  army  and  navy,  while  a  larger  pro 
portion  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  were 
drawn  from  the  North.  Equally  so  of 
Clerks,  Auditors,  and  Comptrollers  filling 
the  executive  department,  the  records  show 
for  the  last  fifty  years  that  of  the  three 
thousand  thus  employed,  we  have  had 
more  than  two-thirds  of  the  same,  while 
we  have  but  one-third  of  the  white  popu 
lation  of  the  Republic. 

Again,  look  at  another  item,  and  one,  b* 
assured,  in  which  we  have  a  great  anc 
vital  interest;  it  is  that  of  revenue,  O] 


118 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


means  of  supporting  Government.  From  of- 
ficial  documents,  we  learn  that  a  fraction 
over  three-fourths  of  the  revenue  collected 
for  the  support  of  the  Government  has 
uniformly  been  raised  from  the  North. 

Pause  now  while  you  can,  gentlemen, 
and  contemplate  carefully  and  candidly 
these  important  items.  Look  at  another 
necessary  branch  of  Government,  and 
learn  from  stern  statistical  facts  how  mat 
ters  stand  in  that  department.  I  mean  the 
mail  and  Post-Office  privileges  that  we 
now  enjoy  under  the  General  Government 
as  it  has  been  for  years  past.  The  expense 
for  the  transportation  of  the  mail  in  the 
Free  States  was,  by  the  report  of  the  Post 
master- General  for  the  year  1860  a  little 
over  $13,000,000,  while  the  income  was 
$19,000,000.  But  in  the  Slave  States  the 
transportation  of  the  mail  was  $14,7 16,000, 
while  the  revenue  from  the  same  was  $8,- 
001,026,  leaving  a  deficit  of  $6,704,974,  to 
be  supplied  by  the  North  for  our  accom 
modation,  and  without  it  we  must  have 
been  entirely  cut  off  from  this  most  essen 
tial  branch  of  Government. 

Leaving  but  of  view,  for  the  present,  the 
countless  millions  of  dollars  you  must  ex 
pend  in  a  war  with  the  North  ;  with  tens 
of  thousands  of  your  sons  and  brothers 
slain  in  battle,  and  offered  up  as  sacrifices 
upon  the  altar  of  your  ambition — and  for 
what,  we  ask  again  ?  Is  it  for  the  over 
throw  of  the  American  Government,  es 
tablished  by  our  common  ancestry,  cement 
ed  and  built  up  by  their  sweat  and  blood, 
and  founded  on  the  broad  principles  of 
Rigid,  Justice  and  Humanity  f  And  as, 
such,  I  must  declare  here,  as  I  have  often 
done  before,  and  which  has  been  repeated 
by  the  greatest  and  wisest  of  statesmen  and 
patriots  in  this  and  other  lands,  that  it  is 
the  best  and  freest  Government — the  most 
equal  in  its  rights,  the  most  just  in  its  de 
cisions,  the  most  lenient  in  its  measures, 
and  the  most  aspiring  in  its  principles  to 
elevate  the  race  of  men,  that  the  sun  of 
heaven  ever  shone  upon.  Now,  for  you  to 
attempt  to  overthrow  such  a  government 
as  this,  under  which  we  have  lived  for 
more  than  three-quarters  of  a  century — in 
which  we  have  gained  our  wealth,  our 
standing  as  a  nation,  our  domestic  safety 
while  the  elements  of  peril  are  around  us, 
with  peace  and  tranquillity  accompanied 
with  unbounded  prosperity  and  rights  un- 
assailed — is  the  height  of  madness,  folly, 
and  wickedness,  to  which  1  can  neither 
lend  my  sanction  nor  my  vote." 

The  seven  seceding  States  (South  Caro 
lina,  Mississippi,  Georgia,  Florida,  Ala 
bama,  Louisiana  and  Texas,)  as  shown  by 
data  previously  given,  organized  their 
Provisional  Government,  with  Jefferson 
Davis,  the  most  radical  secession  leader,  as 
President;  and  Alex.  H.  Stephens,  the 
most  conservative  leader,  as  Vice  Presi 


dent.  The  reasons  for  these  selections 
were  obvious ;  the  first  met  the  views  of 
the  cotton  States,  the  other  example  was 
needed  in  securing  the  secession  of  other 
States.  The  Convention  adopted  a  consti 
tution,  the  substance  of  which  is  given 
elsewhere  in  this  work.  Stephens  delivered 
a  speech  at  Savannah,  March  21st,  1861,  in 
explanation  and  vindication  of  this  instru 
ment,  which  says  all  that  need  be  said 
about  it : 

"  The  new  Constitution  has  put  at  rest 
forever  all  the  agitating  questions  relating 
to  our  peculiar  institutions  —  African 
slavery  as  it  exists  among  us — the  proper 
status  of  the  negro  in  our  form  of  civiliza 
tion.  This  was  the  immediate  cause  of  the 
late  rupture  and  present  revolution.  Jeffer 
son,  in  his  forecast,  had  anticipated  this  as 
the  '  rock  upon  which  the  old  Union  would 
split.'  He  was  right.  What  was  conjec 
ture  with  him,  is  now  a  realized  fact.  But 
whether  he  fully  comprehended  the  great 
truth  upon  which  that  rock  stood  and 
stands,  may  be  doubted.  The  prevailing 
ideas  entertained  by  him  and  most  of  the 
leading  statesmen  at  the  time  of  the  for 
mation  of  the  old  Constitution,  were  that 
the  enslavement  of  the  African  was  in 
violation  of  the  laws  of  nature :  that  it 
was  wrong  in  principle,  socially,  morally, 
and  politically.  It  was  an  evil  they  knew 
not  well  how  to  deal  with,  but  the  general 
opinion  of  the  men  of  that  day  was,  that 
somehow  or  other,  in  the  order  of  Provi 
dence,  the  institution  would  be  evanescent 
and  pass  away.  This  idea,  though  not  in 
corporated  in  the  Constitution,  was  the 
prevailing  idea  at  the  time.  The  Constitu 
tion,  it  is  true,  secured  every  essential 
guarantee  to  the  institution  while  it  should 
last,  and  hence  no  argument  can  be  justly 
used  against  the  constitutional  guarantees 
thus  secured,  because  of  the  common  sen 
timent  of  the  day.  Those  ideas,  however, 
were  fundamentally  wrong.  They  rested 
upon  the  assumption  of  the  equality  of 
races.  This  was  an  error.  It  was  a  sandy 
foundation,  and  the  idea  of  a  government 
built  upon  it ;  when  the  '  storm  came  and 
the  wind  blew,  it  fell.' 

"Our  new  Government  is  founded  upon 
exactly  the  opposite  idea ;  its  foundations 
are  laid,  its  corner-stone  rests  upon  the 
great  truth  that  the  negro  is  not  equal  to 
the  white  man.  That  slavery — subordina 
tion  to  the  superior  race,  is  his  natural  and 
normal  condition.  This,  our  new  Govern 
ment,  is  the  first,  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  based  upon  this  great  physical  and 
moral  truth.  This  truth  has  been  slow  in 
the  process  of  its  development,  like  all 
other  truths  in  the  various  departments  of 
science.  It- has  been  so  even  amongst  us. 
Many  who  hear  me,  perhaps,  can  recollect 
well,  that  this  truth  was  not  generally  ad 
mitted,  even  within  their  day.  The  errors 


SECESSION. 


119 


of  the  past  generation  still  clung  to  many 
as  late  as  twenty  years  ago.  Those  at  the 
North  who  still  cling  to  these  errors,  with 
a  zeal  above  knowledged,  we  justly  denom 
inate  fanatics.  * 

"  In  the  conflict  thus  far,  success  has 
been,  on  our  side,  complete  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  Confederate 
States.  It  is  upon  this,  as  I  have  stated, 
our  actual  fabric  is  firmly  planted ;  and  I 
cannot  permit  myself  to  doubt  the  ultimate 
success  of  a  full  recognition  of  this  prin 
ciple  throughout  the  civilized  and  enlight 
ened  world. 

"  As  I  have  stated,  the  truth  of  this  prin 
ciple  may  be  slow  in  development,  as  all 
truths  are,  and  ever  have  been,  in  the  var 
ious  branches  of  science.  It  was  so  with 
the  principles  announced  by  Galileo — it 
was  so  with  Adam  Smith  and  his  principles 
of  political  economy — it  was  so  with  Har 
vey  and  his  theory  of  the  circulation  of 
the  blood.  It  is  stated  that  not  a  single  one 
of  the  medical  profession,  living  at  the 
time  of  the  announcement  of  the  truths 
made  by  him,  admitted  them.  Now  they 
are  universally  acknowledged.  May  we  not, 
therefore,  look  with  confidence  to  the  ulti 
mate  universal  acknowledgment  of  the 
truths  upon  which  our  system  rests.  It  is 
the  first  government  ever  instituted  upon 
principles  of  strict  conformity  to  nature, 
and  the  ordination  of  Providence,  in  fur 
nishing  the  materials  of  human  society. 
Many  governments  have  been  founded 
upon  the  principle  of  certain  classes ;  but 
the  classes  thus  enslaved,  were  of  the  same 
race,  and  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature. 
Our  system  commits  no  such  violation  of 
nature's  laws.  The  negro,  by  nature,  or  by 
the  curse  against  Canaan,  is  fitted  for  that 
condition  which  he  occupies  in  our  sys 
tem.  The  architect,  in  the  construction  of 
buildings,  lays  the  foundation  with  the 
proper  materials,  the  granite ;  then  comes 
the  brick  or  the  marble.  The  substratum 
of  our  society  is  made  of  the  material 
fitted  by  nature  for  it,  and  by  experience 
we  know  that  it  is  best,  not  only  for  the 
superior,  but  for  the  inferior  race  that  it 
should  be  so.  It  is,  indeed,  in  conformity 
with  the  ordinance  of  the  Creator.  It  is 
not  for  us  to  inquire  into  the  wisdom  of 
His  ordinances,  or  to  question  them.  For 
His  own  purposes  He  has  made  one  race 
to  differ  from  another,  as  He  has  made 
'  one  star  to  differ  from  another  star  in 
glory.' 

"  The  great  objects  of  humanity  are  best 
attained  when  conformed  to  His  laws  and 
decrees,  in  the  formation  of  governments, 
as  well  as  in  all  things  else.  Our  Confed 
eracy  is  founded  upon  principles  in  strict 
conformity  with  these  laws.  This  stone 
which  was  first  rejected  by  the  first  builders 
'  is  become  the  chief  stone  of  the  corner '  in 
our  new  edifice. 


"The  progress  of  disintegration  in  the 
old  Union  may  be  expected  to  go  on  with 
almost  absolute  certainty.  We  are  now 
the  nucleus  of  a  growing  power,  which,  if 
we  are  true  to  ourselves,  our  destiny,  and 
high  mission,  will  become  the  controlling 
power  on  this  continent.  To  what  extent 
accessions  will  go  on  in  the  process  of  time, 
or  where  it  will  end,  the  future  will  deter 
mine." 

It  was  determined  by  the  secession  of 
eleven  States  in  all,  the  Border  States  ex 
cept  Missouri,  remaining  in  the  Union,  and 
West  Virginia  dividing  from  old  Virginia 
for  the  purpose  of  keeping  her  place  in  the 
Union. 

The  leaders  of  the  Confederacy  relied  to 
a  great  extent  upon  the  fact  that  President 
Buchanan,  in  his  several  messages  and  re 
plies  to  commissioners,  and  in  the  expla 
nation  of  the  law  by  his  Attorney-General, 
had  tied  his  own  hands  against  any  attempt 
to  reinforce  the  garrisons  in  the  Southern 
forts,  and  they  acted  upon  this  faith  and 
made  preparations  for  their  capture.  The 
refusal  of  the  administration  to  reinforce 
Fort  Moultrie  caused  the  resignation  of 
General  Cass,  and  by  this  time  the  Cabinet 
was  far  from  harmonious.  As  early  as  the 
10th  of  December,  Howell  Cobb  resigned 
as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  because  of 
his  "  duty  to  Georgia ; "  January  26th, 
John  B.  Floyd  resigned  because  Buchanan 
would  not  withdraw  the  troops  from  South 
ern  forts ;  and  before  that,  Attorney  Gene 
ral  Black,  without  publicly  expressing  his 
views,  also  resigned.  Mr.  Buchanan  saw 
the  wreck  around  him,  and  his  adminis 
tration  closed  in  profound  regret  on  the 
part  of  many  of  his  northern  friends,  and, 
doubtless,  on  his  own  part.  His  early 
policy,  and  indeed  up  to  the  close  of  1860, 
must  have  been  unsatisfactory  even  to 
himself,  for  he  supplied  the  vacancies  in 
his  cabinet  by  devoted  Unionists — by  Philip 
F.  Thomas  of  Maryland,  Gen'l  Dix  of  New 
York,  Joseph  Holt  of  Kentucky,  and  Ed 
win  M.  Stanton  of  Pennsylvania — men  who 
held  in  their  hands  the  key  to  nearly  every 
situation,  and  who  did  much  to  protect  and 
restore  the  Union  of  the  States.  In  the 
eyes  of  the  North,  the  very  last  acts  of 
Buchanan  were  the  best. 

With  the  close  of  Buchanan's  adminis 
tration  all  eyes  turned  to  Lincoln,  and 
fears  were  entertained  that  the  date  fixed 
by  law  for  the  counting  of  the  electoral 
vote — February  15th,  1861 — would  inau 
gurate  violence  and  bloodshed  at  the  seat 
of  government.  It  passed,  however,  peace 
ably.  Both  Houses  met  at  12  hiirh  noon 
in  the  hall  of  the  House,  Vice-President 
Breckinridge  and  Speaker  Pennington, 
both  democrats,  sitting  side  by  side,  and 
the  count  was  made  without  serious  chal 
lenge  or  question. 

Oa  the  llth  of  Februarv  Mr.  Lincoln 


120 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


left  his  home  for  Washington,  intending 
to  perform  the  journey  in  easy  stages.  On 
parting  with  his  friends  at  Springfield,  he 
said: 

"  My  Friends :  No  one,  in  my  position, 
can  realize  the  sadness  I  feel  at  this  part 
ing.  To  this  people  I  owe  all  that  I  am. 
Here  I  have  lived  more  than  a  quarter  of 
a  century.  Here  my  children  were  born, 
and  here  one  of  them  lies  buried.  I  know 
not  how  soon  I  shall  see  you  again.  I  go 
to  assume  a  task  more  difficult  than  that 
which  has  devolved  upon  any  other  man 
since  the  days  of  Washington.  He  never 
would  have  succeeded  except  for  the  aid 
of  Divine  Providence,  upon  which  he  at 
all  times  relied.  I  feel  that  I  cannot  suc 
ceed  without  the  same  Divine  blessing 
which  sustained  him;  and  on  the  same 
Almighty  Being  I  place  my  reliance  for 
support.  And  I  hope  you,  my  friends, 
will  all  pray  that  I  might  receive  that  Di 
vine  assistance,  without  which  I  cannot 
succeed,  but  with  which  success  is  certain. 
Again,  I  bid  you  all  an  affectionate  fare 
well." 

Lincoln  passed  through  Indiana,  Ohio, 
New  York,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania 
on  his  way  to  the  Capitol.  Because  of 
threats  made  that  he  should  not  reach  the 
Capitol  alive,  some  friends  in  Illinois  em- 

S  loved  a  detective  to  visit  Washington  and 
altimore  in  advance  of  his  arrival,  and 
he  it  was  who  discovered  a  conspiracy  in 
Baltimore  to  mob  and  assassinate  him.  He 
therefore  passed  through^  Baltimore  in  the 
night,  two  days  earlier  than  was  antici 
pated,  and  reached  Washington  in  safety. 
On  the  22d  of  February  he  spoke  at  Inde 
pendence  Hall  and  said : 

"  All  the  political  sentiments  I  entertain 
have  been  drawn,  so  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  draw  them,  from  the  sentiments 
which  originated  in,  and  were  given  to  the 
world  from,  this  hall.  I  never  had  a  feel 
ing,  politically,  that  did  not  spring  from 
the  sentiments  embodied  in  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence. 
*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

"It  was  not  the  mere  matter  of  the  sepa 
ration  of  the  Colonies  from  the  mother 
land,  but  that  sentiment  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  which  gave  liberty,  nol 
alone  to  the  people  of  this  country,  but,  ] 
hope,  to  the  world  for  all  future  time.  I' 
was  that  which  gave  promise  that,  in  dui 
time,  the  weight  would  be  lifted  from  the 
shoulders  of  men.  This  is  the  sentimen" 
embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence.  Now,  my  friends,  can  this  country 
be  saved  upon  that  basis?  If  it  can,  I  wil 
consider  myself  one  of  the  happiest  mer 
in  the  world,  if  I  can  help  to  save  it.  If  i 
cannot  be  saved  upon  that  principle,  i 
will  be  truly  awful  I  But  if  this  country 
cannot  be  saved  without  giving  up  the 
principle,  I  was  about  to  say,  I  wouk 


ather  be  assassinated  on  the  spot  than 
urrender  it.'         * 

'.  have  said  nothing  but  what  I  am  willing 
o  live  by,  and  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Al 
mighty  God,  to  die  by  ! " 


Lincoln's  First  Administration. 

Such  was  the  feeling  of  insecurity  that 
he  President-elect  was  followed  to  Wash- 
ngton  by  many  watchful  friends,  while 
jren'l  Scott,  Col.  Sumner,  Major  Hunter 
and  the  members  of  Buchanan's  Cabinet 
[uickly  made  such  arrangements  as  secured 
lis  safety.  Prior  to  his  inauguration  he 
,ook  every  opportunity  to  quell  the  still 
rising  political  excitement  by  assuring  the 
Southern  people  of  his  kindly  feelings,  and 
on  the  27th  of  February,*  "when  waited 
upon  by  the  Mayor  and  Common  Council 
of  Washington,  he  assured  them,  and 
hrough  them  the  South,  that  he  had  no 
disposition  to  treat  them  in  any  other  way 
han  as  neighbors,  and  that  he  had  no  dis 
position  to  withhold  from  them  any  consti 
tutional  right.  He  assured  the  people  that 
liey  would  have  all  of  their  rights  under 
*he  Constitution — '  not  grudgingly,  but 
reely  and  fairly.' " 

He  was  peacefully  inaugurated  on  the 
4th  of  March,  and  yet  Washington  was 
rowded  as  never  before  by  excited  multi 
tudes.  The  writer  himself  witnessed  the 
military  arrangements  of  Gen'l  Scott  for 
preserving  the  peace,  and  with  armed  ca 
valry  lining  every  curb  stone  on  the  line 
of  march,  it  would  have  been  difficult  in 
deed  to  start  or  continue  a  riot,  though  it 
was  apparent  that  many  in  the  throng  were 
ready  to  do  it  if  occasion  offered. 

The  inaugural  ceremonies  were  more 
than  usually  impressive.  On  the  eastern 
front  of  the  capitol,  surrounded  by  such  of 
the  members  of  the  Senate  and  House  who 
had  not  resigned  their  seats  and  'entered 
the  Confederacy,  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  the 
Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  headed  by 
Chief  Justice  Taney,  the  author  of  the 
Dred  Scott  decision ;  the  higher  officers  of 
Army  and  Navy,  while  close  by  the  side  of 
the  new  President  stood  the  retiring  one — 
James  Buchanan — tall,  dignified,  reserved, 
and  to  the  eye  of  the  close  observer  appa 
rently  deeply  grieved  at  the  part  his  party 
and  position  had  compelled  him  to  play  in 
a  National  drama  which  was  now  reaching 
still  another  crisis.  Near  by.  too,  stood 
Douglas  (holding  Lincoln's  hat)  more 
gloomy  than  was  his  wont,  but  determined 
as  he  had  ever  been.  Next  to  the  two 
Presidents  he  was  most  observed. 

If  the  country  could  then  have  been 
pacified,  Lincoln's  inaugural  was  well  cal 
culated  to  do  it.  That  it  exercised  a 
wholesome  influence  in  behalf  of  the  Union, 

*  From  the  "  History  of  Abrnliam  Lincoln  and  the 
Overthrow  of  Slavery,"  by  lion.  Isaac  N.  Arnold. 


MR.    LINCOLN'S    FIRST    ADMINISTRATION. 


121 


and  especially  in  the  border  States,  soon 
became  apparent.  Indeed,  its  sentiments 
seemed  for  weeks  to  check  the  wild  spirit 
of  secession  in  the  cotton  States,  and  it 
took  all  the  efforts  of  their  most  fiery  ora 
tors  to  rekindle  the  flame  which  seemed  to 
have  been  at  its  highest  when  Major  An 
derson  was  compelled  to  evacuate  Fort 
Moultrie. 

It  is  but  proper  in  this  connection,  to 
make  a  few  quotations  from  the  inaugural 
address,  for  Lincoln  then,  as  he  did  during 
the  remainder  of  his  life,  better  reflected 
the  more  popular  Republican  sentiment 
than  any  other  leader.  The  very  first 
thought  was  upon  the  theme  uppermost  in 
the  minds  of  all.  We  quote : 

"  Apprehension  seems  to  exist  among 
the  people  of  the  Southern  States  that  by 
the  accession  of  a  Republican  Administra 
tion  their  property  and  their  peace  and 
personal  security  are  to  be  endangered. 
There  has  never  been  any  reasonable  cause 
for  such  apprehension.  Indeed,  the  most 
ample  evidence  to  the  contrary  has  all  the 
while  existed  and  been  open  to  their  in 
spection.  It  is  found  in  nearly  all  the  pub 
lished  speeches  of  him  who  now  addresses 
you.  I  do  but  quote  from  one  of  those 
speeches  when  I  declare  that  *  I  have  no 
purpose  directly  or  indirectly,  to  interfere 
with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  States 
where  it  exists.  I  believe  I  have  no  law 
ful  right  to  do  so,  and  I  have  no  inclina 
tion  to  do  so.'  Those  who  nominated  and 
elected  me  did  so  with  full  knowledge  that 
I  had  made  this  and  many  similar  decla 
rations,  and  had  never  recanted  them.  And 
more  than  this,  they  placed  in  the  platform 
for  my  acceptance,  and  as  a  law  to  them 
selves  and  to  me,  the  clear  and  emphatic 
resolution  which  I  now  read : 

'  Resolved,  That  the  maintenance  invio 
late  of  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  es 
pecially  the  right  of  each  State  to  order 
and  control  its  own  domestic  institutions 
according  to  its  own  judgment  exclusively, 
is  essential  to  the  balance  of  power  on  which 
the  perfection  and  endurance  of  our  politi 
cal  fabric  depend,  and  we  denounce  the 
lawless  invasion  by  armed  force  of  the  soil 
of  any  State  or  Territory,  no  matter  under 
what  pretext,  as  among  the  gravest  of 
crimes.' 

I  now  reiterate  these  sentiments ;  and  in 
doing  so,  I  only  press  upon  the  public  at 
tention  the  most  conclusive  evidence  of 
which  the  case  is  susceptible,  that  the  prop 
erty,  peace,  and  security  of  no  section  are 
to  be  in  anywise  endangered  by  the  now 
incoming  Administration.  I  add,  too,  that 
all  the  protection  which,  consistently  with 
the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  can  be  given, 
will  be  cheerfully  given  to  all  the  States 
when  lawfully  demanded,  for  whatever 
cause — as  cheerfully  to  one  section  as  to 
another." 


After  conveying  this  peaceful  assurance, 
he  argued  the  question  in  his  own  way,  and 
in  a  way  matchless  for  its  homely  force : 

"  Physically  speaking,  we  cannot  isepa- 
rate.  We  cannot  remove  our  respective 
sections  from  each  other,  nor  build  an  im 
passable  wall  between  them.  A  husband 
and  wife  may  be  divorced,  and  go  out  of 
the  presence  and  beyond  the  reach  of  each 
other ;  but  the  different  parts  of  our  coun 
try  cannot  do  this.  They  cannot  but  re 
main  face  to  face  ;  and  intercourse,  either 
amicable  or  hostile,  must  continue  between 
them.  Is  it  possible,  then,  to  make  that  in 
tercourse  more  advantageous  or  more  satis 
factory  after  separation  than  before  ?  Can 
aliens  make  treaties  easier  than  friends  can 
make  laws  ?  Can  treaties  be  more  faith 
fully  enforced  between  aliens  than  laws  can 
among  friends  ?  Suppose  you  go  to  war, 
you  cannot  fight  always  ;  and  when  after 
much  loss  on  both  sides,  and  no  gain  on 
either,  you  cease  fighting,  the  identical  old 
questions,  as  to  terms  of  intercourse,  are 
again  upon  you. 

"  This  country,  with  its  institutions,  be 
longs  to  the  people  who  inhabit  it.  When 
ever  they  shall  grow  weary  of  the  existing 
Government  they  can  exercise  their  con 
stitutional  right  of  amending  it,  or  their 
revolutionary  right  to  dismember  or  over 
throw  it.  I  cannot  be  ignorant  of  the  fact 
that  many  worthy  and  patriotic  citizens  are 
desirous  of  having  the  National  C^nstitu- 
tion  amended.  While  I  make  no  recom 
mendation  of  amendments,  I  fully  recog 
nize  the  rightful  authority  of  the  people 
over  the  whole  subject,  to  be  exercised  in 
either  of  the  modes  prescribed  in  the  in 
strument  itself;  and  I  should  under  exist 
ing  circumstances,  favor  rather  than  op 
pose  a  fair  opportunity  being  afforded  the 
people  to  act  upon  it.  I  will  venture  to  add 
that  to  me  the  convention  mode  seems  pref 
erable,  in  that  it  allows  amendments  to  ori 
ginate  with  the  people  themselves,  instead 
of  only  permitting  them  to  take  or  reject 
propositions  originated  by  others,  not  es 
pecially  chosen  for  the  purpose,  and  which 
might  not  be  precisely  such  as  they  would 
wish  to  either  accept  or  refuse.  I  under 
stand  a  proposed  amendment  to  the  Con 
stitution — which  amendment,  however,  I 
have  not  seen — has  passed  Congress,  to  the 
effect  that  the  Federal  Government  shall 
never  interfere  with  the  domestic  institu 
tions  of  the  States,  including  that  of  per 
sons  held  to  service.  To  avoid  misconstruc 
tion  of  what  I  have  said,  I  depart  from  my 
purpose  not  to  speak  of  particular  amend 
ments  so  far  as  to  say  that,  holding  such  a 
provision  now  to  be  implied  constitutional 
law,  I  have  no  objection  to  its  being  made 
express  and  irrevocable. 

"  The  Chief  Magistrate  derives  all  his 
authority  from  the  people,  and  they  have 
conferred  none  uoon  him  to  fix  terms  for 


122 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


the  separation  of  the  States.  The  people 
themselves  can  do  this  also  if  they  choose  ; 
but  the  Executive,  as  such,  has  nothing  to 
do  with  it.  His  duty  is  to  administer  the 
present  Government,  as  it  came  to  his  hands, 
and  to  transmit  it,  unimpaired  by  him,  to 
his  successor. 

"  In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow- 
countrymen,  and  not  in  mine,  is  the  mo 
mentous  issue  of  civil  war.  The  Govern- 
jnent  will  not  assail  you.  You  can  have  no 
conflict  without  being  yourselves  the  ag 
gressors.  You  have  no  oath  registered  in 
heaven  to  destroy  the  Government,  while  I 
shall  have  the  most  solemn  one  to  '  pre 
serve,  protect  and  defend  it.' 

"I  am  loth  to  close.  We  are  not  ene 
mies  but  friends.  We  must  not  be  ene 
mies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained, 
it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection. 
The  mystic  chords  of  memory,  stretching 
from  every  battle-field  and  patriot  grave  to 
every  living  heart  and  hearth-stone,  all 
over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the 
chorus  of  the  union,  when  again  touched, 
as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels 
of  our  nature." 

Lincoln  appointed  a  Cabinet  in  thorough 
accord  with  his  own  views,  and  well  suited 
to  whatever  shades  of  difference  there  were 
in  the  Republican  party.  Wm.  H.  Seward, 
Secretary  of  State,  and  Salmon  P.  Chase 
represented  the  more  advanced  anti-slavery 
element ;  General  Simon  Cameron,  Secre 
tary  of  War,  from  the  first  saw  only  a  pro 
longed  war  in  which  superior  Northern 
resources  and  appliances  would  surely  win, 
while  Seward  expressed  the  view  that  "  all 
troubles  would  be  over  in  three  months  ;" 
Gideon  Welles,  Secretary  of  the  Navy ; 
Caleb  B.  Smith  of  the  Interior;  Edward 
Bates,  Attorney  General,  and  Montgomery 
Blair,  Postmaster  General,  represented  the 
more  conservative  Republican  view — the 
two  last  named  being  well  adapted  to 
retaining  the  National  hold  on  the  Border 
States. 

Political  events  now  rapidly  succeeded 
each  other.  As  early  as  March  11,  John 
Forsyth  of  Alabama  and  Martin  J.  Craw 
ford  of  Georgia,  submitted  to  the  Secretary 
of  State  a  proposition  for  an  unofficial  inter 
view.  Mr.  Seward  the  next  day,  from 
"purely  public  considerations,"  declined. 
On  the  13th  the  same  gentlemen  sent  a 
sealed  communication,  saying  they  had 
been  duly  accredited  by  the  Confederate 
government  as  Commissioners,  to  negotiate 
for  a  speedy  adjustment  of  all  questions 
growing  out  of  the  political  separation  of 
seven  States,  which  had  formed  a  govern 
ment  of  their  own,  etc.  They  closed  thh 
remarkable  document  by  requesting  the 
Secretary  of  State  to  appoint  as  early  a  day 
as  possible  in  order  that  they  mav  present 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States  the 
credentials  which  they  bear,  and  the  objects 


of  the  mission  with  which  they  are  charged. 

Mr.  Seward's  reply  in  substance,  said 
that  his  "  official  duties  were  confined, 
;  subject  to  the  direction  of  the  President,  to 
the  conducting  of  the  foreign  relations  of 
the  country,  and  do  not  at  all  embrace 
domestic  questions  or  questions  arising  be 
tween  the  several  States  and  the  Federal 
Government,  is  unable  to  comply  with  the 
request  of  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford, 
to  appoint  a  day  on  which  they  may  pre 
sent  the  evidences  of  their  authority  and 
the  object  of  their  visit  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States.  On  the  contrary,  he  is 
obliged  to  state  to  Messrs.  Forsyth  and 
Crawford  that  he  has  no  authority,  nor  is 
he  at  liberty  to  recognize  them  as  cliploma- 
tic  agents,  or  hold  correspondence  or  other 
communication  with  them." 

An  extended  correspondence  followed, 
but  the  administration  in  all  similar  cases, 
refused  to  recognize  the  Confederacy  as  a 
government  in  any  way.  On  the  13th 
of  April  the  President  granted  an  inter 
view  to  Wm.  Ballard  Preston,  Alex.  H. 
Stuart,  and  George  W.  Randolph,  who  had 
been  sent  by  the  Convention  of  Virginia, 
then  in  session,  under  a  resolution  recited 
in  the  President's  reply,  the  text  of  which 
is  herewith  given : — 

GENTLEMEN:  As  a  committee  of  the 
Virginia  Convention,  now  in  session,  you 
present  me  a  preamble  and  resolution  in 
these  words : 

"  Whereas,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Con 
vention,  the  uncertainty  which  prevails  in 
the  public  mind  as  to  the  policy  which  the 
Federal  Executive  intends  to  pursue  toward 
the  seceded  States  is  extremely  injurious 
to  the  industrial  and  commercial  interests 
of  the  country,  tends  to  keep  up  an  excite 
ment  which  is  unfavorable  to  the  adjust 
ment  of  pending  difficulties,  and  threatens  a 
disturbance  of  the  public  peace :  Therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three 
delegates  be  appointed  to  wait  on  the  Pre 
sident  of  the  United  States,  present  to  him 
this  preamble  and  resolution,  and  respect 
fully  ask  him  to  communicate  to  this  Con 
vention  the  policy  which  the  Federal  Exe 
cutive  intends  to  pursue  in  regard  to  the 
Confederate  States." 

"  In  answer  I  have  to  say,  that,  having 
at  the  beginning  of  my  official  term  ex 
pressed  my  intended  policy  as  plainly  as  I 
was  able,  it  is  with  deep  regret  and  some 
mortification  I  now  learn  that  there  is 
great  and  injurious  uncertainty  in  the  pub 
lic  mind  as  to  what  that  policy  is,  and 
what  course  I.  intend  to  pursue. 

"  Not  having  as  yet  seen  occasion  to 
change,  it  is  now  my  purpose  to  pursue  the 
course  marked  out  in  the  inaugural  address. 
I  commend  a  careful  consideration  of  the 
whole  document  as  the  best  expression  I 
can  give  of  my  purposes.  As  I  then  and 
therein  said,  I  now  repeat : 


MB.    LINCOLN'S    FIRST    ADMINISTRATION. 


123 


"  The  power  confided  to  me  will  be  used 
to  hold,  occupy,  and  possess  the  property 
and  places  belonging  to  the  Government, 
and  to  collect  the  duties  and  imposts  ;  but 
beyond  what  is  necessary  for  these  objects 
there  will  be  no  invasion,  no  using  of  force 
against  or  among  the  people  anywhere." 

"  By  the  words  '  property  and  places  be 
longing  to  the  Government'  I  chiefly 
allude  to  the  military  posts  and  property 
which  were  in  the  possession  of  the  Govern 
ment  when  it  came  into  my  hands. 

"  But  if,  as  now  appears  to  be  true,  in 

gursuit  of  a  purpose  to  drive  the  United 
tates  authority  from  these  places,  an  un- 
Srovoked  assault  has  been  made  upon  Fort 
umter,  I  shall  hold  myself  at  liberty  to 
repossess,  if  I  can,  like  places  which  had 
been  seized  before  the  Government  was 
devolved  upon  me.     And,  in  any  event,  I 
shall,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  repel  force 
by  force. 

"  In  case  it  proves  true  that  Fort  Sum- 
ter  has  been  assaulted,  as  is  reported,  I 
shall  perhaps  cause  the  United  States  mails 
to  be  withdrawn  from  all  the  States  which 
claim  to  have  seceded,  believing  that  the 
commencement  of  actual  war  against  the 
Government  justifies  and  possibly  demands 
it." 

"  I  scarcely  need  to  say  that  I  consider 
the  military  posts  and  property  situated 
within  the  States  which  claim  to  have 
seceded  as  yet  belonging  to  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  as  much  as  they 
did  before  the  supposed  socession. 

"  Whatever  else  I  may  do  for  the  pur 
pose,  I  shall  not  attempt  to  collect  the 
duties  and  imports  by  any  armed  invasion 
of  any  part  o£  the  country — not  meaning 
by  this,  however,  that  I  may  not  land  a 
force  deemed  nacessary  to  relieve  a  fort 
upon  the  border  of  the  country. 

"  From  the  fast  that  I  have  quoted  a 
part  of  the  inaugural  address,  it  must  not 
inferred  that  I  repudiate  any  other  part, 
the  whole  of  which  I  reaffirm,  except  so 
far  as  what  I  now  say  of  the  mails  may  be 
regarded  as  a  modification." 

We  have  given  the  above  as  not  only 
fair  but  interesting  samples  of  the  semi 
official  and  official  transactions  and  corre 
spondence  of  the  tims.  To  give  more 
could  not  aid  to  the  interest  of  what  is  but 
a  description  of  the  political  situation. 

The  Barder  states  and  some  others  were 
"halting  between  two  opinions."  North 
Carolina  at  first  voted  down  a  proposition 
to  secede  by  46,671  for,  to  47,333  against, 
but  the  secessionists  called  another  con 
vention  in  May,  the  work  of  which  the 
peoole  ratified,  the  minority,  however, 
being  very  large. 

Bafore  Lincoln  had  entered  office  most 
of  the  Southern  forts,  arsenals,  docks,  cus 
tom  houses,  etc.,  had  been  seized,  and  now 
that  preparations  were  being  made  for  ac 


tive  warfare  by  the  Confederacy,  many  offi 
cers  of  the  army  and  navy  resigned  or  de 
serted,  and  joined  it.    The  most  notable 
were  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  who  for  a 
time  hesitated  as  to  his  "  duty,"  and  Gene 
ral  David  E.  Twiggs,  the  second  officer  in 
rank  in  the  United  States  Army,  but  who 
had  purposely  been  placed  by  Secretary 
Floyd  in  command  of  the  Department  of 
Texas  to  facilitate  his  joining  the  Con 
federacy,  which   he  intended   to  do  from 
the  beginning.    All  officers  were  permitted 
to  go,  the  administration  not  seeking  to 
restrain  any,  under  the  belief  that  until 
some  open  act  of  war  was  committed  it 
ought  to  remain  on  the  defensive.     This 
was  wise  political  policy,  for  it  did  more 
than  all  else  to  hold  the  Border  States,  the 
position  of  which  Douglas  understood  fully 
as  well  as  any  statesman  of  that  hour.     It 
is  remarked  of  Douglas  (in  Arnold's  "  His 
tory  of  Abraham  Lincoln")  that  as  early 
as  January  1,  1861,  he  said   to  'General 
Charles  Stewart,  of  New  York,  who  had 
made  a  New  Year's  call  at  his  residence  in 
Washington,  and  inquired,  "  What  will  be 
the  result  of  the  efforts  of  Jefferson  Davis, 
and  his  associates,  to  divide  the  Union  ?" 
"  Rising,  and  looking,"  says  my  informant, 
"like  one  inspired,  Douglas  replied,  'The 
cotton  States  are  making  an  effort  to  draw 
in  the  border  States  to  their   schemes  of 
secession,  and  I  am  but  too  fearful  they 
will  succeed.     If  they   do  succeed,  there 
will  be  the  most  terrible   civil   war  the 
world   has   ever  seen,  lasting  for   yearV 
Pausing   a  moment,  he   exclaimed,  '  Vir 
ginia  will  become  a  charnel  house,  but  tli3 
end  will   be  the  triumph  of  the  Union 
cause.     One  of  their  first  efforts  will  be  to 
take  possession  of  this  Capitol  to  give  them 
prestige  abroad,  but  they  will  never  suc 
ceed  in  taking  it — the  North  will  rise  en 
masse  to  defend  it ; — but  Washington  will 
become  a  city  of  hospitals — the  churches 
will  be  used  for  the  sick  and  wounded — 
ven  this  house  (Minnesota  block,  after 
wards,  and  during  the  war,  the  Douglas 
Hospital)  may  be  devoted  to- that  purpose 
Defore  the  end  of  the  war.'     The  friend  to 
»vhom  this  was  said  inquired,  'What  justi 
fication   for  all    this?'     Douglas  replied, 
'There  is  NO  justification,  nor  any  pretense 
of  any — if  they  remain  in  the  Union,  I  will 
go  as  far  as  the  Constitution  will  permit,  to 
maintain  their  just  rights,  and  I  do  not 
doubt  a  majority  of  Congress  would  do  the 
same.     But/  said  he,  again  rising  on  his 
feet,  and  extending  his  arm,  '  if  the  South 
ern   States   attempt   to  secede  from   this 
Union,  without  further  cause,  I  am  in  fa 
vor  of  their  having  just  so  many  slaves, 
and  just  so  much  slave  territory,  as  they 
can  hold  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  and 

NO  MORE.'  " 

In  the  border  states  of  Maryland,  Vir- 
inia,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee  and  Mis- 


124 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


souri  there  were  sharp  political  contests 
between  the  friends  of  secession  and  of 
the  Union.  Ultimately  the  Unionists  tri 
umphed  in  Maryland,  Kentucky  and  Mis 
souri — in  the  latter  state  by  the  active  aid 
of  U.  S.  troops — in  Maryland  and  Ken 
tucky  by  military  orders  to  arrest  any  mem 
bers  of  the  Legislature  conspiring  to  take 
their  states  out.  In  Tennessee,  the  Union 
men,  under  the  lead  of  Andrew  Johnson, 
Governor  ("Parson")  Brownlow,  Horace 
Maynard  and  others,  who  made  a  most  gal 
lant  fight  to  keep  the  state  in,  and  they  had 
the  sympathy  of  the  majority  of  the  people 
of  East  Tennessee.  The  Secessionists  took 
Virginia  out  April  17th,  and  North  Caro 
lina  May  20th.  The  leading  Southerners 
encouraged  the  timid  and  hesitating  by 
saying  the  North  would  not  make  war; 
that  the  political  divisions  would  be  too 
great  there,  and  they  were  supported  in  this 
view  by  the  speeches  and  letters  of  lead 
ers  like  Clement  L.  Vallandigham.  On 
the  other  hand  they  roused  the  excitable 
by  warlike  preparations,  and,  as  we  have 
stated,  to  prevent  reconsideration  on  the 
part  of  those  who  had  seceded,  resolved 
to  fire  upon  Sumter.  Beauregard  acted 
under  direct  instructions  from  the  govern 
ment  at  Montgomery  when  he  notified  Ma 
jor  Anderson  on  the  llth  of  April  to  sur 
render  Fort  Sumter.  Anderson  replied  that 
he  would  evacuate  on  the  15th,  but  the 
original  summons  called  for  surrender  by 
the  12th,  and  they  opened  their  fire  in  ad 
vance  of  the  time  fixed  for  evacuation — a 
fact  which  clearly  established  the  purpose 
to  bring  about  a  collision.  It  was  this  ag 
gressive  spirit  which  aroused  and  united 
the  North,  and  made  extensive  political 
division  therein  impossible. 

The  Southern  leaders,  ever  anxious  for 
the  active  aid  of  the  Border  States,  soon 
saw  that  they  could  only  acquire  it  through 
higher  sectional  excitement  than  any  yet 
cultivated,  and  they  acted  accordingly. 
Roger  A.  Pryor,  in  a  speech  at  Richmond 
April  10th,  gave  expression  to  this  thought, 
when  he  said  in  response  to  a  serenade : — 

"  Gentlemen,  I  thank  you,  especially 
that  you  have  at  last  annihilated  this  ac 
cursed  Union,  [applause,]  reeking  with 
corruption,  and  insolent  with  excess  of 
tyranny.  Thank  God,  it  is  at  last  blasted 
and  riven  by  the  lightning  wrath  of  an 
outraged  and  indignant  people.  [Loud 
applause.]  Not  only  is  it  gone,  but  gone 
forever.  [Cries  of  '  You're  right,'  and  ap 
plause.]  In  the  expressive  language  of 
(Scripture,  it  is  water  spilt  upon  the  ground, 
which  cannot  be  gathered  up  [Applause.] 
Like  Lucifer,  son  of  the  morning,  it  has 
fallen,  never  to  rise  again.  [Continued 
applause.  ]  For  my  part,  gentlemen,  if  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  and  Hannibal  Hamlin  to 
morrow  were  to  abdicate  their  office  and 
were  to  give  me  a  blank  sheet  of  paper  to 


write  the  conditions  of  reannexation  to  the 
defunct  Union,  1  would  scornfully  spurn 
the  overture.  *  *  *  *  I  invoke 
you,  and  I  make  it  in  some  sort  a  personal 
appeal — personal  so  far  as  it  tends  to  our 
assistance  in  Virginia — I  do  invoke  you, 
in  your  demonstrations  of  popular  opinion, 
in  your  exhibitions  of  official  intent,  to 
give  no  countenance  to  this  idea  of  recon 
struction.  [Many  voices,  emphatically, 
'  Never,'  and  applause.]  In  Virginia  they 
all  say,  if  reduced  to  the  dread  dilemma  of 
this  memorable  alternative,  they  will  es 
pouse  the  cause  of  the  South  as  against  the 
interest  of  the  Northern  Confederacy,  but 
they  whisper  of  reconstruction,  and  they 
say  Virginia  must  abide  in  the  Union,  with 
the  idea  of  reconstructing  the  Union  which 
you  have  annihilated.  I  pray  you,  gentle 
men,  rob  them  of  that  idea.  Proclaim  to 
the  world  that  upon  no  condition,  and 
under  no  circumstance,  will  South  Carolina 
ever  again  enter  into  political  association 
with  the  Abolitionists  of  New  England. 
[Cries  of  '  Never,"  and  applause.] 

"  Do  not  distrust  Virginia.  As  sure  as 
to-morrow's  sun  will  rise  upon  us,  just  so 
sure  will  Virginia  be  a  member  of  this 
Southern  Confederation.  [Applause.]  And 
I  will  tell  you,  gentlemen,  what  will  put  her 
in  the  Southern  Confederation  in  less  than 
an  hour  by  Shrewsbury  clock — STRIKE  A 
BLOW!  [Tremendous  applause.]  The  very 
moment  that  blood  is  shed,  old  Virginia  will 
make  common  cause  with  her  sisters  of  the 
South.  [Applause.]  It  is  impossible  she 
should  do  otherwise." 

Warlike  efforts  were  likewise  used  to 
keep  some  of  the  states  firmly  to  their  pur 
pose.  Hon.  Jeremiah  Clemens,  formerly 
United  States  Senator  from  Alabama,  and 
a  member  of  the  Alabama  Seceding  Con 
vention  who  resisted  the  movement  until 
adopted  by  the  body,  at  an  adjourned  Re 
construction  meeting  held  at  Huntsville, 
Ala.,  March  13,  1864,  made  this  significant 
statement : — 

Mr.  Clemens,  in  adjourning  the  meeting, 
said  he  would  tell  the  Alabamians  how 
their  state  was  got  out  of  the  Union.  "  In 
1861,"  said  Mr.  C.,  "  shortly  after  the  Con 
federate  Government  was  put  in  operation, 
I  was  in  the  city  of  Montgomery.  One 
day  I  stepped  into  the  office  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  War,  General  Walker,  and  found 
there,  engaged  in  a  very  excited  discussion, 
Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  Mr.  Memminger,  Mr. 
Benjamin,  Mr.  Gilchrist,  a  member  of  our 
Legislature  from  Loundcs  county,  and  a 
number  of  other  prominent  gentlemen. 
They  were  discussing  the  propriety  of  im 
mediately  opening  fire  on  Fort  Sumter,  to 
which  General  Walker,  the  Secretary  of 
War,  appeared  to  be  opposed.  Mr.  Gil 
christ  said  to  him. '  Sir,  unless  you  sprinkle 
blood  in  the  face  of  the  people  of  Alabama 
they  will  be  back  in  the  old  Union  in  less 


MR.    LINCOLN'S    FIRST    ADMINISTRATION. 


125 


than  ten  days ! '  The  next  day  General 
Beauregard  opened  his  batteries  on  Sumter, 
and  Alabama  was  saved  to  the  Confed 
eracy." 

When  the  news  flashed  along  the  wires 
that  Sumter  had  been  fired  upon,  Lincoln 
immediately  used  his  war  powers  and  is 
sued  a  call  for  75,000  troops.  All  of  the 
northern  governors  responded  with  prompt 
ness  and  enthusiasm  ;  but  this  was  not  true 
of  the  governors  of  the  southern  states 
which  at  that  time  had  not  seceded,  and 
the  Border  States. 

We  take  from  McPharson's  admirable 
condensation,  the  evasive  or  hostile  replies 
of  the  Governors  referred  to,  and  follow  it 
with  his  statement  of  the  military  calls  and 
legislation  of  both  governments,  but  for 
the  purposes  of  this  work  omit  details 
which  are  too  extended. 

REPLIES  OF  SOUTHERN  STATE  GOVERNORS 

TO  LINCOLN'S  CALL  FOR  75,000  TROOPS. 

Governor  BURTON,  of  Delaware,  ksued 
a  proclamation,  April  28,  recommending 
the  formation  of  volunteer  companies  for 
the  protection  of  the  lives  and  property  of 
the  people  of  Delaware  against  violence  of 
any  sort  to  which  they  may  be  exposed, 
the  companies  not  being  subject  to  be  or 
dered  by  the  Executive  into  the  United 
States  service,  the  law  not  vesting  him 
with  such  authority,  but  having  the  option 
of  offering  their  services  to  the  General 
Government  for  the  defence  of  its  capital 
and  the  support  of  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  country. 

Governor  HICKS,  of  Maryland,  May  14, 
issued  a  proclamation  for  the  troops,  stat 
ing  that  the  four  regiments  would  be  de 
tailed  to  serve  within  the  limits  of  Mary 
land  or  for  the  defence  of  the  capital  of  the 
United  States. 

Governor  LETCHER,  of  Virginia,  replied 
that  "The  militia  of  Virginia  will  not  be 
furnished  to  the  powers  of  Washington  for 
any  such  use  or  purpose  as  they  have  in 
view.  Your  object  is  to  subjugate  the 
southern  States,  and  a  requisition  made 
upon  me  for  such  an  object — an  object,  in 
my  judgment,  not  within  the  purview  of 
the  Constitution  or  the  act  of  1795 — will 
not  be  complied  with.  You  have  chosen 
to  inaugurate  civil  war,  and  having  done 
•o  we  will  meet  it  in  a  spirit  as  determined 
as  the  Administration  has  exhibited  to 
ward  the  South." 

Governor  ELLIS,  of  North  Carolina,  re 
plied  April  15  : 

"  Your  dispatch  is  received,  and  if  gen 
uine — which  its  extraordinary  character 
leads  me  to  doubt — I  have  to  say  in  reply 
that  I  regard  the  levy  of  troops  made  by 
the  Administration,  for  the  purpose  of  sub 
jugating  the  States  of  the  South,  as  in  vio 
lation  of  the  Constitution  and  a  usurpation 
of  power.  I  can  be  no  party  to  this  wicked 


violation  of  the  laws  of  the  country,  and 
to  this  war  upon  the  liberties  of  a  free  peo 
ple.  You  can  get  no  troops  from  North 
Carolina.  I  will  reply  more  in  detail  when 
your  call  is  received  by  mail.'' 

Governor  MAGOFFIN,  of  Kentucky,  re 
plied,  April  15 : 

"  Your  dispatch  is  received.  In  answer 
I  say  emphatically,  Kentucky  will  furnish 
no  troops  for  the  wicked  purpose  of  subdu 
ing  her  sister  Southern  States." 

Governor  HARRIS,  of  Tennessee,  replied, 
April  18: 

"  Tennessee  will  not  furnish  a  single  man 
for  coercion,  but  fifty  thousand,  if  necessa 
ry,  for  the  defence  of  our  rights  or  those  of 
our  southern  brethren." 

Governor  JACKSON,  of  Missouri,  replied : 

"  Your  requisition  is  illegal,  unconstitu 
tional,  revolutionary,  inhuman,  diabolical, 
and  cannot  be  complied  with." 

Governor  RECTOR,  of  Arkansas,  replied, 
April  22 : 

"  None  will  be  furnished.  The  demand 
is  only  adding  insult  to  injury." 

ALL  OTHER  CALLS  FOR  TROOPS. 

May  3,  1861— The  President  called  for 
thirty-nine  volunteer  regiments  of  infantry 
and  one  regiment  of  cavalry,  with  a  mini 
mum  aggregate  of  34,506  officers  and  en 
listed  men,  and  a  maximum  of  42,034;  and 
for  the  enlistment  of  18,000  seamen. 

May  3,  1861— The  President  directed  an 
increase  of  the  regular  army  by  eight  regi 
ments  of  infantry,  one  of  cavalry,  and  one 
of  artillery — minimum  aggregate,  18,054; 
maximum,  22,714. 

August  6 — Congress  legalized  this  in- 
rease,  and  all  the  acts,  orders,  and  pro 
clamations  respecting  the  Army  and  Navy. 

July  22  and  25,  1861 — Congress  author 
ized  the  enlistment  of  500,000  volunteers. 

September  17,  1861 — Commanding  offi 
cer  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  N.  C.,  authorized  to 
enlist  a  regiment  of  loyal  North  Carolini 
ans. 

November  7,  1861— The  Governor  of 
Missouri  was  authorized  to  raise  a  force  of 
State  militia  for  State  defence. 

December  3,  1861— The  Secretary  of 
War  directed  that  no  more  regiments,  bat 
teries,  or  independent  companies  be  raised 
by  the  Governors  of  States,  except  upon 
the  special  requisition  of  the  War  Depart 
ment. 

July  2,  1862— The  President  called  for 
three  hundred  thousand  volunteers. 

Under  the  act  of  July  17,  1862. 

August  4,  1862— The  President  ordered 
a  draft  of  three  hundred  thousand  militia, 
for  nine  months  unless  sooner  discharged  ; 
and  directed  that  if  any  State  shall  not,  by 
the  15th  of  August,  furnish  its  quota  of  the 
additional  300,000  authorized  by  law,  the 
deficiency  of  volunteers  in  that  State  will 
also  be  made  up  by  special  draft  from  the 


126 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


militia.  Wednesday,  September  3,  was 
subsequently  fixed  for  the  draft. 

May  8,  1863 — Proclamation  issued,  de 
fining  the  relations  of  aliens  to  the  con 
scription  act,  holding  all  aliens  who  have 
declared  on  oath  their  intention  to  become 
citizens  and  may  be  in  the  country  within 
sixty-five  days  from  date,  and  all  who  have 
declared  their  intention  to  become  citizens 
and  have  voted. 

June  15,  1863  One  hundred  thousand 
men,  for  six  months,  called  to  repel  the 
invasion  of  Maryland,  West  Virginia,  Ohio, 
and  Pennsylvania. 

October  17,  1863 — A  proclamation  was 
issued  for  300,000  volunteers,  to  serve  for 
three  years  or  the  war,  not,  however,  ex 
ceeding  three  years,  to  fill  the  places  of 
those  whose  terms  expire  "  during  the 
coming  year,"  these  being  in  addition  to 
the  men  raised  by  the  present  draft.  In 
States  in  default  under  this  call,  January  5, 
1864,  a  draft  shall  be  made  on  that  day. 

February  1, 1864— Draft  for  500,000  men 
for  three  years  or  during  the  war,  ordered 
for  March  10,  1864. 

March  14,  1864— Draft  for  200,000  ad 
ditional  for  the  army,  navy  and  marine 
corps,  ordered  for  April  15, 1864,  to  supply 
the  force  required  for  the  navy  and  to  pro 
vide  an  adequate  reserve  force  for  all  con 
tingencies. 

April  23,  1864—85,000  one  hundred  day 
men  accepted,  tendered  by  the  Governors 
of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa,  and  Wis 
consin  ;  30,000,  20,000,  20,000,  10,000  and 
5,000  being  tendered  respectively. 

UNION  MILITARY   LEGISLATION. 

1861,  July  22— The  President  was  au 
thorized  to  accept  the  services  of  volun 
teers,  not  exceeding  five  hundred  thousand, 
for  a  period  not  exceeding  three  years. 
July  27,  this  authority  was  duplicated. 

1861,  July   27 — Nine  regiments  of  in 
fantry,  one  of  cavalry,  and  one  of  artillery, 
added  to  the  regular  army. 

August  5 — Passed  bill  approving  and 
legalizing  the  orders  of  the  President  re 
specting  the  army  and  navy,  issued  from 
4th  of  March  to  that  date. 

1862,  July  17— Authorized  the  President, 
when  calling  forth  the  militia  of  the  States, 
to  specify  the  period  of  such  service,  not 
exceeding  nine  months;  and  if  by  reason 
of  defects  in  existing  laws  or  in  the  execu 
tion  of  them,  it  shall  be  found  necessary 
to  provide  for  enrolling  the  militia,  the 
President    was    authorized    to  make    all 
necessary  regulations,  the  enrollment  to  in 
clude  all  able  bodied  male  citizens  between 
eighteen  and  forty-five,  and  to  be  appor 
tioned  according  to  representative  popula 
tion.     He  was  authorized,  in  addition  to 
the  volunteers  now  authorized,  to  accept 
100,000  infantry,  for  nine  months;  also,  for 
twelve  months,'  to  fill  up  old  regiments,  as 


many  as  may  be  presented  for  the  pur 
pose. 

1863,  February  7— Authorized  the  Gov 
ernor  of  Kentucky,  by  the  consent  and 
under  the  direction  of  the  President,  to 
raise  twenty  thousand  volunteers,  for 
twelve  months,  for  service  within  the 
limits  of  the  State,  for  repelling  invasion, 
suppressing  insurrection,  and  guarding  and 
protecting  the  public  property — two  regi 
ments  to  be  mounted  riflemen.  With  the 
consent  of  the  President,  these  troops  may 
be  attached  to,  and  become  a  part  of,  the 
body  of  three  years'  volunteers. 

1863,  March  3 — The  conscription  act 
passed.  It  included  as  a  part  of  the  na 
tional  forces,  all  able  bodied  male  citizens 
-of  the  United  States,  and  persons  of  for- 
"eign  birth  who  shall  have  declared  on  oath 
their  intention  to  become  citizens  under 
and  in  pursuance  of  the  laws  thereof,  be 
tween  the  ages  of  twenty-one  and  forty- 
five  years,  except  such  as  are  rejected  as 
physically  or  mentally  unfit  for  the  service ; 
also,  the  Vice  President,  the  judges  of  the 
various  courts  of  the  United  States,  the 
heads  of  the  various  executive  departments 
of  the  Government,  and  the  Governors  of 
the  several  States ;  also,  the  only  son  liable 
to  military  service,  of  a  widow  dependent 
upon  his  labor  for  support ;  also,  the  only 
son  of  aged  or  infirm  parent  or  parents, 
dependent  upon  his  labor  for  support ; 
also,  where  there  are  two  or  more  sons  of 
aged  or  infirm  parents,  subject  to  draft,  the 
father,  or  if  he  be  dead,  the  mother,  may 
elect  which  son  shall  be  exempt ;  also,  the 
only  brother  of  children  not  twelve  years 
old,  having  neither  father  nor  mother,  de 
pendent  upon  his  labor  for  support ;  also, 
the  father  of  motherless  children  under 
twelve  years  of  age,  dependent  upon  his 
labor  for  support;  also,  where  there  are  a 
father  and  sons  in  the  same  family  and 
household,  and  two  of  them  are  in  military 
service  of  the  United  States  as  non-com 
missioned  officers,  musicians,  or  privates, 
the  residue  of  such  family  ;  provided  that 
no  person  who  has  been  convicted  of  any 
felony  shall  be  enrolled  or  permitted  to 
serve  in  said  forces.  It  divided  the  forces 
into  two  classes :  1st,  those  between  twenty 
and  thirty-five  and  all  unmarried  persons 
above  thirty-five  and  under  forty-five  ;  2d, 
all  others  liable  to  military  duty.  It  di 
vided  the  country  into  districts,  in  each  of 
which  an  enrollment  board  was  established. 
The  persons  enrolled  were  made  subject  to 
be  called  into  the  military  service  ior  two 
years  from  July  1,  1863,  and  continue  in 
service  for  three  years.  A  drafted  person 
was  allowed  to  furnish  an  acceptable  sub 
stitute,  or  pay  $300,  and  be  discharged 
from  further  liability  under  that  draft. 
Persons  failing  to  report,  to  be  considered 
deserters.  All  persons  drafted  shall  be  as 
signed  by  the  President  to  military  duty 


MR.    LINCOLN'S    FIRST    ADMINISTRATION. 


127 


in  such  corps,  regiments,  or  branches  of 
"the  service  as  the  exigencies  of  the  service 
may  require. 

1864,  Feb.  24 — Provided  for  equalizing 
the  draft  by  calculating  the  quota  of  each 
district  or  precinct  and  counting  the  num 
ber  previously  furnished  by  it.  Any  per 
son  enrolled  may  furnish  an  acceptable 
substitute  who  is  not  liable  to  draft,  nor, 
at  any  time,  in  the  military  or  naval  ser 
vice  of  the  United  States ;  and  such  per 
son  so  furnishing  a  substitute  shall  be  ex 
empt  from  draft  during  the  time  for  which 
such  substitute  shall  not  be  liable  to  draft, 
not  exceeding  the  time  for  which  such  sub 
stitute  shall  have  been  accepted.  If  such 
substitute  is  liable  to  draft,  the  name  of 
the  person  furnishing  him  shall  again  be 
placed  on  the  roll  and  shall  be  liable  to 
draft  in  future  calls,  but  not  until  the  pre 
sent  enrollment  shall  be  exhausted.  The 
exemptions  are  limited  to  such  as  are  re 
jected  as  physically  or  mentally  unfit  for  the 
service ;  to  persons  actually  in  the  military 
or  naval  service  of  the  Government,  and 
all  persons  who  have  served  in  the  military 
or  naval  service  two  years  during  the  pre 
sent  war  and  been  honorably  discharged 
therefrom. 

The  separate  enrollment  of  classes  is  re 
pealed  and  the  two  classes  consolidated. 

Members  of  religious  denominations, 
who  shall  by  oath  or  affirmation  declare 
that  they  are  conscientiously  opposed  to 
the  bearing  of  arms,  and  who  are  pro 
hibited  from  doing  so  by  the  rules  and 
articles  of  faith  and  practice  of  said  re 
ligious  denomination,  shall  when  drafted, 
be  considered  non-combatants,  and  be  as 
signed  to  duty  in  the  hospitals,  or  the  care 
of  freedmen,  or  shall  pay  $300  to  the 
benefit  of  sick  and  wounded  soldiers,  if 
they  give  proof  that  their  deportment  has 
been  uniformly  consistent  with  their  de 
claration. 

No  alien  who  has  voted  in  county,  State 
or  Territory  shall,  because  of  alienage,  be 
exempt  from  draft. 

"  All  able-bodied  male  colored  persons 
between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  forty-five 
years,  resident  in  the  United  States,  shall 
be  enrolled  according  to  the  provisions  of 
this  act,  and  of  the  act  to  which  this  is  an 
amendment,  and  form  part  of  the  national 
forces ;  and  when  a  slave  of  a  loyal  master 
shall  be  drafted  and  mustered  into  the  ser 
vice  of  the  United  States,  his  master  shall 
have  a  certificate  thereof;  and  thereupon 
such  slave  shall  be  free,  and  the  bounty  of 
one  hundred  dollars,  now  payable  by  law 
for  each  drafted  man,  shall  be  paid  to  the 
person  to  whom  such  drafted  person  was 
owing  service  or  labor  at  the  time  of  his 
muster  into  the  service  of  the  United  States. 
The  Secretary  of  War  shall  appoint  a  com 
mission  in  each  of  the  slave  States  repre- 
icnted  in  Congress,  charged  to  award  to 


!  each  loyal  person  to  whom  a  colored  volun 
teer  may  owe  service  a  just  compensation, 
not  exceeding  three  hundred  dollars,  for 
each  such  colored  volunteer,  payable  out 
of  the  fund  derived  from  commuta 
tions,  and  every  such  colored  volunteer 
on  being  mustered  into  the  service  shail  be 
free.  And  in  all  cases  where  men  of  color 
have  been  enlisted,  or  have  volunteered  in 
the  military  service  of  the  United  States, 
all  the  provisions  of  this  act  so  far  as  the 
payment  of  bounty  and  compensation  are 
provided,  shall  be  equally  applicable,  as  to 
those  who  may  be  hereafter  recruited.  But 
men  of  color,  drafted  or  enlisted,  or  who 
may  volunteer  into  the  military  service, 
while  they  shall  be  credited  on  the  quotas 
of  the  several  States,  or  sub-divisions  of 
States,  wherein  they  are  respectively  draft 
ed,  enlisted,  or  shall  volunteer,  shall  not 
be  assigned  as  State  troops,  but  shall 
be  mustered  into  regiments  or  companies 
as  United  States  colored  troops." 

1864,  Feb.  29— Bill  passed  reviving  the 
grade  of  Lieutenant  General  in  the  army, 
and  Major  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant  was 
appointed  March  2d. 

1864,  June  15 — All  persons  of  color  shall 
receive  the  same  pay  and  emoluments,  ex 
cept  bounty,  as  other  soldiers  of  the  regular 
or  volunteer  army  from  and  after  Jan.  1, 
1864,  the  President  to  fix  the  bounty  for 
those  hereafter  mustered,  not  exceeding 
$100. 

1864,  June  20— The  monthly  pay  of  pri 
vates  and  non-commissioned  officers  was 
fixed  as  follows,  on  and  after  May  1 : 

Sergeant  majors,  twenty-six  dollars ; 
quartermaster  and  commissary  sergeants  of 
Cavalry,  artillery,  and  infantry,  twenty- 
two  dollars ;  first  sergeants  of  cavalry, 
artillery,  and  infantry,  twenty-four  dollars ; 
sergeants  of  cavalry,  artillery,  and  infantry, 
twenty  dollars;  sergeants  of  ordnance, 
sappers  and  miners,  and  pontoniers,  thirty- 
four  dollars;  corporals  of  ordnance,  sap 
pers  and  miners,  and  pontoniers,  twenty 
dollars  ;  privates  of  engineers  and  ordnance 
of  the  first  class,  eighteen  dollars,  and  of 
the  second  class,  sixteen  dollars  ;  corporals 
of  cavalry,  artillery,  and  infantry,  eighteen 
dollars ;  chief  buglers  of  cavalry,  twenty- 
three  dollars ;  buglers,  sixteen  dollars ;  far 
riers  and  blacksmiths,  of  cavalry,  and  arti 
ficers  of  artillery,  eighteen  dollars ;  privates 
of  cavalry,  artillery  and  infantry,  sixteen 
dollars;  principal  musicians  of  artillery 
and  infantry,  twenty-two  dollars;  leaders 
of  brigade  and  regimental  bands,  seventy- 
five  dollars;  musicians,  sixteen  dollars; 
hospital  stewards  of  the  first  class,  thirty- 
three  dollars ;  hospital  stewards  of  the 
second  class,  twenty- five  dollars  ;  hospital 
stewnrds  of  the  third  class,  twenty-three 
dollars." 

July  4 — This  bill  became  a  Inw : 
Be,  it  enacted,  &c.  That  the  President  of 


128 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


the  United  States  may,  at  his  discretion,  nt  ] 
any  time  hereafter  call  for  any  number  of 
men  as  volunteers  for  the  respective  terms 
of  one,  two,  and  three  years  for  military 
service ;  and  any  such  volunteer,  or,  in  case 
of  draft,  as  hereinafter  provided,  any  sub 
stitute,  shall  be  credited  to  the  town,  town 
ship,  ward  of  a  city,  precinct,  or  election 
district,  or  of  a  county  not  so  subdivided 
towards  the  quota  of  which  he  may  have 
volunteered  or  engaged  as  a  substitute; 
.and  every  volunteer  who  is  accepted  and 
mustered  into  the  service  for  a  term  of  one 
year,  unless  sooner  discharged,  shall  re 
ceive,  and  be  paid  by  the  United  States,  a 
bounty  of  one  hundred  dollars  ;  and  if  for 
a  term  of  two  years,  unless  sooner  dis 
charged,  a  bounty  of  two  hundred  dollars ; 
and  if  for  a  term  of  three  years,  unless 
sooner  discharged,  a  bounty  of  three  hun 
dred  dollars;  one  third  of  which  bounty 
shall  be  paid  to  the  soldier  at  the  time  of 
his  being  mustered  into  the  service,  one- 
third  at  the  expiration  of  one-half  of  his 
term  of  service,  and  one-third  at  the  expi 
ration  of  his  term  of  service.  And  in  case 
of  his  death  while  in  service,  the  residue  of 
his  bounty  unpaid  shall  be  paid  to  his 
widow,  if  he  shall  have  left  a  widow ;  if 
not,  to  his  children  ;  or  if  there  be  none,  to 
his  mother,  if  she  be  a  widow. 

-X-  •*  *  *  #  -X-  * 

SEC.  8.  That  all  persons  in  the  naval 
service  of  the  United  States,  who  have  en 
tered  said  service  during  the  present  rebel 
lion,  who  have  not  been  credited  to  the 
quota  of  any  town,  district,  ward,  or  State, 
by  reason  of  their  being  in  said  service  and 
not  enrolled  prior  to  February  twenty-four, 
eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-four,  shall  be 
enrolled  and  credited  to  the  quotas  of  the 
town,  ward,  district,  or  State,  in  which 
they  respectively  reside,  upon  satisfactory 
proof  of  their  residence  made  to  the  Secre 
tary  of  War. 

"CONFEDERATE"  MILITARY  LEGISLATION. 

February  28,  1861,  (four  days  before  the 
inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln) — The  "Con 
federate  "  Congress  passed  a  bill  provid 
ing — 

1st.  To  enable  the  Government  of  the 
Confederate  States  to  maintain  its  jurisdic 
tion  over  all  questions  of  peace  and  war, 
and  to  provide  for  the  public  defence,  the 
President  be,  and  he  is  hereby  authorized 
and  directed  to  assume  control  of  all  mili 
tary  operations  in  every  State,  having  re 
ference  to  a  connection  with  questions  be 
tween  the  said  States,  or  any  of  them,  and 
Powers  foreign  to  themselves. 

2d.  The  President  was  authorized  to  re 
ceive  from  the  several  States  the  arms  and 
munitions  of  war  which  have  been  ac 
quired  from  the  United  States. 

3d.  He  was  authorized  to  receive  into 
Government  service  such  forces  in  the  ser 


vice  of  the  States,  as  may  be  tendered,  in 
such  number  as  he  may  require,  for  any 
time  not  less  than  twelve  months,  unless 
sooner  discharged. 

March  6,  1861— The  President  was  au 
thorized  to  employ  the  militia,  military  and 
naval  forces  of  the  Confederate  States  to 
repel  invasion,  maintain  rightful  possession 
of  the  territory,  and  secure  public  tran 
quillity  and  independence  against  threat 
ened  assault,  to  the  extent  of  100,000 
men,  to  serve  for  twelve  months. 

May  4,  1861 — One  regiment  of  Zouaves 
authorized. 

May  6,  1861 — Letters  of  marque  and  re 
prisal  authorized. 

1861,  August  8— The  Congress  author 
ized  the  President  to  accept  the  services  of 
400,000  volunteers,  to  serve  for  not  less 
than  twelve  months  nor  more  than  three 
years  after  they  shall  be  mustered  into  ser 
vice,  unless  sooner  discharged. 

The  liichmond  Enquirer  of  that  date  an 
nounced  that  it  was  ascertained  from  offi 
cial  data,  before  the  passage  of  the  bill, 
that  there  were  not  less  than  210,000  men 
then  in  the  field. 

August  21 — Volunteers  authorized  for 
local  defence  and  special  service. 

1862,  January — Publishers  of  newspa 
pers,  or  other  printed  matter  are  prohibited 
from  giving  the  number,  disposition,  move 
ment,  or  destination  of  the  land  or  naval 
forces,  or  description  of  vessel,  or  battery, 
fortification,  engine  of  war,  or  signal,  un 
less  first  authorized  by  the  President  or 
Congress,  or  the  Secretary  of  War  or  Navy, 
or  commanding  officer  of  post,  district,  or 
expedition.     The  penalty  is  a  fine  of  $1,000 
and  imprisonment  not  over  twelve  months. 

1862,  February — The  Committee  on  Na 
val  Affairs  were  instructed  to  inquire  into 
the  expediency  of  placing  at  the  disposal 
of  the  President  five  millions  of  dollars  to 
build  gunboats. 

.  1862— Bill  passed  to  "  regulate  the  de 
struction  of  property  under  military  neces 
sity,"  referring  particularly  to  cotton  and 
tobacco.  The  authorities  are  authorized  to 
destroy  it  to  keep  it  from  the  enemy  ;  and 
owners,  destroying  it  for  the  same  purpose, 
are  to  be  indemnified  upon  proof  of  the 
value  and  the  circumstances  of  the  de. 
struction. 

1862,  April  16— The  first  "conscription" 
bill  became  a  law. 

1864,  February.  The  second  conscription 
bill  became  a  law. 

The  Richmond  Sentinel  of  February  17, 
1864,  contains  a  synopsis  of  what  is  called 
the  military  bill,  heretofore  forbidden  to  be 
printed : 

The  first  section  provides  that  all  white 
men  residents  of  the  Confederate  States, 
between  the  ages  of  seventeen  and  fifty, 
shall  be  in  the  military  service  for  the  war. 

The  second  section  provides  that  all  be- 


MR.    LINCOLN'S    FIRST    ADMINISTRATION. 


129 


tween  eighteen  and  forty-five,  now  in  ser 
vice,  shall  be  continued  during  the  war  in 
the  same  regiments,  battalions,  and  com 
panies  to  which  they  belong  at  the  passage 
of  this  act,  with  the  organization,  officers, 
&c.,  provided  that  companies  from  one  State 
organized  against  their  consent,  expressed 
at  the  time,  with  regrets,  &c.,  from  another 
State,  shall  have  the  privilege  of  being 
transferred  to  the  same  arm  in  a  regiment 
from  their  own  State,  and  men  can  be  trans 
ferred  to  a  company  from  their  own  State. 

Section  three  gives  a  bounty  eight  months 
hence  of  $100  in  rebel  bonds. 

Section  four  provides  that  no  person 
shall  be  relieved  from  the  operations  of  this 
act  heretofore  discharged  for  disability,  nor 
shall  those  who  furnished  substitutes  be  ex 
empted,  where  no  disability  now  exists  ;  but 
exempts  religious  persons  who  have  paid 
an  exemption  tax.  * 

The  tenth  section  provides  that  no  per 
son  shall  be  exempt  except  the  following  : 
ministers,  superintendents  of  deaf,  dumo, 
and  blind,  or  insane  asylums ;  one  editor  to 
each  newspaper,  and  such  employees  as  he 
may  swear  to  be  indispensable ;  the  Con 
federate  and  State  public  printers,  and  the 
journeymen  printers  necessary  to  perform 
the  public  printing  ;  one  apothecary  to  each 
drug  store,  who  was  and  has  been  contin 
uously  doing  business  as  such  since  Octo 
ber  10,  1862;  physicians  over  30  years  of 
age  of  seven  years'  practice,  not  including 
dentists ;  presidents  and  teachers  of  col 
leges,  academies  and  schools,  who  have  not 
less  than  thirty  pupils;  superintendents 
of  public  hospitals  established  by  law,  and 
such  physicians  and  nurses  as  may  be  in 
dispensable  for  their  efficient  management. 

One  agriculturist  on  such  farm  where 
there  is  no  Avhite  male  adult  not  liable  to 
duty  employing  fifteen  able-bodied  slaves, 
between  sixteen  and  fifty  years  of  age,  up 
on  the  following  conditions : 

The  party  exempted  shall  give  bonds  to 
deliver  to  the  Government  in  the  next 
twelve  months,  100  pounds  of  bacon,  or  its 
equivalent  in  salt  pork,  at  Government  se 
lection,  and  100  pounds  of  beef  for  each  such 
able-bodied  slave  employed  on  said  farm 
at  commissioner's  rates. 

In  certain  cases  this  may  be  commuted 
in  grain  or  other  provisions. 

The  person  shall  further  bind  himself  to 
sell  all  surplus  provisions  now  on  hand,  or 
which  he  may  raise,  to  the  Government,  or 
the  families  of  soldiers,  at  commissioner's 
rates,  the  person  to  be  allowed  a  credit  of 
25  per  cent,  on  any  amount  he  may  deliver 
in  three  months  from  the  passage  of  this 
act;  Provided  that  no  enrollment  since  Feb. 
1,  1864,  shall  deprive  the  person  enrolled 
from  the  benefit  of  this  exemption. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  the  Secretary 
of  War  is  authorized  to  make  such  details 
as  the  public  security  requires. 
9 


The  vote  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  was — yeas,  41 ;  nays,  31. 

GUERRILLAS. 

1862,  April  21 — The  President  was  au 
thorized  to  commission  such  officers  as  he 
may  deem  proper,  with  authority  to  form 
bands  of  partisan  rangers,  in  companies, 
battalions  or  regiments,  either  as  infantry 
or  cavalry,  to  receive  the  same  pay,  rations, 
and  quarters,  and  be  subject  to  the  same 
regulations  as  other  soldiers.  For  any  arms 
and  munitions  of  war  captured  from  the 
enemy  by  any  body  of  partisan  rangers, 
and  delivered  to  any  quartermaster  at  des 
ignated  place,  the  rangers  shall  pay  their 
full  value.* 

The  following  resolution,  in  relation  to 
partisan  service,  was  adopted  by  the  Vir 
ginia  Legislature,  May  17,  1862 : 

Whereas,  this  General  Assembly  places 
a  high  estimate  upon  the  value  of  the  ran 
ger  or  partisan  service  in  prosecuting  the 
present  war  to  a  successful  issue,  and  re 
gards  it  as  perfectly  legitimate ;  and  it  be 
ing  understood  that  a  Federal  commander 
on  the  northern  border  of  Virginia  has  in 
timated  his  purpose,  if  such  service  is  not 
discontinued,  to  lay  waste  by  fire  the  por 
tion  of  our  territory  at  present  under  his 
power. 

Resolved  by  the  General  Assembly,  That; 
in  its  opinion,  the  policy  of  employing  such 
rangers  and  partisans  ought  to  be  carried 
out  energetically,  both  by  the  authorities 
of  this  State  and  of  the  Confederate  States, 
without  the  slightest  regard  to  such  threats. 

By  another  act,  the  President  was  au 
thorized,  in  addition  to  the  volunteer  force 
authorized  under  existing  laws,  to  accept 
the  services  of  volunteers  who  may  offer 
them,  without  regard  to  the  place  of  en 
listment,  to  serve  for  and  during  the  exist 
ing  war. 

1862,  May  27— Major  General  John  B. 
Floyd  was  authorized  by  the  Legislature  of 
Virginia,  to  raise  ten  thousand  men,  not 
now  in  service  or  liable  to  draft,  for  twelve 
months. 

1862,  September  27 — The  President  was 
authorized  to  call  out  and  place  in  the  mil 
itary  service  for  three  years,  all  white  men 
who  are  residents,  between  the  ages  of 
thirty-five  and  forty-five,  at  the  time  the 
call  may  be  made,  not  legally  exempt.  And 
such  authority  shall  exist  in  the  President, 
during  the  present  war,  as  to  all  persons 
who  now  are,  or  hereafter  may  become 
eighteen  years  of  age,  and  all  persons  be 
tween  eighteen  and  forty-five,  once  en 
rolled,  shall  serve  their  full  time. 

*  1864,  February  15— Repealed  the  above  act,  but  pro- 
Tided  for  continuing  organizations  of  partisan  rangers 
arting  as  regular  cavalry  and  so  to  continue ;  and  author 
ising  the  Secretary  of  War  to  provide  for  uniting  all 
bands  of  partisan  rangers  with  other  organizations  and 
bringing  them  under  the  general  diucipliue  of  the  pro 
visional  army. 


130 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


THE   TWENTY-NEGRO     EXEMPTION     LAW. 

1862,    October    11— Exempted    certain 

.  classes,  described  in  the  repealing  law  of 

the  next  session,  as  follows : 

The  dissatisfaction  of  the  people  with  an 
act  passed  by  the  Confederate  Congress,  at 
its  last  session,  by  which  persons  owning  a 
certain  number  of  slaves  were  exempted 
from  the  operation  of  the  conscription  law, 
has  led  the  members  at  the  present  session 
to  reconsider  their  work,  and  already  one 
branch  has  passed  a  bill  for  the  repeal  of 
the  obnoxious  law.  This  bill  provides  as 
follows : 

"  The  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States 
do  enact,  That  so  much  of  the  act  ap 
proved  October  11,  1862,  as  exempts  from 
military  service  '  one  person,  either  as 
agent,  owner,  or  overseer,  on  each  planta 
tion  on  which  one  white  person  is  required 
to  be  kept  by  the  laws  or  ordinances  of  any 
State,  and  on  which  there  is  no  white  male 
adult  not  liable  to  military  service,  and  in 
States  having  110  such  law,  one  person,  as 
agent,  owner,  or  overseer  on  such  planta 
tion  of  twenty  negroes,  and  on  which  there 
is  no  white  male  adult  not  liable  to  mili 
tary  service ;'  and  also  the  following  clause 
in  said  act,  to  wit :  '  and  furthermore,  for 
additional  police  of  every  twenty  negroes, 
on  two  or  more  plantations,  within  five 
miles  of  each  other,  and  each  having  less 
than  twenty  negroes,  and  on  which  there 
is  no  white  male  adult  not  liable  to  military 
duty,  one  person,  being  the  oldest  of  the 
owners  or  overseers  on  such  plantations,' 
be  and  the  same  are  hereby  repealed  ;  and 
the  persons  so  hitherto  exempted  by  said 
clauses  of  said  act  are  hereby  made  subject 
to  military  duty  in  the  same  manner  that 
they  would  be  had  said  clauses  never  been 
embraced  in  said  act." 

THE  POSITION  OF  DOUGLAS. 

After  the  President  had  issued  his  first 
call,  Douglas  saw  the  danger  to  which  the 
Capitol  was  exposed,  and  he  promptly 
called  upon  Lincoln  to  express  his  fuil 
approval  of  the  call.  Knowing  his  politi 
cal  value  and  that  of  his  following  Lin 
coln  asked  him  to  dictate  a  despatch  to  the 
Associated  Press,  which  he  did  in  these 
words,  the  original  being  left  in  the  posses 
sion  of  Hon.  George  Ashmun  of  Massachu 
setts  : 

"  April  18,  1861,  Senator  Douglas,  called 
on  the  President,  and  had  an  interesting 
conversation,  on  the  present  condition  of 
the  country.  The  substance  of  it  was,  on 
the  part  of  Mr.  Douglas,  that  while  he  was 
unalterably  opposed  to  the  administration 
in  all  its  political  issues,  he  was  prepared 
to  fully  sustain  the  President,  in  the  exercise 
of  all  his  Constitutional  functions,  to  pre 
serve  the  Union,  maintain  the  Government, 
and  defend  the  Federal  Capitol.  A  firm  po 
licy  and  prompt  action  was  necessary.  The 


Capitol  was  in  danger,  and  must  be  de 
fended  at  all  hazards,  and  at  any  expense 
of  men  and  money.  He  spoke  of  the  pre 
sent  and  future,  without  any  reference  to 
the  past." 

Douglas  followed  this  with  a  great  speech 
at  Chicago,  in  which  he  uttered  a  sentence 
that  was  soon  quoted  on  nearly  every 
Northern  tongue.  It  was  simply  this, 
"  that  there  now  could  be  but  two  parties, 
patriots  and  traitors."  It  needed  nothing 
more  to  rally  the  Douglas  Democrats  by 
the  side  of  the  Administration,  and  in  the 
general  feeling  of  patriotism  awakened  not 
only  this  class  of  Democrats,  but  many 
Northern  supporters  of  Breckinridge  also 
enlisted  in  the  Union  armies.  The  leaders 
who  stood  aloof  and  gave  their  sympathies 
to  the  South,  were  stigmatized  as  "  Copper 
heads,"  and  these  where  they  were  so  im 
pudent  as  to  give  expression  to  their  hos 
tility,  were  as  odious  to  the  mass  of  North 
erners  as  the  Unionists  of  Tennessee  and 
North  Carolina  were  to  the  Secessionists — 
with  this  difference — that  the  latter  were 
compelled  to  seek  refuge  in  their  moun 
tains,  while  the  Northern  leader  who 
sought  to  give  "aid  and  comfort  to  the 
enemy  "  was  either  placed  under  arrest  by 
the  government  or  proscribed  politically 
by  his  neighbors.  Civil  war  is  ever  thus. 
Let  us  now  pass  to 

THE  POLITICAL  LEGISLATION  INCIDENT  TO 
THE  WAR. 

The  first  session  of  the  37th  Congress 
began  July  4,  1861,  and  closed  Aug.  6. 
The  second  began  December  2,  1861,  and 
closed  July  17,  1862.  The  third  began 
December  1,  1862  and  closed  March  4, 
1863. 

All  of  these  sessions  of  Congress  were 
really  embarrassed  by  the  number  of  vol 
unteers  offering  from  the  North,  and  suffi 
ciently  rapid  provision  could  not  be  made 
for  them.  And  as  illustrative  of  how 
political  lines  had  been  broken,  it  need 
only  be  remarked  that  Benjamin  F.  Butler, 
the  leader  of  the  Northern  wing  of  Breck- 
inridge's  supporters,  was  commissioned  as 
the  first  commander  of  the  forces  which 
Massachusetts  sent  to  the  field.  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio— the  great  West — all 
the  States,  more  than  met  all  early  require 
ments.  So  rapid  were  enlistments  that  no 
song  was  as  popular  as  that  beginning- 
with  the  lines : 

**  We  are  coming,  Father  Abraham, 
Six  hundred  thousand  strong." 

The  first  session  of  the  37th  Congress 
was  a  special  one,  called  by  the  President. 
McPherson,  in  his  classification  of  the 
membership,  shows  the  changes  in  a  body 
made  historic,  if  such  a  thing  can  be,  not 
only  by  its  membership  present,  but  that 
which  had  gone  or  made  itself  subject  to 


MR.    LINCOLN'S    FIRST    ADMINISTRATION. 


131 


expulsion  by  siding  with  the  Confederacy. 
We  quote  the  list  so  concisely  and  correct 
ly  presented: 

MEMBERS  OF  THE  37TH  CONGRESS. 
March  4,  1861,  to  March  4, 1863. 

HANNIBAL  HAMLIN,  of  Maine,  Presi 
dent  of  the  Senate. 

SENATORS. 

Maine— Lot  M.  Morrill,  Wm.  Pitt  Fes- 
eenden. 

New  Hampshire — John  P.  Hale,  Daniel 
Clark. 

Vermont— Solomon  Foot,  Jacob  Colla- 
mer. 

Massachusetts — Charles  Sumner,  Henry 
Wilson. 

Rhode  Island  —  James  F.  Simmons,* 
Henry  B.  Anthony. 

Connecticut — James  Dixon,  Lafayette  S. 
Foster. 

New  York — Preston  King,  Ira  Harris. 

New  Jersey — John  B.  Thomson,*  John 
C.  Ten  Eyck. 

Pennsylvania — David  Wilmot,  Edgar 
Cowan. 

Delaware — James  A.  Bayard,  Willard 
Saulsbury. 

Maryland — Anthony  Kennedy,  James  A. 
Pearce.* 

Virginia.* 

Ohio — Benjamin  F.  Wade,  John  Sher 
man. 

Kentucky — Lazarus  W.  Powell,  John  C. 
Breckinridge.* 

Tennessee — Andrew  Johnson. 

Indiana — Jesse  D.  Bright,*  Henry  S. 
Lane. 

Illinois  —  O.  H.  Browning,*  Lyman 
Trumbull. 

Missouri— Trusten  Polk,*  Waldo  P. 
Johnson.* 

Michigan — Z.  Chandler,  K.  S.  Bing- 
ham.* 

Iowa — James  W.  Grimes,  James  Harlan. 

Wisconsin — James  R.  Doolittle,  Timothy 
O.  Howe. 

California — Milton  S.  Latham,  James 
A.  McDougall. 

Minnesota — Henry  M.  Rice,  Morton  S. 
Wilkinson. 

Oregon— Edward  D.  Baker,*  James  W. 
Nesmith. 

Kansas — James  H.  Lane,  S.  C.  Pomeroy. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

GALUSHA  A.  GROW,  of  Pennsylvania, 
Speaker  of  the  House. 

Maine — John  N.  Goodwin,  Charles  W. 
Walton,*  Samuel  C.  Fessenden,  Anson  P. 
Morrill,  John  H.  Rice,  Frederick  A.  Pike. 

New  Hampshire — Gilman  Marston,  Ed 
ward  H.  Rollins,  Thomas  M.  Edwards. 

Vermont— E.  P.  Walton,  Jr.,  Justin  S. 
Morrill,  Portus  Baxter. 

*  Se«  memorandum  at  the  end  of  liat. 


Massachusetts — Thomas  D.  Eliot,  James 
Buffinton,  Benjamin  F.  Thomas,  Alexan 
der  H.  Rice,  William  Appleton,*  John  B. 
Alley,  Daniel  W.  Gooch,  Charles  R.  Train, 
Goldsmith  F.  Bailey,*  Charles  Delano, 
Henry  L.  Dawes. 

Rhode  Island  —  William  P.  Sheffield, 
George  H.  Browne. 

Connecticut — Dwight  Loomis,  James  E. 
English,  Alfred  A.  Burnham,*  George  C. 
Woodruff. 

New  York— Edward  H.  Smith,  Moses  F. 
Odell,  Benjamin  Wood,  James  E.  Kerri 
gan,  William  Wall,  Frederick  A.  Conk- 
ling,  Elijah  Ward,  Isaac  C.  Delaplaine, 
Edward  Haight,  Charles  II.  Van  Wyck, 
John  B.  Steele,  Stephen  Baker,  Abraham 
B.  Olin,  Erastus  Corning,  James  B.  Mc- 
Kean,  William  A.  Wheeler,  Socrates  N. 
Sherman,  Chauncey  Vibbard,  Richard 
Franchot,  Roscoe  Conkling,  R.  Holland 
Duell,  William  E.  Lansing,  Ambrose  W. 
Clark,  Charles  B.  Sedgwick,  Theodore  M. 
Pomeroy,  Jacob  P.  Chamberlain,  Alexan 
der  S.  Diven,  Robert  B.  Van  Valkenburgh, 
Alfred  Ely,  Augustus  Frank,  Burt  Van 
Horn,  Elbridge  G.  Spalding,  Reuben  E. 
Fenton. 

New  Jersey — John  T.  Nixon,  John  L.  N. 
Stratton,  William  G.  Steele,  George  T. 
Cobb,  Nehemiah  Perry. 

Pennsylvania  —  William  E.  Lehman, 
Charles 'J.  Biddle,*  John  P.  Verree,  Wil 
liam  D.  Kelley,  William  Morris  Davis, 
John  Hickman,  Thomas  B.  Cooper,*  Syd- 
enham  E.  Ancona,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  John 
W.  Killinger,  James  H.  Campbell,  Hen- 
drick  B.  Wright,  Philip  Johnson,  Galusha 
A.  Grow,  James  T.  Hale,  Joseph  Baily, 
Edward  McPherson,  Samuel  S.  Blair,  John 
Covode,  Jesse  Lazear,  James  K.  Moorhend, 
Robert  McKnight,  John  W.  Wallace,  John 
Patton,  Elijah  Babbitt. 

Delaware — George  P.  Fisher. 

Maryland — John  W.  Crisfield,  Edwin  H. 
Webster,  Cornelius  L.  L.  Leary,  Henry 
May,  Francis  Thomas,  Charles  B.  Calvert. 

Virginia — Charles  H.  Upton,*  William 
G.  Brown,  John  S.  Carlile,*  Kellian  V. 
Whaley. 

Ohio — George  H.  Pendleton,  John  A. 
Gurley,  Clement  L.  Vallandigham,  William 
Allen,  James  M.  Ashley,  Chilton  A.  White, 
Richard  A.  Harrison,  Samuel  Shella- 
barger,  Warren  P.  Noble,  Carey  A.  Trim 
ble,  Valentine  B.  Horton,  Samuel  S.  Cox, 
Samuel  T.  Worcester,  Harrison  G.  Blake, 
Robert  H.  Nugen,  William  P.  Cutler, 
James  R.  Morris,  Sidney  Edgerton,  Albert 
G.  Riddle,  John  Hutchins,  John  A.  Bing- 
ham. 

Kentucky — Henry  C.  Burnett,*  James  S. 
Jackson,*  Henry  Grider,  Aaron  Harding, 
Charles  A.  Wickliffe,  George  W.  Dunlap, 
Robert  Mallory,  John  J.  Crittenden,  Wil 
liam  H.  Wadsworth,  John  W.  Menzies. 

See  memorandum  at  end  of  list. 


132 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Tennessee — Horace  Maynard,*  Andrew 
J.  Clements,*  George  W.  Bridges.* 

Indiana — John  Law,  James  A.  Cravens, 
W.  McKee  Dunn,  William  S.  Holman, 
George  W.  Julian,  Albert  G.  Porter,  Dan 
iel  W.  Voorhees,  Albert  S.  White,  Schuyler 
Colfax,  William  Mitchell,  John  P.  C. 
Shanks. 

Illinois — Elihu  B.  Washburne,  Isaac  N. 
Arnold,  Owen  Lovejoy,  William  Kellogg, 
William  A.  Richardson,*  John  A.  Mc- 
Clernancl,*  James  C.  Robinson,  Philip  B. 
Fouke,  John  A.  Logan.* 

Missouri — Francis  P.  Blair,  Jr.,  James 
S.  Rollins,  John  B.  Clark,*  Elijah  H.  Nor 
ton,  John  W.  Reid  *  John  S.  Phelps  * 
John  W.  No-ell. 

Michigan — Bradley  F.  Granger,  Fer 
nando  C.  Bearnan,  Francis  W.  Kellogg, 
Rowland  E.  Trowbridge. 

Iowa— Samuel  R.  Curtis,*  William  Van- 
dever. 

Wisconsin — John  F.  Potter,  Luther  Han- 
chett,*  A.  Scott  Sloan. 

Minnesota— Cyrus  Aldrich,  William  Win- 
dom. 

Oregon — Andrew  J.  Thayer.* 

Kansas — Martin  F.  Conway. 

MEMORANDUM  OF  CHANGES. 

The  following  changes  took  place  during 
the  Congress : 

IN  SENATE. 

Rhode  Island— 1862,  Dec.  1,  Samuel  G. 
Arnold  succeeded  James  F.  Simmons,  re 
signed. 

New  Jersey— 1862,  Dec.  1,  Richard  S. 
Field  succeeded,  by  appointment,  John  R. 
Thompson,  deceased  Sept.  12,  1862.  1863, 
Jan.  21,  James,  W.  Wall,  succeeded,  by 
election,  Richard  S.  Field. 

Maryland— 1863,  Jan.  14,  Thomas  H. 
Hicks,  first  by  appointment  and  then  by 
election  succeeded  James  A.  Pearce,  de 
ceased  Dec.  20,  1862. 

Virginia— 1861,  July  13,  John  S.  Carlile 
and  Waitman  T.  Willey,  sworn  in  place  of 
Robert  M.  T.  Hunter  and  James  M.  Mason, 
withdrawn  and  abdicated. 

Kentucky— 1861,  Dec.  23,  Garrett  Davis 
succeeded  John  C.  Breckinridge,  expelled 
December  4. 

Indiana— 1862,  March  3,  Joseph  A. 
Wright  succeeded  Jesse  D.  Bright,  expelled 
Feb.  5,  1863,  Jan.  22,  David  Turpie,  super 
seded,  by  election,  Joseph  A.  Wright. 

Illinois— 1863,  Jan.  30,  William  A.  Rich 
ardson  superseded,  by  election,  O.  H. 
Browning. 

Missouri— 1861,  Jan.  24,  R.  Wilson  suc 
ceeded  Waldo  P.  Johnson,  expelled  Jan. 
10.  1862,  Jan.  29,  John  B.  Henderson  suc 
ceeded  Trusten  Polk,  expelled  Jan.  10. 

Michigan— 1862,  Jan.  17,  Jacob  M.  How 
ard  succeeded  K.  S.  Bingham,  deceased 
October  5, 1861. 

*  See  memorandum  at  end  of  list. 


Oregon— 1862,  Dec.  1,  Benjamin  F.  Hard 
ing  succeeded  Edward  D.  Baker,  deceased 
Oct.  21,  1862. 

IN  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 

Maine— 1862,  December  1,  Thomas  A. 
D.  Fessenden  succeeded  Charles  W.  Wal 
ton,  resigned  May  26,  1862. 

Massachusetts — 1861,  December  1,  Amasa 
Walker  succeeded  Goldsmith  F.  Bailey, 
deceased  May  8,  1862 ;  1861,  December  2, 
Samuel  Hooper  succeeded  William  Apple- 
ton,  resigned. 

Connecticut— 1861,  December  2,  Alfred 
A.  Burnham  qualified. 

Pennsylvania — 1861,  December  2,Charles 
J.  Biddle  qualified  ;  1862,  June  3,  John  D. 
Stiles  succeeded  Thomas  B.  Cooper,  de 
ceased  April  4,  1862. 

Virginia,— 1861,  July  13,  John  S.  Carlile 
resigned  to  take  a  seat  in  the  Senate ;  1861, 
December  2,  Jacob  B.  Blair,  succeeded  John 
S.  Carlile,  resigned;  1862,  February  28, 
Charles  H.  Upton  unseated  by  a  vote  of 
the  House;  1862,  May  6,  Joseph  Segar 
qualified. 

Kentucky— 1862,  December,  1,  George  H. 
Yeaman  succeeded  James  S.  Jackson,  de 
ceased  ;  1862,  March  10,  Samuel  L.  Casey 
succeeded  Henry  C.  Burnett,  expelled  De 
cember  3,  1861. 

Tennessee — 1861,  December  2,  Horace 
Maynard  qualified ;  1862,  January  13,  An 
drew  J.  Clements  qualified ;  1863,  Febru 
ary  25,  George  W.  Bridges  qualified. 

Illinois— 1861,  December  12,  A.  L.  Knapp 
qualified,  in  place  of  J.  A.  McClernand,  re 
signed;  1862,  June  2,  William  J.  Allen 
qualified,  in  place  of  John  A.  Logan,  re 
signed  ;  1863,  January  30,  William  A.  Rich 
ardson  withdrew  to  take  a  seat  in  the 
Senate. 

Missouri— 1862,  January  21,  Thomas  L. 
Price  succeeded  John  W.  Reid,  expelled 
December  2,  1861 ;  1862,  January  20,  Wil 
liam  A.  Hall  succeeded  John  B.  Clark,  ex 
pelled  July  13,  1861 ;  1862,  May  9,  John  S. 
Phelps  qualified. 

Iowa— 1861,  December  2,  James  F.  Wil 
son  succeeded  Samuel  R.  Curtis,  resigned 
August  4,  1861. 

Wisconsin — 1863,  January  26,  Walter  D. 
Mclndoe  succeeded  Luther  Hanchett,  de 
ceased  November  24,  1862. 

Oregon— 1861,  July  30,  George  K.  Shiel 
succeeded  Andrew  J.  Thayer,  unseated. 

Louisiana — 1863,  February  17,  Michael 
Hahn  qualified ;  1863,  February  23,  Ben 
jamin  F.  Flanders  qualified. 

Lincoln,  in  his  message,  recited  the 
events  which  had  transpired  since  his 
inauguration,  and  asked  Congress  to  con 
fer  upon  him  the  power  to  make  the  conflict 
short  and  decisive.  He  wanted  400,000 
men,  and  four  hundred  millions  of  money, 
remarking  that  "  the  people  will  save  their 


MR.  LINCOLN'S    FIRST    ADMINISTRATION. 


government  if  the  government  itself  will 
do  its  part  only  indifferently  well."  Con 
gress  responded  by  adding  an  hundred 
thousand  to  each  request. 

There  were  exciting  debates  and  scenes 
during  this  session,  for  many  of  the  South 
ern  leaders  remained,  either  through  hesi 
tancy  or  with  a  view  to  check  legislation 
and  aid  their  section  by  adverse  criticism 
on  the  measures  proposed.  Most  promi 
nent  in  the  latter  list  was  John  C.  Breckin- 
ridge,  late  Vice  President  and  now  Senator 
from  Kentucky.  With  singular  boldness 
and  eloquence  he  opposed  every  war  mea 
sure,  and  spoke  with  the  undisguised  pur 
pose  of  aiding  the  South.  He  continued 
this  course  until  the  close  of  the  extra 
session,  when  he  accepted  a  General's 
commission  in  the  Confederate  army.  But 
before  its  close,  Senator  Baker  of  Oregon, 
angered  at  his  general  course,  said  in  reply 
to  one  of  Breckinridge's  speeches,  Aug.  1st : 

"  What  would  the  Senator  from  Ken 
tucky,  have?  These  speeches  of  his,  sown 
broadcast  over  the  land,  what  clear  distinct 
meaning  have  they?  Are  they  not  intend 
ed  for  disorganization  in  our  very  midst? 
Are  they  not  intended  to  destroy  our  zeal  ? 
Are  they  not  intended  to  animate  our 
enemies  ?  Sir,  are  they  not  words  of  bril 
liant  polished  TREASON,  even  in  the  very 
Capitol  of  the  Republic  ?"  [Here  there  were 
such  manifestations  of  applause  in  the  gal 
leries,  as  were  with  difficulty  suppressed.] 

Mr.  Baker  resumed,  and  turning  directly 
to  Mr.  Breckinridge,  inquired : 

"  What  would  have  been  thought,  if,  in 
another  Capitol,  in  another  republic,  in  a 
yet  more  martial  age,  a  Senator  as  grave, 
not  more  eloquent  or  dignified  than  the 
Senator  from  Kentucky,  yet  with  the 
Roman  purple  flowing  over  his  shoulders, 
had  risen  in  his  place,  surrounded  by  all 
the  illustrations  of  Roman  glory,  and  de 
clared  that  the  cause  of  the  advancing 
Hannibal  was  just,  and  that  Carthage  ought 
to  be  dealt  with  in  terms  of  peace  ?  What 
would  have  been  thought  if,  after  the  bat 
tle  of  Cannae,  a  Senator  there  had  risen  in 
his  place,  and  denounced  every  levy  of  the 
Roman  people,  every  expenditure  of  its 
treasure,  and  every  appeal  to  the  old  recol 
lections  and  the  old  glories  ?" 

There  was  a  silence  so  profound  through 
out  the  Senate  and  galleries,  that  a  pinfall 
could  have  been  heard,  while  every  eye 
was  fixed  upon  Breckinridge.  Fessenden 
exclaimed  in  deep  low  tones,  "  he  would 
have  been  hurled  from  the  Tarpeian  Rock !" 

Baker  resumed : 

"  Sir,  a  Senator  himself  learned  far  more 
than  myself,  in  such  lore,  (Mr.  Fessenden) 
tells  me,  in  a  low  voice,  tl  he  would  have 
been  hurled  from  the  Tarpeian  Rock." 
It  is  a  grand  commentary  upon  the 
American  Constitution,  that  we  permit 
these  words  of  the  Senator  from  Ken 


tucky,  to  be  uttered.  I  ask  the  Senator 
to  recollect,  to  what,  save  to  send  aid 
and  comfort  to  the  enemy,  do  these  pre 
dictions  amount  to  ?  Every  word  thus  utter 
ed,  falls  as  a  note  of  inspiration  upon  every 
Confederate  ear.  Every  sound  thus  utter 
ed,  is  a  word,  (and  falling  from  his  lips,  a 
mighty  word)  of  kindling  and  triumph  to 
the  foe  that  determines  to  advance." 

The  Republicans  of  the  North  were  the 
distinctive  "war  party,"  i.  e.,  they  gave 
unqualified  support  to  every  demand  made 
by  the  Lincoln  administration.  Most  of 
the  Democrats,  acting  as  citizens,  did  like 
wise,  but  many  of  those  in  official  position, 
assuming  the  prerogative  of  a  minority, 
took  the  liberty  in  Congress  and  State 
Legislature  to  criticise  the  more  important 
war  measures,  and  the  extremists  went  so 
far,  in  many  instances,  as  to  organize  oppo 
sition,  and  to  encourage  it  among  their 
constituents.  Thus  in  the  States  bordering 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  organized 
and  individual  efforts  were  made  to  encour 
age  desertions,  and  the  "  Knights  of  the 
Golden  Circle,"  and  the  "  Sons  of  Liberty," 
secret  societies  composed  of  Northern  sym 
pathizers  with  the  South,  formed  many 
troublesome  conspiracies.  Through  their 
action  troops  were  even  enlisted  in  South 
ern  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Missouri  for  the 
Confederate  armies,  while  the  border  States 
in  the  Union  sent  whole  regiments  to  bat 
tle  for  the  South.  The  "  Knights  of  th« 
Golden  Circle  "  conspired  to  release  Con 
federate  prisoners  of  war,  and  invited  Mor 
gan  to  raid  their  States.  One  of  the  worst 
forms  of  opposition  took  shape  in  a  con 
spiracy  to  resist  the  draft  in  New  York 
city.  The  fury  of  the  mob  was  several 
days  beyond  control,  and  troops  had  to  be 
recalled  from  the  front  to  suppress  it.  The 
riot  was  really  political,  the  prejudices  of 
the  mob  under  cover  pf  resistance  to  the 
draft,  being  vented  on  the  negroes,  many 
of  whom  were  killed  before  adequate  num 
bers  could  be  sent  to  their  succor.  The 
civil  authorities  of  the  city  were  charged 
with  winking  at  the  occurrence,  and  it  was 
afterwards  ascertained  that  Confederate 
agents  really  organized  the  riot  as  a  move 
ment  to  "  take  the  enemy  in  the  rear." 

The  Republican  was  as  distinctively  the 
war  party  during  the  Great  Rebellion,  as 
the  Whigs  were  during  the  Revolution,  the 
Democratic-Republicans  during  the  War 
of  1812,  and  the  Democrats  during  the 
War  with  Mexico,  and,  as  in  all  of  these 
war  decades,  kept  the  majority  sentiment 
of  the  country  with  them.  This  is  such  a 
plain  statement  of  facts  that  it  is  neither 
partisan  to  assert,  nor  a  mark  of  party- 
fealty  to  deny.  The  history  is  indelibly 
written.  It  is  stamped  upon  nearly  every 
war  measure,  and  certainly  upon  every 
political  measure  incident  to  growing  out 
of  the  rebellion. 


134 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


These  were  exciting  and  memorable 
scenes  in  the  several  sessions  of  the  37th 
Congress.  During  the  first  many  Southern 
Senators  and  Representatives  withdrew 
alter  angry  statements  of  their  reasons, 
generally  in  obedience  to  calls  from  their 
States  or  immediate  homes.  In  this  way 
the  majority  was  changed.  Others  re 
mained  until  the  close  of  the  first  session, 
and  then  more  quietly  entered  the  rebellion. 
We  have  shown  that  of  this  class  was 
Breckinridge,  who  thought  he  could  do 
more  good  for  his  cause  in  the  Federal 
Congress  than  elsewhere,  and  it  is  well  for 
the  Union  that  most  of  his  colleagues  dis 
agreed  with  him  as  to  the  propriety  and 
wisdom  of  his  policy.  If  all  had  followed 
his  lead  or  imitated  his  example,  the  war 
would  in  all  probability  have  closed  in  an 
other  compromise,  or  possibly  in  the  ac 
complishment  of  southern  separations. 
These  men  could  have  so  obstructed  legis 
lation  as  to  make  all  its  early  periods  far 
more  discouraging  than  they  were.  As  it 
was  the  Confederates  had  all  the  advan 
tages  of  a  free  and  fair  start,  and  the  effect 
was  traceable  in  all  of  the  early  battles 
and  negotiations  with  foreign  powers. 
There  was  one  way  in  which  these  advan 
tages  could  have  been  supported  and  con 
tinued.  Breckenridge,  shrewd  and  able 
politician  as  he  was,  saw  that  the  way  was 
to  keep  Southern  Representatives  in  Con 
gress,  at  least  as  long  as  Northern  senti 
ment  would  abide  it,  and  in  this  way  win 
victories  at  the  very  fountain-head  of 
power.  But  at  the  close  of  the  extra  ses 
sion  this  view  had  become  unpopular  at 
both  ends  of  the  line,  and  even  Brecken 
ridge  abandoned  it  and  sought  to  hide  his 
original  purpose  by  immediate  service  in 
the  Confederate  armies. 

It  will  be  noted  that  those  who  vacated 
their  seats  to  enter  the  Confederacy  were 
afterwards  expelled.  In  this  connection  a 
curious  incident  can  be  related,  occuring 
as  late  as  the  Senate  session  of  1882 : 

The  widow  of  the  late  Senator  Nichol 
son,  of  Tennessee,  who  was  in  the  Senate 
when  Tennessee  seceded,  a  short  time  ago 
sent  a  petition  to  Congress  asking  that  the 
salary  of  her  late  husband,  after  he  return 
ed  to  Tennessee,  might  be  paid  to  her. 
Mr.  Nicholson's  term  would  have  expired 
in  1865  had  he  remained  in  his  seat.  He 
did  not  appear  at  the  special  session  of 
Congress  convened  in  July,  1861,  and  with 
other  Senators  from  the  South  was  expelled 
from  the  Senate  on  July  llth  of  that  year. 
The  Senate  Committee  on  Claims,  after 
examining  the  case  thoroughly,  submitted 
to  the  Senate  an  adverse  report.  After 
giving  a  concise  history  of  the  case  the 
committee  say :  "  We  do  not  deem  it 
proper,  after  the  expiration  of  twenty  years, 
to  pass  special  acts  of  Congress  to  compen 
sate  the  Senators  and  Representatives  who 


seceded  in  1861  for  their  services  in  the 
early  part  of  that  year.  We  recommend 
that  the  claim  of  the  petitioner  be  disal 
lowed." 

The  Sessions  of  the  37th  Congress 
changed  the  political  course  of  many  pub 
lic  men.  It  made  the  Southern  believers 
in  secession  still  more  vehement ;  it  sepa 
rated  the  Southern  Unionists  from  their 
former  friends,  and  created  a  wall  of  fire 
between  them  ;  it  changed  the  temper  of 
Northern  Abolitionists,  in  so  far  as  to  drive 
from  them  all  spirit  of  faction,  all  pride  of 
methods,  and  compelled  them  to  unite  with 
a  republican  sentiment  which  was  making 
sure  advances  from  the  original  declara 
tion  that  slavery  should  not  be  extended 
to  the  Territories,  to  emancipation,  and, 
finally,  to  the  arming  of  the  slaves.  It 
changed  many  Northern  Democrats,  and 
from  the  ranks  of  these,  even  in  represen 
tative  positions,  the  lines  of  the  Repub 
licans  were  constantly  strengthened  on 
pivotal  questions.  On  the  27th  of  July 
Breckinridge  had  said  in  a  speech :  "  When 
traitors  become  numerous  enough  treason 
becomes  respectable."  Senator  Andrew 
Johnson,  of  Tennessee,  replied  to  this,  and 
said  :  "  God  being  willing,  whether  traitors 
be  many  or  few,  as  I  have  hitherto  waged 
war  against  traitors  and  treason,  I  intend 
to  continue  it  to  the  end."  And  yet  John 
son  had  the  year  before  warmly  supported 
Breckinridge  in  his  presidential  campaign. 

Among  the  more  conspicuous  Republi 
cans  and  anti-Lecompton  Democrats  in 
this  session  were  Charles  Sumner,  a  man 
who  then  exceeded  all  others  in  scholarly 
attainments  and  as  an  orator,  though  he 
was  not  strong  in  current  debate.  Great 
care  and  preparation  marked  every  impor 
tant  effort,  but  no  man's  speeches  were 
more  admired  throughout  the  North,  and 
hated  throughout  the  South,  than  those  of 
Charles  Sumner.  An  air  of  romance  sur 
rounded  the  man,  because  he  was  the  first 
victim  of  a  senatorial  outrage,  when  beaten 
by  Brooks  of  South  Carolina  ;  but,  sneered 
his  political  enemies,  "  no  man  more  care 
fully  preserved  his  wounds  for  exhibition 
to  a  sympathetic  world."  He  had  some 
minor  weaknesses,  which  were  constantly 
displayed,  and  these  centred  in  egotism 
and  high  personal  pride — not  very  popular 
traits — but  no  enemy  was  so  malicious  as 
to  deny  his  greatness. 

Fessenden  of  Maine  was  one  of  the  great 
lights  of  that  day.  He  was  apt,  almost 
beyond  example,  in  debate,  and  was  a  re 
cognized  leader  of  the  Republicans  until, 
in  the  attempt  to  impeach  President  John 
son,  he  disagreed  with  the  majority  of  his 
party  and  stepped  "  down  and  out."  Yet 
no  one  questioned  his  integrity,  and  all  be 
lieved  that  his  vote  was  cast  on  this  ques 
tion  in  a  line  with  his  convictions.  The 
leading  character  in  the  House  was  Thad- 


MR.    LINCOLN'S    FIRST    ADMINISTRATION. 


135 


deus  Stevens,  an  original  Abolitionist  in 
sentiment,  but  a  man  eminently  practical 
and  shrewd  in  all  his  methods. 

The  chances  of  politics  often  carry  men 
into  the  Presidential  Chair,  into  Cabinets, 
and  with  later  and  demoralizing  frequency 
into  Senate  seats ;  but  chance  never  makes 
a  Commoner,  and  Thaddeus  Stevens  was 
throughout  the  war,  and  up  to  the  hour  of 
his  death,  recognized  as  the  great  Com 
moner  of  the  Northern  people.  He  led  in 
every  House  battle,  and  a  more  unflinch 
ing  party  leader  was  never  known  to  par 
liamentary  bodies.  Limp  and  infirm,  he 
was  not  liable  to  personal  assault,  even  in 
days  when  such  assaults  were  common; 
but  when  on  one  occasion  his  fiery  tongue 
had  so  exasperated  the  Southerners  in 
Congress  as  to  make  them  show  their 
knives  and  pistols,  he  stepped  out  into  the 
aisle,  and  facing,  bid  them  defiance.  He 
was  a  Radical  of  the  Radicals,  and  con 
stantly  contended  that  the  government — 
the  better  to  preserve  itself — could  travel 
outside  of  the  Constitution.  What  cannot 
be  said  of  any  other  man  in  history,  can 
be  said  of  Thaddeus  Stevens.  When  he 
lay  dead,  carried  thus  from  Washington  to 
his  home  in  Lancaster,  with  all  of  his 
people  knowing  that  he  was  dead,  he  was, 
on  the  day  following  the  arrival  of  his 
corpse,  and  within  a  few  squares  of  his  re 
sidence,  unanimously  renominated  by  the 
Republicans  for  Congress.  If  more  poetic 
and  less  practical  sections  or  lands  than  the 
North  had  such  a  hero,  hallowed  by  such 
an  incident,  both  the  name  and  the  inci 
dent  would  travel  down  the  ages  in  song 
and  story.* 

The  "  rising  "  man  in  the  87th  Congress 
was  Schuyler  Col  fax,  of  Indiana,  elected 
Speaker  of  the  38th,  and  subsequently 
Vice  President.  A  great  parliamentarian, 
he  was  gifted  with  rare  eloquence,  and 
with  a  kind  which  won  friends  without 
oifending  enemies — something  too  rare  to 
last.  In  the  House  were  also  Justin  S. 
Morrill,  the  author  of  the  Tariff  Bill  which 
supplied  the  "  sinews  of  war,"  Henry  L. 
Dawes  of  Massachusetts,  then  "  the  man  of 
Statistics"  and  the  "watch-dog  of  the 
treasury."  Roscoe  Conkling  was  then  the 
admitted  leader  of  the  New  York  delega 
tion,  as  he  was  the  admitted  mental 
superior  of  any  other  in  subsequent  terms 
in  the  Senate,  up  to  the  time  of  his  resigna 
tion  in  1881.  Reuben  E.  Fenton,  his 
factional  opponent,  was  also  there.  Ohio 
was  strongly  represented  in  both  parties — 
Pendleton,  Cox  and  Vallandigham  on  the 
side  of  the  Democrats ;  Bingham  and  Ash 
ley  on  the  part  of  the  Republicans.  Illi 
nois  showed  four  prominent  anti-Lecomp- 
ton  supporters  of  the  administration — 

*This  incident,  was  related  to  the  writer  by  Col.  A.  K. 
McClure  of  Philadelphia,  who  was  in  Lancaster  at  the 
time. 


Douglas  in  the  Senate;  Logan,  McCler- 
nand  and  Richardson  in  the  House;  while 
prominent  among  the  Republicans  were 
Lovejoy  (an  original  Abolitionist),  Wash- 
burne,  a  candidate  for  the  Presidential 
nomination  in  1880— Kellogg  and  Arnold. 
John  F.  Potter  was  one  of  the  prominent 
Wisconsin  men,  who  had  won  additional 
fame  by  accepting  the  challenge  to  duel  of 
Roger  A.  Pryor  of  Virginia,  and  naming 
the  American  rifle  as  the  weapon.  Fortu 
nately  the  duel  did  not  come  off.  Penn 
sylvania  had  then,  as  she  still  has,  Judge 
Kelley  of  Philadelphia,  chairman  of  Ways 
and  Means  in  the  46th  Congress ;  also 
Edward  McPherson,  frequently  since  Clerk 
of  the  House,  temporary  President  of  the 
Cincinnati  Convention,  whose  decision 
overthrew  the  unit  rule,  and  author  of 
several  valuable  political  works,  some  of 
which  we  freely  quote  in  this  history. 
John  Hickman,  subsequently  a  Republi 
can,  but  one  of  the  ^earliest  of  the  anti- 
Lecompton  Democrats,  was  an  admitted 
leader,  a  man  of  rare  force  and  eloquence. 
So  radical  did  he  become  that  he  refused 
to  support  the  re-election  cf  Lincoln.  He 
was  succeeded  by  John  M.  Broomall,  who 
made  several  fine  speeches  in  favor  of 
the  constitutional  amendments  touching 
slavery  and  civil  rights.  Here  also  were 
James  Campbell,  Hendricks  B.  Wright, 
John  Covode,  James  K.  Morehead,  and 
Speaker  Grow — the  father  of  the  Home 
stead  Bill,  which  will  be  found  in  Book 
V.,  giving  the  Existing  Political  Laws. 
At  this  session  Senator  Trumbull  of 
Illinois,  renewed  the  agitation  of  the 
slavery  question,  by  reporting  from  the 
Judiciary  Committee  of  which  he  was 
Chairman,  a  bill  to  confiscate  all  property 
and  free  all  slaves  used  for  insurrectionary 
purposes.*  Breckinridge  fought  the  bill, 
as  indeed  he  did  all  bills  coming  from  the 
Republicans,  and  said  if  passed  it  would 
eventuate  in  "the  loosening  of  all  bonds." 
Among  the  facts  stated  in  support  of  the 
measure  was  this,  that  the  Confederates 
had  at  Bull  Run  used  the  negroes  and 
slares  against  the  Union  army — a  state 
ment  never  well  established.  The  bill 
passed  the  Senate  by  33  to  6,  and  on  the 
3d  of  August  passed  the  House,  though 
several  Republicans  there  voted  against  it, 
fearing  a  too  rapid  advance  would  preju 
dice  the  Union  cause.  Indeed  this  fear 
was  entertained  by  Lincoln  when  he  re 
commended 

COMPENSATED  EMANCIPATION 

in  the  second  session  of  the  37th  Congress, 
which  recommendation  excited  official  dis 
cussion  almost  up  to  the  time  the  emanci 
pation  proclamation  was  issued  as  a  war 
necessity.  The  idea  of  compensated  eman- 

*  Arnold's  "History  of  Abraham  Lincoln.1* 


136 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


cipation  originated  with  or  was  first  form 
ulated  by  James  B.  McKean  of  New  York, 
who  on  Feb.  llth,  1861,  at  the  2d  session 
of  the  36th  Congress,  introduced  the  fol 
lowing  resolution : 

WHEREAS,  The  "Gulf  States"  have  as 
sumed  to  secede  from  the  Union,  and  it  is 
deemed  important  to  prevent  the  "  border 
slave  States  "  from  following  their  exam 
ple  ;  and  whereas  it  is  believed  that  those 
who  are  inflexibly  opposed  to  any  measure 
of  compromise  or  concession  that  involves, 
or  may  involve,  a  sacrifice  of  principle  or 
the  extension  of  slavery,  would  neverthe 
less  cheerfully  concur  in  any  lawful 
measure  for  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves : 
Therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  select  committee  of 
five  be  instructed  to  inquire  whether,  by 
the  consent  of  the  people,  or  of  the  State 
governments,  or  by  compensating  the 
slaveholders,  it  be  practicable  for  the  Gen 
eral  Government  to  procure  the  emancipa 
tion  of  the  slaves  in  some,  or  all,  of  the  "bor 
der  States ;"  and  if  so,  to  report  a  bill  for 
that  purpose. 

Lincoln  was  so  strongly  impressed  with 
the  fact,  in  the  earlier  struggles  of  the  war, 
that  great  good  would  follow  compensated 
emancipation,  that  on  March  2d,  1862,  he 
sent  a  special  message  to  the  2d  session  of 
the  37th  Congress,  in  which  he  said : 

"  I  recommend  the  adoption  of  a  joint 
resolution  by  your  honorable  bodies,  which 
shall  be  substantially  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  United  States  ought 
to  co-operate  with  any  State  which  may 
adopt  gradual  abolishment  of  slavery,  giv 
ing  to  such  State  pecuniary  aid,  to  be  used 
by  such  State  in  its  discretion,  to  compen 
sate  for  the  inconveniences,  public  and 
private,  produced  by  such  change  of  sys 
tem. 

"  If  the  proposition  contained  in  the 
resolution  does  not  meet  the  approval  of 
Congress  and  the  country,  there  is  the  end ; 
but  if  it  does  command  such  approval,  I 
deem  it  of  importance  that  the  States  and 
people  immediately  interested  should  be 
at  once  distinctly  notified  of  the  fact,  so 
that  they  may  begin  to  consider  whether 
to  accept  or  reject  it.  The  Federal  Govern 
ment  would  find  its  highest  interest  in  such 
a  measure,  as  one  of  the  most  efficient 
means  of  self-preservation.  The  leaders  of 
the  existing  insurrection  entertain  the  hope 
that  this  Government  will  ultimately  be 
forced  to  acknowledge  the  independence 
of  some  part  of  the  disaffected  region,  and 
that  all  the  slave  States  north  of  such  part 
will  then  say,  'the  Union  for  which  we 
have  struggled  being  already  gone,  we  now 
choose  to  go  with  the  southern  section.' 
To  deprive  them  of  this  hope,  substantially 
ends  the  rebellion ;  and  the  initiation  of 
emancipation  completely  deprives  them  of 
it  as  to  all  the  States  initiating  it.  The 


point  is  not  that  all  the  States  tolerating 
slavery  would  very  soon,  if  at  all,  initiate 
emancipation;  but  that,  while  the  offer 
is  equally  made  to  all,  the  more  northern 
shall,  by  such  initiation,  make  it  certain 
to  the  more  southern  that  in  no  event  will 
the  former  ever  join  the  latter  in  their  pro 
posed  confederacy.  I  say  '  initiation/  be 
cause,  in  my  judgment,  gradual,  and  not 
sudden  emancipation,  is  better  for  all.  In 
the  mere  financial  or  pecuniary  view,  any 
member  of  Congress,  with  the  census 
tables  and  Treasury  reports  before  him, 
can  readily  see  for  himself  how  very  soon 
the  current  expenditures  of  this  war  would 
purchase,  at  fair  valuation,  all  the  slaves 
in  any  named  State.  Such  a  proposition 
on  the  part  of  the  General  Government 
sets  up  no  claim  of  a  right  by  Federal 
authority  to  interfere  with  slavery  within 
State  limits,  referring,  as  it  does  the  abso 
lute  control  of  the  subject  in  each  case  to 
the  State  and  its  people  immediately  in 
terested.  It  is  proposed  as  a  matter  of  per 
fectly  free  choice  with  them. 

"  In  the  annual  message  last  December, 
I  thought  fit  to  say,  '  the  Union  must  be 
preserved;  and  hence  all  indispensable 
means  must  be  employed.'  I  said  this  not 
hastily,  but  deliberately.  War  has  been 
made,  and  continues  to  be  an  indispensa 
ble  means  to  this  end.  A  practical  reac- 
knowledgment  of  the  national  authority 
would  render  the  war  unnecessary,  and  it 
would  at  once  cease.  If,  however,  resist 
ance  continues,  the  war  must  also  continue; 
and  it  is  impossible  to  foresee  all  the  inci 
dents  which  may  attend,  and  all  the  ruin 
which  may  follow  it.  Such  as  may  seem 
indispensable,  or  may  obviously  promise 
great  efficiency  toward  ending  the  strug 
gle,  must  and  will  come. 

"  The  proposition  now  made,  though  an 
offer  only,  I  hope  it  may  be  esteemed  no 
offence  to  ask  whether  the  pecuniary  con 
sideration  tendered  would  not  be  of  more 
value  to  the  States  and  private  persons 
concerned,  than  are  the  institution,  and 
property  in  it,  in  the  present  aspect  of 
affairs  ? 

"  While  it  is  true  that  the  adoption  of 
the  proposed  resolution  would  be  merely 
initiatory,  and  not  within  itself  a  practical 
measure,  it  is  recommended  in  the  hope 
that  it  would  soon  lead  to  important  prac 
tical  results.  In  full  view  of  my  great  re 
sponsibility  to  my  God  and  to  my  country, 
I  earnestly  beg  the  attention  of  Congress 
and  the  people  to  the  subject." 

Mr.  Conkling  called  the  question  up  in 
the  House  March  10th,  and  under  a  sus 
pension  of  the  rules,  it  was  passed  by  97  to 
36.  It  passed  the  Senate  April  2,  by  32  to 
10,  the  Republicans,  as  a  rule,  voting  for 
it,  the  Democrats,  as  a  rule,  voting  against 
it;  and  this  was  true  even  of  those  in  the 
Border  States. 


COMPENSATED    EMANCIPATION. 


1ST 


The  fact  last  stated  excited  the  notice  of 
President  Lincoln,  and  in  July,  1862,  he 
sought  an  interview  with  the  Border  State 
Congressmen,  the  result  of  which  is  con 
tained  in  McPhersoii's  Political  History  of 
the  Great  Rebellion,  as  follows : 


The  President's  Appeal   to   the  Border 
States. 

The  ^Representatives  and  Senators  of 
the  border  slaveholding  States,  having,  by 
special  invitation  of  the  President,  been 
convened  at  the  Executive  Mansion,  on 
Saturday  morning  last,  (July  12,)  Mr. 
Lincoln  addressed  them  as  follows  from  a 
written  paper  held  in  his  hand  : 

"  GENTLEMEN  :  After  the  adjournment 
of  Congress,  now  near,  I  shall  have  no 
opportunity  of  seeing  you  for  several 
months.  Believing  that  you  of  the  border 
States  hold  more  power  for  good  than  any 
other  equal  number  of  members,  I  feel  it 
a  duty  which  I  cannot  justifiably  waive,  to 
make  this  appeal  to  you. 

"I  intend  no  reproach  or  complaint 
when  I  assure  you  that,  in  my  opinion,  if 
you  all  had  voted  for  the  resolution  in  the 
gradual  emancipation  message  of  last 
March,  the  war  would  now  be  substantially 
ended.  And  the  plan  therein  proposed  is 
yet  one  of  the  most  potent  and  swift  means 
of  ending  it.  Let  the  States  which  are  in 
rebellion  see  definitely  and  certainly  that 
in  no  event  will  the  States  you  represent 
ever  join  their  proposed  Confederacy,  and 
they  cannot  much  longer  maintain  the 
contest.  But  you  cannot  divest  them  of 
their  hope  to  ultimately  have  you  with 
them  so  long  as  you  show  a  determination 
to  perpetuate  the  institution  within  your 
own  States.  Beat  them  at  elections,  as 
you  have  overwhelmingly  done,  and,  noth 
ing  daunted,  they  still  claim  you  as  their 
own.  You  and  I  know  what  the  lever  of 
their  power  is.  Break  that  lever  before 
their  faces,  and  they  can  shake  you  no 
more  forever. 

"Most  of  you  have  treated  me  with 
kindness  and  consideration,  and  I  trust 
you  will  not  now  think  I  improperly  touch 
what  is  exclusively  your  own,  when,  for 
the  sake  of  the  whole  country,  I  ask,  '  Can 
you,  for  your  States,  do  better  than  to  take 
the  course  I  urge  ?  '  Discarding  punctilio 
and  maxims  adapted  to  more  manageable 
times,  and  looking  only  to  the  unprece- 
dentedly  stern  facts  of  our  case,  can  you  do 
better  in  any  possible  event?  You  prefer 
that  the  constitutional  relations  of  the 
States  to  the  nation  shall  be  practically 
restored  without  disturbance  of  the  insti 
tution  ;  and,  if  this  were  done,  my  whole 
duty,  in  this  respect,  under  the  Constitu 
tion  and  my  oath  of  office,  would  be  per 
formed.  But  it  is  not  done,  and  we  are 


trying  to  accomplish  it  by  war.  The 
incidents  of  the  war  cannot  be  avoided. 
If  the  war  continues  long,  as  it  must,  if 
the  object  be  not  sooner  attained,  the  in 
stitution  in  your  States  will  be  ex 
tinguished  by  mere  friction  and  abrasion 
— by  the  mere  incidents  of  the  war.  It 
will  be  gone,  and  you  will  have  nothing 
valuable  in  lieu  of  it.  Much  of  its  value 
is  gone  already.  How  much  better  for 
you  and  for  your  people  to  take  the  step 
which  at  once  shortens  the  war  and 
secures  substantial  compensation  for  that 
which  is  sure  to  be  wholly  lost  in  any 
other  event!  How  much  better  to  thus 
save  the  money  which  else  we  sink  forever 
in  the  war!  How  much  better  to  do  it 
while  Ve  can,  lest  the  war  ere  long  render 
us  pecuniarily  unable  to  do  it !  How  much 
better  for  you,  as  seller,  and  the  nation,  as 
buyer,  to  sell  out  and  buy  out  that  without 
which  the  war  could  never  have  been, 
than  to  sink  both  the  thing  to  be  sold  and 
the  price  of  it  in  cutting  one  another's 
throats ! 

"  I  do  not  speak  of  emancipation  at  once, 
but  of  a  decision  at  once  to  emancipate 
gradually.  Room  in  South  America  for 
colonization  can  be  obtained  cheaply  and 
in  abundance,  and  when  numbers  shall  be 
large  enough  to  be  company  and  encour 
agement  for  one  another,  the  freed  people 
will  not  be  so  reluctant  to  go. 

"  I  am  pressed  with  a  difficulty  not  yet 
mentioned,  one  which  threatens  division 
among  those  who,  united,  are  none  too 
strong.  An  instance  of  it  is  known  to 
you.  General  Hunter  is  an  honest  man. 
He  was,  and  I  hope  still  is,  my  friend.  I 
valued  him  none  the  less  for  his  agreeing 
with  me  in  the  general  wish  that  all  men 
everywhere  could  be  freed.  He  proclaimed 
all  men  free  within  certain  States,  and  I 
repudiated  the  proclamation.  He  expected 
more  good  and  less  harm  from  the  measure 
than  I  could  believe  would  follow.  Yet, 
in  repudiating  it,  I  gave  dissatisfaction,  if 
not  offence,  to  many  whose  support  the 
country  cannot  afford  to  lose.  And  this  is 
not  the  end  of  it.  The  'pressure  in  this 
direction  is  still  upon  me,  and  is  increas 
ing.  By  conceding  what  I  now  ask  you 
can  relieve  me,  and,  much  more,  can  re 
lieve  the  country  in  this  important  point. 

"  Upon  these  considerations  I  have 
again  begged  your  attention  to  the  mes 
sage  of  March  last.  Before  leaving  the 
Capitol,  consider  and  discuss  it  among 
yourselves.  You  are  patriots  and  states 
men,  and  as  such  I  pray  you  consider  this 
proposition ;  and  at  the  least  commend  it 
to  the  consideration  of  your  States  and 
people.  As  you  would  perpetuate  popular 
government  for  the  best  people  in  the 
world,  I  beseech  you  that  you  do  in  no 
wise  omit  this.  Our  common  country  ia 
in  great  peril,  demanding  the  loftiest 


138 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


views  and  boldest  action  to  bring  a  speedy 
relief.  Once  relieved,  its  form  of  govern 
ment  is  saved  to  the  world,  its  beloved 
history  and  cherished  memories  are  vin 
dicated,  and  its  happy  future  fully  assured 
and  rendered  inconceivably  grand.  To 
you,  more  than  to  any  others,  the  privi 
lege  is  given  to  assure  that  happiness  and 
swell  that  grandeur,  and  to  link  your  own 
names  therewith  forever." 

At  the  conclusion  of  these  remarks 
some  conversation  was  had  between  the 
President  and  several  members  of  the 
delegations  from  the  border  States,  in 
•which  it  was  represented  that  these  States 
could  not  be  expected  to  move  in  so  great 
a  matter  as  that  brought  to  their  notice  in 
the  foregoing  address  while  as  yet  the 
Congress  had  taken  no  step  beyond  the 
passage  of  a  resolution,  expressive  rather 
of  a  sentiment  than  presenting  a  substan 
tial  and  reliable  basis  of  action. 

The  President  acknowledged  the  force 
of  this  view,  and  admitted  that  the  border 
States  were  entitled  to  expect  a  substantial 
pledge  of  pecuniary  aid  as  the  condition 
of  taking  into  consideration  a  proposition 
so  important  in  its  relations  to  their  social 
system. 

It  was  further  represented,  in  the  con 
ference,  that  the  people  of  the  border 
States  were  interested  in  knowing  the 
great  importance  which  the  President 
attached  to  the  policy  in  question,  while  it 
was  equally  due  to  the  country,  to  the 
President,  and  to  themselves,  that  the 
representatives  of  the  border  slave-holding 
States  should  publicly  announce  the  mo 
tives  under  which  they  were  called  to  act, 
and  the  considerations  of  public  policy 
urged  upon  them  and  their  constituents  by 
the  President. 

With  a  view  to  such  a  statement  of  their 
position,  the  members  thus  addressed  met 
in  council  to  deliberate  on  the  reply  they 
should  make  to  the  President,  and,  as  the 
result  of  a  comparison  of  opinions  among 
themselves,  they  determined  upon  the 
adoption  of  a  majority  and  minority  an 
swer. 

REPLY   OF  THE   MAJORITY. 

The  following  paper  was  yesterday  sent  to 
the  President,  signed  by  the  majority  of 
the  Representatives  from  the  border  slave- 
holding  States : — 

WASHINGTON,  July  14,  1862. 
To  the  PRESIDENT  : 

The  undersigned,  Representatives  of 
Kentucky,  Virginia,  Missouri,  and  Mary 
land,  in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  have 
listened  to  your  address  with  the  profound 
sensibility  naturally  inspired  by  the  high 
source  from  which  it  emanates,  the  earn 
estness  which  marked  its  delivery,  and 
the  overwhelming  importance  of  the  sub 


ject  of  which  it  treats.  We  have  given  it 
a  most  respectful  consideration,  and  now 
lay  before  you  our  response.  We  regret 
that  want  of  time  has  not  permitted  us  to 
make  it  more  perfect. 

We  have  not  been  wanting,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  in  respect  to  you,  and  in  devotion  to 
the  Constitution  and  the  Union.  We 
have  not  been  indifferent  to  the  great  dif 
ficulties  surrounding  you,  compared  with 
which  all  former  national  troubles  have 
been  but  as  the  summer  cloud;  and  we 
have  freely  given  you  our  sympathy  and 
support.  Repudiating  the  dangerous  here 
sies  of  the  secessionists,  we  believed,  with 
you,  that  the  war  on  their  part  is  aggressive 
and  wicked,  and  the  objects  for  which  it 
was  to  be  prosecuted  on  ours,  defined  by 
your  message  at  the  opening  of  the  pres 
ent  Congress,  to  be  such  as  all  good  men 
should  approve.  We  have  not  hesitated 
to  vote  all  supplies  necessary  to  carry  it  on 
vigorously.  We  have  voted  all  the  men 
and  money  you  have  asked  for,  and  even 
more ;  we  have  imposed  onerous  taxes  on 
our  people,  and  they  are  paying  them 
with  cheerfulness  and  alacrity;  we  have 
encouraged  enlistments  and  sent  to  the 
field  many  of  our  best  men  ;  and  some  of 
our  number  have  offered  their  persons  to 
the  enemy  as  pledges  of  their  sincerity  and 
devotion  to  the  country. 

We  have  done  all  this  under  the  most 
discouraging  circumstances,  and  in  the 
face  of  measures  most  distasteful  to  us 
and  injurious  to  the  interests  we  repre 
sent,  and  in  the  hearing  of  doctrines 
avowed  by  those  who  claim  to  be  your 
friends,  must  be  abhorrent  to  us  and  our 
constituents.  But,  for  all  this,  we  have 
never  faltered,  nor  shall  we  as  long  as  we 
have  a  Constitution  to  defend  and  a  Gov 
ernment  which  protects  us.  And  we  are 
ready  for  renewed  efforts,  and  even  greater 
sacrifices,  yea,  any  sacrifice,  when  we  are 
satisfied  it  is  required  to  preserve  our 
admirable  form  of  government  and  the 

Ericeless    blessings   of   constitutional    li- 
erty. 

A  few  of  our  number  voted  for  the 
resolution  recommended  by  your  message 
of  the  6th  of  March  last,  the  greater  por 
tion  of  us  did  not,  and  we  will  briefly 
state  the  prominent  reasons  which  in 
fluenced  our  action. 

In  the  first  place,  it  proposed  a  radical 
change  of  our  social  system,  and  was  hur 
ried  through  both  Houses  with  undue 
haste,  without  reasonable  time  for  consid 
eration  and  debate,  and  with  no  time  at 
all  for  consultation  with  our  constituents, 
whose  interests  it  deeply  involved.  It 
seemed  like  an  interference  by  this  Gov 
ernment  with  a  question  which  peculiarly 
and  exclusively  belonged  to  our  respective 
States,  on  which  they  had  not  sought  ad 
vice  or  solicited  aid.  Many  of  us  doubted 


COMPENSATED    EMANCIPATION. 


139 


the  constitutional  power  of  this  Govern 
ment  to  make  appropriations  of  money  for 
the  object  designated,  and  all  of  us  thought 
our  finances  were  in  no  condition  to  bear 
the  immense  outlay  which  its  adoption 
and  faithful  execution  would  impose  upon 
the  national  Treasury.  If  we  pause  but 
a  moment  to  think  of  the  debt  its  accept 
ance  would  have  entailed,  we  are  appalled 
by  its  magnitude.  The  proposition  was 
addressed  to  all  the  States,  and  embraced 
the  whole  number  of  slaves. 

According  to  the  census  of  1860  there 
were  then  nearly  four  million  slaves  in  the 
country ;  from  natural  increase  they  exceed 
that  number  now.  At  even  the  low  average 
of  $300,  the  price  fixed  by  the  emancipa 
tion  act  for  the  slaves  of  this  District,  and 
greatly  below  their  real  worth,  their  value 
runs  up  to  the  enormous  sum  of  $1,200,- 
000,000 ;  and  if  to  that  we  add  the  cost  of 
deportation  and  colonization,  at  $100  each, 
which  is  but  a  fraction  more  than  is  ac 
tually  paid  by  the  Maryland  Colonization 
Society,  we  have  $400,000,000  more.  We 
were  not  willing  to  impose  a  tax  on  our 
people  sufficient  to  pay  the  interest  on  that 
sum,  in  addition  to  the  vast  and  daily  in 
creasing  debt  already  fixed  upon  them  by 
the  exigencies  of  the  war,  and  if  we  had 
been  willing,  the  country  could  not  bear  it. 
Stated  in  this  form  the  proposition  is  noth 
ing  less  than  the  deportation  from  the 
country  of  $1,600,000,000  worth  of  produc 
ing  labor,  and  the  substitution  in  its  place 
of  an  interest-bearing  debt  of  the  same 
amount. 

But,  if  we  are  told  that  it  was  expected 
that  only  the  States  we  represent  would 
accept  the  proposition,  we  respectfully 
submit  that  even  then  it  involves  a  sum 
too  great  for  the  financial  ability  of  this 
Government  at  this  time.  According  to 
the  census  of  1860 — 

Slaves. 

Kentucky  had 225,490 

Maryland 87,188 

Virginia 490,887 

Delaware 1,798 

Missouri 114,965 

Tennessee 275,784 


Making  in  the  whole 1,196,112 

At  the  same  rate  of  valuation 

these  would  amount  to.... $358,933,500 
Add  for  deportation  and  colo 
nization  $100  each 118,244,533 


And  we  have  the  enormous 
sum  of. $478,038,133 

We  did  not  feel  that  we  should  be  justi 
fied  in  voting  for  a  measure  which,  if  car 
ried  out,  would  add  this  vast  amount  to 
our  public  debt  at  a  moment  when  the 
Treasury  was  reeling  under  the  enormous 
expenditure  of  the  war. 


Again,  it  seemed  to  us  that  this  resolu 
tion  was  but  the  annunciation  of  a  senti 
ment  which  could  not  or  was  not  likely  to 
be  reduced  to  an  actual  tangible  proposi 
tion.  No  movement  was  then  made  to 
provide  and  appropriate  the  funds  required 
to  carry  it  into  effect ;  and  we  were  not  en 
couraged  to  believe  that  funds  would  be 
provided.  And  our  belief  has  been  fully 
justified  by  subsequent  events.  Not  to 
mention  other  circumstances,  it  is  quite 
sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  bring  to  your 
notice  the  fact  that,  while  this  resolution 
was  under  consideration  in  the  Senate,  our 
colleague,  the  Senator  from  Kentucky, 
moved  an  amendment  appropriating  $500,- 
000  to  the  object  therein  designated,  and  it 
was  voted  down  with  great  unanimity.  What 
confidence,  then,  could  we  reasonably  feel 
that  if  we  committed  ourselves  to  the 
policy  it  proposed,  our  constituents  would 
reap  the  fruits  of  the  promise  held  out ; 
and  on  what  ground  could  we,  as  fair  men, 
approach  them  and  challenge  their  sup 
port? 

The  right  to  hold  slaves  is  a  right  apper 
taining  to  all  the  States  of  this  Union. 
They  have  the  right  to  cherish  or  abolish 
the  institution,  as  their  tastes  or  their  in 
terests  may  prompt,  and  no  one  is  autho 
rized  to  question  the  right  or  limit  the  en 
joyment.  And  no  one  has  more  clearly 
affirmed  that  right  than  you  have.  Your 
inaugural  address  does  you  great  honor  in 
this  respect,  and  inspired  the  country  with 
confidence  in  your  fairness  and  respect  for 
the  law.  Our  States  are  in  the  enjoyment 
of  that  right.  We  do  not  feel  called  on  to 
defend  the  institution  or  to  affirm  it  is  one 
which  ought  to  be  cherished ;  perhaps,  if 
we  were  to  make  the  attempt,  we  might 
find  that  we  differ  even  among  ourselves. 
It  is  enough  for  our  purpose  to  know  that 
it  is  a  right ;  and,  so  knowing,  we  did  not 
see  why  we  should  now  be  expected  to 
yield  it.  We  had  contributed  our  full 
share  to  relieve  the  country  at  this  terrible 
crisis ;  we  had  done  as  much  as  had  been 
required  of  others  in  like  circumstances ; 
and  we  did  not  see  why  .sacrifices  should 
be  expected  of  us  from  which  others,  no 
more  loyal,  were  exempt.  Nor  could  we 
see  what  good  the  nation  would  derive 
from  it. 

Such  a  sacrifice  submitted  to  by  us 
would  not  have  strengthened  the  arm  of 
this  Government  or  weakened  that  of  the 
enemy.  It  was  not  necessary  as  a  pledge 
of  our  loyalty,  for  that  had  been  mani 
fested  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt,  in  every 
form,  and  at  every  place  possible.  There 
was  not  the  remotest  probability  that  the 
States  we  represent  would  join  in  the  re 
bellion,  nor  is  there  now,  or  of  their  elect 
ing  to  go  with  the  southern  section  in  the 
event  of  a  recognition  of  the  independence 
of  any  part  of  the  disaffected  region.  Our 


140 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


States  are  fixed  unalterably  in  their  reso 
lution  to  adhere  to  and  support  the  Union. 
They  see  no  safety  for  themselves,  and  no 
hope  for  constitutional  liberty  but  by  its 
preservation.  They  will,  under  no  cir 
cumstances,  consent  to  its  dissolution ;  and 
we  do  them  no  more  than  justice  when  we 
assure  you  that,  while  the  war  is  conducted 
to  prevent  that  deplorable  catastrophe, 
they  will  sustain  it  as  long  as  they  can 
muster  a  man  or  command  a  dollar.  Nor 
will  they  ever  consent,  in  any  event,  to 
unite  with  the  Southern  Confederacy.  The 
bitter  fruits  of  the  peculiar  doctrines  of 
that  region  will  forever  prevent  them  from 
placing  their  security  and  happiness  in  the 
custody  of  an  association  which  has  incor 
porated  in  its  organic  law  the  seeds  of  its 
own  destruction. 
******  *  * 

Mr.  President,  we  have  stated  with  frank 
ness  and  candor  the  reasons  on  which  we 
forbore  to  vote  for  the  resolution  you  have 
mentioned ;  but  you  have  again  presented 
this  proposition,  and  appealed  to  us  with 
an  earnestness  and  eloquence  which  have 
not  failed  to  impress  us,  to  "  consider  it, 
and  at  the  least  to  commend  it  to  the  con 
sideration  of  our  States  and  people."  Thus 
appealed  to  by  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  our 
beloved  country,  in  the  hour  of  its  greatest 
peril,  we  cannot  wholly  decline.  We  are 
willing  to  trust  every  question  relating  to 
their  interest. and  happiness  to  the  con 
sideration  and  ultimate  judgment  of  our 
own  people.  While  differing  from  you  as 
to  the  necessity  of  emancipating  the  slaves 
of  our  States  as  a  means  of  putting  down 
the  rebellion,  and  while  protesting  against 
the  propriety  of  any  extra-territorial  inter 
ference  to  induce  the  people  of  our  States 
to  adopt  any  particular  line  of  policy  on  a 
subject  which  peculiarly  and  exclusively 
belongs  to  them,  yet,  when  you  and  our 
brethren  of  the  loyal  States  sincerely  be 
lieve  that  the  retention  of  slavery  by  us  is 
an  obstacle  to  peace  and  national  harmony, 
and  are  willing  to  contribute  pecuniary  aid 
to  compensate  our  States  and  people  for 
the  inconveniences  produced  by  such  a 
change  of  system,  we  are  not  unwilling 
that  our  people  shall  consider  the  propriety 
of  putting  it  aside. 

But  we  have  already  said  that  we  re 
garded  this  resolution  as  the  utterance  of 
a  sentiment,  and  we  had  no  confidence 
that  it  would  assume  the  shape  of  a  tangi 
ble,  practical  proposition,  which  would 
yield  the  fruits  of  the  sacrifice  it  required. 
Our  people  are  influenced  by  the  same 
want  of  confidence,  and  will  not  consider 
the  proposition  in  its  present  impalpable 
form.  The  interest  they  are  asked  to  give 
up  is  to  them  of  much  importance,  and 
they  ought  not  to  be  expected  even  to  en 
tertain  the  proposal  until  they  are  assured 
that  when  they  accept  it  their  just  expect 


ations  will  not  be  frustrated.  We  regard 
your  plan  as  a  proposition  from  the  Nation 
to  the  States  to  exercise  an  admitted  con 
stitutional  right  in  a  particular  manner 
and  yield  up  a  valuable  interest.  Before 
they  ought  to  consider  the  proposition,  it 
should  be  presented  in  such  a  tangible, 
practical,  efficient  shape  as  to  command 
their  confidence  that  its  fruits  are  contin 
gent  only  upon  their  acceptance.  We  can 
not  trust  anything  to  the  contingencies  of 
future  legislation. 

If  Congress,  by  proper  and  necessary 
legislation,  shall  provide  sufficient  funds 
and  place  them  at  your  disposal,  to  be  ap 
plied  by  you  to  the  payment  of  any  of  our 
States  or  the  citizens  thereof  who  shall 
adopt  the  abolishment  of  slavery,  either 
gradual  or  immediate,  as  they  may  deter 
mine,  and  the  expense  of  deportation  and 
colonization  of  the  liberated  slaves,  then 
will  our  State  and  people  take  this  propo 
sition  into  careful  consideration,  for  such 
decision  as  in  their  judgment  is  demanded 
by  their  interest,  their  honor,  and  their 
duty  to  the  whole  country.  We  have  the 
honor  to  be,  with  great  respect, 

C.  A.  WICKLIFFE,  Ch'n, 
GARRETT  DAVIS, 
K.  WILSON, 
J.  J.  CRITTENDEN, 
JOHN  S.  CARLILE, 
J.  W.  CRISFIELD, 
J.  S.  JACKSON, 
H.  GRIDER, 
JOHN  S.  PHELPS, 
FRANCIS  THOMAS, 
CHAS.  B.  CALVERT, 
C.  L.  LEARY, 
EDWIN  H.  WEBSTER, 
E.  MALLORY, 
AARON  HARDING, 
JAMES  S.  ROLLINS, 
J.  W.  MENZIES, 
THOMAS  L.  PRICE, 
G.  W.  DUNLAP, 
WM.  A.  HALL. 

Others  of  the  minority,  among  them  Sen 
ator  Henderson  and  Horace  Maynard,  for 
warded  separate  replies,  but  all  rejecting 
the  idea  of  compensated  emancipation. 
Still  Lincoln  adhered  to  and  advocated  it 
in  his  recent  annual  message  sent  to  Con 
gress,  Dec.  1,  1862,  from  which  we  take 
the  following  paragraphs,  which  are  in 
themselves  at  once  curious  and  interesting : 

"  We  have  two  million  nine  hundred  and 
sixty-three  thousand  square  miles.  Europe 
has  three  million  and  eight  hundred  thou 
sand,  with  a  population  averaging  seventy- 
three  and  one- third  persons  to  the  square 
mile.  Why  may  not  our  country,  at  some 
time,  average  as  many?  Is  it  less  fertile? 
Has  it  more  waste  surface,  by  mountains, 
rivers,  lakes,  deserts,  or  other  causes?  Is 
it  inferior  to  Europe  in  any  natural  ad- 


EMANCIPATION. 


141 


vantage  ?  If,  then,  we  are  at  some  time  to 
be  as  populous  as  Europe,  how  soon  ?  As 
to  when  this  may  be,  we  can  judge  by  the 
past  and  the  present ;  as  to  when  it  will  be, 
if  ever,  depends  much  on  whether  we 
maintain  the  Union.  Several  of  our  States 
are  already  above  the  average  of  Europe 
— seventy-three  and  a  third  to  the  square 
mile.  Massachusetts  has  157 ;  Rhode 
Island,  133  ;  Connecticut,  99 ;  New  York 
and  New  Jersey,  each,  80.  Also  two  other 
great  states,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  are 
not  far  below,  the  former  having  63  and 
the  latter  59.  The  states  already  above 
the  European  average,  except  New  York, 
have  increased  in  as  rapid  a  ratio,  since 
passing  that  point,  as  ever  before ;  while 
no  one  of  them  is  equal  to  some  other  parts 
of  our  country  in  natural  capacity  for  sus 
taining  a  dense  population. 

"Taking  the  nation  in  the  aggregate, 
and  we  find  its  population  and  ratio  of  in 
crease,  for  the  several  decennial  periods,  to 
be  as  follows : 

1790 3,929,827    Ratio  of  increase. 

1800 5,305,937  35.02  per  cent. 

1810 7,239,814  36.45       " 

1820 9,638,131  33.13       " 

1830 12,866,020  33.49       " 

1840 17,069,453  32.67       " 

1850 23,191,876  35.87       " 

1860 31,443,790  35.58       " 

This  shows  an  annual  decennial  increase 
of  34.69  per  cent,  in  population  through 
the  seventy  years  from  our  first  to  our  last 
census  yet  taken.  It  is  seen  that  the  ratio 
of  increase,  at  no  one  of  these  seven  periods 
is  either  two  per  cent,  below  or  two  per 
cent,  above  the  average ;  thus  showing  how 
inflexible,  and,  consequently,  how  reliable, 
the  law  of  increase  in  our  case  is.  Assum 
ing  that  it  will  continue,  gives  the  follow 
ing  results : 

1870 42,323,341 

1880 56,967,216 

1890 76,677,872 

1900 103,208,415 

1910 138,918,526 

1920 186,984,335 

1930 251,680,914 

"These  figures  show  that  our  country 
may  be  as  populous  as  Europe  now  is  at 
some  point  between  1920  and  1930 — say 
about  1925 — our  territory,  at  seventy-three 
and  a  third  persons  to  the  square  mile,  be 
ing  of  capacity  to  contain  217,186,000. 

And  we  will  reach  this,  too,  if  we  do 
not  ourselves  relinquish  the  chance  by  the 
folly  and  evils  of  disunion,  or  by  long  and 
exhausting  war  springing  from  the  only 
great  element  of  national  discord  among 
us.  While  it  cannot  be  foreseen  exactly 
how  much  one  huge  example  of  secession, 
breeding  lesser  ones  indefinitely,  would  re 
tard  population,  civilization,  and  prosperity 


no  one  can  doubt  that  the  extent  of  it 
would  be  very  great  and  injurious. 

The  proposed  emancipation  would  short 
en  the  war,  perpetuate  peace,  insure  this 
increase  of  population,  and  proportionately 
the  wealth  of  the  country.  With  these,  we 
should  pay  all  the  emancipation  would  cost, 
together  with  our  other  debt,  easier  than 
we  should  pay  our  other  debt  without  it. 
If  we  had  allowed  our  old  national  debt  to 
run  at  six  per  cent,  per  annum,  simple  in 
terest,  from  the  end  of  our  revolutionary 
struggle  until  to-day,  without  paying  any 
thing  on  either  principal  or  interest,  each 
man  of  us  would  owe  less  upon  that  debt 
now  than  each  man  owed  upon  it  then; 
and  this  because  our  increase  of  men 
through  the  whole  period  has  been  greater 
than  six  per  cent. ;  has  run  faster  than  the 
interest  upon  the  debt.  Thus,  time  alone 
relieves  a  debtor  nation,  so  long  as  its  popu 
lation  increases  faster  than  unpaid  interest 
accumulates  on  its  debt. 

"This  fact  would  be  no  excuse  for  de 
laying  payment  of  what  is  justly  due ;  but 
it  shows  the  great  importance  of  time  in 
this  connection — the  great  advantage  of  a 
policy  by  which  we  shall  not  have  to  pay 
until  we  number  a  hundred  millions,  what, 
by  a  different  policy,  we  would  have  to  pay 
now,  when  we  number  but  thirty-one  mil 
lions.  In  a  word,  it  shows  that  a  dollar 
will  be  much  harder  to  pay  for  the  war 
than  will  be  a  dollar  for  emancipation  on 
the  proposed  plan.  And  then  the  latter 
will  cost  no  blood,  no  precious  life.  It  will 
be  a  saving  of  both." 

Various  propositions  and  measures  re 
lating  to  compensated  emancipation,  were 
afterwards  considered  in  both  Houses,  but 
it  was  in  March,  1863,  dropped  after  a 
refusal  of  the  House  to  suspend  the  rules 
for  the  consideration  of  the  subject. 


Emancipation  as  a  War  Necessity. 

Before  the  idea  of  compensated  emanci 
pation  had  been  dropped,  and  it  was  con 
stantly  discouraged  by  the  Democrats  and 
Border  Statesmen,  President  Lincoln  had 
determined  upon  a  more  radical  policy, 
and  on  the  22d  of  September,  1862,  issued 
his  celebrated  proclamation  declaring  that 
he  would  emancipate  "  all  persons  held  aa 
slaves  within  any  State  or  designated  part 
of  a  State,  the  people  whereof  shall  be  in 
rebellion  against  the  United  States" — by 
the  first  of  January,  1863,  if  such  sections 
were  not  "  in  good  faith  represented  in 
Congress."  He  followed  this  by  actual 
emancipation  at  the  time  stated. 


Proclamation  of  Sept.  33,  1863. 

I,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  President  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  army  and  navy  thereof,  do 


142 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


hereby  proclaim  and  declare  that  hereafter, 
as  heretofore,  the  war  will  be  prosecuted 
for  the  object  of  practically  restoring  the 
constitutional  relation  between  the  United 
States  and  each  of  the  States  and  the  peo 
ple  thereof,  in  which  States  that  relation 
is  or  may  be  suspended  or  disturbed. 

That  it  is  my  purpose,  upon  the  next 
meeting  of  Congress,  to  again  recommend 
the  adoption  of  a  practical  measure  tender 
ing  pecuniary  aid  to  the  free  acceptance  or 
rejection  of  all  slave  States,  so  called,  the 
people  thereof  may  not  then  be  in  rebellion 
against  the  United  States,  and  which  States 
may  then  have  voluntarily  adopted,  or 
thereafter  may  voluntarily  adopt,  imme 
diate  or  gradual  abolishment  of  slavery 
within  their  respected  limits ;  and  that  the 
effort  to  colonize  persons  of  African  descent 
with  their  consent  upon  this  continent  or 
elsewhere,  with  the  previously  obtained 
consent  of  the  Governments  existing  there, 
will  be  continued. 

That  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hun 
dred  and  sixty-three,  all  persons  held  as 
slaves  within  any  State  or  designated  part 
of  a  State,  the  people  whereof  shall  then  be 
in  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  shall 
be  then,  thenceforward,  and  forever  free ; 
and  the  Executive  Government  of  the 
United  States,  including  the  military  and 
naval  authority  thereof,  will  recognize  and 
maintain  the  freedom  of  such  persons,  and 
will  do  no  act  or  acts  to  repress  such  per 
sons,  or  any  of  them,  in  any  efforts  they 
may  make  for  their  actual  freedom. 

That  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day 
of  January  aforesaid,  by  proclamation,  de 
signate  the  States  and  parts  of  States,  if 
any,  in  which  the  people  thereof  respective 
ly,  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States ;  and  the  fact  that  any  State, 
or  the  people  thereof,  shall  on  that  day  be, 
in  good  faith,  represented  in  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  by  members  chosen 
thereto  at  elections  wherein  a  majority  of 
the  qualified  voters  of  such  State  shall  have 
participated,  shall,  in  the  absence  of  strong 
countervailing  testimony,  be  deemed  con 
clusive  evidence  that  such  State,  and  the 
people  thereof,  are  not  in  rebellion  against 
the  United  States. 

That  attention  is  hereby  called  to  an  act 
of  Congress  entitled  "  An  act  to  make  an 
additional  article  of  war,"  approved  March 
13,  1862,  and  which  act  is  in  the  words  and 
figures  following : 

lt  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That 
nereafter  the  following  shall  be  promulga 
ted  as  an  additional  article  of  war,  for  the 
government  of  the  army  of  the  United 
States,  and  shall  be  obeyed  and  observed 
as  such. 

"  AETIOLE  — .  All  officers  or  persons  in 


the  military  or  naval  service  of  the  United 
States  are  prohibited  from  employing  any 
of  the  forces  under  their  respective  com 
mands  for  the  purpose  of  returning  fugi 
tives  from  service  or  labor  who  may  have 
escaped  from  any  persons  to  whom  such 
service  or  labor  is  claimed  to  be  due,  and 
any  officer  who  shall  be  found  guilty  by  a 
court-martial  of  violating  this  article  shall 
be  dismissed  from  the  service. 

"SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That 
this  act "  shall  take  effect  from  and  after  its 
passage." 

Also  to  the  ninth  and  tenth  sections  of 
an  act  entitled  "  An  act  to  suppress  insur 
rection,  to  punish  treason  and  rebellion,  to 
seize  and  confiscate  property  of  rebels,  and 
for  other  purposes,"  approved  July  17, 
1862,  and  which  sections  are  in  the  words 
and  figures  following : 

"  SEC.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That 
all  slaves  of  persons  who  shall  hereafter  be 
engaged  in  rebellion  against  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  or  who  shall  in 
any  way  give  aid  or  comfort  thereto,  escap 
ing  from  such  persons  and  taking  refuge 
within  the  lines  of  the  army ;  and  all  slaves 
captured  from  such  persons  or  deserted  by 
them,  and  coming  under  the  control  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States;  and 
all  slaves  of  such  persons  found  on  [or] 
being  within  any  place  occupied  by  rebel 
forces  and  afterwards  occupied  by  the 
forces  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  deem 
ed  captives  of  war,  and  shall  be  forever 
free  of  their  servitude,  and  not  again  held 
as  slaves. 

"  SEC.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That 
no  slave  escaping  into  any  State,  Territory, 
or  the  District  of  Columbia,  from  any  other 
State,  shall  be  delivered  up,  or  in  any  way 
impeded  or  hindered  of  his  liberty,  except 
for  crime,  or  some  offence  against  the  laws, 
unless  the  person  claiming  said  fugitive 
shall  first  make  oath  that  the  person  to 
whom  the  labor  or  service  of  sucn  fugitive 
is  alleged  to  be  due  is  his  lawful  owner, 
and  has  not  borne  arms  against  the  United 
States  in  the  present  rebellion,  nor  in  any 
way  given  aid  and  comfort  thereto  ;  and  no 
person  engaged  in  the  military  or  naval 
service  of  the  United  States  shall,  under 
any  pretence  whatever,  assume  to  decide 
on  the  validity  of  the  claim  of  any  person 
to  the  service  or  labor  of  any  other  per 
son,  or  surrender  up  any  such  person  to 
the  claimant,  on  pain  of  being  dismissed 
from  the  service." 

And  I  do  hereby  enjoin  upon  and  order 
all  persons  engaged  in  the  military  and  na 
val  service  of  the  United  States  to  observe, 
obey,  and  enforce,  within  their  respective 
spheres  of  service,  the  act  and  sections 
above  recited. 

And  the  Executive  will  in  due  time 
recommend  that  all  citizens  of  the 
United  States  who  shall  have  remained 


EMANCIPATION. 


143 


loyal  thereto  throughout  the  rebellion  shall 
(upon  the  restoration  of  the  constitutional 
relation  between  the  United  States  and 
their  respective  States  and  people,  if  that 
relation  shall  have  been  suspended  or  dis 
turbed)  be  compensated  for  all  losses  by 
acts  of  the  United  States,  including  the 
loss  of  slaves. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set 
my  hand,  and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United 
States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington  this 
twenty-second  day  of  September,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hun 
dred  and  sixty-two,  and  of  the  indepen 
dence  of  the  United  States  the  eighty- 
seventh. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

By  the  President : 
WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD,  Secretary  of  State. 


Proclamation  of  January  1, 1863. 

WHEREAS,  on  the  twenty -second  day  of 
September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-two, 
a  proclamation  was  issued  by  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  containing 
among  other  things,  the  following,  to  wit : 

"  That  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-three,  all  persons  held 
as  slaves  within  any  State  or  designated 
part  of  a  State,  the 'people  whereof  shall 
then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
States,  shall  be  then,  thenceforward,  and 
forever,  free ;  and  the  Executive  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,  including  the 
military  and  naval  authority  thereof,  will 
recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom  of 
such  persons,  and  will  do  no  act  or  acts  to 
repress  such  persons,  or  any  of  them,  in  any 
efforts  they  may  make  for  their  actual  free 
dom. 

"That  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first 
day  of  January  aforesaid,  by  proclamation, 
designate  the  States  and  parts  of  States,  if 
any,  in  which  the  people  thereof,  respec 
tively,  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against 
the  United  States ;  and  the  fact  that  any 
State,  or  the  people  thereof,  shall  on  that 
day  be  in  good  faith  represented  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  by  mem 
bers  chosen  thereto  at  elections  wherein  a 
majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  such 
States  shall  have  participated,  shall,  in  the 
absence  of  strong  countervailing  testi 
mony,  be  deemed  conclusive  evidence 
that  such  State,  and  the  people  thereof,  are 
then  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
States." 

Now,  therefore,  I,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN, 
President  of  the  United  States,  by  virtue 
of  the  power  in  me  vested  as  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the 
United  States,  in  time  of  actual  armed  re 
bellion  against  the  authority  and  Govern 


ment  of  the  United  States,  and  as  a  fit  and 
necessary  war  measure  for  suppressing  said 
rebellion,  do,  on  this  first  day  of  January, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  in  accord 
ance  with  my  purpose  so  to  do,  publicly 
proclaimed  for  the  full  period  of  one  hun 
dred  days  from  the  day  first  above  men 
tioned,  order  and  designate  as  the  States 
and  parts  of  States  wherein  the  people 
thereof,  respectively,  are  this  day  in  rebel 
lion  against  the  United  States,  the  follow 
ing,  to  wit: 

Arkansas,  Texas,  Louisiana,  (except  the 
parishes  of  St.  Bernard,  Plaquemiues,  Jef 
ferson,  St.  John,  St.  Charles,  St.  James, 
Ascension,  Assumption,  Terre  Bonne,  La- 
fourche,  St.  Mary,  St.  Martin,  and  Orleans, 
including  the  city  of  New  Orleans,)  Mis 
sissippi,  Alabama,  Florida,  Georgia,  South 
Carolina,  North  Carolina,  and  Virginia, 
(except  the  forty-eight  counties  designated 
as  West  Virginia,  and  also  the  counties  of 
Berkeley,  Accomac,  Northampton,  Eliza 
beth  City,  York,  Princess  Ann,  and  Nor 
folk,  including  the  cities  of  Norfolk  and 
Portsmouth,)  and  which  excepted  parts 
are  for  the  present  left  precisely  as  if  this 
proclamation  were  not  issued. 

And  by  virtue  of  the  power  and  for  the 
purpose  aforesaid,  I  do  order  and  declare 
that  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  said 
designated  States  and  parts  of  States  are, 
and  henceforward  shall  be,  free ;  and  that 
the  Executive  Government  of  the  United 
States,  including  the  military  and  naval 
authorities  thereof,  will  recognize  and 
maintain  the  freedom  of  said  persons. 

And  I  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  people  so 
declared  to  be  free  to  abstain  from  all  vio 
lence,  unless  in  necessary  self-defence ;  and 
I  recommend  to  them  that,  in  all  cases 
when  allowed,  they  labor  faithfully  for 
reasonable  wages. 

And  I  further  declare  and  make  known 
that  such  j>ersons,  of  suitable  condition, 
will  be  received  into  the  armed  service  of 
the  United  States  to  garrison  forts,  positions, 
stations,  and  other  places,  and  to  man 
vessels  of  all  sorts  in  said  service. 

And  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to 
be  an  act  of  justice,  warranted  by  the  Con 
stitution  upon  military  necessity,  I  invoke 
the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind  and 
the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty  God. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set 
my  hand  and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United 
States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington  this 
first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
sixty-three,  and  of  the  independence  of 
the  United  States  of  America  the  eighty- 
seventh.  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
By  the  President : 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD, 

Secretary  of  State. 


144 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


These  proclamations  were  followed  by 
many  attempts  on  the  part  of  the  Demo 
crats  to  declare  them  null  and  void,  but  all 
such  were  tabled.  The  House  on  the  15th 
of  December,  1862,  endorsed  the  first  by 
a  vote  of  78  to  51,  almost  a  strict  party 
vote.  Two  classed  as  Democrats,  voted  for 
emancipation — Haight  and  Noell;  seven 
classed  as  Republicans,  voted  against  it — 
Granger,  Harrison,  Leary,  Maynard,  Benj. 
F.  Thomas,  Francis  Thomas,  and  Whaley. 

Just  previous  to  the  issuance  of  the  first 
proclamation  a  meeting  of  the  Governors 
of  the  Northern  States  had  been  called  to 
consider  how  best  their  States  could  aid 
the  general  conduct  of  the  war.  Some  of 
them  had  conferred  with  the  President, 
and  while  that  meeting  and  the  date  of  the 
emancipation  proclamation  are  the  same, 
it  was  publicly  denied  on  the  floor  of  Con 
gress  by  Mr.  Boutwell  (June  25,  1864,) 
that  the  proclamation  was  the  result  of 
that  meeting  of  the  Governors.  That  they 
fully  endorsed  and  knew  of  it,  however,  is 
shown  by  the  following 


Address  of  loyal  Governors  to  the  President. 

Adopted  at  a  meeting  of  Governors  of 
loyal  States,  held  to  take  measures  for 
the  more  active  support  of  the  Govern 
ment,  at  Altoona,  Pennsylvania,  on  the 
22d  day  of  September,  1862. 

After  nearly  one  year  and  a  half  spent 
in  contest  with  an  armed  and  gigantic  re 
bellion  against  the  national  Government  of 
the  United  States,  the  dutv  and  purpose  of 
the  loyal  States  and  people  continue,  and 
must  always  remain  as  they  were  at  its 
origin — namely,  to  restore  and  perpetuate 
the  authority  of  this  Government  and  the 
life  of  the  nation.  No  matter  what  con 
sequences  are  involved  in  our  fidelity,  this 
work  of  restoring  the  Republic,  preserving 
the  institutions  of  democratic  liberty,  and 
justifying  the  hopes  and  toils  of  our  fathers 
shall  not  fail  to  be  performed. 

And  we  pledge  without  hesitation,  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  the  most 
loyal  and  cordial  support,  hereafter  as 
heretofore,  in  the  exercise  of  the  functions 
of  his  great  office.  We  recognize  in  him 
the  Chief  Executive  Magistrate  of  the 
nation,  the  Commander-in-chief  of  the 
Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States,  their 
responsible  and  constitutional  head,  whose 
rightful  authority  and  power,  as  well  as  the 
constitutional  powers  of  Congress,  must  be 
rigorously  and  religiously  guarded  and 
preserved,  as  the  condition  on  which  alone 
our  form  of  Government  and  the  constitu 
tional  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people 
themselves  can  be  saved  from  the  wreck  of 
anarchy  or  from  the  gulf  of  despotism. 

In  submission  to  the  laws  which  may 
have  been  or  which  may  be  duly  enacted, 


and  to  the  lawful  orders  of  the  President, 
co-operating  always  in  our  own  spheres 
with  the  national  Government,  we  mean  to 
continue  in  the  most  vigorous  exercise  of 
all  our  lawful  and  proper  powers,  contend 
ing  against  treason,  rebellion,  and  the  pub 
lic  enemies,  and,  whether  in  public  life  or 
in  private  station,  supporting  the  arms  of 
the  Union,  until  its  cause  shall  conquer, 
until  final  victory  shall  perch  upon  its 
standard,  or  the  rebel  foe  shall  yield  a 
dutiful,  rightful,  and  unconditional  sub 
mission. 

And,  impressed  with  the  conviction  that 
an  army  of  reserve  ought,  until  the  war 
shall  end,  to  be  constantly  kept  on  foot,  to 
be  raised,  armed,  equipped,  and  trained  at 
home,  and  ready  for  emergencies,  we  re 
spectfully  ask  the  President  to  call  for  such 
a  force  of  volunteers  for  one  year's  service, 
of  not  less  than  one  hundred  thousand  in 
the  aggregate,  the  quota  of  each  State  to 
be  raised  after  it  shall  have  filled  its  quota 
of  the  requisitions  already  made,  both  for 
volunteers  and  militia.  We  believe  that 
this  would  be  a  measure  of  military  pru 
dence,  while  it  would  greatly  promote  the 
military  education  of  the  people. 

We  hail  with  heartfelt  gratitude  and  en 
couraged  hope  the  proclamation  of  the 
President,  issued  on  the  22d  instant,  de 
claring  emancipated  from  their  bondage 
all  persons  held  to  service  or  labor  as 
slaves  in  the  rebel  States,  whose  rebellion 
shall  last  until  the  first  day  of  January 
now  next  ensuing.  The  right  of  any  per 
son  to  retain  authority  to  compel  any  por 
tion  of  the  subjects  of  the  national  Gov 
ernment  to  rebel  against  it,  or  to  maintain 
its  enemies,  implies  in  those  who  are  al 
lowed  possession  of  such  authority  the 
right  to  rebel  themselves;  and  therefore 
the  right  to  establish  martial  law  or  mili 
tary  government  in  a  State  or  territory  in 
rebellion  implies  the  right  and  the  duty 
of  the  Government  to  liberate  the  minds 
of  all  men  living  therein  by  appropriate 
proclamations  and  assurances  of  protection, 
in  order  that  all  who  are  capable,  intel 
lectually  and  morally,  of  loyalty  and 
obedience,  may  not  be  forced  into  treason 
as  the  unwilling  tools  of  rebellious  traitors. 
To  have  continued  indefinitely  the  most 
efficient  cause,  support,  and  stay  of  the  re 
bellion,  would  have  been,  in  our  judg 
ment,  unjust  to  the  loyal  people  whose 
treasure  and  lives  are  made  a  willing  sacri 
fice  on  the  altar  of  patrotism — would  have 
discriminated  against  the  wife  who  is  com 
pelled  to  surrender  her  husband,  against 
the  parent  who  is  to  surrender  his  child  to 
the  hardships  of  the  camp  and  the  perils 
of  battle,  in  favor  of  rebel  masters  per 
mitted  to  retain  their  slaves.  It  would 
have  been  a  final  decision  alike  against 
humanity,  justice,  the  rights  and  dignity 
of  the  Government,  and  against  sound  and 


REPEAL    OF    THE    FUGITIVE    SLAVE    LAW. 


145 


wise  national  policy.  The  decision  of  the 
President  to  strike  at  the  root  of  the  re 
bellion  will  lend  new  vigor  to  the  efforts 
and  new  life  and  hope  to  the  hearts  of  the 
people.  Cordially  tendering  to  the  Presi 
dent  our  respectful  assurance  of  personal 
and  official  confidence,  we  trust  and  be 
lieve  that  the  policy  now  inaugurated  will 
be  crowned  with  success,  will  give  speedy 
and  triumphant  victories  over  our  enemies, 
and  secure  to  this  nation  and  this  people 
the  blessing  and  favor  of  Almighty  God. 
We  believe  that  the  blood  of  the  heroes 
who  have  already  fallen,  and  those  who 
may  yet  give  their  lives  to  their  country, 
will  not  have  been  shed  in  vain. 

The  splendid  valor  of  our  soldiers,  their 
patient  endurance,  their  manly  patriotism, 
and  their  devotion  to  duty,  demand  from 
us  and  from  all  their  countrymen  the 
homage  of  the  sincerest  gratitude  and  the 
pledge  of  our  constant  reinforcement  and 
support.  A  just  regard  for  these  brave 
men,  whom  we  have  contributed  to  place 
in  the  field,  and  for  the  importance  of  the 
duties  which  may  lawfully  pertain  to  us 
hereafter,  has  called  us  into  friendly  con 
ference.  And  now,  presenting  to  our 
national  Chief  Magistrate  this  conclusion 
of  our  deliberations,  we  devote  ourselves  to 
our  country's  service,  and  we  will  surround 
the  President  with  our  constant  support, 
trusting  that  the  fidelity  and  zeal  or  the 
loyal  States  and  people  will  always  assure 
him  that  he  will  be  constantly  maintained 
in  pursuing  with  the  utmost  vigor  this  war 
for  the  preservation  of  the  national  life 
and  the  hope  of  humanity. 


A.  G. 

JOHN  A.  ANDREW, 

RICHARD  YATES, 

ISRAEL  WASHBURNE,  JR., 

EDWARD  SOLOMON, 

SAMUEL  J.  KIRKWOOD, 

O.  P.  MORTON, 

By  D.  G.  ROSE,  his  representative, 

WM.  SPRAGUE, 

F.  H.  PEIRPOINT, 

DAVID  TOD, 

N.  S.  BERRY, 

AUSTIN  BLAIR. 


Repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  T.avv. 

The  first  fugitive  slave  law  passed  was 
that  of  February  12th,  1793,  the  second  and 
last  that  of  September  18th,  1850.  Vari 
ous  efforts  had  been  made  to  repeal  the  lat 
ter  before  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  with 
out  a  prospect  of  success.  The  situation 
was  now  different.  The  war  spirit  was 
high,  and  both  Houses  of  Congress  were  in 
the  hands  of  the  Republicans  as  early  as 
December,  1861,  but  all  of  them  were  not 
then  ready  to  vote  for  repeal,  while  the 


Democrats  were  at  first  solidly  against  it. 
The  bill  had  passed  the  Senate  in  1850  by 
27  yeas  to  12  nays ;  the  House  by  109  yeas 
to  76  nays,  and  yet  as  late  as  1861  such  was 
still  the  desire  of  many  not  to  offend  the 
political  prejudices  of  the  Border  States 
and  of  Democrats  whose  aid  was  counted 
upon  in  the  war,  that  sufficient  votes  could 
not  be  had  until  June,  1864,  to  pass  the  re 
pealing  bill.  Republican  sentiment  ad 
vanced  very  slowly  in  the  early  years  of 
the  war,  when  the  struggle  looked  doubt 
ful  and  when  there  was  a  strong  desire  to 
hold  for  the  Union  every  man  and  county 
not  irrevocably  against  it ;  when  success 
could  be  foreseen  the  advances  were  more 
rapid,  but  never  as  rapid  as  the  more  rad 
ical  leaders  desired.  The  record  of  Con 
gress  in  the  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  will  illustrate  this  political  fact,  in 
itself  worthy  of  grave  study  by  the  poli 
tician  and  statesman,  and  therefore  we  give 
it  as  compiled  by  McPherson  : — 


Second  Session,  Thirty-Seventh  Congress.* 

In  Senate,  1861,  December  26— Mr. 
Howe,  of  Wisconsin,  introduced  a  bill  to 
repeal  the  fugitive  slave  law ;  which  was 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judici 
ary. 

1862,  May  24 — Mr.  Wilson,  of  Massachu 
setts,  introduced  a  bill  to  amend  the  fugi 
tive  slave  law ;  which  was  ordered  to  be 
printed  and  lie  on  the  table. 

June  10 — Mr.  Wilson  moved  to  take  up 
the  bill ;  which  was  agreed  to — Yeas  25, 
nays  10,  as  follows : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Anthony,  Browning, 
Chandler,  Clark,  Cowan,  Dixon,  Doolittle, 
Fessenden,  Foot,  Grimes,  Hale,  Harlan, 
Harris,  Howard,  Howe,  King,  Lane  of  Kan 
sas,  Morrill,  Pomeroy,  Simmons,  Sumner, 
Ten  Eyck,  Trumbull,  Wade,  Wilson,  of 
Massachusetts. — 25. 

NAYS — Messrs.   Carlile,  Davis,  Latham, 

*  On  the  23d  of  July,  1861,  the  Attorney  General,  in 
answer  to  a  letter  from  the  United  States  Marshal  of 
Kansas,  inquiring  whether  he  should  assist  in  the  execu 
tion  of  the  fugitive  slave  law,  wrote : 

ATTORNEY  GENERAL'S  OFFICE,  July  23, 1861. 
J.  L.  McDoWBLL,  U.  S»  Marshal,  Kansas  : 

Your  letter,  of  the  llth  of  July,  received  19th,  (under 
frank  of  Senator  Lane,  of  Kansas,)  asks  advice  whether 
you  should  give  your  official  services  in  the  execution  of 
the  fugitive  slave  law. 

It  is  the  President's  constitutional  duty  to  "  take  care 
that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed."  That  means  all  the 
laws.  He  has  no  right  to  discriminate,  no  right  to  exe 
cute  the  laws  he  likes,  and  leave  unexecuted  those  he 
dislikes.  And  of  course  you  and  I,  his  subordinates,  can 
have  no  wider  latitude  of  discretion  than  he  has.  Mis 
souri  is  a  State  in  the  Union.  The  insurrectionary  dis 
orders  in  Missouri  are  but  individual  crimes,  and  do  not 
change  the  legal  status  of  the  State,  nor  change  its  rights 
and  obligations  as  a  member  of  the  Union. 

A  refusal  by  a  ministerial  officer  to  execute  any  law 
which  properly  belongs  to  his  office,  is  an  official  misde 
meanor,  of  which  I  have  no  doubt  the  President  would 
take  notice.  Very  respectfully 

EDWARD  BATES. 


146 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


McDougall,  Nesmith,  Powell,  Saulsbury, 
Stark,  Willey,  Wright— 10.* 

The  bill  was  to  secure  to  claimed  fugi 
tives  a  right  to  a  jury  trial  in  the  district 
court  for  the  United  States  for  the  district 
in  which  they  may  be,  and  to  require  the 
claimant  to  prove  his  loyalty.  The  bill 
repeals  sections  6,  7,  8,  9,  and  10  of  the  act 
of  1850,  and  that  part  of  section  5,  which 
authorizes  the  summoning  of  the  posse 
comitatus.  When  a  warrant  of  return  is 
made  either  on  jury  trial  or  confession  of 
the  party  in  the  presence  of  counsel,  hav 
ing  been  warned  of  his  rights,  the  fugitive 
is  to  be  surrendered  to  the  claimant,  or  the 
marshal  where  necessary,  who  shall  remove 
him  to  the  boundary  line  of  the  district, 
and  there  deliver  him  to  the  claimant.  The 
bill  was  not  further  considered. 

In  House,  1861,  December  20— Mr. 
Julian  offered  this  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  the  Judiciary  Committee 
be  instructed  to  report  a  bill,  so  amending 
the  fugitive  slave  law  enacted  in  1850  as  to 
forbid  the  recapture  or  return  of  any  fu 
gitive  from  labor  without  satisfactory  proof 
first  made  that  the  claimant  of  such  fugi 
tive  is  loyal  to  the  Government. 

Mr.  Holman  moved  to  table  the  resolu 
tion,  which  was  disagreed  to — yeas  39,  nays 
78,  as  follows : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Ancona,  Joseph  Baity, 
Biddle,  George  H.  Browne,  Cobb,  Cooper, 
Cox,  Cravens,  Crittenden,  Dunlap,  English. 
Fouke,  Grider,  Harding,  Holman,  Johnson, 
Law,  Lazear,  Leary,  Lehman,  Mallory,  Mor 
ris,  Noble,  Noell,  Norton,  Nugen,  Odell, 
Pendleton,  Robinson,  Shiel,  John  B.  Steele, 
William  G.  Steele,  Vallandigham,  Wads- 
worth,  Webster,  Chilton  A.  White,  Wick- 
liffe,  Woodruff,  Wright— 39. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Aldrich,  Alley,  Arnold, 
Babbitt,  Baker,  Baxter,  Beaman,  Bingham, 
Francis  P.  Blair,  Samuel  S.  Blair,  Blake, 
Buffinton,  Burnham,  Chamberlain,  Clark, 
Colfax,  Frederick  A.  Conkling,  Roscoe 
Conkling,  Cutler,  Davis,  Dawes,  Delano, 
Duell,  Edwards,  Eliot,  Fessenden,  Fran- 
chot,  Frank,  Gooch,  Goodwin,  Gurley, 
Hale,  Hanchett,  Harrison,  Hooper,  Hutch- 
ins^  Julian,  William  Kellogg,  Lansing, 
Loomis,  Lovejoy,  McKnight,  McPherson, 
Marston,  Mitchell,  Moorhead,  Anson  P. 
Morrill,  Justin  S.  Morrill,  Olin,  Patton, 
Pike,  Pomeroy,  Porter,  John  H.  Rice,  Rid 
dle,  Edward  H.  Rollins,  Sargent,  Sedg- 
wick,  Shanks,  Shellabarger,  Sherman, 
Sloan,  Spaulding,  Stevens,  Benjamin  F. 
Thomas,  Train,  Vandever.  Wall,  Wallace, 
Walton,  Washburne,  Wheeler,  Whaley, 
Ubert  S.  White,  Wilson,  Windom,  Wor 
cester— 78. 

The  resolution  was  then  adopted — yeas 
78,  nays  39. 

1862,  June  9— Mr.  Julian,  of  Indiana, 

»  Republicans  in  Roman,-  Democrats  in  Italic*. 


introduced  into  the  House  a  resolution  in 
structing  the  Judiciary  Committee  to  re 
port  a  bill  for  the  purpose  of  repealing  the 
fugitive  slave  law ;  which  was  tabled — yeas 
66,  nays  51,  as  follows  : 

YEAS — Messrs.  William  J.  Allen,  Anco 
na,  Baily,  Biddle,  Francis  P.  Blair,  Jacob 
B.  Blair,  George  H.  Browne,  William  G, 
Brown,  Burnham,  Calvert,  Casey,  Clem 
ents,  Cobb,  Corning,  Crittenden,  Delano, 
Diven,  Granger,  Grider,  Haight,  Hale, 
Harding,  Holman,  Johnson,  William  Kel 
logg,  Kerrigan,  Knapp,  Lazear,  Low,  May- 
nard,  Menzies,  Moorhead,  Morris,  Noble, 
Noell,  Norton,  Odell,  Pendleton,  John  S. 
Phelps,  Timothy  G.  Phelps,  Porter,  Rich 
ardson,  Robinson,  James  S.  Rollins,  Sar 
gent,  Segar,  Sheffield,  Shiel,  Smith,  JohnB. 
Steele,  William  G.  Steele,  Benjamin  F. 
Thomas,  Francis  Thomas,  Trimble,  Val- 
landigham^erree,  Vibbard,  Voorhees,  Wads- 
worth,  Webster,  Chilton  A.  White,  Wick- 
liffe,  Wood,  Woodruff,  Worcester,  Wright 
—66. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Aldrich,  Alley,  Baker, 
Baxter,  Beaman,  Bingham,  Blake,  Buffin 
ton,  Chamberlain,  Colfax,  Frederick  A. 
Conkling,  Davis,  Dawes,  Edg^rton,  Ed 
wards,  Eliot,  Ely,  Franchot,  Gooch,  Good 
win,  Hanchett,  Hutchins,  Julian,  Kelley, 
Francis  W.  Kellogg,  Lansing,  Lovejoy, 
McKnight,  McPherson,  Mitchell,  Anson  P. 
Morrill,  Pike,  Pomeroy,  Potter,  Alexander 
H.  Rice,  John  H.  Rice,  Riddle,  Edward  H. 
Rollins,  Shellabarger,  Sloan,  Spaulding, 
Stevens,  Train,  Trowbridge,  Van  Horn, 
Van  Valkenburgh,Wall,  Wallace,  Wash 
burne,  Albert  S.  White,  Windom— -61. 

Same  day — Mr.  Colfax,  of  Indiana,  of 
fered  this  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  the  Ju 
diciary  be  instructed  to  report  a  bill  modi 
fying  the  fugitive  slave  law  so  as  to  require 
a  jury  trial  in  all  cases  where  the  person 
claimed  denies  under  oath  that  he  is  a  slave, 
and  also  requiring  any  claimant  under  such 
act  to  prove  that  he  has  been  loyal  to  the 
Government  during  the  present  rebellion. 

Which  was  agreed  to — yeas  77,  nays  43, 
as  follows : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Aldrich,  Alley,  Arnold, 
Ashley,  Babbitt,  Baker,  Baxter,  Beaman, 
Bingham,  Francis  P.  Blair,  Blake,  Buffin 
ton,  Burnham,  Chamberlain,  Colfax,  Fred 
erick  A.  Conkling,  Davis,  Dawes,  Delano, 
Diven,  Edgerton,  Edwards,  Eliot,  Ely, 
Franchot,  Gooch,  Goodwin,  Granger,  Gur 
ley,  Haight,  Hale,  Hanchett,  Hutchins, 
Julian,  Kelley,  Francis  W.  Kellogg,  Wil 
liam  Kellogg,  Lansing,  Loomis,  Lovejoy, 
Lowe,  McKnight,  McPherson,  Mitchell, 
Anson  P.  Morrill,  Justin  S.  Morrill,  Nixon, 
Timothy  G.  Phelps,  Pike,  Pomeroy,  Por 
ter,  Potter,  Alexander  H.  Rice,  John  H. 
Rice,  Riddle,  Edward  H.  Rollins,  Sargent, 
Shanks,  Sheffield,  Shellabarger,  Sloan, 
Spaulding,  Stevens,  Stratton,  Benjamin  F. 


REPEAL    OF    THE    FUGITIVE    SLAVE    LAWS. 


147 


Thorn:  j,  Train,  Trimble,  Trowbridge,  Van 
Valkeuburgh,  Verree,  Wall,  Wallace, 
Washburne,  Albert,  S.  White,  Wilson, 
Windom,  Worcester — 77. 

NAYS — Messrs.  William  J.  Allen,  Ancona, 
Baily,  Biddle,  Jacob  B.  Blair,  William  G. 
Brown,  Calvert,  Casey,  Clements,  Cobb, 
Corning,  Crittenden,  Fouke,  Grider,  Hard 
ing,  Holman,  Johnson,  Knapp,  Maynard, 
Menzies,  Noble,  Noell,  Norton,  Pendleton, 
John  S.  Phelps,  Richardson,  Robinson, 
James  S  Rollins,  Segar,  Shiel,  Smith,  John 
B.  Steele,  William  G.  Steele,  Francis  Thom 
as,  Vallandigham,  Vibbard,  Voorhees,  Wads- 
worth,  Webster,  Chilian  A.  White,  Wick- 
liffe,  Wood,  Wright.— 43. 

Tlilrd.  Session,    Thirty-Seventh    Congress. 

In  Senate,  1863,  February  11— Mr.  Ten 
Eyck,  from  the  Committee  on  the  Judici 
ary,  to  whom  was  referred  a  bill,  intro 
duced  by  Senator  Howe,  in  second  session, 
December  26,  1861,  to  repeal  the  fugitive 
slave  act  of  1850,  reported  it  back  without 
amendment,  and  with  a  recommendation 
that  it  do  not  pass. 

First  Session,  Thirty-Eighth  Congress. 

In  House,  1863,  Dec.  14.— Mr.  Julian,  of 
Indiana,  offered  this  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  the  Ju 
diciary  be  instructed  to  report  a  bill  for  a 
repeal  of  the  third  and  fourth  sections  of 
the  "  act  respecting  fugitives  from  justice 
and  persons  escaping  from  the  service  of 
their  masters,"  approved  February  12, 1793, 
and  the  act  to  amend  and  supplementary 
to  the  aforesaid  act,  approved  September 
18,  1850. 

Mr.  Holman  moved  that  the  resolution 
lie  upon  the  table,  which  was  agreed  to — 
yeas  81,  nays  73,  as  follows: 

YEAS— Messrs.  James  C.  Allen,  William 
J.  Allen,  Ancona,  Anderson,  Baily,  Au 
gustus  C.  Baldwin,  Jacob  B.  Blair,  Bliss, 
Brooks,  James  S.  Brown,  William  G.  Browne, 
Clay,  Cobb,  Coffroth,  Cox,  Cravens,  Creswell, 
Dawson,  Demming,  Denison,  Eden,  Edger- 
ton,  Eldridge,  English,  Finck,  Ganson, 
Grider,  Griswold,  Hall,  Harding,  Harring 
ton,  Benjamin  G.  Harris,  Charles  M.  Har 
ris,  Higby,  Holman,  Hutchins,  William 
Johnson,  Kernan,  King,  Knapp,  Law,  La- 
zear,  Le  Blond,  Long,  Mallory,  Marcy,  Mar 
vin,  McBride,  McDowell,  McKinney,  Wil 
liam  H.  Miller,  James  R.  Morris,  Morrison, 
Nelson,  Noble,  Odell,  John  O'Neil,  Pendle 
ton,  William  H.  Randall,  Robinson,  Rogers, 
James  S.  Rollins,  Ross,  Scott,  Smith,  Smith- 
ers,  Stebbins,  John  B.  Steele,  Stuart,  Sweat, 
Thomas,  Voorhees,  Wadsworth,  Ward, 
Wheeler,  Chilton  A.  White,  Joseph  W.  White, 
Williams,  Winfield,  Fernando  Wood,  Yea- 
man — 81. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Alley,  Allison,  Ames, 
Arnold,  Ashley,  John  D.  Baldwin,  Baxter, 
Beaman,  Blaine,  Blow,  Boutwell,  Boyd, 


Brandegee,  Broomall,  Ambrose  W.  Clark, 
Freeman  Clark,  Cole,  Henry  Winter  Da- 
vis,  Dawes,  Dixon,  Donnelly,  Driggs,  Du- 
mont,  Eckley,  Elior,  Farnswori.li,  -teuton, 
Frank,  Garfield,  Gooch,  Grinndt,  Hooper, 
Hotchkiss,  Asahel  W.  Hubbard,  John  H. 
Hubbard,  Hulburd,  Jenckes,  Julian,  Fran 
cis  W.  Kellogg,  Orlando  Kellogg,  Loan, 
Longyear,  Lovejoy,  McClurg,  Mclndoe, 
Samuel  F.  Miller,  Moorhead,  Mom  11, 
Amos  Myers,  Leonard  Myers,  Norton, 
Charles  O'Neill,  Orth,  Patterson,Pike,  Poin- 
eroy,  Price,  Alexander  H.  Rice,  John  H. 
Rice,  Edward  H.  Rollins,  Schenck, 
Seofield,  Shannon,  Spalding,  Thayer, 
Van  Valkenburgh,  Elihu  B.  Wash 
burne,  William  B.  Wash  burn,  Whaley, 
Wilder,  Wilson,  Windom,  Woodbidge — 73. 
<  1864,  June  6,  Mr.  Hubbard,  of  Connec 
ticut,  offered  this  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  the  Ju 
diciary  be  instructed  to  report  to  this 
House  a  bill  for  the  repeal  of  all  acts  and 
parts  of  acts  which  provide  for  the  rendi 
tion  of  fugitive  slaves,  and  that  they  have 
leave  to  make  such  report  at  any  time. 

Which  went  over  under  the  rule.  May 
30,  he  had  made  an  ineffectual  effort  to 
offer  it,  Mr.  Holman  objecting. 

REPEALING  BILLS. 

1864,  April  19,  the  Senate  considered  the 
bill  to  repeal  all  acts  for  the  rendition  of 
fugitives  from  service  or  labor.  The  bill 
was  taken  up — yeas  26,  nays  10. 

Mr.  Sherman  moved  to  amend  by  insert 
ing  these  words  at  the  end  of  the  bill : 

Except  the  act  approved  February  12, 
1793,  entitled  "  An  act  respecting  fugitives 
from  justice,  and  persons  escaping  from  the 
service  of  their  masters." 

Which  was  agreed  to — yeas  24,  nays  17, 
as  follows : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Buckalew,  Carlile^  Col- 
lamer,  Cowan,  Davis,  Dixon,  Doolittle, 
Foster,  Harris,  Henderson,  Hendricks, 
Howe,  Johnson,  Lane  of  Indiana,  McDou- 
gall,  Ncsmith,  Powell,  Riddle,  Saulsbury, 
Sherman,  Ten  Eyck,  Trumbull,  Van  Win 
kle,  Willey— 24. 

NAYS— Messrs.  Anthony,  Brown,  Clark, 
Conness,  Fessenden,  Grimes,  Hale,  How 
ard,  Lane  of  Kansas,  Morgan,  Morrill, 
Pomeroy,  Ramsey,  Sprague,  Simmer,  Wil 
kinson,  Wilson — 17. 

Mr.  Saulsbury  moved  to  add  these  sec 
tions  : 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  white 
inhabitant  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
arrested,  or  imprisoned,  or  held  to  answer 
fora  capital  or  otherwise  infamous  crime, 
except  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  na 
val  forces,  or  in  the  militia  when  in  actual 
service  in  time  of  war  or  public  danger, 
without  due  process  of  law. 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  per 
son  engaged  in  the  executive,  legislative, 


148 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


or  judicial  departments  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  or  holding  any  office 
or  trust  recognized  in  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  and  no  person  in  mili 
tary  or  naval  service  of  the  United  States, 
shall,  without  due  process  of  law,  arrest  or 
imprison  any  white  inhabitant  of  the  Uni 
ted  States  who  is  not,  or  has  not  been,  or 
shall  not  at  the  time  of  such  arrest  or  im 
prisonment  be,  engaged  in  levying  war 
against  the  United  States,  or  in  adhering 
to  the  enemies  of  the  United  States,  giv 
ing  them  aid  and  comfort,  nor  aid,  abet, 
procure  or  advise  the  same,  except  in  cases 
arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in 
the  militia  when  in  actual  service  in  time 
of  war  or  public  danger.  And  any  person 
as  aforesaid  so  arresting,  or  imprisoning,  or 
holding,  as  aforesaid,  as  in  this  and  the 
second  section  of  this  act  mentioned,  or 
aiding,  abetting,  or  procuring,  or  advising 
the  same,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  fel 
ony,  and,  upon  conviction  thereof  in  any 
court  of  competent  jurisdiction,  shall  be 
imprisoned  for  a  term  of  not  less  than  one 
nor  more  than  five  years,  shall  pay  a  fine  of 
not  less  than  $1,000  nor  more  than  $5000, 
and  shall  be  forever  incapable  of  holding 
any  office  or  public  trust  under  the  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  HALE  moved  to  strike  out  the  word 
"white"  wherever  it  occurs;  which  was 
agreed  to. 

The  amendment  of  Mr.  SAULSBURY,  as 
amended,  was  then  disagreed  to — yeas  9, 
nays  27,  as  follows : 

YEAS— Messrs.  Buckalew,  Carlile,  Cowan, 
Davis,  Hendricks,  McDougall,  Poivell,  Rid 
dle,  Saulsbury — 9. 

NAYS— Messrs.  Anthony,  Clark,  Colla- 
mer,  Conness,  Doolittle,  Fessenden,  Foster, 
Grimes,  Hale,  Harris,  Howard,  Howe,  Lane 
of  Indiana,  Lane,  of  Kansas,  Morgan,  Mor- 
rill,  Pomeroy,  Ramsey,  Sherman,  Sprague, 
Sumner,  Ten  Eyck,  Trumbull,  Van  Win 
kle,  Wilkinson,  Willey,  Wilson— 27. 

Mr.  CONFESS  moved  to  table  the  bill ; 
which  was  disagreed  to — yeas  9,  (Messrs. 
Buckalew,  Carlile,  Conness,  Davis,  Hen 
dricks,  Nesmith,  Powell,  Riddle,  Saulsbury,} 
nays  31. 

It  was  not  again  acted  upon. 

1864,  June  13— The  House  passed  this 
bill,  introduced  by  Mr.  SPALDING,  of  Ohio, 
and  reported  from  the  Committee  on  the 
Judiciary  by  Mr.  MORRIS,  of  New  York 
as  follows : 

Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  that  sections  three  and 
four  of  an  act  entitled  "  An  act  respecting 
fugitives  from  justice  and  persons  escaping 
from  the  service  of  their  masters,"  passec 
February  12,  1793,  and  an  Act  entitled 
"  An  act  to  amend,  and  supplementary  to 
the  act  entitled  '  An  act  respecting  fugi 
tives  from  justice,  and  persons  escaping 
from  their  masters,'  passed  February  12 


1793,"  passed  September  18, 1850,  be,  and 
he  same  are  hereby,  repealed. 

Yeas  86,  nays  60,  as  follows : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Alley,  Allison,  Ames,  Ar 
nold,  Ashley,  John   D.  Baldwin,   Baxter, 
3eaman,   Elaine,   Blair,    Blow,   Boutwell, 
3oyd,  Brandegee,  Broomall,  Ambrose  W. 
Clarke,  Freeeman  Clark,  Cobb,  Cole,  Cres- 
well,  Henry  Winter  Davis,  Thomas  T.  Da- 
avis,  Dawes,  Dixon,  Donnelly,Driggs,  Eck- 
ey,  Eliot,  Farnsworth,  Fenton,  Frank,  Gar- 
ield,   Gooch,    Griswold,   Higby,   Hooper, 
Sotchkiss,  Asahel  W.  Hubbard,  John  K. 
Hubbard,  Hulburd,  Ingersoll,  Jenckes,  Ju- 
iaii,  Kelley,  Francis  W.  Kellogg,  O.  Kel- 

gg,  Littlejohn,  Loan,  Longyear,  Marvin, 

cClurg,  Mclndoe,  Samuel  F.  Miller, 
Moorhead,  Morrill,  Daniel  Morris,  Amos 
Myers,  Leonard  Myers,  Norton,  Charles 
O'Neill,  Orth,  Patterson,  Perham,  Pike, 
Price,  Alexander  H.  Rice,  John  H.  Rice, 
Schenck,  Scofield,  Shannon,  Sloan,  Spald- 
ing,  Starr,  Stevens,  Thayer,  Thomas,  Tracy, 
Upson,  Van  Valkenburgh,  Webster,  Wha- 
ley,  Williams,  Wilder,  Wilson,  Windom, 
Woodbridge— 86. 

NAYS — Messrs.  James  C.  Allen,  William 
J.  Allen,  Ancona,  Augustus  C.  Baldwin, 
Bliss,  Brooks,  James  £.  Brown,  Chanler, 
Cqfroth,  Cox,  Cravens,  Dawson,  Denison, 
Eden,  Edgerton,  Eldridge,  English,  Finck, 
Ganson,  Grider,  Harding,  Harrington, 
Charles  M.  Harris,  Herrick,  Holman, 
Hutchins,  Kalbfleisch,  Kernan,  King,  Knapp, 
Law,  Lazear,  Le  Blond,  Mallory,  Marcy, 
McDowell,  McKinney,  Wm.  H.  Miller,  James 
R.  Morris,  Morrison,  Odell,  Pendleton, 
Pruyn,  Radford,  Robinson,  Jas.  S.  Rollins, 
Ross,  Smithers,  John  B.  Steele,  Wm.  G. 
Steele,  Stiles,  Strouse,  Stuart,  Sweat,  Wads- 
worth,  Ward,  Wheeler,  Chilton  A.  White, 
Joseph  W.  White,  Fernando  Wood— 60. 

June  22— This  bill  was  taken  up  in  the 
Senate,  when  Mr.  SAULSBURY  moved  this 
substitute : 

That  no  person  held  to  service  or  labor 
in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof,  escap 
ing  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of 
any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged 
from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be  de 
livered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom 
such  service  or  labor  may  be  due ;  and 
Congress  shall  pass  all  necessary  and  pro 
per  laws  for  the  rendition  of  all  such  per 
sons  who  shall  so,  as  aforesaid,  escape. 

Which  was  rejected — yeas  9,  nays  29,  as 
follows : 

YEAS— Messrs.  Buckalcw,  Carlile,  Cowan, 
Davis,  Me  Don  gall,  Powell,  Richardson, 
Riddle,  Saulsbury— 9. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Anthony,  Brown,  Chand 
ler,  Clark,  Conness,  Dixon,  Foot,  Grimes, 
Hale,  Harlan,  Harris,  Hicks,  Howard, 
Howe,  Johnson,  Lane  of  Indiana,  Lane 
of  Kansas,  Morgan,  Morrill,  Pomeroy, 
Ramsey,  Sprague,  Sumner,  Ten  Eyck, 
Trumbull,  Van  Winkle,  Wade, Willey— 29. 


FINANCIAL    LEGISLATION— INTERNAL    TAXES.        149 


Mr.  JOHNSON,  of  Maryland,  moved  an 
amendment  to  substitute  a  clause  repeal 
ing  the  act  of  1850 ;  which  was  rejected — 
yeas  17,  nays  22,  as  follows  : 

YEAS— Messrs..  Buckalew,Carlile,  Cowan 
D.ivis,  Harris,  Hicks,  Johnson,  Lane  o 
Indiana,  McDougall,  Powell,  Richardson 
Riddle,  Szulsbury,  Ten  Eyck,  Trumbull 
Van  Winkle,  Willey— 17. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Anthony,  Brown,  Chand 
ler,  Clark,  Conness,  Dixon,  Fessenden 
Foot,  Grimes,  Hale,  Harlan,  Howard 
Howe,  Lane  of  Kansas,  Morgan,  MorrilL 
Pomeroy,  Ramsey,  Sprague,  Sumner,  Wade 
Wilson— 22. 

The  bill  then  passed— yeas  27,  nays  12. 
as  follows: 

YEAS — Messrs.  Anthony,  Brown,  Chand 
ler,  Clark,  Conness,  Dixon,  Fessenden, 
Foot,  Grimes,  Hale,  Harlan,  Harris,  Hicks, 
Howard,  Howe,  Lane  of  Indiana,  Lane  of 
Kansas,  Morgan,  Morrill,  Pomeroy,  Ram 
sey,  Sprague,  Sumner,  Ten  Eyck,  Trum 
bull,  Wade,  Wilson— 27. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Buckalew,  Carlile,  Cowan, 
Davis,  Johnson,  McDougall,  Powell,  Rich 
ardson,  Riddle,  Saulsbury,  Van  Winkle, 
Willey— 12. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  President,  approved 
it,  June  23,  1834 


Scward  as  Secretary  of  State. 

Win.  H.  Seward  was  a  master  in  diplo 
macy  and  Statecraft,  and  to  his  skill  the 
Unionists  were  indebted  for  all  avoidance 
of  serious  foreign  complications  while  the 
war  was  going  o  i.  The  most  notable  case 
coming  under  his  supervision  was  that  of 
the  capture  of  Mason  an J  Slidell,  by  Com 
modore  Wilkas,  who,  on  the  8th  of  Novem 
ber,  1831,  had  intercepted  the  Trent  with 
Szn  Jacinto.  The  prisoners  were  Confed 
erate  agents  on  their  way  to  St.  James  and 
St.  Cloud.  Both  had  been  prominent  Sen 
ators,  early  secessionists,  and  the  popular 
impulse  of  ths  North  was  to  hold  and  pun 
ish  them.  Both  Lincoln  and  Seward  wisely 
resisted  the  passions  of  the  hour,  and  when 
Great  Britain  demanded  their  release 
under  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  wherein  the 
right  of  future  search  of  vessels  was  dis 
avowed,  Saward  yielded,  and  referring  to 
the  terms  of  the  treity,  said : 

"  If  I  decide  this  case  in  favor  of  my 
own  Government,  I  must  disavow  its  most 
cherished  principles,  and  reverse  and  for 
ever  abandon  its  essential  policy.  The 
country  cannot  afford  tjie  sacrifice.  If  I 
maintain  those  principles  and  adhere  to 
that  policy,  I  must  surrender  the  case 
itself/ 

The  North,  with  high  confidence  in  their 
President  and  Cabinet,  readily  conceded 
the  wisdom  of  the  argument,  especially  as 
it  was  clinched  in  the  newspapers  of  the 
day  by  one  of  Lincoln's  homely  remarks : 


"  One  war  at  a  time."     A  war  with  Great 
Britain  was  thus  happily  avoided. 

With  the  incidents  of  the  war,  however, 
save  as  they  affected  politics  and  politi 
cians,  this  work  has  little  to  do,  and  we 
therefore  pass  the  suspension  of  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus,  which  suspension  was  em 
ployed  in  breaking  up  the  Maryland  Legis 
lature  and  other  bodies  when  they  con 
templated  secession,  and  it  facilitated  the 
arrest  and  punishment  of  men  throughout 
the  North  who  were  suspected  of  giving 
"aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy."  The 
alleged  arbitrary  character  of  these  arrests 
caused  much  complaint  from  Democratic 
Senators  and  Representatives,  but  the  right 
was  fully  enforced  in  the  face  of  every  form 
of  protest  until  the  war  closed.  The  mo4 
prominent  arrest  was  that  of  Clement  L. 
Vallandigham,  member  of  Congress  from 
Ohio,  who  was  sent  into  the  Southern  lines. 
From  thence  he  went  to  Canada,  and  when 
a  candidate  for  Governor  in  Ohio,  was  de 
feated  by  over  100,000  majority. 


Financial  Legislation — Internal  Taxes* 

The  Financial    legislation   during  the 
war  was  as  follows : 

1860,  December  17 — Authorized  an  issue 
of  $10,000,000  in  TREASURY  NOTES,  to  be 
redeemed  after  the  expiration  of  one  year 
from  the  date  of  issue,  and  bearing  such  a 
rate  of  interest  as  may  be  offered  by  the 
lowest  bidders.     Authority  was  given  to 
issue  these  notes  in  payment  of  warrants  in 
favor  of  public  creditors  at  their  par  value, 
rearing  six  per  cent,  interest  per  annum. 

1861,  February  8— Authorized  a  LOAN  of 
^25,000,000,  bearing  interest  at  a  rate  not 
exceeding  six  per  cent,   per  annum,  and 
reimbursable  within  a  period  not  beyond 
;wenty  years  nor  less  than  ten  years.  This, 
oan  was  made  for  the  payment  of  the  cur 
rent  expenses,  and  was  to  be  awarded  to 

he  most  favorable  bidders. 

March  2 — Authorized  a  LOAN  of  $10,- 
)00,000,  bearing  interest  at  a  rate  not  ex 
ceeding  six  per  cent,  per  annum,  and  re- 
mbursable  after  the  expiration  of  ten 
/•ears  from  July  1, 1861.  In  case  propo- 
als  for  the  loan  were  not  acceptable,  au- 
hority  was  given  to  issue  the  ^  whole 
amount  in  TREASURY  NOTES,  bearing  in- 
erest  at  a  rate  not  exceeding  six  per  cent, 
per  annum.  Authority  was  also  given  to 
ubstitute  TREASURE  NOTES  for  the  whole 
>r  any  part  of  the  loans  for  which  the  Sec- 
•etary  was  by  law  authorized  to  contract 
ind  issue  bonds,  at  the  time  of  the  passage 
f  this  act,  and  such  treasury  notes  were  to 
>e  made  receivable  in  payment  of  all  pub 
ic  dues,  and  redeemable  at  any  time 
vithin  two  years  from  March  2, 1861. 

March  2— Authorized  an  issue,  should 
he  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  deem  it  ex 
pedient,  of  $2,800,000  in  coupon  BONDS, 
>earing  interest  at  the  rate  of  six  per  cent, 


150 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


per  annum,  and  redeemable  in  twenty 
Years,  for  the  payment  of  expenses  incurred 
by  the  Territories  of  Washington  and 
Oregon  in  the  suppression  of  Indian  hos 
tilities  during  the  year  1855-'56. 

July  17— Authorized  a  loan  of  $250,000,- 
000,  lor  which  could  be  issued  BONDS  bear 
ing  interest  at  a  rate  not  exceeding  7  per 
cent,  per  annum,  irredeemable  for  twenty 
years,  and  after  that  redeemable  at  the 
pleasure  of  the  United  States. 

TREASURY  NOTES  bearing  interest  at  the 
rate  of  7.30  per  cent,  per  annum,  payable 
three  years  after  date ;  and 

United  States  NOTES  without  interest, 
payable  on  demand,  to  the  extent  of  $50,- 
000,000.  (Increased  by  act  of  February 
12,  1862,  to  $60,000,000.) 

The  bonds  and  treasury  NOTES  to  be  is 
sued  in  such  proportions  of  each  as  the 
Secretary  may  deem  advisable. 

August  5— -"Authorized  an  issue  of  BONDS 
bearing  6  per  cent,  interest  per  annum, 
and  payable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  United 
States  alter  twenty  years  from  date,  which 
may  be  issued  in  exchange  for  7.30  trea 
sury  notes ;  but  no  such  bonds  to  be  issued 
for  a  less  sum  than  $500,  and  the  whole 
amount  of  such  bonds  not  to  exceed  the 
whole  amount  of  7.30  treasury  notes  issued. 

February  6,  18G2— Making  $50,000,000 
of  notes,  of  denominations  less  than  $5,  a 
legal  tender,  as  recommended  by  Secretary 
Chase,  was  passed  January  17,  1862.  In 
the  House  it  received  the  votes  of  the  Ke- 
publicans  generally,  and  38  Democrats. 
In  the  Senate  it  had  30  votes  for  to  1 
against,  that  of  Senator  Powell. 

18G2,  February  25 — Authorized  the  issue 
of  $15,000,000  in  legal  tender  United  States 
NOTES,  $50,000,000  of  which  to  be  in  lieu 
of  demand  notes  issued  under  act  of  July 
17,  1861,  $500,000,000  in  6  per  cent,  bonds, 
redeemable  aft«r  five  years,  and  payable 
twenty  years  from  date,  which  may  be  ex 
changed  for  United  States  notes,  and  a 
temporary  loan  of  $25,000,000  in  United 
States  notes  for  not  less  than  thirty  days, 
payable  after  ten  days'  notice  at  5  per 
cent,  interest  per  annum. 

March  17 — Authorized  an  increase  of 
TEMPORARY  LOANS  of  $25,000,000,  bearing 
interest  at  a  rate  not  exceeding  5  per  cent, 
per  annum. 

July  11— Authorized  a  further  increase 
of  TEMPORARY  LOANS  of  $50,000,000,  mak 
ing  the  whole  amount  authorized  $100,- 
000,000. 

March  1 — Authorized  an  issue  of  CER 
TIFICATES  OF  INDEBTEDNESS,  payable  one 
year  from  date,  in  settlement  of  audited 
claims  against  the  Government  Interest 
6  per  cent,  per  annum,  payable  in  gold  on 
those  issued  prior  to  March  4, 1863,  and  in 
lawful  currency  on  those  issued  on  and 
after  that  date.  Amount  of  issue  not 
specified. 


1862,  July  11 — Authorized  an  additional 
issue  of  $150,000,0f<0  legal  tender  NOTES, 
$35,000,000  of  which  might  be  in  denomi 
nations  less  than  five  dollars.     Fifty  mil 
lion  dollars  of  this  issue  to  be  reserved  to 
pay  temporary  loans  promptly  in  case  of 
emergency. 

July  17 — Authorized  an  issue  of  NOTES 
of  the  fractional  part  of  one  dollar,  receiv 
able  in  payment  of  all  dues,  except  cus 
toms,  less  than  five  dollars.  Amount  of 
issue  not  specified. 

1863,  January  17 — Authorized  the  issue 
of  $100,000,000  in  United  States  NOTES  for 
the  immediate  payment  of  the  army  and 
navy;  such  notes  to  be  a    part  of  the 
amount  provided  for  in  any  bill  that  may 
hereafter  be  passed  by  this  Congress.    The 
amount  in  this  resolution  is  included  in 
act  of  March  3,  1863. 

March  3 — Authorized  a  LOAN  of  £300,- 
000,000  for  this  and  $600,000,000  for  next 
fiscal  year,  for  which  could  be  issued  bonds 
running  not  less  than  ten  nor  more  than 
forty  years,  principal  and  interest  payable 
in  coin,  bearing  interest  at  a  rate  not  ex 
ceeding  6  per  cent,  per  annum,  payable  on 
bonds  not  exceeding  $100,  annually,  and  on 
all  others  scmi-annually.  And  TREASURY 
NOTES  (to  the  amount  of  $400,600,000)  not 
exceeding  three  years  to  run,  with  interest 
not  over  6  per  cent,  per  annum,  principal 
and  interest  payable  in  lawful  money, 
which  may  be  made  a  legal  tender  for 
their  face  value,  excluding  interest,  cr 
convertible  into  United  States  notes.  And 
a  further  issue  of  $150,000,000  in  United 
States  NOTES  for  the  purpose  of  converting 
the  Treasury  notes  which  may  be  issued 
under  this  act,  and  for  no  other  purpose. 
And  a  further  issue,  if  necessary,  for  the 
payment  of  the  army  and  navy,  and  other 
creditors  of  the  Government,  of  $150,000,- 
000  in  United  States  NOTES,  which  amount 
includes  the  $100,000,000  authorized  by 
the  joint  resolution  of  Congress,  January 
17,  1863.  The  whole  amount  of  bonds, 
treasury  notes,  and  United  States  rotes 
issued  under  this  act  not  to  exceed  the 
sum  of  $900,000,000. 

March  3 — Authorized  to  issue  not  ex 
ceeding  $50,000,000  in  FRACTIONAL  CUR 
RENCY,  (in  lieu  of  postage  or  other  stamps,) 
exchangeable  for  United  States  notes  in 
sums  not  less  than  three  dollars,  and  re 
ceivable  for  any  dues  to  the  United  States 
less  than  five  dollars,  except  duties  on  im 
ports.  The  whole  amount  issued,  includ 
ing  postage  and  other  stamps  issued  as 
currency,  not  to  exceed  $50,000,000. 
Authority  was  given  to  prepare  it  in  the 
Treasury  Department,  under  the  supervi 
sion  of  the  Secretary. 

1864,  March  3— Authorized,  in  lieu  of  so 
much  of  the  loan  of  March  3, 1863,  a  LOAN 
of  $20<>,000,000  for  the  current  fiscal  year, 
for  which  may  be  issued  bonds  redeemable 


INTERNAL    TAXES. 


151 


after  five  and  within  forty  years,  principal 
and  interest  payable  in  coin,  bearing  interest 
at  a  rate  not  exceeding  6  per  cent,  per  an 
num,  payable  annually  on  bonds  not  over 
$100,  and  on  all  others  semi-annually. 
These  bonds  to  be  exempt  from  taxation 
by  or  under  State  or  municipal  authority. 

1864,  June  30 — Authorized  a  LOAN  of 
$100,000,000,  for  which  may  be  issued 
bonds,  redeemable  after  five  nor  more  than 
thirty  years,  or  if  deemed  expedient,  made 
payable  at  any  period  not  more  than  forty 
years  from  date — interest  not  exceeding  six 
per  cent,  semi-annually,  in  coin. 

Pending  the  loan  bill  of  June  22,  1862, 
before  the  House  in  Committee  of  the 
Whole,  and  the  question  being  on  the  first 
section,  authorizing  a  loan  of  $400,000,000, 
closing  with  this  clause : 

And  all  bonds,  Treasury  notes,  and  oth 
er  obligations  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
exempt  from  taxation  by  or  under  state  or 
municipal  authority. 

There  was  a  sharp  political  controversy 
on  this  question,  but  the  House  finally 
agreed  to  it  by  77  to  71.  Party  lines  were 
not  then  distinctly  drawn  on  financial  issues. 

INTERNAL  TAXES. 

The  system  of  internal  revenue  taxes 
imposed  during  the  war  did  not  evenly 
divide  parties  until  near  its  close,  when 
Democrats  were  generally  arrayed  against 
these  taxes.  They  cannot,  from  the  record, 
be  correctly  classed  as  political  issues,  yet 
their  adoption  and  the  feelings  since  en 
gendered  by  them,  makes  a  brief  summary 
of  the  record  essential. 

First  Session,  Thirty-Seventh  Congress. 

The  bill  to  provide  increased  revenue 
from  imports,  &c.,  passed  the  House  August 
2,  1861— yeas  89,  nays  39. 

Same  day,  it  passed  the  Senate— yeas  34, 
nays  8,  (Messrs.  Breckinridge,  Bright,  John 
son,  of  Missouri,  Kennedy,  Latham,  Polk, 
Powell,  Saulsbury.}* 

Second  Session,  Thirty-Seventh  Congress. 

The  Internal  Revenue  Act  0/1862. 

1862,  April  8— The  House  passed  the  bill 
to  provide  internal  revenue,  support  the 
Government,  and  pay  interest  on  the  public 
debt — yeas  126,  nays  15.  The  NAYS  were : 

Messrs.  William  Allen,  George  JET.  Browne, 
Buffinton,  Cox,  Kerrigan,  Knapp,  Law, 
Norton,  Pendleton,  Richardson,  Shiel,  Val- 
landigham,  Voorhees,  Chilton  A.  White, 
Wickliffe—15. 

June  6— The  bill  passed  in  the  Senate- 
yeas  37,  nay  1,  (Mr.  Powell.} 

First  Session  Thirty-Eighth  Congress. 

Internal  Revenue  Act  of  1864. 

April  28— The  House  passed  the  act  of 

1864— yeas  110,  nays  39.  The  NAYS  were : 

Messrs.  James  C." Allen,  William  J.  Allen, 

*  Democrats  in  italics. 


Ancona,  Brooks,  Chanler,  Cox,  Dawson, 
Denison,  Eden,  Eldridge,  Finck,  Harring 
ton,  Benjamin  G.  Harris,  Herrick,  Philip 
Johnson,  William  Johnson,  Knapp,  Law,  Le 
Blond,  Long,  Marcy,  McDowell,  McKin- 
ney,  James  R.  Morris,  Morrison,  Noble,  John 
O'Neil,  Pendleton,  Perry,  Robinson,  Ross, 
Stiles,  Strouse,  Stuart,  Voorhees,  Ward,  Chil 
ton  A.  White,  Joseph  W.  White,  Fernando 
Wood— 39. 

June  6— The  Senate  amended  and  passed 
the  bill — yeas  22,  nays  3,  (Messrs.  Davis, 
Hendricks,  Powell.) 

The  bill,  as  finally  agreed  upon  by  a 
Committee  of  Conference,  passed  without 
a  division. 

Second  Session,  Thirty-Seventh  Congress. 

Tariff  Act  of  1862. 

In  House— 1862,  July  1— The  House 
passed,  without  a  division,  a  bill  increasing 
temporarily  the  duties  on  imports,  and  for 
other  purposes. 

July  8 — The  Senate  passed  it  without  a 
division. 

THE  TARIFF  ACT  OF  1864. 

June  4 — The  House  passed  the  bill  — 
yeas  81,  nays  28.  The  NAYS  were : 

Messrs.  James  C.  Allen,  Bliss,  James  S. 
Brown,  Cox,  Edgerton,  Eldridge,  Finck, 
Grider,  Harding,  Harrington,  'Chas.  M. 
Harris,  Herrick,  Holman,  Hutchins,  Le 
Blond,  Long,  Mallory,  Marcy,  McDoicell, 
Morrison,  Noble,  Pendleton,  Perry,  Pruyii, 
Ross,  Wadsworth,  Chilton  A.  White,  Joseph 
W.  White  -28. 

June  17 — The  Senate  passed  the  bill — 
yeas  22,  nays  5,  (Messrs.  Buckalew,  Hen 
dricks,  McDougall,  Powell,  Richardson.} 

Second  Session,  Thirty-Seventh  Congress. 

Taxes  in  Insurrectionary  District*,  1862. 

1862,  May  12— The  bill  for  the  collec 
tion  of  taxes  in  the  insurrectionary  dis 
tricts  passed  the  Senate — yeas  32,  nays  3, 
as  follows : 

YEAS  —  Messrs.  Anthony,  Browning, 
Chandler,  Clark,  Davis,  Dixon,  Doolittle, 
Fessenden,  Foot,  Foster,  Harlan,  Harris, 
Henderson,  Howe,  King,  Lane  of  Indiana, 
Lane  of  Kansas,  Latham,  McDougall,  Mor- 
rill,  Nesmith,  Pomeroy,  Rice,  Sherma'n, 
Sumner,  Ten  Eyck,  Trumbull,  Wade, 
Wilkinson,  Willey,  Wilson,  of  Massachu 
setts,  Wright— 32. 

NAYS— Messrs.  Howard,  Powell,  Sauls- 
bur]/ — 3. 

May  28 — The  bill  passed  House— yeas 
98,  nays  17.  The  NAYS  were : 

Messrs.  Biddle,  Calvert,  Cravens,  Johnson, 
Kerrigan,  Law,  Mallory,  Menzies,  Noble, 
Norton,  Pendleton,  Perrif,  Francis  Thomas 
VallandigJiam,  Ward,  Wicklife,  Wood— 17. 

The  Democrats  who  voted  Aye  were : 

Messrs.  Ancona,   Baily,   Cobb,  English, 
Haight}  Holman,  Lehman,    Odell,  Phelpst 
*  Democrats  in  italica. 


152 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Richardson,   James   S.   Rollins,    Sheffield, 
Smith,  John  B.  Steele,  Wm.  G.  Steele. 

TAXES   IN   INSURRECTIONARY   DISTRICTS, 

1864. 

In  Senate,  June  27— The  bill  passed  the 
Senate  without  a  division. 

July  2 — It  passed  the  House  without  a 
division. 

Many  financial  measures  and  proposi 
tions  were  rejected,  and  we  shall  not  at 
tempt  to  give  the  record  on  these.  All 
that  were  passed  and  went  into  operation 
can  be  more  readily  understood  by  a  glance 
at  our  Tabulated  History,  in  Book  VII., 
which  gives  a  full  view  of  the  financial 
history  and  sets  out  all  the  loans  and  reve 
nues.,  We  ought  not  to  close  this  review, 
however,  without  giving  here  a  tabulated 
statement,  from  "  McPherson's  History  of 
the  Great  Rebellion,"  of 


The  Confederate  Debt. 

December  31,  1862,  the  receipts  of  the 
Treasury  from  the  commencement  of  the 
"  Permanent  Government "  (February  18, 
1862,)  were  as  follows: 

RECEIPTS. 

Patent  fund $13,920  00 

Customs 668,566  00 

Miscellaneous 2,291,812  00 

Repayments  of  disbursing  offi 
cers  3,839,263  00 

Interest  on  loans 26,583  00 

Call  loan  certificates  ....  59,742,796  00 

One  hundred  million  loan  .    .  41,398,286  00 

Treasury  notes 215,554,885  00 

Interest  bearing  notes  .    .    .  113,740.000  00 

War   tax '  16,664,513  00 

I<oan  28th  of  February,  1861 .  1,375,476  00 
Coin   received  from   Bank  of 

Louisiana 2,539,799  00 

Total $457,855,704  00 

Total  debt  up  to  December  31, 

1862 656,105,100  00 

Estimated  amount  at  that  date 
necessary  to  support  the  Gov 
ernment  to  July,  1863,  was  357,929,229  00 

Up  to  December  31, 1862,  the  issues  of 
the  Treasury  were : 

Notes $440,678,510  00 

Redeemed 30,193,479  50 


Outstanding $410,485,030  50 

From  January  1,  1863,  to  September  30, 
1863,  the  receipts  of  the  Treasury  were : 

For  8  per  cent,  stock  ....  $107,292,900  70 

For  7  per  cent,  stock  .    .    . 

For  6  per  cent,  stock  .    .    , 

For  5  per  cent,  stock  .    .    , 

For  4  per  cent,  stock  .    . 

Cotton  certificates  .... 

Interest  on    loans  .    .    . 

War  tax  . 


38,757,650  70 
6,810,050  00 
22,992,900  00 
482,200  00 
2,000,000  00 
140,210  00 
4,128,988  97 


Treasury  notes 391,623,530  00 

Sequestration 1,862,550  27 

Customs 934,798  68 

Export  duty  on  cotton  .    .    .  8,101  78 

Patent  fund 10,794  04 

Miscellaneous,  including  re 
payments  by  disbursing  offi 
cers 24,498,217  93 


Total $601,522,893  12 

EXPENDITURES  DURING  THAT   TIME. 

War  Department $377,988,24400 

Navy    Department 38,437,661  00 

Civil,  miscellaneous,  etc  .    .    .      11,629,27800 

Customs 56,636  00 

Public  debt 32,212,290  00 

Notes  cancelled  and  redeemed    59,044.449  00 


Total  expenditures  . 
Total  receipts  .    .    . 


.  $519,368,559  00 
.    601,522,893  00 


Balance  in   treasury  . 


$82,154,334  00 


But  from  this  amount  is  to  be  deducted  the 
amount  of  all  Treasury  notes  that  have  been 
funded,  but  which  have  not  yet  received  a  true 
estimation,  $65,000,000 ;  total  remaining,  $17,- 
154,334. 

CONDITION  OF  THE  TREASURY,  JANUARY 
1,  1864. 

Jan.  25 — The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
(C.  G.  Memminger)  laid  before  the  Senate 
a  statement  in  reply  to  a  resolution  of  the 
20th,  asking  information  relative  to  the 
funded  debt,  to  call  certificates,  to  non-in 
terest  and  interest-bearing  Treasury  notes, 
and  other  financial  matters.  From  this  it 
appears  that,  January,  1864,  the  funded 
debt  was  as  follows : 

Act  Feb.  28, 1861,8  $  cent.,    15,000,000  00 

Act  May  16, 1861, 8  "ft  cent ,    8,774.900  00 

Act  Aug.  19, 1861, 8  %}  cent.,  100,000,000  00 

ActApr.l2,1862,8f(CPnt.,     3,612,300  00 

Act  Feb.  20, 1868, 8  fl  cent.,    95,785,000  00 

Act  Feb.  20, 1863, 7$  cent.,   63,615,750  00 

Act  Mar  23, 1863, 6  ty  cent ,     2,831,700  00 

Act  April   30,  1863  (cotton 

interest  coupons) 8,252,000  00 

8297,87 ',650  00 

Call  certificates 89,'206,770  00 

Non-interest  bearing  Treasury  notes  out 
standing: 

Act  May  16, 1861— Payable 

two  years  after  date 8,320,875  00 

Act  Aug.  19,  1861- General 
currency 189,719,251  00 

Act  Oct.  13, 1861— All  de 
nominations 131,028,366  50 

Act  March  23— All  denomi 
nations 391,829,702  50 

720,898,095  00 

Interest-bearing  Treasury  notes  outstand 
ing 102,465,450  00 

Amount  of  Treasury  notes 
under  $5,  outstanding 
Jan.  1,  1864,  viz: 

Act  April  17,  1862,  denomi 
nations  of  « 1  and  $  2 4,860,277  50 

Act  Oct.  13,1 862, 8 1  and  $  2    2,344,800  00 


Act    March    23,    1863,    50 
cents 

Total  under  $  5 


..    3,419,000  00 


10,424,077  90 


Total  debt,  Jan.  1, 1864 $1,220,866,012  50 


CONFEDERATE    TAXES, 


153 


ITS  CONDITION,  MARCH  31,  1864. 

The  Register  of  the  Treasury,  Robert 
Tyler,  gave  a  statement,  which  appeared 
in  the  Richmond  Sentinel  after  the  passage 
of  the  funding  law,  which  gives  the  amount 
of  outstanding  non-interest-bearing  Trea 
sury  notes,  March  31, 1864,  as  $796,264,403, 
as  follows : 

Act  May  16,  1861— Ten-year 

notes $7,201,375  00 

Act  Aug.  19,  1861— General 

currency 154,365,631  00 

Act  Apr.  19,  1862— ones  and 

twos 4,516,509  00 

Act  Oct.  18,  1862— General 

currency 118,997,321  60 

Act  Mar.  23,  1863— General 

currency  ........    511,182,566  50 


Total 1796,264,403  00 

He  also  publishes  this  statement  of  the 
issue  of  non-interest-bearing  Treasury 
notes  since  the  organization  of  the  "Con 
federate  "  government  : 

Fifty  cents $911,258  50 

Ones 4,882,000  00 

Twos 6,086,320  00 

Fives 79,090,315  00 

Tens 157,982,750  00 

Twenties 217,425,120  00 

Fifties 188,088,200  00 


Total $973,277,363  60 


Confederate  Taxes. 

We  also  append  as  full  and  fair  a  state 
ment  of  Confederate  taxes  as  can  be  pro 
cured,  beginning  with  a  summary  of  the 
act  authorizing  the  issue  of  Treasury  notes 
and  bonds,  and  providing  a  war  tax  for 
their  redemption : 

THE  TAX  ACT  OF  JULY,  1861. 

The  Richmond  Enquirer  gives  the  fol 
lowing  summary  of  the  act  authorizing 
the  issue  of  Treasury  notes  and  bonds,  and 
providing  a  war  tax  for  their  redemption : 

Section  one  authorizes  the  issue  of 
Treasury  notes,  payable  to  bearer  at  the 
expiration  of  six  months  after  the  ratifica 
tion  of  a  treaty  of  peace  between  the  Con 
federate  States  and  the  United  States. 
The  notes  are  not  to  be  of  a  less  denomi 
nation  than  five  dollars,  to  be  re-issued  at 
pleasure,  to  be  received  in  payment  of  all 
public  dues,  except  the  export  duty  on  cot 
ton,  and  the  whole  issue  outstanding  at 
one  time,  including  the  amount  issued 
under  former  acts,  are  not  to  exceed  one 
hundred  millions  of  dollars. 

Section  two  provides  that,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  funding  the  said  notes,  or  for  the 
purpose  of  purchasing  specie  or  military 
stores,  &c.,  bonds  may  be  issued,  payable 
not  more  than  twenty  years  after  date,  to 


the  amount  of  one  hundred  millions  of  dol 
lars,  and  bearing  an  interest  of  eight  per 
cent,  per  annum.  This  amount  includes 
the  thirty  millions  already  authorized  to 
IDC  issued.  The  bonds  are  not  to  be  issued 
in  less  amounts  than  $100,  except  when  the 
subscription  is  for  a  less  amount,  when 
they  may  be  issued  as  low  as  $50. 

Section  three  provides  that  holders  of 
Treasury  notes  may  at  any  time  exchange 
them  for  bonds. 

Section  four  provides  that,  for  the  special 
purpose  of  paying  the  principal  and  Inter 
est  of  the  public  debt,  and  of  supporting 
the  Government,  a  war  tax  shall  be  as 
sessed  and  levied  of  fifty  cents  upon  each 
one  hundred  dollars  in  value  of  the  follow 
ing  property  in  the  Confederate  States, 
namely :  Real  estate  of  all  kinds ;  slaves ; 
merchandise ;  bank  stocks ;  railroad  and 
other  corporation  stocks;  money  at  in 
terest  or  invested  by  individuals  in  the 
purchase  of  bills,  notes,  and  other  securi 
ties  for  money,  except  the  bonds  of  the 
Confederate  States  of  America,  and  cash 
on  hand  or  on  deposit  in  bank  or  elsewhere ; 
cattle,  horses,  and  mules;  gold  watches, 
gold  and  silver  plate;  pianos  and  pleasure 
carriages:  Provided,  however,  That  when 
the  taxable  property,  herein  above  enu 
merated,  of  any  head  of  a  family  is  of  value 
less  than  five  hundred  dollars,  such  tax 
able  property  shall  be  exempt  from  taxa 
tion  under  this  act.  It  provides  further 
that  the  property  of  colleges,  schools,  and 
religious  associations  shall  be  exempt. 

The  remaining  sections  provide  for  the 
collection  of  the  tax. 

THE  TAX  ACT  OF  DECEMBER  19,  1861. 

An  act  supplementary  to  an  act  to  authorize 
the  issue  of  Treasury  notes,  and  to  pro- 
vide  a  war  tax  for  their  redemption. 
SEC.  1.  The  Congress  of  the  Confederate 
States  of  America  do  enact,  That  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury  is  hereby  authorized 
to  pay  over  to  the  several  banks,  which 
have  made  advances  to  the  Government, 
in  anticipation  of  the  issue  of  Treasury 
notes,  a  sufficient  amount,  not  exceeding 
$10,000,000,  for  the  principal  and  interest 
due  upon  the  said  advance,  according  to 
the  engagements  made  with  them. 

SEC.  2.  The  time  affixed  by  the  said  act 
for  making  assignments  is  hereby  extend 
ed  to  the  1st  day  of  January  next,  and  the 
time  for  the  completion  and  delivery  of  the 
lists  is  extended  to  the  1st  day  of  March 
next,  and  the  time  for  the  report  of  the 
said  lists  to  the  chief  collector  is  extended 
to  the  1st  day  of  May  next ;  and  in  cases 
where  the  time  thus  fixed  shall  be  found 
insufficient,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
shall  have  power  to  make  further  exten 
sion,  as  circumstances  may  require. 

SEC.  3.  The  cash  on  hand,  or  on  deposit 
in  the  bank,  or  elsewhere,  mentioned  in 


154 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


the  fourth  section  of  said  act,  is  hereby  de 
clared  to  be  subject  to  assessment  and  tax 
ation,  and  the  money  at  interest,  or  invest 
ed  by  individuals  in  the  purchase  of  bills, 
notes,  and  other  securities  for  money,  shall 
be  deemed  to  include  securities  for  money 
belonging  to  non-residents,  and  such  se 
curities  shall  be  returned,  and  the  tax 
thereon  paid  by  any  agent  or  trustee  hay 
ing  the  same  in  possession  or  under  his 
control.  The  term  merchandise  shall  be 
construed  to  include  merchandise  belong 
ing  to  any  non-resident,  and  the  property 
shall  be  returned,  and  the  tax  paid  by  any 
person  having  the  same  in  possession  as 
agent,  attorney,  or  consignee:  Provided, 
That  the  words  "money  at  interest,"  as 
used  in  the  act  to  which  this  act  is  an 
amendment,  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  in 
clude  all  notes,  or  other  evidences  of  debt, 
bearing  interest,  without  reference  to  the 
consideration  of  the  same.  The  exception 
allowed  by  the  twentieth  section  for  agri 
cultural  products  shall  be  construed  to  em 
brace  such  products  only  when  in  the 
hands  of  the  producer,  or  held  for  his  ac 
count.  But  no  tax  shall  be  assessed  or 
levied  on  any  money  at  interest  when  the 
notes,  bond,  bill,  or  other  security  taken 
for  its  payment,  shall  be  worthless  from 
the  insolvency  and  total  inability  to  pay 
of  the  payer  or  obligor,  or  person  liable  to 
make  such  payment ;  and  all  securities  for 
money  payable  under  this  act  shall  be 
assessed  according  to  their  value,  and  the 
assessor  shall  have  the  same  power  to  as 
certain  the  value  of  such  securities  as  the 
law  confers  upon  him  with  respect  to  other 
property. 

SEC.  4.  That  an  amount  of  money,  not 
exceeding  $25,000,  shall  be  and  the  same 
is  hereby  appropriated,  out  of  any  money 
in  the  treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated, 
to  be  disbursed  under  the  authority  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  to  the  chief 
State  tax  collectors,  for  such  expenses  as 
shall  be  actually  incurred  for  salaries  of 
clerks,  office  hire,  stationery,  and  inciden 
tal  charges;  but  the  books  and  printing 
required  shall  be  at  the  expense  of  the  de 
partment,  and  subject  to  its  approval. 

SEC.  5.  The  lien  for  the  tax  shall  attach 
from  the  date  of  the  assessment,  and  shall 
follow  the  same  into  every  State  in  the 
Confederacy ;  and  in  case  any  person  shall 
attempt  to  remove  any  property  which  may 
be  liable  to  tax,  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  State  in  which  the  tax  is  payable, 
without  payment  of  the  tax,  the  collector 
of  the  district  may  distrain  upon  and  sell 
the  same,  in  the  same  manner  as  is  pro 
vided  in  cases  where  default  is  made  in 
the  payment  of  the  tax. 

SEC.  6.  On  the  report  of  any  chief  col 
lector,  that  any  county,  town  or  district, 
or  any  part  thereof,  is  occupied  by  the 
public  enemy,  or  has  been  so  occupied  as 


to  occasion  destruction  of  crops  or  property, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  may  suspend 
the  collection  of  tax  in  such  region  until 
the  same  can  be  reported  to  Congress,  and 
its  action  had  thereon. 

SEC.  7.  In  case  any  of  the  Confederate 
States  shall  undertake  to  pay  the  tax  to  be 
collected  within  its  limits  before  the  time 
at  which  the  district  collectors  shall  enter 
upon  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  may  suspend  the 
appointment  of  such  collectors,  and  may 
direct  the  chief  collector  to  appoint  assess 
ors,  and  to  take  proper  measures  for  the 
making  and  perfecting  the  returns,  assess 
ments  and  lists  required  by  law;  and  the 
returns,  assessments  and  lists  so  made, 
shall  have  the  same  legal  validity,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  as  if  made  according 
to  the  provisions  of  the  act  to  which  this 
act  is  supplementary. 

SEC.  8.  That  tax  lists  already  given, 
varying  from  the  provisions  of  this  act, 
shall  be  corrected  so  as  to  conform  thereto. 

THE  TAX  ACT  OF  APRIL  24,  18G3. 
[From  the  Richmond  Whig,  April  21.] 

We  present  below  a  synopsis  of  the  bill 
to  lay  taxes  for  the  common  defence  and 
to  carry  on  the  government  of  the  Confed 
erate  States,  which  has  passed  both 
branches  of  Congress.  It  is  substantially 
the  bill  proposed  by  the  committee  on 
conference : 

1.  The  first  section  imposes  a  tax  of 
eight  per  cent,  upon  the  value  of  all  naval 
stores,  salt,  wines  and  spirituous  liquors, 
tobacco,  manufactured  or  unmanufactured, 
cotton,  wool,  flour,  sugar,  molasses,  syrup, 
rice,  and  other  agricultural  products,  held 
or  owned  on  the  1st  day  of  July  next,  and 
not  necessary  for  family  consumption  for 
the  unexpired  portion  of  the  year  1863, 
and  of  the  growth  or  production  of  any 
year  preceding  the  year  1863 ;   and  a  tax 
of  one  per  cent,  upon  all  moneys,  bank 
notes  or  other  currency  on  hand  or  on  de 
posit  on  the  1st  day  of  July  next,  and  on 
the  value  of  all  credits  on  which  the  in 
terest  has  not  been  paid,  and  not  employed 
in  a  business,  the   income  derived  from 
which  is  taxed  under  the  provisions  of  this 
act:    Provided,   That  all  moneys  owned, 
held  or  deposited  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
Confederate  States  shall  be  valued  at  the 
current  rate  of  exchange  in  Confederate 
treasury  notes.     The  tax  to  be  assessed  on 
the  first  day  of  July  and  collected  on  the 
first  day  of  October  next,  or  as  soon  there 
after  as  may  be  practicable. 

2.  Every  person  engaged,  or  intending 
to  engage,  in  any  business  named  in  the 
fifth  section,  shall,  within  sixty  clays  alter 
the  passage  of  the  act,  or  at  the  time  of  be 
ginning  business,  and  on  the  first  of  Janu 
ary  in  each  year  thereafter,  register  with 
the  district  collector  a  true  account  of  the 


CONFEDERATE    TAXES. 


155 


name  and  residence  of  each  person,  firm, 
or  corporation  engaged  or  interested  in  the 
business,  with  a  statement  of  the  time  for 
which,  and  the  place  and  manner  in  which 
the  same  is  to  be  conducted,  &c.  At  the 
time  of  the  registry  there  shall  be  paid  the 
specific  tax  for  the  year  ending  on  the 
next  31st  of  December,  and  such  other  tax 
as  may  be  due  upon  sales  or  receipts  in 
such  business. 

3.  Any  person  failing   to  make  such 
registry  and  pay  such  tax,  shall,  in  addi 
tion  to  all  other  taxes  upon  his  business  im 
posed  by  the  act,  pay  double  the  amount 
of  the  specific  tax  on  such  business,  and  a 
like  sum  for  every  thirty  days  of  such 
failure. 

4.  Kequires  a  separate  registry  and  tax 
for  each  business  mentioned  in  the  fifth 
section,  and  for  each  place  of  conducting 
the  same ;   but  no  tax  for  mere  storage  of 
goods  at  a  place  other  than  the  registered 
place  of  business.     A  new  registry  required 
upon  every  change  in  the  place  of  conduct 
ing  a  registered  business,  upon  the  death 
of  any  person  conducting  the  same,   or 
upon  the  transfer  of  the  business  to  an 
other,  but  no  additional  tax. 

5.  Imposing  the  following  taxes  for  the 
year  ending  31st  of  December,  1863,  and 
for  each  year  thereafter : 

Bankers  shall  pay  $500. 

Auctioneers,  retail  dealers,  tobacconists, 
podlers,  cattle  brokers,  apothecaries,  pho 
tographers,  and  confectioners,  $50,  and 
t-.vo  and  a  half  per  centum  on  the  gross 
amount  of  sales  made. 

Wholesale  dealers  in  liquors,  $200,  and 
five  per  centum  on  gross  amount  of  sales. 
Ketail  dealers  in  liquors,  $100,  and  ten  per 
centum  on  gross  amount  of  sales. 

Wholesale  dealers  in  groceries,  goods, 
wares,  merchandise,  &c.,  $200,  and  two 
and  a  half  per  centum. 

Pawnbrokers,  money  and  exchange  bro 
kers,  $200. 

Distillers,  $200,  and  twenty  per  centum. 
Brewers,  $100,  and  two  and  a  half  per  cen 
tum. 

Hotels,  inns,  taverns,  and  eating-houses, 
first  class,  $500 ;  second  class,  $300 ;  third 
class,  $200 ;  fourth  class,  100 ;  fifth  class, 
$30.  Every  house  where  food  or  refresh 
ments  are  sold,  and  every  boarding  house 
where  there  shall  be  six  boarders  or  more, 
shall  be  deemed  an  eating  house  under 
this  act. 

Commercial  brokers  or  commission  mer 
chants,  $200,  and  two  and  a  half  per  cen 
tum. 

Theatres,  $500,  and  five  per  centum  on 
all  receipts.  Each  circus,  $100,  and  $10 
for  each  exhibition.  Jugglers  and  other 
persons  exhibiting  shows,  i|50. 

Bowling  alleys  and  billiard  rooms,  $40 
for  each  alley  or  table  registered. 


Livery  stable  keepers,  lawyers,  physi 
cians,  surgeons,  and  dentists,  $50. 

Butchers  and  bakers,  $50,  and  one  per 
centum. 

6.  Every  person  registered  and  taxed  is 
required    to  make    returns  of   the  gross 
amount  of  sales  from  the  passage  of  the  act 
to  the  30th  of  June,  and  every  three  months 
thereafter. 

7.  A  tax  upon  all  salaries,  except  of  per 
sons  in  the  military  or  naval  service,  of  one 
per  cent,  when  not  exceeding  $1,500,  and 
two  per  cent,  upon  an  excess  over  that 
amount :  Provided,  That  no  taxes  shall  be 
imposed  by  virtue  of  this  act  on  the  salary 
of  any  person  receiving  a  salary  not  ex 
ceeding  $1,000  per  annum,  or  at  a  like  rate 
for    another    period    of  time,  longer    or 
shorter. 

8.  Provides  that  the  tax  on  annual  in 
comes,  between  $500  and  $1,500,  shall  be 
five  per  cent. ;  between  $1,500  and  $3,000, 
five  per  cent,  on  the  first  $1,500  and  ten 
per  cent,  on  the  excess ;   between  $3,000 
and  $5,000,  ten  per  cent. ;  between  $5,000 
and  $10,000,  twelve  and  a  half  per  cent. ; 
over  $10,000,  fifteen  per  cent.,  subject  to 
the  following  deductions :  On  incomes  de 
rived  from  rents  of  real  estate,  manufac 
turing,  and  mining  establishments,  &c.,  a 
sum  sufficient  for  necessary  annual  repairs  ; 
on  incomes  from  any  mining  or  manufac 
turing  business,  the  rent,  (if  rented,)  cost 
of  labor  actually  hired,  and  raw  material  ; 
on  incomes  from  navigating  enterprises, 
the  hire  of  the  vessel,  or  allowance  for 
wear  and  tear  of  the  same,  not  exceeding 
ten  per  cent. ;  on  incomes  derived  from  the 
sale  of  merchandise  or  any  other  property, 
the  prime  cost  of  transportation,  salaries  of 
clerks,  and  rent  of  buildings ;   on  incomes 
from  any  other  occupation,  the  salaries  of 
clerks,  rent,  cost  of  labor,  material,  &c. ; 
and  in  case  of  mutual  insurance  compa 
nies,  the   amount  of  losses  paid  by  them 
during  the  year.     Incomes  derived  from 
other  sources  are  subject  to  no  deductions 
whatever. 

All  joint  stock  companies  and  corpora 
tions  shall  pay  one  tenth  of  the  dividend 
and  reserved  fund  annually.  If  the  an 
nual  earnings  shall  give  a  profit  of  more 
than  ten  and  less  than  twenty  per  cent,  on 
capital  stock,  one  eighth  to  be  paid ;  if 
more  than  twenty  per  cent,  one  sixth. 
The  tax  to  be  collected  on  the  1st  of  Janu 
ary  next,  and  of  each  year  thereafter. 

9.  Relates  to  estimates  and  deductions, 
investigations,  referees,  &c. 

10.  A  tax  of  ten  per  cent,  on  all  profits 
in  1862  by  the  purchase  and  sale  of  flour, 
corn,  bacon,  pork,  oats,  hay,  rice,  salt,  iron 
or  the  manufactures  of  iron,  sugar,  mo 
lasses  made  of  cane,  butter,  woolen  cloths, 
shoes,  boots,  blankets,  and  cotton  cloths. 
Does  not  apply  to  regular  retail  business. 

11.  Each  farmer,  after  reserving  for  his 


156 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


own  use  fifty  bushels  sweet  and  fifty 
bushels  Irish  potatoes,  one  hundred  bushels 
corn  or  fifty  bushels  wheat  produced  this 
year,  shall  pay  and  deliver  to  the  Con 
federate  Government  one  tenth  of  the 
grain,  potatoes,  forage,  sugar,  molasses,  cot 
ton,  wool,  and  tobacco  produced.  After 
reserving  twenty  bushels  peas  or  beans  he 
shall  deliver  one  tenth  thereof. 

12.  Every  farmer,  planter,  or  grazier,  one 
tenth  of  the  hogs  slaughtered  by  him,  in 
cured  bacon,  at  the  rate  of  sixty  pounds  of 
bacon  to  one  hundred  pounds  of  pork ;  one 
per  cent,  upon  the  value  of  all  neat  cattle, 
horses,  mules,  not  used  in  cultivation,  and 
asses,  to  be  paid  by  the  owners  of  the  same ; 
beeves  sold  to  be  taxed  as  income. 

13.  Gives  in  detail  the  duties  of  post 
quartermasters  under  the  act. 

14.  Relates  to  the  duties  of  assessors  and 
collectors. 

15.  Makes  trustees,  guardians,  &c.,  re 
sponsible  for  taxes  due  from  estates,  &c., 
under  their  control. 

16.  Exempts  the  income  and  moneys  of 
hospitals,  asylums  churches,  schools,  and 
colleges  from  taxation  under  the  act. 

17.  Authorizes  the  Secretary  of  the  Trea 
sury  to  make  all  rules  and  regulations  ne 
cessary  to  the  operation  of  the  act. 

18.  Provides  that  the  act  shall  be  in 
force  for  two  years  from  the  expiration  of 
the  present  year,  unless  sooner  repealed ; 
that  the  tax  on  naval  stores,  flour,  wool, 
cotton,  tobacco,  and  other  agricultural  pro 
ducts  of  the  growth  of  any  year  preceding 
1863,  imposed  in  the  first  section,  shall  be  le 
vied  and  collected  only  for  the  present  year. 

The  tax  act  of  February  17,  1864,  levies, 
in  addition  to  the  above  rates,  the  follow 
ing,  as  stated  in  the  Richmond  Sentinel  of 
February,  1864: 

SEC.  1.  Upon  the  value  of  real,  personal, 
and  mixed  property,  of  every  kind  and  de 
scription,  except  the  exemptions  hereafter 
to  be  named,  five  per  cent. ;  the  tax  levied 
on  property  employed  in  agriculture  to  be 
credited  by  the  value  of  property  in  kind. 

On  gold  and  silver  ware,  plate,  jewels, 
and  watches,  ten  per  cent. 

The  tax  to  be  levied  on  the  value  of 
property  in  1860,  except  in  the  case  of 
land,  slaves,  cotton,  and  tobacco,  pur 
chased  since  January  1st,  1862,  upon  which 
the  tax  shall  be  levied  on  the  price  paid. 

SEC.  2.  A  tax  of  five  per  cent,  on  the 
value  of  all  shares  in  joint  stock  companies 
of  any  kind,  whether  incorporated  or  not. 
The  shares  to  be  valued  at  their  market 
value  at  the  time  of  assessment. 

SEC.  3.  Upon  the  market  value  of  gold 
and  silver  coin  or  bullion,  five  per  cent. ; 
also  the  same  upon  moneys  held  abroad,  or 
all  bills  of  exchange  drawn  therefor. 

A  tax  of  five  per  cent,  on  all  solvent 
credits,  and  on  all  bank  bills  and  papers 
used  as  currency,  except  non-interest-bear 


ing  Confederate  Treasury  notes,  and  not 
employed  in  a  registered  business  taxed 
twenty-five  per  cent. 

SEC.  4.  Profits  in  trade  and  business 
taxed  as  follows : 

On  the  purchase  and  sale  of  agricultural 
products  and  mercantile  wares  generally, 
from  January  1,  1863,  to  January  1,  1865, 
ten  per  cent,  in  addition  to  the  tax  under 
the  act  of  April  24,  1863. 

The  same  on  the  purchase  and  sale  of 
coin,  exchange,  stocks,  notes,  and  credits 
of  any  kind,  and  any  property  not  in 
cluded  in  the  foregoing. 

On  the  amount  of  profits  exceeding 
twenty-five  per  cent,  of  any  bank,  banking 
company,  or  joint  stock  company  of  any  de 
scription,  incorporated  or  not,  twenty-five 
per  cent,  on  such  excess. 

SEC.  5.  The  following  are  exempted 
from  taxation. 

Five  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  property 
for  each  head  of  a  family,  and  a  hundred 
dollars  additional  for  each  minor  child; 
and  for  each  son  in  the  army  or  navy,  or 
who  has  fallen  in  the  service,  and  a  mem 
ber  of  the  family  when  he  enlisted,  the 
further  sum  of  $500. 

One  thousand  dollars  of  the  property 
of  the  widow  or  minor  children  of  any 
officer,  soldier,  sailor,  or  marine,  who  has 
died  in  the  service. 

A  like  amount  of  property  of  any  offi 
cer,  soldier,  sailor,  or  marine,  engaged  in 
the  service,  or  who  has  been  disabled 
therein,  provided  said  property,  exclusive 
of  furniture,  does  not  exceed  in  value  $1,000. 

When  property  has  been  injured  or  de 
stroyed  by  the  enemy,  or  the  owner  unable 
temporarily  to  use  or  occupy  it  by  reason 
of  the  presence  or  proximity  of  the  enemy, 
the  assessment  may  be  reduced  in  propor 
tion  to  the  damage  sustained  by  the  owner, 
and  the  tax  in  the  same  ratio  by  the  dis 
trict  collector. 

SEC.  6.  The  taxes  on  property  for  1864 
to  be  assessed  as  on  the  day  of  the  passage 
of  this  act,  and  collected  the  1st  of  June 
next,  with  ninety  days  extension  west  of 
the  Mississippi.  The  additional  tax  on 
incomes  or  profits  for  1863,  to  be  paid 
forthwith  ;  the  tax  on  incomes,  &c.,  for  1864, 
to  be  collected  according  to  the  acts  of  1863. 

SEC.  7.  Exempts  from  tax  on  income  for 
1864,  all  property  herein  taxed  ad  valorem. 
The  tax  on  Confederate  bonds  in  no  case 
to  exceed  the  interest  payable  on  the 
same;  and  said  bonds  exempt  from  tax 
when  held  by  minors  or  lunatics,  if  the  in 
terest  do  not  exceed  one  thousand  dollars. 

THE  TAX   LAW. 

We  learn  that,  according  to  the  construc 
tion  of  the  recent  tax  law  in  the  Treasury 
Department,  tax  payers  will  be  required  to 
state  the  articles  and  objects  subjected  to  a 
specific  or  ad  valorem  tax,  held,  owned,  or 


CONFEDERATE    TAXES. 


157 


possessed  by  them  on  the  17th  day  of  Febru 
ary,  1864,  the  date  of  the  act. 

The  daily  wages  of  detailed  soldiers  and 
other  employes  of  the  Government  are  not 
liable  to  taxation  as  income,  although  they 
may  amount,  in  the  aggregate,  to  the  sum 
of  $1,000  per  annum. 

A  tax  additional  to  both  the  above  was 
imposed  as  follows,  June  1,  1864: 

A  bill  to  provide  supplies  for  the  army,  and 
to  prescribe  the  mode  of  making  im 
pressments. 

SEC.  1.  The  Congress  of  the  Confederate 
States  of  America  do  enact,  Every  person 
required  to  pay  a  tax  in  kind,  under  the 
provisions  of  the  "  Act  to  lay  taxes  for  the 
common  defense  and  carry  on  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  Confederate  States,"  approved 
April  24,  1863,  and  the  act  amendatory 
thereof,  approved  February  17, 1864,  shall, 
in  addition  to  the  one  tenth  required  by 
said  acts  to  be  paid  as  a  tax  in  kind,  de 
liver  to  the  Confederate  Government,  of 
the  products  of  the  present  year  and  of  the 
year  1865,  one  other  tenth  of  the  several 
products  taxed  in  kind  by  the  acts  afore 
said,  which  additional  one  tenth  shall  be 
ascertained,  assessed  and  collected,  in  all 
respects,  as  is  provided  by  law  for  the  said 
tax  in  kind,  and  shall  be  paid  for,  on  de 
livery,  by  the  Post-Quartermasters  in  the 
several  districts  at  the  assessed  value  there 
of,  except  that  payment  for  cotton  and  to 
bacco  shall  be  made  by  the  agents  of  the 
Treasury  Department  appointed  to  receive 
the  same. 

SEC.  2.  The  supplies  necessary  to  the 
support  of  the  producer  and  his  family,  and 
to  carry  on  his  ordinary  business,  shall  be 
exempted  from  the  contribution  required 
by  the  preceding  section,  and  from  the  ad 
ditional  impressments  authorized  by  the 
act :  Provided,  however.  That  nothing  here 
in  contained  shall  be  construed  to  repeal 
or  affect  the  provisions  of  an  act  entitled 
"  An  act  to  authorize  the  impressment  of 
meat  for  the  use  of  the  army,  under  certain 
circumstances,"  approved  Feb.  17,  1864, 
and  if  the  amount  of  any  article  or  product 
so  necessary  cannot  be  agreed  upon  be 
tween  the  assessor  and  the  producer,  it 
shall  be  ascertained  and  determined  by 
disinterested  freeholders  of  the  vicinage,  as 
is  provided  in  cases  of  disagreement  as  to 
the  estimates  and  assessments  of  tax  in 
kind.  If  required  by  the  assessor,  such 
freeholder  shall  ascertain  whether  a  pro 
ducer,  who  is  found  unable  to  furnish  the 
additional  one  tenth  of  any  one  product, 
cannot  supply  the  deficiency  by  the  de 
livery  of  an  equivalent  in  other  products, 
and  upon  what  terms  such  commutation 
shall  be  made.  Any  commutation  thus 
awarded  shall  be  enforced  and  collected,  in 
all  respects,  as  is  provided  for  any  other 
contribution  required  by  this  act. 


SEC.  3.  The  Secretary  of  War  may,  at 
his  discretion,  decline  to  assess,  or,  after 
assessment,  may  decline  to  collect  the 
whole  or  any  part  of  the  additional  one 
tenth  herein  provided  for,  in  any  district 
or  locality;  and  it  shall  be  his  duty 
promptly  to  give  notice  of  any  such  de 
termination,  specifying,  with  reasonable 
certainty,  the  district  or  locality  and  the 
product,  or  the  proportion  thereof,  as  to 
which  he  so  declines. 

SEC.  4.  The  products  received  for  the 
contribution  herein  required,  shall  be  dis 
posed  of  and  accounted  for  in  the  same 
manner  as  those  received  for  the  tax  in 
kind;  and  the  Secretary  of  War  may, 
whenever  the  exigencies  of  the  public  ser 
vice  will  allow,  authorize  the  sale  of  pro 
ducts  received  from  either  source,  to  pub 
lic  officers  or  agents  charged  in  any  State 
with  the  duty  of  providing  for  the  families 
of  soldiers.  Such  sale  shall  be  at  the 
prices  paid  or  assessed  for  the  products 
sold,  including  the  actual  cost  of  collec 
tions. 

SEC.  5.  If,  in  addition  to  the  tax  in  kind 
and  the  contribution  herein  required,  the 
necessities  of  the  army  or  the  good  of  the 
service  shall  require  other  supplies  of  food 
or  forage,  or  any  other  private  property, 
and  the  same  cannot  be  procured  by  con 
tract,  then  impressments  may  be  made  of 
such  supplies  or  other  property,  either  for 
absolute  ownership  or  for  temporary  use, 
as  the  public  necessities  may  require.  Such 
impressments  shall  be  made  in  accordance 
with  the  provisions,  and  subject  to  the  re 
strictions  of  the  existing  impressment  laws, 
except  so  far  as  is  herein  otherwise  pro 
vided. 

SEC.  6.  The  right  and  the  duty  of  mak 
ing  impressments  is  hereby  confided  exclu 
sively  to  the  officers  and  agents  charged  in 
the  several  districts  with  the  assessment 
and  collection  of  the  tax  in  kind  and  of 
the  contribution  herein  required ;  and  all 
officers  and  soldiers  in  any  department  of 
the  army  are  hereby  expressly  prohibited 
from  undertaking  in  any  manner  to  inter 
fere  with  these  officers  and  agents  in  any 
part  of  their  duties  in  respect  to  the  tax  in 
kind,  the  contribution,  or  the  impressment 
herein  provided  for:  Provided,  That  this 
prohibition  shall  not  be  applicable  to  any 
district,  county,  or  parish  in  which  there 
shall  be  no  officer  or  agent  charged  with 
the  appointment  and  collection  of  the  tax 
in  kind. 

SEC.  7.  Supplies  or  other  property  taken 
by  impressment  shall  be  paid  for  by  the 
post  quartermasters  in  the  several  districts, 
and  shall  be  disposed  of  and  accounted  for 
by  them  as  is  required  in  respect  to  the  tax 
in  kind  and  the  contribution  herein  re 
quired  ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
post  quartermasters  to  equalize  and  appor 
tion  the  impressments  within  their  dis- 


158 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


tricts,  as  far  as  practicable,  so  as  to  avoid 
oppressing  any  portion  of  the  community. 

SEC.  8.  If  any  one  not  authorized  by  law 
to  collect  the  tax  in  kind  or  the  contribu 
tion  herein  required,  or  to  make  impress 
ments,  shall  undertake,  on  any  pretence  of 
such  authority,  to  seize  or  impress,  or  to 
collect  or  receive  any  such  property,  or 
shall,  on  any  such  pretence,  actually  obtain 
such  property,  he  shall,  upon  conviction 
thereof,  be  punished  by  fine  not  exceeding 
five  times  the  value  of  such  property,  and 
be  imprisoned  not  exceeding  five  years,  at 
the  discretion  of  the  court  having  jurisdic 
tion.  And  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  all  offi 
cers  and  agents  charged  with  the  assess 
ment  and  collection  of  the  tax  in  kind 
and  of  the  contribution  herein  required, 
promptly  to  report,  through  the4post  quar 
termasters  in  the  several  districts,  any  vio 
lation  or  disregard  of  the  provisions  of  this 
act  by  any  officer  or  soldier  in  the  service 
of  the  Confederate  States. 

SEC.  9.  That  it  shall  not  be  lawful  to 
impress  any  sheep,  milch  cows,  brood  mares, 
stud  horses,  jacks,  bulls,  or  other  stock 
kept  or  necessary  for  raising  horses,  mules, 
or  cattle. 

The  following  is  the  vote  by  which  the 
bill  passed  the  Senate : 

YEAS  —  Messrs.  Caperton,  Graham, 
Haynes,  Jemison,  Johnson  (Ark.),  John 
son  (Mo.),  Mitchell,  Orr,  Walker,  Watson 
—10. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Baker,  Burnett,  Henry, 
Hunter,  Maxwell,  Semmes,  Sparrow — 7. 


Admitting  West  Virginia. 

An  important  political  movement  in  the 
early  years  of  the  war  was  the  separation 
of  West  Virginia  from  the  mother  State, 
which  had  seceded,  and  her  admission  in 
to  the  Union. 

SECOND   SESSION,    THIRTY-SEVENTH  CON 
GRESS. 

In  Senate,  1862,  July  14.— The  bill  pro 
viding  for  the  admission  of  the  State  of 
West  Virginia  into  the  Union,  passed — 
yeas  23,  nays  17,  as  follows : 

YEAS— Messrs.  Anthony,  Clark,  Colla- 
mer,  Fessenden,  Foot,  Foster,  Grimes,  Hale, 
Harlan,  Harris,  Howe,  Lane  of  Indiana, 
Lane  of  Kansas,  Morrill,  Pomeroy,  Rice, 
Sherman,  Simmons,  Ten  Eyck,  Wade, 
Wilkinson,  Willey,  Wilson  of  Massachu 
setts— 23. 

NAYS— Messrs.  Bayard,  Browning,  Gar- 
Hie,  Chandler,  Cowan,  Davis,  Howard, 
Kennedy,  King,  McDouyal,  Powell,  Sauls- 
burr/,  Stark,  Sumner,  Trumbull,  Wilson  of 
Missouri,  Wright— 17. 

During  the  pendency  of  this  bill,  July 
14,  1862,  Mr,  Sumner  moved  to  strike  from 
the  first  section  of  the  second  article  the 
words :  "  the  children  of  all  slaves  born 


within  the  limits  of  said  State  shall  be  free," 
and  insert: 

Within  the  limits  of  the  said  State  there 
shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary 
servitude,  otherwise  than  in  punishment  of 
crimes  whereof  the  party  shall  be  duly 
convicted. 

Which  was  rejected — yeas  11,  nays  24,  as 
follows : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Chandler,  Clark,  Grimes, 
King,  Lane  of  Kansas,  Porneroy,  Sumner, 
Trumbull,  Wilkinson,  Wilmot,  Wilson, 
of  Massachusetts--!!. 

NAYS— Messrs.  Anthony,  J?ayard,Brown- 
ing,  Carlile,  Collamer,  Doolittle,  Foot  Fos 
ter,  Harris,  Henderson,  Howe,  Kennedy, 
Lane  of  Indiana,  Powell,  Rice,  Saulsbury, 
Sherman,  Simmons,  Stark,  Ten  Eyck, 
Wade,  Wiley,  Wilson  of  Missouri,  Wright 
--24. 

Mr.  Willey  proposed  to  strike  out  all 
after  the  word  " That"  in  the  first  section, 
and  insert: 

That  the  State  of  West  Virginia  be,  and 
is  hereby,  declared  to  be  one  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  and  admitted  into  the 
Union  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  origi 
nal  States  in  all  respects  whatever,  and  un 
til  the  next  general  census  shall  be  entitled 
to  three  members  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  of  the  United  States :  Provided 
always,  That  this  act  shall  not  take  effect 
until  after  the  proclamation  of  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  hereinafter  pro 
vided  for. 

SEC.  2.  It  being  represented  to  Congress 
that  since  the  convention  of  the  26th  of 
November,  1861,  that  framed  and  proposed 
the  constitution  for  the  said  State  of  West 
Virginia,  the  people  thereof  have  expressed 
a  wish  to  change  the  seventh  section  of  the 
eleventh  article  of  said  constitution  by 
striking  out  the  same,  and  inserting  the 
following  in  its  place,  namely,  "  The  chil 
dren  of  slaves  born  within  the  limits  of 
this  State  after  the  4th  day  of  July,  1863, 
shall  be  free,  and  no  slave  shall  be  permit 
ted  to  come  into  the  State  for  permanent 
residence  therein :"  therefore, 

Be  it  further  enacted,  That  whenever 
the  people  of  West  Virginia  shall,  through 
their  said  convention,  and  by  a  vote  to  be 
taken  at  an  election  to  be  held  within  the 
limits  of  the  State  at  such  time  as  the  con 
vention  may  provide,  make  and  ratify  the 
change  aforesaid  and  properly  certify  the 
same  under  the  hand  of  the  president  of 
the  convention,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  issue  his 
proclamation  stating  the  fact,  and  there 
upon  this  act  shall  take  effect  and  be  in 
force  from  and  after  sixty  days  from  the 
date  of  said  proclamation. 

Mr  Lane  of  Kansas  moved  to  amend  the 
amendment  by  inserting  after  the  word 
"Heiein,'-  and  before  the  word,  ft  There 
fore"  the  words: 


COLOR    IN    WAR    POLITICS. 


159 


And  that  all  slaves  within  tlie  said  State 
who  shall  at  the  time  aforesaid  be  under 
the  age  of  ten  years  shall  be  free  when 
they  arrive  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years 
and  all  slaves  over  ten  and  under  twenty 
one  yea^s  shall  be  free  when  they  arrive  ai 
the  age  of  twenty -five  years. 

Which  was  agreed  to — yeas  25,  nays  12 
as  follows : 

YEAS— Messrs.  Anthony,  Clark,  Colla- 
mer,  Doolittle,  Foot,  Foster,  Grimes,  Har- 
lan,  Harris,  Howard,  Howe,  King,  Lane  o 
Indiana,  Lane  of  Kansas,  Morrill,  Pome- 
roy,  Sherman,  Simmons,  Sumner,  Ten  Eyck 
TrumbuU,  Wade,  Wilkinson,  Wilmot,  Wil 
son,  of  Massachusetts — 25. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Browning,  Carlile,  Davis 
Henderson,  Kennedy,  McDougall,  Powell, 
Saulsbury,  Stark  Willey,  Wilson  of  Mis 
souri,  Wright — 12. 

The  amendment  as  amended  was  then 
agreed  to. 

A  motion  to  postpone  the  bill  to  the  first 
Monday  of  the  next  December  was  lost — 
yeas  17,  nays  23. 

In  House,  July  16 — The  bill  was  post 
poned  until  the  second  Tuesday  of  the 
next  December — yeas  63,  nays  33. 

THIRD  SESSION,    THIRTY-SEVENTH      CON 
GRESS. 

1868,  Dec.  10,  the  House  passed  the  bill 
— yeas  96,  nays  57. 

1868,  April  20,  the  President  issued  a 
proclamation  announcing  the  compliance, 
by  West  Virginia,  of  the  conditions  of  ad 
mission. 


COLOR  IN  WAR  POLITICS. 

Emancipation  and  its  attendant  agita 
tions  brought  to  the  front  a  new  class  of 
political  questions,  which  can  best  be 
grouped  under  the  above  caption.  The 
following  is  a  summary  of  the  legislation  : 

Second  Session,  Thirty-Seventh  Congress. 

To  Remove  Disqualification  of  Color  in  Carrying  the  Mails. 

In  Senate,  1862,  April  11  -The  Senate 
considered  a  bill  "  to  remove  all  disquali 
fication  of  color  in  ,  carrying  the  mails  of 
the  United  States."  It  directed  that  after 
the  passage  of  the  act  no  person,  by  reason 
of  color,  shall  be  disqualified  from  em 
ployment  in  carrying  the  mails,  and  all 
acts  and  parts  of  acts  establishing  such  dis 
qualification,  including  especially  the 
seventh  section  of  the  act  of  March  3  1825 
are  hereby  repealed. 

The  vote  in  the  Senate  was,  yeas  24,  nays 
11,  as  follows : 

YEAS  — Messrs.  Anthony,  Browning 
Chandler,  Clark,  Collamer,  Dixon,  Doolit 
tle,  Fessenden,  Foot,  Foster,  Grimes,  Hale, 
Howard,  Howe,  King,  Lane  of  Kansas 
Morrill,  Pomeroy,  Sherman,  Simmons 


Sumner,  Wade,  Wilkinson,  and  Wilson  of 
Massachusetts— 24. 

NAYS— Messrs.  Davis,  Henderson,  Ken 
nedy,  Lane  of  Indiana,  Latham,  Nesmith, 
Powell,  Stark,  Willey,  Wilson  of  Missouri. 
Wright-11.* 

In  House,  May  21— It  was  considered  in 
the  House  and  laid  on  the  table— yeas  83, 
nays  43. 

First  Session,  Thirty-Eighth  Congress. 

1864,  February  26— The  Senate  con 
sidered  the  bill— the  question  being  on 
agreeing  to  a  new  section  proposed  by  the 
Committee  on  Post  Offices  and  Post  Eoads 
— as  follows : 

SEC.  2.  That  in  the  courts  of  the  United 
States  there  shall  be  no  exclusion  of  any 
witness  on  account  of  color. 

Mr.  Powell  moved  to  amend  by  inserting 
after  the  word  "States"  the  words:  "in 
all  cases  for  robbing  or  violating  the  mails 
of  the  United  States." 

No  further  progress  was  made  on  the 
bill. 

NEGRO    SUFFRAGE    IN    MONTANA   TERRI 
TORY. 

1864,  March  18— The  House  passed,with- 
out  a  division,  a  bill  in  the  usual  form,  to 
provide  a  temporary  government  for  the 
Territory  of  Montana. 

March  31— The  Senate  considered  it, 
when  Mr.  Wilkinson  moved  to  strike  from 
the  second  line  of  the  fifth  section,  (defin 
ing  the  qualifications  of  voters,)  the  words 
"  white  male  inhabitant "  and  insert  the 
words :  "  male  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
and  those  who  have  declared  their  inten 
tion  to  become  such ;"  which  was  agreed 
to— yeas  22,  nays  17,  as  follows: 

YEAS— Messrs.  Brown,  Chandler,  Clark, 
Collamer,Cpnness,  Dixon,  Fessenden,  Foot, 
Foster,  Grimes,  Hale,  Harlan,  Harris, 
Howard,  Howe,  Morgan,  Morrill,  Pome 
roy,  Sumner,  Wade,  Wilkinson,  Wilson — 
22. 

NAYS— Messrs.  Buakalew,  Carlile,  Cowan, 
Davis,  Harding,  Henderson,  Johnson,  Lane 
of  Indiana,  Nesmith,  Powell,  Riddle,  Sauls- 
bury,  Sherman,  Ten  Eyck,  Trumbull,  Van 
Winkle,  Willey— 17. 

The  bill  was  then  passed — yeas  29,  nays 
8,(Messrs.  Suckalew,  Davis,  Johnson,  Powell, 
Riddle,  Saulsbury,  Van  Winkle,  Willey.) 

April  15 — The  Senate  adopted  the  report 
of  the  Committee  of  Conference  on  the 
Montana  bill,  which  recommended  the 
Senate  to  recede  from  their  second  amend 
ment,  and  the  House  to  agree  to  the  first 
and  third  amendments  of  the  Senate,  (in 
cluding  the  above.) 

April  15 — Mr.  Beaman  presented  the  re 
port  of  the  Committee  of  Conference  on 
he  Montana  bill,  a  feature  of  which  was 
that  the  House  should  recede  from  its  dis- 

*  Republican*  iu  roman;  Democrats  in  italic* 


160 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


agreement  to  the  Senate  amendment  strik 
ing  out  the  word  "  white  "  in  the  descrip 
tion  of  those  authorized  to  vote. 

Mr.  Holman  moved  that  the  report  be 
tabled  ;  which  was  lost  by  the  casting  vote 
of  the  Speaker — yeas  66,  nays  66. 

Upon  agreeing  to  the  report  the  yeas 
were  54,  nays  85. 

On  motion  to  adhere  to  its  amendments, 
and  ask  another  Committee  of  Conference, 
Mr.  Webster  moved  instructions : 

And  that  said  committee  be  instructed 
to  agree  to  no  report  that  authorizes  any 
other  than  free  white  male  citizens,  and 
those  who  have  declared  their  intention  to 
become  such,  to  vote. 

Which  was  agreed  to — yeas  75,  nays  67. 

April  15 — The  Senate  declined  the  con 
ference  upon  the  terms  proposed  by  the 
House  resolution  of  that  day. 

April  18— The  House  proposed  a  further 
free  conference,  to  which,  April  25,  the 
Senate  acceded. 

May  17 — In  Senate,  Mr.  Morrill  sub 
mitted  a  report  from  the  Conference  Com 
mittee  who  recommend  that  qualified 
voters  shall  be : 

All  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and 
those  who  have  declared  their  intention  to 
become  such,  and  who  are  otherwise  de 
scribed  and  qualified  under  the  fifth  sec 
tion  of  the  act  of  Congress  providing  for  a 
temporary  government  for  the  Territory  of 
Idaho  approved  March  3,  1863. 

The  report  was  concurred  in — yeas  26, 
nays  13. 

May  20 — The  above  report  was  made  by 
Mr.  Webster  in  the  House,  and  agreed  to 
— yeas  102,  nays  26. 

IN  WASHINGTON  CITY.* 

1864,  May  6— The  Senate  considered  the 
bill  for  the  registration  of  voters  in  the  city 
of  Washington,  when 

Mr.  Cowan  moved  to  insert  the  word 
"white"  in  the  first  section,  so  as  to  con 
fine  the  right  of  voting  to  white  male 
citizens. 

May  12 — Mr.  Morrill  moved  to  amend 
the  amendment  by  striking  out  the  words — 

*In  I860  a  vote  was  had  in  the  State  of  New  York  on 
a  proposition  to  permit  negro  suffrage  without  a  property 
qualification.  The  result  of  the  city  was — yeas  1,640, 
nays  37,47 ' .  In  the  State— yeas  197,505.  nays  337,984. 
In  1864  a  like  proposition  was  defeated — yeas  85,406,  nays 
224,336. 

In  1862,  in  August,  a  rote  was,  had  in  the  State  of  Illi 
nois,  on  several  propositions  relating  to  negroes  and 
mulnttoes.  with  this  result : 

Fcr  excluding  them  from  the  State 171.893 

Against 71,306 


100,587 


Against  granting  them  suffrage  or  right 

to  office 21',920 

For 35,649 

176,271 

For  the  enactment  of  laws  to  prohibit 
them  from  going  to,  or  voting  in,  the 
State 198,938 

Against 44,414 

154,524 

—From  McFhcnon'8  Ilittory  of  the  Great 


And  shall  have  paid  all  serial  taxes  and 
all  taxes  on  personal  property  properly  as 
sessed  against  him,  shall  be  entitled  to 
vote  for  mayor,  collector,  register,  members 
of  the  board  of  aldermen  and  board  of 
common  council,  and  assessor,  and  for 
every  officer  authorized  to  be  elected  at 
any  election  under  any  act  or  acts  to  which 
this  is  amendatory  or  supplementary, 
and  inserting  the  words  — 

And  shall  within  the  year  next  preced 
ing  the  election  have  paid  a  tax,  or  been 
assessed  with  a  part  of  the  revenue  of  the 
District,  county,  or  cities,  therein,  or  been 
exempt  from  taxation  having-  taxable 
estate,  and  who  can  read  and  write  with 
facility,  shall  enjoy  the  privileges  of  an 
elector. 

May  26 — Mr.  Sumner  moved  to  amend 
the  bill  by  adding  this  proviso : 

Provided ,  That  there  shall  be  no  exclu 
sion  of  any  person  from  the  registry  on  ac' 
count  of  color. 

May  27 — Mr.  Harlan  moved  to  amend 
the  amendment  by  making  the  word  "  per' 
son"  read  "persons,"  and  adding  the 
words — 

Who  have  borne  arms  in  the  military 
service  of  the  United  States,  and  have  been 
honorably  discharged  therefrom. 

Which  was  agreed  to  yeas  26,  nays  12, 
as  follows : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Anthony,  Chandler, 
Clark,  Collamer,  Conness,  Dixon,  Fessen- 
den,  Foot,  Foster,  Grimes,  Hale,  Harlan, 
Harris,  Johnson,  Lane  of  Indiana,  Lane 
of  Kansas,  Morgan,  Morrill,  Pomeroy, 
Ramsey,  Sherman,  Ten  Eyck,  Trumbull, 
Wade,  Willey,  Wilson— 26. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Buckaleiv,  Carlile,  Cow 
an,  Davis,  Hendricks,  McDougall,  Powell 
Richardson,  Saulsbury,  Sumner,  Van 
Winkle,  Wilkinson— 12. 

May  28 — Mr.  Sumner  moved  to  add 
these  words  to  the  last  proviso : 

And  provided  further,  That  all  persons, 
without  distinction  of  color,  who  shall, 
within  the  year  next  preceding  the  election, 
have  paid  a  tax  on  any  estate,  or  been  as 
sessed  with  a  part  of  the  revenue  of  said 
District,  or  been  exempt  from  taxation 
having  taxable  estate,  and  who  can  read 
and  write  with  facility,  shall  enjoy  the 
privilege  of  an  elector.  But  no  person 
now  entitled  to  vote  in  the  said  District, 
continuing  to  reside  therein,  shall  be  dis 
franchised  hereby. 

Which  was  rejected— yeas  8,  nays  27,  as 
follows : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Anthony,  Clark,  Lane  of 
Kansas,  Morgan,  Pomeroy,  Eamsey,  Sum 
ner,  Wilkinson — 8. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Buckalew,  Carlile,  Colla 
mer,  Cowan,  Davis,  Dixon,  Fessenden, 
Foot.Foster,  Grimes,  Hale,  Harlan,  Har 
ris,  Hendricks,  Hicks,  Johnson,  Lane  of 
Indiana,  McDougall,  Morrill,  Powell,  Sauls- 


COLOR    IN    WAR    POLITICS. 


161 


bury,  Sherman,  Ten  Eyck,  Trumbull,  Van 
Winkle,  Willey,  Wilson— 27. 

The  other  proposition  of  Mr.  Sumner, 
amended  on  motion  of  Mr.  Harlan,  was 
then  rejected — yeas  18,  nays  20,  as  follows: 

YEAS  —  Messrs.  Anthony,  Chandler, 
Clark,  Dixon,  Foot,  Foster,  Hale,  Harlan, 
Howard,  Howe,  Lane  of  Kansas,  Morgan, 
Pomeroy,  Ramsey,  Sherman,  Sumner, 
Wilkinson,  Wilson— 18. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Buckalew,  Carlile,  Co 
wan,  Davis,  Grimes,  Harris,  Hendricks, 
Hicks,  Johnson,  Lane  of  Indiana,  McDou- 
gall,  Morrill,  Nesmith,  Powell,  Richardson, 
Saulsbury,  Ten  Eyck,  Trumbull,  Van 
Winkle,  Willey— 20. 

The  bill  then  passed  the  Senate,  and 
afterward  the  House,  without  amendment. 

Third  Session,  Thirty-Seventh  Congress. 

Excluding  Colored  Persons  from  Cars. 

In  Senate— 1863,  February  27— Pending 
a  supplement  to  the  charter  of  the  Wash 
ington  and  Alexandria  Railroad  Company, 
Mr.  Sumner  offered  this  proviso  to  the 
first  section : 

That  no  person  shall  be  excluded  from 
the  cars  on  account  of  color. 

Which  was  agreed  to — yeas  19,  nays  18, 
as  follows : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Arnold,  Chandler,  Clark, 
Fessenden,  Foot,  Grimes,  Harris,  Howard, 
King,  Lane  of  Kansas,  Morrill,  Pomeroy, 
Sumner,  Ten  Eyek,  Trumbull,  Wade,  Wil 
kinson,  Wilmot,  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts 
—19. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Anthony,  Bayard,  Car- 
lile,  Cowan,  Davis,  Henderson,  Hicks, 
Howe,  Kennedy,  Lane  of  Indiana,  Latham, 
McDougall,  Powell,  Richardson,  Saulsbury, 
Turpie,  Willey,  Wilson  of  Missouri — 18. 

March  2. — The  House  concurred  in  the 
amendment  without  debate,  under  the  pre 
vious  question. 

First  Session,  Thirty-Eighth  Congress. 

In  Senate— 1864,  February  10  — Mr. 
Sumner  offered  the  following : 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  tne 
District  of  Columbia  be  directed  to  con 
sider  the  expediency  of  further  providing 
by  law  against  the  exclusion  of  colored 
persons  from  the  equal  enjoyment  of  all 
railroad  privileges  in  the  District  of  Colum 
bia. 

Which  was  agreed  to — yeas  30,  nays  10. 

February  24— Mr.  Willey,  from  the 
Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia, 
made  this  report,  and  the  committee  were 
discharged: 

The  Committee  on  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia,  who  were  required  by  resolution 
of  the  Senate,  passed  February  8,  1864, 
"  to  consider  the  expediency  of  further 
providing  by  law  against  the  exclusion  of 
colored  persons  from  the  equal  enjoyment 
of  all  railroad  privileges  in  the  District  of 
11 


Columbia,"  have  had  the  matter  thus  re 
ferred  to  them  under  consideration,  and 
beg  leave  to  report : 

The  act  entitled  "  An  act  to  incorporate 
the  Washington  and  Georgetown  Railroad 
Company,"  approved  May  17,  1862,  makes 
no  distinction  as  to  passengers  over  said 
road  on  account  of  the  color  of  the  pas 
sengers,  and  that  in  the  opinion  of  the 
committee  colored  persons  are  entitled  to 
all  the  privileges  of  said  road  which 
other  persons  have,  and  to  all  remedies  for 
any  denial  or  breach  of  such  privileges 
which  belongs  to  any  person. 

The  committee  therefore  ask  to  be  dis 
charged  from  the  further  consideration  of 
the  premises. 

March  17 — The  Senate  considered  the 
bill  to  incorporate  the  Metropolitan  Rail 
road  Company,  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
the  pending  question  being  an  amendment, 
offered  by  Mr.  Sumner,  to  add  to  the  four 
teenth  section  the  words : 

Provided,  That  there  shall  be  no  regula 
tion  excluding  any  person  from  any  car  on 
account  of  color. 

Which  was  agreed  to — yeas  19,  nays  17, 
as  follows : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Anthony,  Brown,  Clark, 
Conness,  Fessenden,  Foot,  Foster,  Grimes, 
Harlan,  Howe,  Lane  of  Kansas,  Morgan, 
Morrill,  Pomeroy,  Ramsey,  Sumner,  Wade, 
Wilkinson,  Wilson— 19. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Buckalew,  Carlile,  Davis, 
Doolittle,  Harding,  Harris,  Hendricks, 
Johnson,  Lane  of  Indiana,  Powell,  Riddlet 
Saulsbury,  Sherman,  Ten  Eyck,  Trumbull, 
Van  Winkle,  Willey— 17.  * 

The  bill  then  passed  the  Senate. 

June  19 — The  House  refused  to  strike 
out  the  proviso  last  adopted  in  the  Senate 
—yeas  60,  nays  76. 

And  the  bill  passed  the  House  and  was 
approved  by  the  President. 

Second  Session,  Thirty- Seventh  Congress* 

Colored  Persons  as  Witnesses* 

In  Senate — Pending  the  confiscation  bill, 
June  28,  1862. 

Mr.  Sumner  moved  these  words  as  an 
addition  to  the  14th  section : 

And  in  all  the  proceedings  under  this 
act  there  shall  be  no  exclusion  of  any  wit 
ness  on  account  of  color. 

Which  was  rejected — yeas  14,  nays  25, 
as  follows : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Chandler,  Grimes,  Har 
lan,  Howard,  King,  Lane  of  Kansas,  Mor 
rill,  Pomeroy,  Sumner,  Trumbull,  Wade, 
Wilkinson,  Wilmot— 14. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Anthony,  Browning, 
Carlile,  Clark,  Collainer,  Cowan,  Davis, 
Dixon,  Doolittle,  Fessenden,  Foot,  Foster, 
Harris,  Henderson,  Lane  of  Indiana,  NeS' 
mith,  Pearce,  Powell,  Sherman,  Simmons, 
Stark,  Ten  Eyck,  Willey,  Wilson  of  Mis 
souri,  Wright— -25. 


162 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Pending  the  consideration  of  the  supple 
ment  to  the  emancipation  bill  for  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia, 

1862,  July  7 — Mr.  Sumner  moved  a  new 
section : 

That  in  all  the  judicial  proceedings  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  there  shall  be  no 
exclusion  of  any  witness  on  account  of 
color. 

Which  was  adopted — yeas  25,  nays  11. 

The  bill  then  passed — yeas  29,  nays  6 ; 
(Messrs.  Carlile,  Davis,  Kennedy,  Powell, 
Wilson,  of  Missouri,  Wright.) 

July  9 — The  bill  passed  the  House — 
yeas  69,  nays  36.  There  was  no  separate 
vote  on  the  above  proposition. 

Pending  the  consideration  in  the  Senate 
of  the  House  bill  in  relation  to  the  com 
petency  of  witnesses  in  trials  of  equity  and 
admiralty, 

1862,  July  15— Mr.  Sumner  offered  this 
proviso  to  the  first  section : 

Provided,  That  there  shall  be  no  exclu- 
lion  of  any  witness  on  account  of  color. 

Which  was  rejected — yeas  14,  nays  23. 

First  Session,  Thirty-Eighth   Congress. 

1864,  June  25 — Pending  the  civil  appro 
priation  bill,  in  Committee  of  the  Whole, 
Mr.  Sumner  offered  this  proviso : 

Provided,  That  in  the  courts  of  the 
United  States  there  shall  be  no  exclusion 
of  any  witness  on  account  of  color. 

Mr.  Buckalew  moved  to  add : 

Nor  in  civil  actions  because  he  is  a  party 
to  or  interested  in  the  issue  tried. 

Which  was  agreed  to ;  and  the  amend 
ment  as  amended  was  agreed  to — yeas  22, 
nays  16. 

The  Senate  subsequently  concurred  in 
this  amendment — yeas  29,  nays  10. 

IN  HOUSE. 

June  29 — The  question  being  on  agree 
ing  to  the  amendment, 

Mr.  Mallory  moved  to  add  this  proviso 
to  the  section  amended  in  the  Senate : 

Provided,  That  negro  testimony  shall 
only  be  taken  in  the  United  States  courts 
in  those  States  the  laws  of  which  authorize 
such  testimony. 

Which  was  rejected — yeas  47,  nays  66. 

The  amendment  of  the  Senate  was  then 
agreed  to — yeas  67,  nays  48. 

COLORED  SCHOOLS. 

June  8.— The  House  passed  a  bilHo  pro 
vide  for  the  public  instruction  of  youth  in 
Washington  city,  with  an  amendment  pro 
viding  for  separate  schools  for  the  colored 
children,  by  setting  apart  such  a  propor 
tion  of  the  entire  school  fund  as  the  num 
ber  of  colored  children  between  the  ages  of 
six  and  seventeen  bear  to  the  whole  num 
ber  of  children  in  the  District.  The  bill, 
with  amendments,  passed  both  Houses 
without  a  division. 


On  all  of  these  questions  of  color,  the 
Democrats  invariably,  on  test  votes,  were 
found  against  any  concession  of  rights  to 
the  negro.  These  were  frequently  aided 
by  some  Republicans,  more  conservative 
than  their  colleagues,  or  representing  closer 
districts  where  political  prejudices  would 
affect  their  return  to  their  seats.  It  will 
be  observed  that  on  nearly  all  these  ques 
tions  Senator  Charles  Sumner  took  the 
lead.  He  was  at  that  time  pre-eminently 
the  Moses  of  the  colored  man,  and  led  him 
from  one  right  to  another  through  Sena 
torial  difficulties,  which  by  the  way,  were 
never  as  strong  as  that  in  the  House,  where 
Thaddeus  Stevens  was  the  boldest  cham 
pion  of  "  the  rights  of  the  black  man."  In 
the  field,  rather  in  the  direction  of  what 
should  be  done  with  the  "  contrabands  " 
and  escaped  slaves,  the  Secretary  of  War, 
General  Cameron,  was  their  most  radical 
friend,  and  his  instructions  were  so  out 
spoken  that  Lincoln  had  to  modify  them. 
As  early  as  December  1,  1861,  General 
Cameron  wrote : 

"  While  it  is  plain  that  the  slave  prop 
erty  of  the  South  is  justly  subjected  to  all 
the  consequences  of  this  rebellious  war, 
and  that  the  Government  would  be  untrue 
to  its  trust  in  not  employing  all  the  rights 
and  powers  of  war  to  bring  it  to  a  speedy 
close,  the  details  of  the  plan  for  doing  sor 
like  all  other  military  measures,  must,  in 
a  great  degree,  be  left  to  be  determined  by 
particular  exigencies.  The  disposition  of 
other  property  belonging  to  the  rebels  that 
becomes  subject  to  our  arms  is  governed  by 
the  circumstances  of  the  case.  The  Gov 
ernment  has  no  power  to  hold  slaves,  none 
to  restrain  a  slave  of  his  liberty,  or  to  ex 
act  his  service.  It  has  a  right,  however, 
to  use  the  voluntary  service  of  slaves  lib 
erated  by  war  from  their  rebel  masters,  like 
any  other  property  of  the  rebels,  in  what 
ever  mode  may  be  most  efficient  for  the  de 
fence  of  the  Government,  the  prosecution 
of  the  war,  and  the  suppression  of  rebel 
lion.  It  is  clearly  a  right  of  the  govern 
ment  to  arm  slaves  when  it  may  become 
necessary  as  it  is  to  take  gunpowder  from 
the  enemy.  Whether  it  is  expedient  to  do 
so  is  purely  a  military  question.  The  right 
is  unquestionable  by  the  laws  of  war.  The 
expediency  must  be  determined  by  circum 
stances,  keeping  in  view  the  great  object 
of  overcoming  the  rebels,  re-establishing 
the  laws,  and  restoring  peace  to  the  na 
tion. 

"  It  is  vain  and  idle  for  the  Government 
to  carry  on  this  war,  or  hope  to  maintain 
its  existence  against  rebellious  force,  with 
out  enjoying  all  the  rights  and  powers  of 
war.  .  As  has  been  said,  the  right  to  de 
prive  the  rebels  of  their  property  in  slaves 
and  slave  labor  is  as  clear  and  absolute  as 
the  right  to  take  forage  from  the  field,  or 
cotton  from  the  warehouse,  or  powder  and 


COLOR   IN    WAR    POLITICS. 


16$ 


arms  from  the  magazine.  To  leave  the 
enemy  in  the  possession  of  such  property 
as  forage  and  cotton  and  military  stores, 
and  the  means  of  constantly  reproducing 
them,  would  be  madness.  It  is,  therefore, 
equal  madness  to  leave  them  in  peaceful 
and  secure  possession  of  slave  property, 
more  valuable  and  efficient  to  them  for  war 
than  forage,  cotton  and  military  stores. 
Such  policy  would  be  national  suicide. 
What  to  do  with  that  species  of  property 
is  a  question  that  time  and  circumstances 
will  solve,  and  need  not  be  anticipated 
further  than  to  repeat  that  they  cannot  be 
held  by  the  Government  as  slaves.  It  would 
be  useless  to  keep  them  as  prisoners  of  war  ; 
and  self-preservation,  the  highest  duty  of 
a  Government,  or  of  individuals,  demands 
that  they  should  be  disposed  of  or  em 
ployed  in  the  most  effective  manner  that 
will  tend  most  speedily  to  suppress  the  in 
surrection  and  restore  the  authority  of  the 
Government.  If  it  shall  be  found  that  the 
men  who  have  been  held  by  the  rebels  as 
slaves  are  capable  of  bearing  arms  and  per 
forming  efficient  military  service,  it  is  the 
right,  and  may  become  the  duty,  of  this 
Government  to  arm  and  equip  them,  and 
employ  their  services  against  the  rebels, 
under  proper  military  regulations,  disci 
pline  and  command. 

"  But  in  whatever  manner  they  may  be 
used  by  the  Government,  it  is  plain  that, 
once  liberated  by  the  rebellious  act  of  their 
masters,  they  should  never  again  be  re 
stored  to  bondage.  By  the  master's  trea 
son  and  rebellion  he  forfeits  all  right  to 
the  labor  and  service  of  his  slave ;  and  the 
slave  of  the  rebellious  master,  by  his  ser 
vice  to  the  Government,  becomes  justly  en 
titled  to  freedom  and  protection. 

"The  disposition  to  be  made  of  the 
slaves  of  rebels,  after  the  close  of  the  war, 
can  be  safely  left  to  the  wisdom  and  pat 
riotism  of  Congress.  The  representatives 
of  the  people  will  unquestionably  secure 
to  the  loyal  slaveholders  every  right  to 
which  they  are  entitled  under  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  country." 

[Subsequent  events  proved  the  wisdom 
of  this  policy,  and  it  was  eventually  adopt 
ed  by  an  Administration  which  proclaimed 
its  policy  "  to  move  not  ahead  but  with  the 
people."] 

President  Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet  mod 
ified  the  above  language  so  as  to  make  it 
read: 

"It  is  already  a  grave  question  what 
shall  be  done  with  those  slaves  who  were 
abandoned  by  their  owners  on  the  advance 
of  our  troops  into  southern  territory,  as  at 
Beaufort  district,  in  South  Carolina.  The 
number  left  within  our  control  at  that 
point  is  very  considerable,  and  similar 
cases  will  probably  occur.  What  shall  be 
done  with  them  ?  Can  we  afford  to  send 
them  forward  to  their  masters,  to  be  by 


them  armed  against  us,  or  used  in  pro* 
ducing  supplies  to  sustain  the  rebellion  ? 
Their  labor  may  be  useful  to  us ;  withheld 
from  the  enemy  it  lessens  his  military  re 
sources,  and  withholding  them  has  no  ten- 
dency  to  induce  the  horrors  of  insurrec 
tion,  even  in  the  rebel  communities.  They 
constitute  a  military  resource,  and,  being 
such,  that  they  should  not  be  turned  over 
to  the  enemy  is  too  plain  to  discuss.  Why 
deprive  him  of  supplies  by  a  blockade,  and 
voluntarily  give  him  men  to  produce 
them? 

"  The  disposition  to  be  made  of  the 
slaves  of  rebels,  after  the  close  of  the  war, 
can  be  safely  left  to  the  wisdom  and  pat 
riotism  of  Congress.  The  Representatives 
of  the  people  will  unquestionably  secure  to 
the  loyal  slaveholders  every  right  to  which 
they  are  entitled  under  the  Constitution  of 
the  country." 

Secretary  Cameron  was  at  all  times  in 
favor  of  "  carrying  the  war  into  Africa," 
and  it  was  this  stern  view  of  the  situation 
which  eventually  led  him  to  sanction 
measures  which  brought  him  into  plainer 
differences  with  the  Administration.  Lin 
coln  took  offense  at  the  printing  of  his  re 
port  before  submitting  it  to  him.  As  a  re 
sult  he  resigned  and  went  to  Russia  as 
Minister,  on  his  return  being  again  elected 
to  the  United  States  Senate — a  place  which 
he  filled  until  the  winter  of  1877,  when  he 
resigned,  and  his  son,  J.  Donald  Cameron, 
was  elected  to  the  vacancy,  and  re-elected 
for  the  term  ending  in  1885.  General  B. 
F.  Butler  was  the  author  of  the  "  contra 
band  "  idea.  A  year  later  the  views  of  the 
Administration  became  more  radical  on 
questions  of  color,  and  July  22,  1862,  Sec 
retary  Stanton  ordered  all  Generals  in 
command  "  to  seize  and  use  any  property, 
real  or  personal,  which  may  be  necessary 
or  convenient  for  their  several  commands, 
for  supplies,  or  for  other  military  purposes ; 
and  that  while  property  may  be  destroyed 
for  proper  military  objects,  none  shall  be 
destroyed  in  wantonness  or  malice. 

"  Second.  That  military  and  naval  com 
manders  shall  employ  as  laborers,  within 
and  from  said  States,  so  many  persons  of 
African  descent  as  can  be  advantageously 
used  for  military  or  naval  purposes,  giving 
them  reasonable  wages  for  their  labor. 

"  Third.  That,  as  to  both  property,  and 
persons  of  African  descent,  accounts  shall 
be  kept  sufficiently  accurate  and  in  detail 
to  show  quantities  and  amounts,  and  from 
whom  both  property  and  such  persons 
shall  have  come,  as  a  basis  upon  which 
compensation  can  be  made  in  proper  cases ; 
and  the  several  departments  of  this  Gov 
ernment  shall  attend  to  and  perform  their 
appropriate  parts  towards  the  execution  of 
these  orders." 

The  manner  and  language  employed  by 
General  McClellan  in  promulgating  this 


1*64 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


order  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  led  to 
his  political  differences  with  the  Adminis 
tration,  and  in  the  end  caused  him  to  be 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  President  in 
1864,  against  Lincoln.  His  language  is 
peculiar  and  some  of  it  worthy  of  presenta-  j 
tion  as  of  political  importance.  He  said :  I 

"  Inhabitants,  especially  women  and  | 
children,  remaining  peaceably  at  their 
homes,  must  not  be  molested ;  and  wher 
ever  commanding  officers  find  families 
peculiarly  exposed  in  their  persons  or 
property  to  marauding  from  this  army,  they 
will,  as  heretofore,  so  far  as  they  can  do 
with  safety  and  without  detriment  to  the 
service,  post  guards  for  their  protection. 

"  In  protecting  private  property,  no  refer 
ence  is  intended  to  persons  held  to  service 
or  labor  by  reason  of  African  descent. 
Such  persons  will  be  regarded  by  this 
army,  as  they  heretofore  have  been,  as  oc 
cupying  simply  a  peculiar  legal  status 
under  State  laws,  which  condition  the  mili 
tary  authorities  of  the  United  States  are 
not  required  to  regard  at  all  in  districts 
where  military  operations  are  made  neces 
sary  by  the  rebellious  action  of  the  State 
governments. 

"  Persons  subject  to  suspicion  of  hostile 
purposes,  residing  or  being  near  our  forces, 
will  be,  as  heretofore,  subject  to  arrest  and 
detention,  until  the  cause  or  necessity  is 
removed.  All  such  arrested  parties  will 
be  sent,  as  usual,  to  the  Provost  Marshal 
General,  with  a  statement  of  the  facts  in 
each  case. 

"The  general  commanding  takes  this 
occasion  to  remind  the  officers  and  soldiers 
of  this  army  that  we  are  engaged  in  sup 
porting  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  and  suppressing  rebel 
lion  against  their  authority;  that  we  are 
not  engaged  in  a  war  of  rapine,  revenge, 
or  subjugation ;  that  this  is  not  a  contest 
against  populations,  but  against  armed 
forces  and  political  organizations ;  that  it 
is  a  struggle  carried  on  with  the  United 
States,  and  should  be  conducted  by  us  upon 
the  highest  principles  known  to  Christian 
civilization." 

At  this  time  such  were  the  prejudices  of 
Union  soldiers  against  negroes,  because  of 
growing  political  agitation  in  the  North, 
that  many  would  loudly  jeer  them  when 
seen  within  the  lines.  The  feeling  was 
even  greater  in  the  ranks  of  civilians,  and 
yet  Congress  moved  along,  step  by  step. 
The  37th  abolished  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia ;  prohibited  it  in  all  the  terri 
tories  ;  confirmed  the  freedom  of  the  slaves 
owned  by  those  in  arms  against  the  govern 
ment;  authorized  the  employment  of 
colored  men  in  fortifications,  their  enlist 
ment,  etc. ;  and  enacted  an  additional 
article  of  war,  which  prohibited  any  officer 
from  returning  or  aiding  the  return  of  any 
fugitive  slave.  These  were  rapid  strides, 


but  not  as  rapid  as  were  demanded  by  the 
more  radical  wing  of  the  Republican  party. 
We  have  shown  that  most  of  them  were 
opposed  by  the  Democrats,  not  solidly  sure 
where  they  were  plainly  political,  but  this 
party  became  less  solid  as  the  war  ad 
vanced. 

Senator  Wilson  was  the  author  of  the 
bill  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.  It  excited  much  debate,  and 
the  range  of  the  speeches  covered  the  en 
tire  question  of  slavery.  Those  from  the 
Border  States  opposed  it  (a  few  Republicans 
and  all  Democrats)  but  some  of  the  Demo 
crats  of  the  North  supported  it.  The  vote 
in  the  Senate  was  29  for  to  6  against.  In 
the  House  Frank  P.  Blair,  Jr.,  advocated 
colonization  in  connection  with  the  bill, 
but  his  idea  met  with  little  favor.  Crit- 
tenden,  Wicklifie  and  Vallandigham  were 
prominent  in  opposition.  Its  most  promi 
nent  advocates  were  Stevens  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  Bingham  of  Ohio.  The  vote 
was  92  for  to  38  against. 

The  bill  of  Arnold,  of  Illinois,  "  to  ren 
der  freedom  national  and  slavery  sectional," 
the  leading  idea  in  the  platform  of  the 
convention  which  nominated  Lincoln,  pro 
hibited  slavery  in  "  all  the  Territories  of 
the  United  States  then  existing,  or  there 
after  to  be  formed  or  acquired  in  any  way." 
It  was  vehemently  opposed,  but  passed 
with  some  modifications  by  58  ayes  to  50 
noes,  and  it  also  passed  the  Senate. 

In  the  Spring  of  1862  General  David 
Hunter  brought  the  question  of  the  enlist 
ment  of  colored  troops  to  a  direct  issue  by 
raising  a  regiment  of  them.  On  the  9th  of 
June  following,  Mr.  Wickliffe  of  Ken 
tucky,  succeeded  in  getting  the  House  to 
adopt  a  resolution  of  inquiry.  Corres 
pondence  followed  with  General  Hunter. 
He  confessed  the  fact,  stated  that "  he  found 
his  authority  in  the  instructions  of  Secre 
tary  Cameron,  and  said  that  he  hoped  by 
fall  to  enroll  about  fifty  thousand  of  these 
hardy  and  devoted  soldiers."  When  this 
reply  was  read  in  the  House  it  was  greeted 
with  shouts  of  laughter  from  the  Republi 
cans,  and  signs  of  anger  from  the  others. 
A  great  debate  followed  on  the  amendment 
to  the  bill  providing  for  the  calling  out  of 
the  militia,  clothing  the  President  with  full 
power  to  enlist  colored  troops,  and  to  pro 
claim  "he,  his  mother,  and  wife  and  chil 
dren  forever  free,"  after  such  enlistment. 
Preston  King,  of  New  York,  was  the  author 
of  this  amendment.  Davis,  of  Kentucky, 
and  Carlisle  of  West  Virginia,  were  promi 
nent  Senators  in  opposition;  while  Ten 
Eyck,  of  New  Jersey,  Sherman  of  Ohio, 
and  Browning  of  Illinois  sought  to  modify 
it.  Garrett  Davis  said  in  opposition : 

"  Do  you  expect  us  to  give  our  sanc 
tion  and  approval  to  these  things  ?  No,  no  I 
We  would  regard  their  authors  as  our  worst 
enemies ;  and  there  is  no  f«  ircign  despot- 


COLOR    IN    WAR    POLITICS. 


165 


ism  that  could  come  to  our  rescue,  that  we 
would  not  fondly  embrace,  before  we  would 
submit  to  any  such  condition  of  things." 

Senator  Fessenden  of  Maine,  in  advo 
cacy  of  the  amendment,  said  : 

"  I  tell  the  President  from  my  place  here 
as  a  Senator,  and  I  tell  the  generals  of  our 
army,  they  must  reverse  their  practices 
and  course  of  proceeding  on  this  subject. 
*  *  *  Treat  your  enemies  as  enemies,  as 
the  worst  of  enemies,  and  avail  yourselves 
like  men  of  every  power  which  God  has 
placed  in  your  hands,  to  accomplish  your 
purpose,  within  the  rules  of  civilized  war 
fare." 

The  bill  passed,  so  modified,  as  to  give 
freedom  to  all  who  should  perform  military 
service,  but  restricting  liberty  to  the  fami 
lies  of  such  only  as  belonged  to  rebel  mas 
ters.  It^passed  the  House  July  16th,  1862, 
and  received  the  sanction  of  the  President, 
who  said  : — "And  the  promise  made  must 
be  kept!"  General  Hunter  for  his  part  in 
beginning  colored  enlistments,  was  out 
lawed  by  the  Confederate  Congress.  Hunter 
followed  with  an  order  freeing  the  slaves 
in  South  Carolina. 

In  January,  1863,  pursuant  to  a  sugges 
tion  in  the  annual  report  of  Secretary 
Stanton,  who  was  by  this  time  as  radical 
as  his  predecessor  in  office,  the  House 
passed  a  bill  authorizing  the  President  to 
enroll  into  the  land  and  naval  service  such 
number  of  volunteers  of  African  descent 
as  he  might  deem  useful  to  suppress  the 
rebellion,  and  for  such  term  as  he  might 
prescribe,  not  exceeding  five  years.  The 
slaves  of  loyal  citizens  in  the  Border 
States  were  excluded  from  the  provisions 
of  this  bill.  In  the  Senate  an  adverse  re 
port  was  made  on  the  ground  that  the 
President  already  possessed  these  powers. 

In  January,  1863,  Senator  Wilson,  who 
was  by  this  time  chairman  of  the  Military 
Committee  of  the  Senate,  secured  the  pas 
sage  of  a  bill  which  authorized  a  draft  for 
the  National  forces  from  the  ranks  of  all 
male  citizens,  and  those  of  foreign  birth 
who  had  declared  their  intentions,  etc. 
The  bill  contained  the  usual  exemp 
tions. 

CONFEDERATE  USE  OF  COLORED  MEN. 

In  June,  1861,  the  rebel  Legislature  of 
Tennessee  passed  this  enlistment  bill, 
which  became  a  law : 

SEC.  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  That 
from  and  after  the  passage  of  this  act  the 
Governor  shall  be,  and  he  is  hereby, 
authorized,  at  his  discretion,  to  receive 
into  the  military  service  of  the  State  all 
male  free  persons  of  color  between  the  ages 
of  fifteen  and  fifty,  or  such  numbers  as 
may  be  necessary,  who  may  be  sound  in 
mind  and  body,  and  capable  of  actual  ser- 
yice. 


2.  That  such  free  persons  of  color  shall 
receive,  each,  eight  dollars  per  month,  as 
pay,  and  such  persons  shall  be  entitled  to 
draw,  each,  one  ration  per  day,  and  shall 
be  entitled  to  a  yearly  allowance  each  for 
clothing. 

3.  That,  in  order  to  carry  out  the  provi 
sions  of  this  act,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
sheriffs  of  the  several   counties   in  this 
State  to  collect  accurate  information  as  to 
the  number  and  condition,  with  the  names 
of  free  persons  of  color,  subject  to  the  pro 
visions  of  this  act,  and  shall,  as  it  is  prac 
ticable,  report  the  same  in  writing  to  the 
Governor. 

4.  That    a    failure    or    refusal    of  the 
sheriffs,  or  any  one  or  more  of  them,  to 
perform    the    duties    required,    shall    be 
deemed    an    offence,   and    on    conviction 
thereof   shall    be    punished  as  a  misde 
meanor. 

5.  That  in  the  event  a  sufficient  number 
of  free  persons  of  color  to  meet  the  wants 
of  the  State  shall  not  tender  their  services, 
the  Governor  is  empowered,  through  the 
sheriffs  of  the  different  counties,  to  press 
such  persons  until  the  requisite  number  is 
obtained. 

6.  That  when  any  mess  of  volunteers 
shall  keep  a  servant  to  wait  on  the  mem 
bers  o£  the  mess,  each  servant  shall  be  al- 
lowed'one  ration. 

This  act  to  take  effect  from  and  after  its 
passage. 

W.  C.  WHITTHORNE, 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

B.  L.  STOVALL, 

Speaker  of  the  Senate. 
Passed  June  28,  1861. 

1862,  November  2 — Governor  Joseph  E. 
Brown,  of  Georgia,  issued  a  call  announc 
ing  that  if  a  sufficient  supply  of  negroes  be 
not  tendered    within    ten  days,   General 
Mercer  will,  in    pursuance  of  authority 
given  him,  proceed  to  impress,  and  asking 
of  every  planter  of  Georgia  a  tender  of  one 
fifth  of  his  negroes  to  complete  the  fortifi 
cations  around  Savannah.     This  one  fifth 
is  estimated  at  15,000. 

1863.  The  Governor  of  South  Carolina 
in  July,  issued  a  proclamation  for  3,000 
negroes  to  work  on  the  fortifications,  "  the 
need  for  them  being  pressing." 

THE  CHANGING  SENTIMENT  OF  CONGRESS. 

In  the  Rebel  House  of  Representatives, 
December  29th,  Mr.  DARGAN,  of  Alabama, 
introduced  a  bill  to  receive  into  the  mili 
tary  service  all  that  portion  of  population 
in  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and 
Florida,  known  as  "  Creoles." 

Mr.  Dargan  supported  the  bill  in  some 
remarks.  He  said  the  Creoles  were  a 
mixed-blooded  race.  Under  the  treaty  of 
Paris  in  1803,  and  the  treaty  of  Spain  in 
1810,  they  were  recognized  as  freemen. 


166 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Many  of  them  owned  large  estates,  and 
were  intelligent  men.  They  were  as  much 
devoted  to  our  cause  as  any  class  of  men  in 
the  South,  and  were  even  anxious  to  go  | 
into  service.  They  had  applied  to  him  to  j 
be  received  into  service,  and  he  had  ap 
plied  to  Mr.  Randolph,  then  Secretary  of 
War.  Mr.  Randolph  decided  against  the 
application,  on  the  ground  that  it  might 
famish  to  the  enemy  a  pretext  of  arming  our 
slaves  against  us.  Some  time  after  this 
he  was  again  applied  to  by  them,  and  he 
went  to  the  present  Secretary  of  War,  Mr. 
Seddon,  and  laid  the  matter  before  him. 
Mr.  Seddon  refused  to  entertain  the 
proposition,  on  the  ground  that  it  did  not 
come  up  before  him  through  the  military 
authorities.  To  obviate  this  objection, 
Gen.  Maury,  at  Mobile,  soon  afterwards 
represented  their  wishes  to  the  War  De 
partment.  Mr.  Seddon  refused  the  offer  of 
their  services,  on  the  ground  that  it  would 
be  incompatible  with  the  position  we  occu 
pied  before  the  world ;  that  it  could  not  be 
done. 

Mr.  Dargan  said  he  differed  with  the 
Secretary  of  War.  He  cared  not  for  "  the 
world."  He  cared  no  more  for  their 
opinions  than  they  did  for  ours.  He  was 
anxious  to  bring  into  service  every  free 
man,  be  he  who  he  may,  willing  to  strike 
for  our  cause.  He  saw  no  objection  to 
employing  Creoles ;  they  would  form  a 
potent  element  in  our  army.  In  his  dis 
trict  alone  a  brigade  of  them  could  be 
raised.  The  crisis  had  been  brought  upon 
us  by  the  enemy,  and  he  believed  the  time 
would  yet  come  when  the  question  would 
not  be  the  Union  or  no  Union,  but 
whether  Southern  men  should  be  permitted 
to  live  at  all.  In  resisting  subjugation  by 
such  a  barbarous  foe  he  was  for  employing 
all  our  available  force.  He  would  go 
further  and  say  that  he  was  for  arming  and 
putting  the  slaves  into  military  service.  He 
was  in  favor  even  of  emlpoying  them  as  a 
military  arm  in  the  defence  of  the  country. 

1864.  The  Mayor  of  Charleston,  Charles 
Macbeth,  summons  all  slaveholders  within 
the  city  to  furnish  to  the  military  authori 
ties  forthwith,  one-fourth  of  all  their  male 
slaves  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  fifty, 
to  labor  upon  the  fortifications.  The  penalty 
announced,  in  case  of  failure  to  comply 
with  this  requisition  is  a  fine  of  $200  for 
every  slave  not  forthcoming.  Compensa 
tion  is  allowed  at  the  rate  of  $400  a  year. 

All  free  male  persons  of  color  between 
the  ages  of  fifteen  and  fifty  are  required  to 
give  themselves  up  for  the  same  purpose. 
Those  not  complying  will  be  imprisoned, 
and  set  to  work  upon  the  fortifications 
along  the  coast.  To  free  negroes  no  other 
compensation  than  rations  is  allowed. 

NEGROES  IN  THE    ARMY. 


copy  of  "  An  act  to  increase  the  efficiency 
of  the  army  by  the  employment  of  free 
negroes  ^nd  slaves  in  certain  capacities," 
lately  passed  by  the  Rebel  Congress.  The 
negroes  are  to  perform  "  such  duties  as  the 
Secretary  of  War  or  Commanding  General 
may  prescribe.''  The  first  section  is  as 
follows : 

Ttie  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States  of 
America  do  enact,  That  all  male  free  ne 
groes,  and  other  free  persons  of  color,  not 
including  those  who  are  free  under  the 
treaty  of  Paris,  of  1803,  or  under  the  treaty 
of  Spain,  of  1819,  resident  in  the  Confed 
erate  States,  between  the  ages  of  eighteen 
and  fifty  years,  shall  be  held  liable  to  per 
form  such  duties  with  the  army,  or  in  con 
nection  with  the  military  defences  of  the 
country,  in  the  way  of  work  upon  the 
fortifications,  or  in  government  works  for 
the  production  or  preparation  of  materials 
of  war,  or  in  military  hospitals,  as  the  Sec 
retary  of  War  or  the  Commanding  General 
of  the  Trans-Mississippi  Department  may, 
from  time  to  time,  prescribe;  and  while 
engaged  in  the  performances  of  such  duties 
shall  receive  rations  and  clothing  and 
compensation  at  the  rate  of  eleven  dollars 
a  month,  under  such  rules  and  regulations 
as  the  said  Secretary  may  establish :  Pro 
vided,  That  the  Secretary  of  War  or  the 
Commanding  General  of  the  Trans-Missis 
sippi  Department,  with  the  approval  of  the 
President,  may  exempt  from  the  opera 
tions  of  this  act  such  free  negroes  as  the 
interests  of  the  country  may  require  should 
be  exempted,  or  such  as  he  may  think 
proper,  to  exempt  on  the  ground  of  justice, 
equity  or  necessity. 

The  third  section  provides  that  when 
the  Secretary  of  War  shall  be  unable  to 
procure  the  services  of  slaves  in  any  mili 
tary  department,  then  he  is  authorized  to 
impress  the  services  of  as  many  male 
slaves,  not  to  exceed  twenty  thousand,  as 
may  be  required,  from  time  to  time,  to  dis 
charge  the  duties  indicated  in  the  first  sec 
tion  of  the  act. 

The  owner  of  the  slave  is  to  be  paid  for 
his  services ;  or,  if  he  be  killed  or  escape 
to  the  enemy,"  the  owner  shall  receive  his 
full  value. 

Governor  Smith,  of  Virginia,  has  made 
a  call  for  five  thousand  male  slaves  to  work 
on  the  batteries,  to  be  drawn  from  fifty 
counties.  The  call  for  this  force  has  been 
made  by  the  President  under  a  resolution 
of  Congress. 

"  CONFEDERATE  "  LEGISLATION  UPON  NE 
GRO  PRISONERS  AND  THEIR  WHITE 
OFFICERS  WHEN  CAPTURED.* 

1863,  May  1 — An  act  was  approved  de 
claring  that  the  commissioned  officers  of 


*December  23,  1862 — Jefferson  Davis  issued  a  proclft- 

nn       -n  •   i  ITIT          n*    '    -I     mation  of  outlawry  against  Major  General  B.  F.  ButUi: 

The  Richmond  pre^S  publish  the  Official    the  last  two  clauses  of  which  are  : 


COLOR    IN    WAR    POLITICS. 


167 


the  enemy  ought  not  to  be  delivered  to  the 
authorities  of  the  respective  States,  (as 
suggested  in  Davis's  message ; )  but  all  cap 
tives  taken  by  the  Confederate  forces  ought 
to  be  dealt  with  and  disposed  of  by  the 
Confederate  Government. 

President  Lincoln's  emancipation  pro 
clamations  of  September  22,  1862,  and 
January  1,  1863,  were  resolved  to  be  in 
consistent  with  the  usages  of  war  among 
civilized  nations,  and  should  be  re 
pressed  by  retaliation ;  and  the  President 
is  authorized  to  cause  full  and  complete 
retaliation  for  every  such  violation,  in  such 
manner  and  to  such  extent  as  he  may  think 
proper. 

Every  white  commissioned  officer  com 
manding  negroes  or  mulattoes  in  arms 
against  the  Confederate  States  shall  be 
deemed  as  inciting  servile  insurrection, 
and  shall,  if  captured,  be  put  to  death,  or 
be  otherwise  punished,  at  the  discretion  of 
the  court. 

Every  person  charged  with  an  offence 
made  punishable  under  the  act  shall  be 
tried  by  the  military  court  of  the  army  or 
corps  of  troops  capturing  him ;  and,  after 
conviction,  the  President  may  commute  the 
punishment  in  such  manner  and  on  such 
terms  as  he  may  deem  proper. 

All  negroes  and  mulattoes  who  shall  be 
engaged  in  war  or  taken  in  arms  against 
the  Confederate  States,  or  shall  give  aid  or 
comfort  to  the  enemies  of  the  Confederate 
States,  shall,  when  captured  in  the  Con 
federate  States,  be  delivered  to  the  author 
ities  of  the  State  or  States  in  which  they 
shall  be  captured,  to  be  dealt  with  accord 
ing  to  the  present  or  future  laws  of  such 
State  or  States. 


Passage  of  the  Thirteenth  Amendment. 

The  first  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
growing  out  of  the  war,  and  one  of  its  di 
rect  results,  was  that  of  abolishing  slavery. 
It  was  first  introduced  to  the  House  De 
cember  14th,  1863,  by  James  M.  Ashley  of 
Ohio.  Similar  measures  were  introduced 
by  James  M.  Wilson,  Senators  Henderson, 
Sumner  and  others.  On  the  10th  of  Feb 
ruary,  Senator  Trumbull  reported  Hen 
derson's  joint  resolution  amended  as  fol 
lows  : 

"  That  the  following  article  be  proposed 
to  the  Legislatures  of  the  several  States,  as 
an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,,  which,  when  ratified  by 
three-fourths  of  said  Legislatures,  shall  be 

Third.  That  all  negro  slaves  captured  in  arms  be  at 
once  delivered  over  to  the  executive  authorities  of  the 
respective  States  to  which  they  belong,  to  be  dealt  with 
according  to  the  laws  of  said  States. 

Fourth.  That  the  like  orders  be  executed  in  all  cases 
with  respect  to  all  commissioned  officers  of  the  United 
States  when  found  serving  in  company  with  said  slaves 
in  insurrection  against  the  authorities  of  the  different 
States  of  this  Confederacy. 


valid  to  all  intents  and  purposes  as  a  part 
of  the  said  Constitution,  namely  : 

"  ART.  13,  Sec.  1.  Neither  slavery  nor 
involuntary  servitude  except  as  a  punish 
ment  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall 
have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  exist  with 
in  the  United  States,  or  any  place  subject 
to  their  jurisdiction. 

Sec.  2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to 
enforce  this  article  by  appropriate  legisla 
tion.*' 

The  Senate  began  the  consideration  of 
the  question  March  28th,  Senator  Trumbull 
opening  the  debate  in  favor  of  the  amend 
ment.  He  predicted  that  within  a  year 
the  necessary  number  of  States  would  rat 
ify  it.  Wilson  of  Massachusetts  made  a 
long  and  able  speech  in  favor.  Davis  of 
Kentucky  and  Saulsbury  of  Delaware  led 
the  opposition,  but  Reverdy  Johnson,  an 
independent  Democratic  Senator  from 
Maryland,  surprised  all  by  his  bold  sup 
port  of  the  measure.  Among  other  things 
he  said  : 

"  I  think  history  will  bear  me  out  in  the 
statement,  that  if  the  men  by  whom  that 
Constitution  was  framed,  and  the  people 
by  whom  it  was  adopted,  had  anticipated 
the  times  in  which  we  live,  they  would 
have  provided  by  constitutional  enactment, 
that  that  evil  and  that  sin  should  in  some 
comparatively  unremote  day  be  removed. 
Without  recurring  to  authority,  the  writ 
ings  public  or  private  of  the  men  of  that 
day,  it  is  sufficient  for  my  purpose  to  state 
what  the  facts  will  justify  me  in  saying, 
that  every  man  of  them  who  largely  par 
ticipated  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Con 
vention  by  which  the  Constitution  was 
adopted,  earnestly  desired,  not  only  upon 
grounds  of  political  economy,  not  only  up 
on  reasons  material  in  their  character,  but 
upon  grounds  of  morality  and  religion, 
that  sooner  or  later  the  institution  should 
terminate." 

Senator  McDougall  of  California,  op 
posed  the  amendment.  Harlan  of  Iowa, 
Hale  of  New  Hampshire,  and  Sumner, 
made  characteristic  speeches  in  favor. 
Saulsbury  advocated  the  divine  right  of 
slavery.  It  passed  April  8th,  by  38  ayes  to 
6  noes,  the  latter  comprising  Davis  and 
Powell  of  Kentucky ;  McDougall  of  Cali 
fornia  ;  Hendricks  of  Indiana ;  Saulsbury 
and  Riddle  of  Delaware. 

Arnold  o.f  Illinois,  was  the  first  to  se 
cure  the  adoption  in  the  House  (Feb.  15, 
1864,)  of  a  resolution  to  abolish  slavery; 
but  the  Constitutional  amendment  required 
a  two-thirds  vote,  and  this  it  was  difficult 
to  obtain,  though  all  the  power  of  the  Ad 
ministration  was  bent  to  that  purpose.  The 
discussion  began  May  31st ;  the  vote  was 
reached  June  15th,  but  it  then  failed  of 
the  required  two-thirds — 93  for  to  65 
against,  23  not  voting.  Its  more  pro 
nounced  advocates  were  Arnold,  Ashley, 


168 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Bropmall,  Stevens,  and  Kelly  of  Pennsyl 
vania;  Farnsworth  and  Ingersoll  of  Illi 
nois,  and  many  others.  Its  ablest  oppo 
nents  were  Holman,  Wood,  Mallory,  Cox 
and  Pendleton — the  latter  rallying  nearly 
all  of  the  Democrats  against  it.  Its  Dem 
ocratic  friends  were  McAllister  and  Bailey 
of  Pennsylvania;  Cobb  of  Wisconsin; 
Griswold  and  Odell  of  New  York.  Before 
the  vote  was  announced  Ashley  changed 
his  vote  so  as  to  move  a  reconsideration  and 
keep  control  of  the  question.  At  the  next 
session  it  was  passed,  receiving  every  Ee- 
publican  and  16  Democratic  votes,  8  Dem 
ocrats  purposely  refraining,  so  that  it  would 
surely  pass. 


Admission  of  Representatives 

from  Louisiana. 

The  capture  of  New  Orleans  by  Admiral 
Farragut,  led  to  the  enrollment  of  60,000 
citizens  of  Louisiana  as  citizens  of  the 
United  States.  The  President  thereupon 
appointed  a  Military  Governor  for  the  en 
tire  State,  and  this  Governor  ordered  an 
election  for  members  of  Congress  under 
the  old  State  constitution.  This  was  held 
Dec.  3,  1862,  when  Messrs.  Flanders  and 
Hahn  were  returned,  neither  receiving 
3,000  votes.  They  received  certificates,  pre 
sented  them,  and  thus  opened  up  a  new 
and  grave  political  question.  The  Demo 
crats  opposed  their  admission  on  grounds 
so  well  stated  by  Voorhees  of  Indiana,  that 
we  quote  them : 

"Understand  this  principle.  If  the 
Southern  Confederacy  is  a  foreign  power, 
an  independent  nationality  to-day,  and  you 
have  conquered  back  the  territory  of  Lou 
isiana,  you  may  then  substitute  a  new  sys 
tem  of  laws  in  the  place  of  the  laws  of  that 
State.  You  may  then  supplant  her  civil  in 
stitutions  by  institutions  made  anew  for  her 
by  the  proper  authority  of  this  Government 
— not  by  the  executive — but  by  the  legisla 
tive  branch  of  the  Government,  assisted  by 
the  Executive  simply  to  the  extent  of  sign 
ing  his  name  to  the  bills  of  legislation.  If 
the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways 
and  Means,  (Mr.  Stevens)  is  correct ;  if  the 
gentleman  from  Kansas  (Mr.  Conway)  is 
correct,  and  this  assumed  power  in  the 
South  is  a  power  of  the  earth,  and  stands 
to-day  upon  equal  terms  of  nationality 
with  ourselves,  and  reconquer  back  State 
by  State  its  territory  by  the  power  of  arms, 
then  we  may  govern  them  independently 
of  their  local  laws.  But  if  the  theory  we 
have  been  proceeding  upon  here,  that  this 
Union  is  unbroken  ;  that  no  States  have 
sundered  the  bonds  that  bind  us  together; 


their  parts,  as  you  are  to  uphold  the  laws 
of  Pennsylvania  or  New  York,  or  any 
other  State  whose  civil  policy  has  not  been 
disturbed." 

Michael  Hahn,  one  of  the  Representa 
tives  elect,  closed  a  very  effective  speech, 
which  secured  the  personal  good  will  of 
the  House  in  favor  of  his  admission,  in 
these  words : 

"And  even,  sir,  within  the  limits  of  the 
dreary  and  desolated  region  of  the  rebel 
lion  itself,  despair,  which  has  already  tak 
en  hold  of  the  people,  will  gain  additional 
power  and  strength,  at  the  reception  of  the 
news  that  Louisiana  sends  a  message  'of 
peace,  good-will,  and  hearty  fellowship  to 
the  Union.  This  intelligence  will  sound 
more  joyful  to  patriot  ears  than  all  the 
oft  repeated  tidings  of  'Union  victories/ 
And  of  all  victories,  this  will  be  the  most 
glorious,  useful  and  solid,  for  it  speaks  of  re 
organization,  soon  to  become  the  great  and 
difficult  problem  with  which  our  statesmen 
will  have  to  familiarize  themselves,  and 
when  this  shall  have  commenced,  we  will 
be  able  to  realize  that  God,  in  his  infinite 
mercy  has  looked  down  upon  our  misfor 
tunes,  and  in  a  spirit  of  paternal  love  and 
pity,  has  addressed  us  in  the  language  as 
cribed  to  him  by  our  own  gifted  Longfel 
low: 

"  I  am  weary  of  your  quarrels, 
Weary  of  your  wars  and  bloodshed, 
Weary  of  your  prayers  for  vengeance, 
Of  your  wranglings  and  dissensions  ; 
All  your  strength  is  in  your  Union, 
All  your  danger  is  in  discord, 
Therefore,  be  at  peace,  henceforward, 
And  as  brothers  live  together." 

Mr.  Speaker,  Louisiana — ever  loyal,  hon 
orable  Louisiana — seeks  no  greater  bles 
sing  in  the  future,  than  to  remain  a  part  of 
this  great  and  glorious  Union.  She  has 
stood  by  you  in  the  darkest  hours  of  the 
rebellion  ;  and  she  intends  to  stand  by  you. 
Sir,  raise  your  eyes  to  the  gorgeous  ceil 
ings  which  ornament  this  Hall,  and  look 
upon  her  fair  and  lovely  escutcheon.  Care 
fully  read  the  patriotic  words  which  sur 
round  her  affectionate  pelican  family,  and 
you  will  find  there  inscribed,  '  Justice f 
Union,  Confidence.'  Those  words  have 
with  us  no  idle  meaning;  and  would  to 
God  that  other  members  of  this  Union  r 
could  properly  appreciate  our  motto,  our 
motives  and  our  position ! " 

The  debate  attracted  much  attention, 
because  of  the  novelty  of  a  question  upon 
which,  it  has  since  been  contended,  would 
have  turned  a  different  plan  of  reconstruct 
ing  the  rebellious  States  if  the  President's 
plans  had  not  been  destroyed  by  his  assas 
sination.  Dawes,  of  Massachusetts,  was 


that  no  successful  disunion  has  yet  taken  I  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Elec- 
place, — if  that  theory  is  still  to  prevail  in  tions,  and  he  closed  the  debate  in  favor  of 
these  halls,  then  this  cannot  be  done.  You  admission.  The  vote  stood  92  for  to  44 
are  as  much  bound  to  uphold  the  laws  of  against,  almost  a  strict  party  test,  the 
Louisiana  in  all  their  extent  and  in  all  Democrats  voting  no. 


RECONSTRUCTION. 


169 


RECONSTRUCTION. 

In  the  House  as  early  as  Dec.  15,  1863, 
Henry  Winter  Davis  moved  that  so  much 
of  the  President's  message  as  relates  to 
the  duty  of  the  United  States  to  guaranty 
a  Republican  form  of  government  to  the 
States  in  which  the  governments  recog 
nized  by  the  United  States  have  been  ab 
rogated  or  overthrown,  be  referred  to  a 
select  committee  of  nine  to  report  the  bills 
necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  ex 
ecution  the  foregoing  guarantee,was  passed, 
and  on  May  4th,  1864,  the  House  adopted 
the  first  reconstruction  bill  by  74  yeas  to 
66  nays— a  strict  party  vote.*  The  Senate 
passed  it  by  yeas  18,  nays  14 — Doolittle, 
Henderson,  Lane  of  Indiana,  Ten  Eyck, 
Trumbull,  and  Van  Winkle  voting  with 
the  Democrats  against  it. 

The  bill  authorizes  the  President  to  ap 
point  in  each  of  the  States  declared  in  re 
bellion,  a  Provisional  Governorjwith  the 
pay  and  emoluments  of  a  brigadier ;  to  be 
charged  with  the  civil  administration  until 
a  State  government  therein  shall  be  recog 
nized.  As  soon  as  the  military  resistance 
to  the  United  States  shall  have  been  sup 
pressed,  and  the  people  sufficiently  re 
turned  to  their  obedience  to  the  Constitu 
tion  and  laws,  the  Governor  shall  direct 
the  marshal  of  the  United  States  to  enroll 
all  the  white  male  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  resident  in  the  State  in  their  re 
spective  counties,  and  whenever  a  majority 
of  them  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  the 
loyal  people  of  the  State  shall  be  entitled 
to  elect  delegates  to  a  convention  to  act 
upon  the  re-establishment  of  a  State  gov 
ernment — the  proclamation  to  contain  de 
tails  prescribed.  Qualified  voters  in  the 
army  may  vote  in  their  camps.  No  person 
who  has  held  or  exercised  any  civil,  mili 
tary,  State,  or  Confederate  office,  under  the 
rebel  occupation,  and  who  has  voluntarily 
borne  arms  against  the  United  States,  shall 
vote  or  be  eligible  as  a  delegate.  The 
convention  is  required  to  insert  in  the  con 
stitution'  provisions — 

1st.  No  person  who  has  held  or  exercised 
any  civil  or  military  office,  (except  offices 
merely  ministerial  and  military  offices  be 
low  a  colonel,)  State  or  Confederate,  under 
the  usurping  power,  shall  vote  for,  or  be 
a  member  of  the  legislature  or  governor. 

2d.  Involuntary  servitude  is  forever  pro 
hibited,  and  the  freedom  of  all  persons  is 
guarantied  in  said  State. 

3d.  No  debt,  State  or  Confederate,  cre 
ated  by  or  under  the  sanction  of  the  usurp 
ing  power,  shall  be  recognized  or  paid  by 
the  State. 

Upon  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  by 
the  convention,  and  its  ratification  by  the 
electors  of  the  State,  the  Provisional  Gov- 

*  McPherson's  History,  page  317. 


ernor  shall  so  certify  to  the  President,  who, 
after  obtaining  the  assent  of  Congress, 
shall,  by  proclamation,  recognize  the  gov 
ernment  as  established,  and  none  other,  as 
the  constitutional  government  of  the  State; 
and  from  the  date  of  such  recognition,  and 
not  before,  Senators  and  Representatives 
and  electors  for  President  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent  may  be  elected  in  such  State.  Until 
re-organization  the  Provisional  Governor 
shall  enforce  the  laws  of  the  Union  and  of 
the  State  before  the  rebellion. 

The  remaining  sections  are  as  follows : 

SEC.  12.  That  all  persons  held  to  invol 
untary  servitude  or  labor  in  the  States 
aforesaid  are  hereby  emancipated  and  dis 
charged  therefrom,  and  they  and  their  pos 
terity  shall  be  forever  free.  And  if  any 
such  persons  or  their  posterity  shall  be  re 
strained  of  liberty,  under  pretence  of  any 
claim  to  such  service  or  labor,  the  courts 
of  the  United  States  shall,  on  habeas  cor 
pus,  discharge  them. 

SEC.  13.  That  if  any  person  declared  free 
by  this  act,  or  any  law  of  the  United  States, 
or  any  proclamation  of  the  President,  be 
restrained  of  liberty,  with  intent  to  be  held 
in  or  reduced  to  involuntary  servitude  or 
labor,  the  person  convicted  before  a  court 
of  competent  jurisdiction  of  such  act  shall 
be  punished  by  fine  of  not  less  than  $1,500, 
and  be  imprisoned  not  less  than  five,  nor 
more  than  twenty  years. 

SEC.  14.  That  every  person  who  shall 
hereafter  hold  or  exercise  any  office,  civil 
or  military,  except  offices  merely  minis 
terial  and  military  offices  below  the  grade 
of  colonel,  in  the  rebel  service,  State  or 
Confederate,  is  hereby  declared  not  to  be 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 


Lincoln's  Proclamation  on  Reconstruction, 

President  Lincoln  failed  to  sign  the  above 
bill  because  it  reached  him  less  than  one 
hiour  before  final  adjournment,  and  there 
upon  issued  a  proclamation  which  closed 
as  follows  : 

''  Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
President  of  the  United  States,  do  pro 
claim,  declare,  and  make  known,  that, 
while  I  am  (as  I  was  in  December  last, 
when  by  proclamation  I  propounded  a  plan 
for  restoration)  unprepared,  by  a  formal 
approval  of  this  bill,  to  be  inflexibly  com 
mitted  to  any  single  plan  of  restoration  ; 
and,  while  I  am  also  unprepared  to  declare 
that  the  free  State  constitutions  and  gov 
ernments  already  adopted  and  installed  in 
Arkansas  and  Louisiana  shall  be  set  aside 
and  held  for  nought,  thereby  repelling  and 
discouraging  the  loyal  citizens  who  have 
set  up  the  same  as  to  further  effort,  or  to 
declare  a  constitutional  competency  in 
Congress  to  abolish  slavery  in  States,  but 
am  at  the  same  time  sincerelv  hoping  and 


170 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


expecting  that  a  constitutional  amendment 
abolishing  slavery  throughout  the  nation 
may  be  adopted,  nevertheless  I  am  fully 
satisfied  with  the  system  for  restoration 
contained  in  the  bill  as  one  very  proper 
plan  for  the  loyal  people  of  any  State 
choosing  to  adopt  it,  and  that  I  am,  and  at 
all  times  shall  be,  prepared  to  give  the  Ex 
ecutive  aid  and  assistance  to  any  such  peo 
ple,  so  soon  as  the  military  resistance  to 
the  United  States  shall  have  been  sup 
pressed  in  any  such  State,  and  the  people 
thereof  shall  have  sufficiently  returned  to 
their  obedience  to  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  United  States,  in  which  cases 
Military  Governors  will  be  appointed,  with 
directions  to  proceed  according  to  the  bill." 


Admission    of   Arkansas. 

On  the  10th  of  June,  1864,  introduced  a 
joint  resolution  for  the  recognition  of  the 
free  State  government  of  Arkansas.  A 
new  State  government  had  then  been  or 
ganized,  with  Isaac  Murphy,  Governor, 
who  was  reported  to  have  received  nearly 
16,000  votes  at  a  called  election.  The 
other  State  officers  are : 

Lieutenant  Governor,  C.  C.  Bliss ;  Secre 
tary  of  State,  R.  J.  T.  White ;  Auditor,  J. 
B.  Berry  ;  Treasurer,  E.  D.  Ayers ;  Attor 
ney  General,  C.  T.  Jordan ;  Judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  T.  D.  W.  Yowley,  C.  A. 
Harper,  E.  Baker. 

The  Legislature  also  elected  Senators, 
but  neither  Senators  nor  Eepresentatives 
obtained  their  seats.  Trumbull,  from  the 
Senate  Judiciary  Committee,  made  a  long 
report  touching  the  admission  of  the  Sen 
ators,  which  closed  as  follows : 

"  When  the  rebellion  in  Arkansas  shall 
have  been  so  far  suppressed  that  the  loy 
al  inhabitants  thereof  shall  be  free  to  re 
establish  their  State  government  upon  a 
republican  foundation,  or  to  recognize  the 
one  already  set  up,  and  by  the  aid  and  not 
in  subordination  to  the  military  to  main 
tain  the  same,  they  will  then,  and  not  be 
fore,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  be 
entitled  to  a  representation  in  Congress, 
and  to  participate  in  the  administration  of 
the  Federal  Government.  Believing  that 
such  a  state  of  things  did  not  at  the  time 
the  claimants  were  elected,  and  does  not 
now,  exist  in  the  State  of  Arkansas,  the 
committee  recommend  for  adoption  the 
following  resolution : 

"  Resolved,  That  William  M.  Fishback 
and  Elisha  Baxter  are  not  entitled  to  seats 
as  Senators  from  the  State  of  Arkansas." 

1864,  June  29— The  resolution  of  the 
Committee  on  the  Judiciary  was  adopted 
— yeas  27,  nays  6. 

President  Lincoln  was  known  to  favor 
the  immediate  admission  of  Arkansas  anc 
Louisiana,  but  the  refusal  of  the  Senate  to 


admit  the  Arkansas  Senators  raised  an  is- 
ue  which  partially  divided  the  Republi- 
cans  in  both  Houses,  some  of  whom  fa 
vored  forcible  reconstruction  through  the 
aid  of  Military  Governors  and  the  machin 
ery  of  new  State  governments,  while  others 
opposed.  The  views  of  those  opposed  to 
the  President's  policy  are  well  stated  in  a 
3aper  signed  by  Benjamin  F.  Wade  and 
EEenry  Winter  Davis,  published  in  the  New 
York  Tribune,  August  5th,  1864.  From 
this  we  take  the  more  pithy  extracts : 

The  President,  by  preventing  this  bill 
from  becoming  a  law,  holds  the  electoral 
votes  of  the  rebel  States  at  the  dictation  of 
lis  personal  ambition. 

If  those  votes  turn  the  balance  in  his 
favor,  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  his  compe 
titor,  defeated  by  such  means,  will  ac 
quiesce  ? 

If  the  rebel  majority  assert  their  su 
premacy  in  those  States,  and  send  votes 
which  elect  an  enemy  of  the  Government, 
will  we  not  repel  his  claims  ? 

And  is  not  civil  war  for  the  Presidency 
inaugurated  by  the  votes  of  rebel  States  ? 

Seriously  impressed  with  these  dangers, 
Congress,  "  the  proper  constitutional  au 
thority"  formally  declared  that  there  are 
no  State  governments  in  the  rebel  States, 
and  provided  for  their  erection  at  a  proper 
time  ;  and  both  the  Senate  and  the  House 
of  Representatives  rejected  the  Senators 
and  Representatives  chosen  under  the  au 
thority  of  what  the  President  calls  the 
free  constitution  and  government  of  Ar 
kansas. 

The  President's  proclamation  "  holds  for 
naught "  this  judgment,  and  discards  the 
authority  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  strides 
headlong  toward  the  anarchy  his  pro 
clamation  of  the  8th  of  December  inaugu 
rated. 

If  electors  for  President  be  allowed  to 
be  chosen  in  either  of  those  States,  a  sinis 
ter  light  will  be  cast  on  the  motives  which 
induced  the  President  to  "  hold  for  naught " 
the  will  of  Congress  rather  than  his  gov 
ernment  in  Louisiana  and  Arkansas. 

That  judgment  of  Congress  which  the 
President  defies  was  the  exercise  of  an 
authority  exclusively  vested  in  Congress 
by  the  Constitution  to  determine  what  is 
the  established  government  in  a  State,  and 
in  its  own  nature  and  by  the  highest  judi 
cial  authority  binding  on  all  other  depart 
ments  of  the  Government. 

A  more  studied  outrage  on  the  legisla 
tive  authority  of  the  people  has  never  been 
perpetrated. 

Congress  passed  a  bill ;  the  President  re 
fused  to  approve  it,  and  then  by  proclama 
tion  puts  as  much  of  it  in  force  as  he  sees 
fit,  and  proposes  to  execute  those  parts  by 
officers  unknown  to  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  and  not  subject  t"  A*  ->  confirmation 
of  the  Senate ! 


RECONSTRUCTION. 


171 


The  bill  directed  the  appointment  of 
Provisional  Governors  by  and  with  the  ad 
vice  and  consent  of  the  Senate. 

The  President,  after  defeating  the  law, 
proposes  to  appoint  without  law,  and  with 
out  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate, 
Military  Governors  for  the  rebel  States ! 

He  has  already  exercised  this  dictatorial 
usurpation  in  Louisiana,  and  he  defeated 
the  bill  to  prevent  its  limitation.  *  *  * 
*  The  President  has  greatly  presumed  on 
the  forbearance  which  the  supporters  of 
Ms  Administration  have  so  long  practiced, 
in  view  of  the  arduous  conflict  in  which 
we  are  engaged,  and  the  reckless  ferocity 
of  our  political  opponents. 

But  he  must  understand  that  our  sup 
port  is  of  a  cause  and  not  of  a  man ;  that 
the  authority  of  Congress  is  paramount 
and  must  be  respected;  that  the  whole 
body  of  the  Union  men  of  Congress  will 
not  submit  to  be  impeached  by  him  of 
rash  and  unconstitutional  legislation ;  and 
if  he  wishes  our  support,  he  must  confine 
himself  to  his  executive  duties — to  obey 
and  execute,  not  make  the  laws — to  sup 
press  by  arms  armed  rebellion,  and  leave 
political  reorganization  to  Congress. 

If  the  supporters  of  the  Government 
fail  to  insist  on  this,  they  become  responsi 
ble  for  the  usurpations  which  they  fail  to 
rebuke,  and  are  justly  liable  to  the  indig 
nation  of  the  people  whose  rights  and 
security,  committed  to  their  keeping,  they 
sacrifice. 

Let  them  consider  the  remedy  for  these 
usurpations,  and,  having  found  it,  fear 
lessly  execute  it. 

The  question,  as  presented  in  1864,  now 
passed  temporarily  from  public  considera 
tion  because  of  greater  interest  in  the 
closing  events  of  the  war  and  the  Presi- 
ydential  succession.  The  passage  of  the 
14th  or  anti-slavery  amendment  by  the 
States  also  intervened.  This  was  officially 
announced  on  the  18th  of  December  1865, 
by  Mr.  Seward,  27  of  the  then  36  States 
having  ratified,  as  follows  :  Illinois,  Rhode 
Island,  Michigan,  Maryland,  New  York, 
West  Virginia,  Maine,  Kansas,  Massachu 
setts,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  Ohio,  Mis 
souri,  Nevada,  Indiana,  Louisiana,  Minne 
sota,  Wisconsin,  Vermont,  Tennessee,  Ar 
kansas,  Connecticut,  New  Hampshire, 
South  Carolina,  Alabama,  North  Carolina, 
and  Georgia. 


TEXT  OF  THE  RECONSTRUCTION  MEASURES. 

1  !  t  h  Constitutional  Amendment. 

Jtimt  Resolution  proponing  an  Amendment  to  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States. 

Be  it  resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  in  Congress  assembled,  (two- 
thirds  of  both  houses  concurring,)  That 


the  following  article  be  proposed  to  the 
Legislatures  of  the  several  States  as  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  which,  when  ratified  by 
three-fourths  of  said  Legislatures,  shall  be 
valid  as  part  of  the  Constitution,  namely  : 
[Here  follows  the  14th  amendment.  See 
Book  IV.] 

Reconstruction  Act  of  Thirty-Ninth  Con 
gress. 

An  Act  to  provide  for  the  more  efficient  government  of  the 
rebel  States. 

Whereas  no  legal  State  governments  or 
adequate  protection  for  life  or  property  now 
exists  in  the  rebel  States  of  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Mississippi,  Alabama,  Louisiana,  Florida, 
Texas,  and  Arkansas ;  and  whereas  it  is 
necessary  that  peace  and  good  order 
should  be  enforced  in  said  States  until 
loyal  and  republican  State  governments 
can  be  legally  established :  Therefore 

Be  it  enacted,  &c.,  That  said  rebel  States 
shall  be  divided  into  military  districts  and 
made  subject  to  the  military  authority  of 
the  United  States,  as  hereinafter  prescribed, 
and  for  that  purpose  Virginia  shall  consti 
tute  the  first  district ;  North  Carolina  and 
South  Carolina  the  second  district ;  Geor 
gia,  Alabama,  and  Florida  the  third  dis 
trict  ;  Mississippi  and  Arkansas  the  fourth 
district ;  and  Louisiana  and  Texas  the  fifth 
district. 

SEC.  2.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
President  to  assign  to  the  command  of 
each  of  said  districts  an  officer  of  the  army, 
not  below  the  rank'  of  brigadier  general, 
and  to  detail  a  sufficient  military  force  to 
enable  such  officer  to  perform  his  duties 
and  enforce  his  authority  within  the  dis 
trict  to  which  he  is  assigned. 

SEC.  3.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  each 
officer  assigned  as  aforesaid  to  protect  all 
persons  in  their  rights  of  person  and 
property,  to  suppress  insurrection,  disor 
der,  and  violence,  and  to  punish,  or  cause 
to  be  punished,  all  disturbers  of  the  public 
peace  and  criminals,  and  to  this  end  he 
may  allow  local  civil  tribunals  to  take 
jurisdiction  of  and  to  try  offenders,  or, 
when  in  his  judgment  it  may  be  necessary 
for  the  trial  of  offenders,  he  shall  have 
power  to  organize  military  commissions 
or  tribunals  for  that  purpose ;  and  all  in 
terference  under  color  of  State  authority 
with  the  exercise  of  military  authority  un 
der  this  act  shall  be  null  and  void. 

SEC.  4.  That  all  persons  put  under  mili 
tary  arrest  by  virtue  of  this  act  shall  be 
tried  without  unnecessary  delay,  and  no 
cruel  or  unusual  punishment  shall  be  in 
flicted  ;  and  no  sentence  of  any  military 
commission  or  tribunal  hereby  authorized, 
affecting  the  life  or  liberty  of  any  person, 
shall  be  executed  until  it  is  approved  by 
the  officer  in  command  of  the  district,  and 


172 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


the  laws  and  regulations  for  the  govern 
ment  of  the  army  shall  not  be  affected  by 
this  act,  except  in  so  far  as  they  conflict 
with  its  provisions:  Provided,  That  no 
sentence  of  death  under  the  provisions  of 
this  act  shall  be  carried  into  effect  without 
the  approval  of  the  President. 

SEC.  5.  That  when  the  people  of  any  one 
of  said  rebel  States  shall  have  formed  a 
constitution  of  government  in  conformity 
with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
in  all  respects,  framed  by  a  convention  of 
delegates  elected  by  the  male  citizens  of 
said  State  twenty-one  years  old  and  up 
ward,  of  whatever  race,  color,  or  previous 
condition,  who  have  been  resident  in  said 
State  for  one  year  previous  to  the  day  of 
such  election,  except  such  as  may  be  dis 
franchised  for  participation  in  the  rebel 
lion,  or  for  felony  at  common  law,  and 
when  such  constitution  shall  provide  that 
the  elective  franchise  shall  be  enjoyed  by 
all  such  persons  as  have  the  qualifications 
herein  stated  for  electors  of  delegates,  and 
when  such  constitution  shall  be  ratified  by 
a  majority  of  the  persons  voting  on  the 
question  of  ratification  who  are  qualified  as 
electors  for  delegates,  and  when  such  con 
stitution  shall  have  been  submitted  to 
Congress  for  examination  and  approval, 
and  Congress  shall  have  approved  the 
same,  and  when  said  State,  by  a  vote  of  its 
legislature  elected  under  said  constitution, 
shall  have  adopted  the  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  proposed 
by  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  and  known 
as  article  fourteen,  and  when  said  article 
shall  have  become  a  part  of  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States,  said  State  shall 
be  declared  entitled  to  representation  in 
Congress,  and  Senators  and  Kepresenta- 
tives  shall  be  admitted  therefrom  on  their 
taking  the  oaths  prescribed  by  law,  and 
then  and  thereafter  the  preceding  sections 
of  this  act  shall  be  inoperative  in  said 
State :  Provided,  That  no  person  excluded 
from  the  privilege  of  holding  office  by  said 
proposed  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  shall  be  eligible  to 
election  as  a  member  of  the  convention  to 
frame  a  constitution  for  any  of  said  rebel 
States,  nor  shall  any  such  person  vote  for 
members  of  such  convention. 

SEC.  6.  That  until  the  people  of  said  rebel 
States  shall  be  by  law  admitted  to  repre 
sentation  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  any  civil  governments  which  may 
exist  therein  shall  be  deemed  provisional 
only,  and  in  all  respects  subject  to  the 
paramount  authority  of  the  United  States 
at  any  time  to  abolish,  modify,  control,  or 
supersede  the  same ;  and  in  all  elections  to 
any  office  under  such  provisional  govern 
ments  all  persons  shall  be  entitled  to  vote, 
and  none  others,  who  are  entitled  to  vote 
under  the  provisions  of  the  fifth  section  of 
this  act ;  and  no  person  shall  be  eligible  to 


any  office  under  any  such  provisional  goy- 
ernments  who  would  be  disqualified  from 
holding  office  under  the  provisions  of  the 
third  article  of  said  constitutional  amend 
ment. 
Passed  March  2,  1867. 


Supplemental  Reconstruction  Act  of  For 
tieth  Congress. 

AN  ACT  supplementary  to  an  act  entitled 
"  An  act  to  provide  for  the  more  efficient 
government  of  the  rebel  States/'  passed 
March  second,  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixty-seven,  and  to  facilitate  restora 
tion. 

Be  it  enacted,  &c.,  That  before  the  first 
day  of  September,  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixty-seven,  the  commanding  general  in 
each  district  defined  by  an  act  entitled 
"  An  act  to  provide  for  the  more  efficient 
government  of  the  rebel  States,"  passed 
March  second,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
seven,  shall  cause  a  registration  to  be 
made  of  the  male  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  twenty-one  years  of  age  and  up 
wards,  resident  in  each  county  or  parish 
in  the  State  or  States  included  in  his  dis 
trict,  which  registration  shall  include  only 
those  persons  who  are  qualified  to  vote  for 
delegates  by  the  act  aforesaid,  and  who 
shall  have  taken  and  subscribed  the  fol 
lowing  oath  or  affirmation :  "I,  , 

do  solemnly  swear,  (or  affirm,)  in  the 
presence  of  Almighty  God,  that  I  am  a 

citizen  of  the  State  of ;  that  I  have 

resided  in  said  State  for months 

next  preceding  this  day,  and  now  reside  in 

the  county  of ,  or    the    parish    of 

,  in  said  State,  (as  the  case  maybe;) 

that  I  am  twenty-one  years  old ;  that  I 
have  not  been  disfranchised  for  participa 
tion  in  any  rebellion  or  civil  war  against 
the  United  States,  nor  for  felony  commited 
against  the  laws  of  any  State  or  of  the 
United  States ;  that  I  have  never  been  a 
member  of  any  State  legislature,  nor  held 
any  executive  or  judicial  office  in  any 
State  and  afterwards  engaged  in  insurrec 
tion  or  rebellion  against  the  United  States, 
or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies 
thereof;  that  I  have  never  taken  an  oath 
as  a  member  of  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  or  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States, 
or  as  a  member  of  any  State  legislature,  or 
as  an  executive  or  judicial  officer  of  any 
State,  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  afterwards  engaged  in 
insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the 
United  States  or  given  aid  or  comfort  to 
the  enemies  thereof;  that  I  will  faithfully 
support  the  Constitution  and  obey  the 
laws  of  the  United  States,  and  will,  to  the 
best  of  my  ability,  encourage  others  so  to 
do,  so  help  me  God;"  which  oath  or  affirm 
ation  may  be  administered  by  any  register 
ing  officer. 


RECONSTRUCTION. 


173 


SEC.  2.  That  after  the  completion  of  the 
registration  hereby  provided  for  in  any 
State,  at  such  time  and  places  therein  as 
the  commanding  general  shall  appoint  and 
direct,  of  which  at  least  thirty  days'  public 
notice  shall  be  given,  an  election  shall  be 
held  of  delegates  to  a  convention  for  the 
purpose  of  establishing  a  constitution  and 
civil  government  for  such  State  loyal  to 
the  Union,  said  convention  in  each  State, 
/except  Virginia,  to  consist  of  the  same 
'number  of  members  as  the  most  numerous 
branch  of  the  State  legislature  of  such 
State  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixty,  to  be  apportioned  among  the  several 
districts,  counties,  or  parishes  of  such 
State  by  the  commanding  general,  giving 
to  each  representation  in  the  ratio  of  voters 
or  registered  as  aforesaid,  as  nearly  as  may 
be.  The  convention  in  Virginia  shall  con 
sist  of  the  same  number  of  members  as 
represented  the  territory  now  constituting 
Virginia  in  the  most  numerous  branch  of 
the  legislature  of  said  State  in  the  year 
eighteen  hundred  and  sixty,  to  be  ap 
pointed  as  aforesaid. 

SEC.  3.  That  at  said  election  the  regis 
tered  voters  of  each  State  shall  vote  for  or 
against  a  convention  to  form  a  constitution 
therefor  under  this  act.  Those  voting  in 
favor  of  such  a  convention  shall  have 
written  or  printed  on  the  ballots  by  which 
they  vote  for  delegates,  as  aforesaid,  the 
words  "  For  a  convention,"  and  those  vot 
ing  against  such  a  convention  shall  have 
written  or  printed  on  such  ballots  the 
words  "  Against  a  convention."  The  per 
son  appointed  to  superintend  said  election, 
and  to  make  return  of  the  votes  given 
thereat,  as  herein  provided,  shall  count 
and  make  return  of  the  votes  given  for  and 
against  a  convention ;  and  the  command 
ing  general  to  whom  the  same  shall  have 
been  returned  shall  ascertain  and  declare 
the  total  vote  in  each  State  for  and  against 
a  convention.  If  a  majority  of  the  votes 
given  on  that  question  shall  be  for  a  con 
vention,  then  such  convention  shall  be  held 
as  hereinafter  provided;  but  if  a  majority 
of  said  votes  shall  be  against  a  convention, 
then  no  such  convention  shall  be  held  un 
der  this  act :  Provided,  That  such  con 
vention  shall  not  be  held  unless  a  majority 
of  all  such  registered  voters  shall  have 
voted  on  the  question  of  holding  such  con 
vention. 

SEC.  4.  That  the  commanding  general  of 
each  district  shall  appoint  as  many  boards 
of  registration  as  may  be  necessary,  con 
sisting  of  three  loyal  officers  or  persons,  to 
make  and  complete  the  registration,  su 
perintend  the  election,  and  make  return  to 
him  of  the  votes,  lists  of  voters,  and  of  the 
persons  elected  as  delegates  by  a  plurality 
of  the  votes  cast  at  said  election ;  and  upon 
receiving  said  returns  he  shall  open  the 
same,  ascertain  the  persons  elected  as  dele 


gates  according  to  the  returns  of  the  offi 
cers  who  conducted  said  election,  and 
make  proclamation  thereof;  and  if  a  ma 
jority  of  the  votes  given  on  that  question 
shall  be  for  a  convention,  the  commanding 
general,  within  sixty  days  from  the  date  of 
election,  shall  notify  the  delegates  to  as 
semble  in  convention,  at  a  time  and  place 
to  be  mentioned  in  the  notification,  and 
said  convention,  when  organized,  shall  pro 
ceed  to  frame  a  constitution  and  civil  gov 
ernment  according  to  the  provisions  of  this 
act  and  the  act  to  which  it  is  supplement 
ary  ;  and  when  the  same  shall  have  been 
so  framed,  said  constitution  shall  be  sub 
mitted  by  the  convention  for  ratification  to 
the  persons  registered  under  the  provisions 
of  this  act  at  an  election  to  be  conducted 
by  the  officers  or  persons  appointed  or  to 
be  appointed  by  the  commanding  general, 
as  hereinbefore  provided,  and  to  be  held 
after  the  expiration  of  thirty  days  from  the 
date  of  notice  thereof,  to  be  given  by  said 
convention ;  and  the  returns  thereof  shall 
be  made  to  the  commanding  general  of  the 
district. 

SEC.  5.  That  if,  according  to  said  re 
turns,  the  constitution  shall  be  ratified  by 
a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the  registered 
electors  qualified  as  herein  specified,  cast 
at  said  election,  (at  least  one-half  of  all  the 
registered  voters  voting  upon  the  question 
of  such  ratification,)  the  president  of  the 
convention  shall  transmit  a  copy  of  the 
same,  duly  certified,  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  who  shall  forthwith 
transmit  the  same  to  Congress,  if  then  in 
session,  and  if  not  in  session,  then  imme 
diately  upon  its  next  assembling ;  and  if  it 
shall,  moreover,  appear  to  Congress  that 
the  election  was  one  at  which  all  the  reg 
istered  and  qualified  electors  in  the  State 
had  an  opportunity  to  vote  freely  and  with 
out  restraint,  fear,  or  the  influence  of  fraud; 
and  if  the  Congress  shall  be  satisfied  that 
such  constitution  meets  the  approval  of  a 
majority  of  all  the  qualified  electors  in  the 
State,  and  if  the  said  constitution  shall  be 
declared  by  Congress  to  be  in  conformity 
with  the  provisions  of  the  act  to  which  this 
is  supplementary,  and  the  other  provisions 
of  said  act  shall  have  been  complied  with, 
and  the  said  constitution  shall  be  approved 
by  Congress,  the  State  shall  be  declared 
entitled  to  representation,  and  Senators 
and  Representatives  shall  be  admitted 
therefrom  as  therein  provided. 

SEC.  6.  That  all  elections  in  the  States 
mentioned  in  the  said  "  Act  to  provide  for 
the  more  efficient  government  of  the  rebel 
States,"  shall,  during  the  operation  of  said 
act,  be  by  ballot ;  and  all  officers  making 
the  said  registration  of  voters  and  conduct 
ing  said  elections  shall,  before  entering 
upon  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  take 
and  subscribe  the  oath  prescribed  by  the 
act  approved  July  second,  eighteen  hun- 


174 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


dred  and  sixty-two,  entitled  "An  act  to 
prescribe  an  oath  of  office :  *  Provided,  That 
if  any  person  shall  knowingly  and  falsely 
take  and  subscribe  any  oath  in  this  act 
prescribed,  such  person  so  offending  and 
being  thereof  duly  convicted,  shall  be  sub 
ject  to  the  pains,  penalties,  and  disabilities 
which  by  law  are  provided  for  the  punish 
ment  of  the  crime  of  wilful  and  corrupt 
perjury. 

SEC.  7.  That  all  expenses  incurred  by 
the  several  commanding  generals,  or  by 
virtue  of  any  orders  issued,  or  appoint 
ments  made,  by  them,  under  or  by  virtue 
of  this  act,  shall  be  paid  out  of  any  moneys 
in  the  treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated. 

SEC.  8.  That  the  convention  for  each 
State  shall  prescribe  the  fees,  ialary,  and 
compensation  to  be  paid  to  all  delegates 
and  other  officers  and  agents  herein  au 
thorized  or  necessary  to  carry  into  effect 
the  purposes  of  this  act  not  herein  other 
wise  provided  for,  and  shall  provide  for 
the  levy  and  collection  of  such  taxes  on 
the  property  in  such  State  as  may  be  ne 
cessary  to  pay  the  same. 

SEC.  9.  That  the  word  article,  in  the 
sixth  section  of  the  act  to  which  this  is 
supplementary,  shall  be  construed  to  mean 
section. 

Passed  March  23,  1867. 


Votes  of  State  Legislatures  on  the  Four 
teenth.  Constitutional  Amendment.-;- 

LOYAL    STATES. 
Ratified— Twenty-one  States. 

Maine— SENATE,  January  16,  1867,  yeas 

*  This  act  is  in  these  words  : 

Be  it  enacted,  &c.,  That  hereafter  every  person  elected 
or  appointed  to  any  office  of  honor  or  profit  under  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  either  in  the  civil,  mili 
tary,  or  naval  departments  of  the  public  service,  except 
ing  the  President  of  the  United  States,  shall,  before  en 
tering  upon  the  duties  of  such  office,  and  before  being 
entitled  to  any  of  the  salary  or  other  emoluments  there 
of,  take  and  subscribe  the  following  oath  or  affirmation : 
"  I,  A  B,  do  solemnly  swear  'or  affirm)  that  I  have  never 
voluntarily  borne  arms  against  the  United  States  since  I 
have  been  a  citizen  thereof;  that  I  have  voluntarily 
given  no  aid,  countenance,  counsel,  or  encouragement  to 
persons  engaged  in  armed  hostility  thereto ;  that  I  have 
never  sought  nor  accepted  nor  attempted  to  exercise  the 
functions  of  any  office  whatever,  under  any  authority  or 
pretended  authority,  in  hostility  to  the  United  States ; 
that  I  have  not  yielded  a  voluntary  support  to  any  pre 
tended  government,  authority,  power,  or  constitution 
within  the  United  States,  hostile  or  inimical  thereto ; 
and  I  do  further  swear  for  affirm)  that,  to  the  best  of  my 
knowledge  and  ability,  I  will  support  and  defend  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  against  all  enemies, 
foreign  and  domestic;  that  I  will  bear  true  faith  and  al 
legiance  to  the  same  ;  that  I  take  this  obligation  freely, 
without  any  mental  reservation  or  purpose  of  evasion, 
and  that  I  will  well  and  faithfully  discharge  the  duties 
of  the  office  on  which  I  am  about  to  enter ;  so  help  me 
God ;"  which  said  oath,  so  taken  and  signed,  shall  be 
preserved  among  the  files  of  the  Court,  House  of  Con 
gress,  or  Department  to  which  the  said  office  may  apper 
tain.  And  any  person  who  slrall  falsely  take  the  said 
oath  shall  be  guilty  of  perjury,  and  on  conviction,  in  ad 
dition  to  the  penalties  now  prescribed  for  that  offense, 
shall  be  deprived  of  his  office,  and  rendered  incapable 
forever  after,  of  holding  any  office  or  place  under  the 
United  States. 

f  Compiled  by  Hon.  Edward  McPhereon  in  his  Hand 
Book  of  Politics  for  1868. 


31,  nays  0 ;  HOUSE,  January  11,  1867,  yeas. 
126,  nays  12. 

New  Hampshire— SENATE,  July  6,  1866, 
yeas  9,  nays  3 ;  HOUSE,  June  28,  1866,  yeas- 
207,  nays  112. 

Vermont — SENATE,  October  23,  1866, 
yeas  28,  nays  0;  HOUSE,  October  30,. 

1866,  yeas  199,  nays  11. 
Massachusetts — SENATE,  March  20, 1867, 

yeas  27,  nays  6 ;  HOUSE,  March  14,  1867, 
yeas  120,  nays  20. 

Rhode    Island  —  SENATE,   February    5, 

1867,  yeas  26,  nays  2  ;  HOUSE,  February  7, 
1867,  yeas  60,  nays  9 

Connecticut  —  SENATE,  June  25,  1866,. 
yeas  11,  nays  6;  HOUSE,  June  29,  1866, 
yeas  131,  nays  92. 

New  York— SENATE,  January  3,  1867, 
yeas  23,  nays  3 ;  HOUSE,  January  10,  1867, 
yeas  76,  nays  40. 

New  Jersey — SENATE,  September  11, 1866r 
yeas  11,  nays  10;  HOUSE,  September  11, 

1866,  yeas  34,  nays  24. 

Pennsylvania  —  SENATE,    January     17, 

1867,  yeas  20,  nays  9 ;  HOUSE,  February  6, 
1867,  yeas  58,  nays  29. 

West  Virginia — SENATE,  January  15, 
1867,  yeas  15,  nays  3  ;  HOUSE,  January  16, 
1867,  yeas  43,  nays  11. 

Ohio — SENATE,  January  3, 1867,  yeas  21, 
nays  12;  HOUSE,  January  4,  1867,  yeas  54, 
nays  25. 

Tennessee— SENATE,  July  11,  1866,  yeas 
15,  nays  6 ;  HOUSE,  July  12,  1866,  yeas 
43,  nays  11.  ' 

Indiana — SENATE,  January  16,  1867, 
yeas  29,  nays  18 ;  HOUSE,  January  23, 
1867,  yeas — ,  nays — . 

Illinois — SENATE,  January  10,  1867, 
yeas  17,  nays  7 ;  HOUSE,  January  15, 1867, 
yeas  59,  nays  25. 

Michigan— SCNATE, 1867,  yeas  25, 

nays  1 ;  HOUSE, 1867,  yeas  77,  nays 

15. 

Missouri — SENATE,  January  5,  1867, 
yeas  26,  nays  6 ;  HOUSE,  January  8,  1867, 
yeas  85,  nays  34. 

Minnesota — SENATE,  January  16,  1867, 
yeas  16,  nays  5 ;  HOUSE,  January  15, 1867, 
yeas  40,  nays  6. 

Kansas— SENATE,  January  11,  1867, 
unanimously ;  HOUSE,  January  10,  1867, 
yeas,  75,  nays  7. 

Wisconsin — SENATE,  January  23,  1867, 
yeas  22,  nays  10;  HOUSE,  February  7, 
1867,  yeas  72,  nays  12. 

Oregon—*  Senate, ,  1866,  yeas  13, 

nays  7;  House,  September  19,  1866,  yeas 
25,  nays  22. 

Nevada—*  SENATE,  January  22,  1867, 
yeas  14,  nays  2 ;  HOUSE,  January  11, 1867, 
yeas  34,  nays  4. 

Bejected—  Three  States. 

Delaware — SENATE, ;  HOU8B, 

February  7,  1867,  yeas  6,  nays  15. 

'Unofficial. 


GENERAL  McCLELLAN'S  LETTERS. 


175 


Maryland— SENATE,  March  23,  1867, 
yeas  4,  nays  13 ;  HOUSE,  March  23,  1867, 
yeas  12,  nays  45. 

Kentucky — SENATE,  January  8,  1867, 
yeas  7,  nays  24 ;  HOUSE,  January  8,  1867, 
yeas  26,  nays  62. 

Not  acted— Three  States. 

Iowa,  California,  Nebraska. 

INSURRECTIONARY  STATES. 

Rejected—  Ten  States. 

Virginia — SENATE,  January  9,  1867, 
unanimously ;  HOUSE,  January  9,  1867,  1 
for  amendment. 

North  Carolina — SENATE,  December  13, 
1866,  yeas  1,  nays  44 ;  HOUSE,  December 
13,  1866,  yeas  10,  nays  93. 

South  Carolina — SENATE ; 

HOUSE,  December  20, 1866,  yeas  1,  nays  95. 

Georgia — SENATE,  November  9,  1866, 
yeas  0,  'nays  36  ;  HOUSE,  November  9, 1866, 
yeas  2,  nays  131. 

Florida— SENATE,  December  3,  1866, 
yeas  0,  nays  20  ;  HOUSE,  December  1, 1866, 
yeas  0,  nays  49. 

Alabama— SENATE,  December  7,  1866, 
yeas  2,  nays  27;  HOUSE,  December  7, 
1866,  yeas  8,  nays  69. 

Mississippi — SENATE,  January  30,  1867, 
yeas  0,  nays  27  ;  HOUSE,  January  25, 1867, 
yeas  0,  nays  88. 

Louisiana  SENATE,  February  5,  1867, 
unanimously ;  HOUSE,  February  6,  1867, 
unanimously. 

Texas— SENATE, ;  HOUSE,  Oc 
tober  13,  1866,  yeas  5,  nays  67. 

Arkansas — SENATE,  December  15,  1866, 
yeas  1,  nays  24;  HOUSE,  December  17, 
1866,  yeas  2,  nays  68. 

The  passage  of  the  14th  Amendment  and 
of  the  Reconstruction  Acts,  was  followed 
by  Presi  dential  proclamations  dated  August 
20,  1866,  declaring  the  insurrection  at  an 
end  in  Texas,  and  civil  authority  existing 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  United 
States. 

PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION  OF   1864. 

The  Republican  National  Convention 
met  at  Baltimore,  June  7th,  1864,  and  re- 
nominated  President  Lincoln  unanimous 
ly,  save  the  vote  of  Missouri,  which  was 
cast  for  Gen.  Grant.  Hannibal  Hamlin, 
the  old  Vice-President,  was  not  re-nomi 
nated,  because  of  a  desire  to  give  part  of 
the  ticket  to  the  Union  men  of  the  South, 
who  pressed  Senator  Andrew  Johnson  of 
Tennessee.  "Parson"  Brownlow  made  a 
strong  appeal  in  his  behalf,  and  by  his  elo 
quence  captured  a  majority  of  the  Con 
vention. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention 
met  at  Chicago,  August  29th,  1864,  and 
nominated  General  George  B.  McClellan, 
of  New  Jersey,  for  President,  and  George 
H.  Pendleton,  of  Ohio,  for  Vice-President. 
General  McClellan  was  made  available  for 
the  Democratic  nomination  through  cer 


tain  political  letters  which  he  had  written 
on  points  of  difference  between  himself  and 
the  Lincoln  administration.  Two  of  these 
letters  are  sufficient  to  show  his  own  and 
the  views  of  the  party  which  nominated 
him,  in  the  canvass  which  followed : 

Gen.  McClellan '8  Letters. 

On  Political  Administration,  July  7,  1862. 

HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC, 
CAMP  NEAR  HARBISON'S  LANDING,  VA.,  July  7, 1862. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  : — You  have  been  fully 
informed  that  the  rebel  army  is  in  the 
front,  with  the  purpose  of  overwhelming 
us  by  attacking  our  positions  or  reducing 
us  by  blocking  our  river  communications. 
I  cannot  but  regard  our  condition  as  criti 
cal,  and  I  earnestly  desire,  in  view  of  pos 
sible  contingencies,  to  lay  before  your  ex 
cellency,  for  your  private  consideration, 
my  general  views  concerning  the  existing 
state  of  the  rebellion,  although  they  do 
not  strictly  relate  to  the  situation  of  this 
army,  or  strictly  come  within  the  scope  of 
my  official  duties.  These  views  amount  to 
convictions,  and  are  deeply  impressed  upon 
my  mind  and  heart.  Our  cause  must  never 
be  abandoned ;  it  is  the  cause  of  free  in 
stitutions  and  self-government.  The  Con 
stitution  and  the  Union  must  be  preserved, 
whatever  may  be  the  cost  in  time,  treasure, 
and  blood.  If  secession  is  successful,  other 
dissolutions  are  clearly  to  be  seen  in  the 
future.  Let  neither  military  disaster,  polit 
ical  faction,  nor  foreign  war  shake  your 
settled  purpose  to  enforce  the  equal  opera 
tion  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States  upon 
the  people  of  every  State. 

The  time  has  come  when  the  govern 
ment  must  determine  upon  a  civil  and 
military  policy,  covering  the  whole  ground 
of  our  national  trouble. 

The  responsibility  of  determining,  de 
claring,  and  supporting  such  civil  and  mil 
itary  policy,  and  of  directing  the  whole 
course  of  national  affairs  in  regard  to  the 
rebellion,  must  now  be  assumed  and  exer 
cised  by  you,  or  our  cause  will  be  lost.  The 
Constitution  gives  you  power,  even  for  the 
present  terrible  exigency. 

This  rebellion  has  assumed  the  charac 
ter  of  a  war ;  as  such  it  should  be  regarded, 
and  it  should  be  conducted  upon  the  high 
est  principles  known  to  Christian  civiliza 
tion.  It  should  not  be  a  war  looking  to 
the  subjugation  of  the  people  of  any  State, 
in  any  event.  It  should  not  be  at  all  a 
war  upon  population,  but  against  armed 
forces  and  political  organizations.  Neither 
confiscation  of  property,  political  execu 
tions  of  persons,  territorial  organization  of 
States,  or  forcible  abolition  of  slavery, 
should  be  contemplated  for  a  moment. 

In  prosecuting  the  war,  all  private 
property  and  unarmed  persons  should  be 
strictly  protected,  subject  only  to  the  ne 
cessity  of  military  operations ;  all  privatt 


176 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


property  taken  for  military  use  should  be 
paid  or  receipted  for;  pillage  and  waste 
should  be  treated  as  high  crimes ;  all  un 
necessary  trespass  sternly  prohibited,  and 
offensive  demeanor  by  the  military  towards 
citizens  promptly  rebuked.  Military  ar 
rests  should  not  be  tolerated,  except  in 
places  where  active  hostilities  exist ;  and 
oaths,  not  required  by  enactments,  consti 
tutionally  made,  should  be  neither  de 
manded  nor  received. 

Military  government  should  be  confined 
to  the  preservation  of  public  order  and  the 
protection  of  political  right.  Military 
power  should  not  be  allowed  to  interfere 
with  the  relations  of  servitude,  either  by 
supporting  or  impairing  the  authority  of 
the  master,  except  for  repressing  disorder, 
as  in  other  cases.  Slaves,  contraband  under 
the  act  of  Congress,  seeking  military  pro 
tection,  should  receive  it.  The  right  of 
the  government  to  appropriate  permaneiit- 

r'o  its  own  service  claims  to  slave  labor 
uld  be  asserted,  and  the  the  right  of  the 
owner  to  compensation  therefor  should  be 
recognized.  This  principle  might  be  ex 
tended,  upon  grounds  of  military  necessity 
and  security,  to  all  the  slaves  of  a  particu 
lar  State,  thus  working  manumission  in 
such  State ;  and  in  Missouri,  perhaps  in 
Western  Virginia  also,  and  possibly  even 
in  Maryland,  the  expediency  of  such  a 
measure  is  only  a  question  of  time.  A 
system  of  policy  thus  constitutional,  and 
pervaded  by  the  influences  of  Christianity 
and  freedom,  would  receive  the  support  of 
almost  all  truly  loyal  men,  would  deeply 
impress  the  rebel  masses  and  all  foreign 
nations,  and  it  might  be  humbly  hoped 
that  it  would  commend  itself  to  the  favor 
of  the  Almighty. 

Unless  the  principles  governing  the 
future  conduct  of  our  struggle  shall  be 
made  known  and  approved,  the  effort  to 
obtain  requisite  forces  will  be  almost  hope 
less.  A  declaration  of  radical  views,  es 
pecially  upon  slavery,  will  rapidly  disin 
tegrate  our  present  armies.  The  policy  of 
the  government  must  be  supported  by  con 
centrations  of  military  power.  The  na 
tional  forces  should  not  be  dispersed  in 
expeditions,  posts  of  occupation,  and  nu 
merous  armies,  but  should  be  mainly  col 
lected  into  masses,  and  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  armies  of  the  Confederate  States. 
Those  armies  thoroughly  defeated,  the 
political  structure  which  they  support 
would  soon  cease  to  exist. 

In  carrying  out  any  system  of  policy 
which  you  may  form,  you  will  require  a 
commander-in-chief  of  the  army,  one  who 
possesses  your  confidence,  understands 
your  views,  and  who  is  competent  to  exe 
cute  your  orders,  by  directing  the  military 
forces  of  the  nation  to  the  accomplishment 
of  the  objects  by  you  proposed.  I  do  not 
ask  that  place  for  myself.  I  am  willing  to 


serve  you  in  such  position  as  you  may  as 
sign  me,  and  I  will  do  so  as  faithfully  as 
ever  subordinate  served  superior. 

I  may  be  on  the  brink  of  eternity ;  and 
as  I  hope  forgiveness  from  my  Maker,  I 
have  written  this  letter  with  sincerity  to 
wards  you  and  from  love  for  my  country. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
GEORGE  B.  MCCLELLAN, 

Major-  General  Commanding. 
His  Excellency  A.  LINCOLN,  President. 


IN  FAVOR  OF  THE  ELECTION  OF  GEORGE 

W.  WOODWARD  AS  GOVERNOR  OF 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

ORANGE,  NEW  JERSEY,  October  12, 1863. 

DEAR  SIR: — My  attention  has  been 
called  to  an  article  in  the  Philadelphia 
Press,  asserting  that  I  had  written  to  the 
managers  of  a  Democratic  meeting  at 
Allentown,  disapproving  the  objects  of  the 
meeting,  and  that  if  I  voted  or  spoke  it 
would  be  in  favor  of  Governor  Curtin,  nnd 
I  am  informed  that  similar  assertions  have 
been  made  throughout  the  State. 

It  has  been  my  earnest  endeavor  hereto 
fore  to  avoid  participation  in  party  politics. 
1  had  determined  to  adhere  to  this  course, 
but  it  is  obvious  that  I  cannot  longer 
maintain  silence  under  such  misrepresen 
tations.  I  therefore  request  you  to  deny 
that  I  have  written  any  such  letter,  or 
entertained  any  such  views  as  those  at 
tributed  to  me  in  the  Philadelphia  Press, 
and  I  desire  to  state  clearly  and  distinctly, 
that  having  some  days  ago  had  a  full  con 
versation  with  Judge  Woodward,  I  find 
that  our  views  agree,  and  I  regard  his  elec 
tion  as  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  called 
for  by  the  interests  of  the  nation. 

I  understand  Judge  Woodward  to  be  in 
favor  of  the  prosecution  of  the  war  with  all 
the  means  at  the  command  of  the  loyal 
States,  until  the  military  power  of  the  re 
bellion  is  destroyed.  I  understand  him  to 
be  of  the  opinion  that  while  the  war  is 
urged  with  all  possible  decision  and 
energy,  the  policy  directing  it  should  be 
in  consonance  with  the  principles  of 
humanity  and  civilization,  working  no  in 
jury  to  private  rights  and  property  not 
demanded  by  military  necessity  and  recog 
nized  by  military  law  among  civilized  na 
tions. 

And,  finally,  I  understand  him  to  agree 
with  me  in  the  opinion  that  the  sole  great 
objects  of  this  war  are  the  restoration  of 
the  unity  of  the  nation,  the  preservation  of 
the  Constitution,  and  the  supremacy  of 
the  laws  of  the  country.  Believing  our 
opinions  entirely  agree  upon  these  points, 
I  would,  were  it  in  my  power,  give  to 
Judge  Woodward  my  voice  and  vote. 

I  am,  very  respectfully,  yours, 

GEORGE  B.  MCCLELLAH. 
Hon.  CHARLES  J.  BIDDLE. 


LINCOLN'S    SECOND    ADMINISTRATION. 


177 


The  views  of  Mr.  Lincoln  were  well 
known  ;  they  were  felt  in  the  general  con 
duct  of  the  war.  The  Republicans  adopted 
as  one  of  their  maxims  the  words  of  their 
candidate,  "  that  it  was  dangerous  to  swap 
horses  while  crossing  a  stream."  The  cam 
paign  was  exciting,  and  was  watched  by 
both  armies  with  interest  and  anxiety.  In 
this  election,  by  virtue  of  an  act  of  Con 
gress,  the  soldiers  in  the  field  were  per 
mitted  to  vote,  and  a  large  majority  of 
every  branch  of  the  service  sustained  the 
Administration,  though  two  years  before 
General  McClellan  had  been  the  idol  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Lincoln  and 
Johnson  received  212  electoral  votes, 
against  21  for  McClellan  and  Pendleton. 


Lincoln's  Second  Administration. 

In  President  Lincoln's  second  inaugural 
address,  delivered  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1865,  he  spoke  the  following  words,  since 
oft  quoted  as  typical  of  the  kindly  disposi 
tion  of  the  man  believed  by  his  party  to  be 
the  greatest  President  since  Washington : 
"  With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity 
for  all,  with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God 
gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to 
finish  the  work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the 
Nation's  wounds,  to  care  for  him  who  shall 
have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow 
and  orphans — to  do  all  which  may  achieve 
a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves 
and  with  all  nations." 

Lincoln  could  well  afford  to  show  that 
generosity  which  never  comes  more  prop 
erly  than  from  the  hands  of  the  victor. 
His  policy  was  about  to  end  in  a  great 
triumph.  In  less  than  five  weeks  later  on 
General  Lee  had  surrendered  the  main 
army  of  the  South  to  General  Grant  at 
Appomattox,  on  terms  at  once  magnani 
mous  and  so  briefly  stated  that  they  won 
the  admiration  of  both  armies,  for  the 
rebels  had  been  permitted  to  retain  their 
horses  and  side  arms,  and  to  go  at  once  to 
their  homes,  not  to  be  disturbed  by  United 
States  authority  so  long  as  they  observed 
their  paroles  and  the  laws  in  force  where 
they  resided.  Lee's  surrender  was  rapidly 
followed  by  that  of  all  Southern  troops. 

Next  came  a  grave  political  work — the 
actual  reconstruction  of  the  States  lately  in 
rebellion.  This  work  gave  renewed  fresh 
ness  to  the  leading  political  issues  incident 
to  the  war,  and  likewise  gave  rise  to  new 
issues.  It  was  claimed  at  once  that  Lin 
coln  had  a  reconstruction  policy  of  his 
own,  because  of  his  anxiety  for  the  prompt 
admission  of  Louisiana  and  Arkansas,  but 
it  had  certainly  never  taken  definite  shape, 
nor  was  there  time  to  get  such  a  policy  in 
shape,  between  the  surrender  of  Lee  and 
his  own  assassination.  On  the  night  of 
the  15th  of  April,  six  days  after  the  sur 
render,  J.  Wilkes  Booth  shot  him  while 

12 


sitting  in  a  box  in  Ford's  theatre.  The 
nation  stood  appalled  at  the  deed.  No 
man  was  ever  more  sincerely  mourned  in 
all  sections  and  by  all  classes.  The  South 
ern  leaders  thought  that  this  rash  act  had 
lost  to  them  a  life  which  had  never  been 
harsh,  and  while  firm,  was  ever  generous. 
The  North  had  looked  upon  him  as  "Father 
Abraham,"  and  all  who  viewed  the  result 
of  the  shooting  from  sectional  or  partisan 
standpoints,  thought  his  policy  of  "  keep 
ing  with  the  people,"  would  have  shielded 
every  proper  interest.  No  public  man  ever 
felt  less  "  pride  of  opinion"  than  Lincoln, 
and  we  do  believe,  had  he  lived,  that  he 
would  have  shaped  events,  as  he  did  dur 
ing  the  war,  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
victors,  but  without  unnecessary  agitation 
or  harshness.  All  attempts  of  writers  to 
evolve  from  his  proclamation  a  reconstruc 
tion  policy,  applicable  to  peace,  have  been 
vain  and  impotent.  He  had  none  which 
would  not  have  changed  with  changing 
circumstances.  A  "  policy  "  in  an  execu 
tive  office  is  too  often  but  another  name  for 
executive  egotism,  and  Lincoln  was  almost 
absolutely  free  from  that  weakness. 

On  the  morning  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  death, 
indeed  within  the  same  hour  (and  very 
properly  so  under  the  circumstances),  the 
Vice  President  Andrew  Johnson  was  in 
augurated  as  President.  The  excitement 
was  painfully  high,  and  the  new  President, 
in  speeches,  interviews  and  proclamations 
if  possible  added  to  it.  From  evidence 
in  the  Bureau  of  Military  Justice  he 
thought  the  assassination  of  Lincoln,  and 
the  attempted  assassination  of  Secretary 
Seward  had  been  procured  by  Jefferson 
Davis,  Clement  C.  Clay,  Jacob  Thompson, 
Geo.  N.  Saunders,  Beverly  Tucker,  Wm.  C. 
Cleary,  and  "  other  rebels  and  traitors 
harbored  in  Canada."  The  evidence,  how 
ever,  fully  drawn  out  in  the  trial  of  the  co- 
conspirators  of  J.  Wilkes  Booth,  showed 
that  the  scheme  was  hair-brained,  and 
from  no  responsible  political  source.  The 
proclamation,  however,  gave  keenness  to 
the  search  for  the  fugitive  Davis,  and  he 
was  soon  captured  while  making  his  way 
through  Georgia  to  the  Florida  coast  with 
the  intention  of  escaping  from  the  country. 
He  was  imprisoned  in  Fortress  Monroe, 
and  an  indictment  for  treason  was  found 
against  him,  but  he  remained  a  close  pris 
oner  for  nearly  two  years,  until  times  when 
political  policies  had  been  changed  or 
modified.  Horace  Greeley  was  one  of  his 
bondsmen.  By  this  time  there  was  grave 
doubt  whether  he  could  be  legally  con 
victed,  *  "  now  that  the  charge  of  inciting 
Wilkes  Booth's  crime  had  been  tacitly 
abandoned.  Mr.  Webster  (in  his  Bunker 
Hill  oration)  had  only  given  clearer  ex 
pression  to  the  American  doctrine,  that, 

*  From  Greeley's  Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life,  page  413j, 


178 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


after  a  revolt  has  levied  a  regular  army, 
and  fought  therewith  a  pitched  battle,  its 
champions,  even  though  utterly  defeated, 
cannot  be  tried  and  convicted  as  traitors. 
This  may  be  an  extreme  statement;  but 
surely  a  rebellion  which  has  for  years  main 
tained  great  armies,  levied  taxes  and  con 
scriptions,  negotiated  loans,  fought  scores 
of  sanguinary  battles  with  alternate  suc 
cesses  and  reverses,  and  exchanged  tens  of 
thousands  of  prisoners  of  war,  can  hardly  fail 
to  have  achieved  thereby  the  position  and 
the  rights  of  a  lawful  belligerent."  This 
view,  as  then  presented  by  Greeley,  was 
accepted  by  President  Johnson,  who  from 
intemperate  denunciation  had  become  the 
friend  of  his  old  friends  in  the  South. 
Greeley's  view  was  not  generally  accepted 
by  the  North,  though  most  of  the  leading 
men  of  both  parties  hoped  the  responsi 
bility  of  a  trial  would  be  avoided  by  the 
escape  and  flight  of  the  prisoner.  But  he 
was  confident  by  this  time,  and  sought  a 
trial.  He  was  never  tried,  and  the  best 
reason  for  the  fact  is  given  in  Judge  Un 
derwood's  testimony  before  a  Congressional 
Committee  (and  the  Judge  was  a  Republi 
can)  "  that  no  conviction  was  possible,  ex 
cept  by  packing  a  jury.*' 

Andrew  Johnson. 

On  the  29th  of  April,  1865,  President 
Johnson  issued  a  proclamation  removing 
all  restrictions  upon  internal,  domestic  and 
coastwise  and  commercial  intercourse  in 
all  Southern  States  east  of  the  Mississippi ; 
the  blockade  was  removed  May  22,  and  on 
May  29  a  proclamation  of  amnesty  was 
issued,  with  fourteen  classes  excepted 
therefrom,  and  the  requirement  of  an 
"  iron-clad  oath  "  from  those  accepting  its 
provisions.  Proclamations  rapidly  fol 
lowed  in  shaping  the  lately  rebellious 
States  to  the  conditions  of  peace  and  re 
storation  to  the  Union.  These  States  were 
required  to  hold  conventions,  repeal  seces 
sion  ordinances,  accept  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  repudiate  Southern  war  debts,  pro 
vide  for  Congressional  representation,  and 
elect  new  State  Officers  and  Legislatures. 
The  several  constitutional  amendments 
were  of  course  to  be  ratified  by  the  vote  of  the 
people.  These  conditions  were  eventually 
all  complied  with,  some  of  the  States  being 
more  tardy  than  others.  The  irreconcila- 
bles  charged  upon  the  Military  officers, 
the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  and  the  stern  ap 
plication  of  the  reconstruction  acts,  these 
results,  and  many  of  them  showed  a  politi 
cal  hostility  which,  after  the  election  oi 
the  new  Legislatures,  took  shape  in  what 
were  in  the  North  at  the  time  denounced  as 

"THE  BLACK  CODES." 

These  were  passed  by  all  of  the  eleven 

States  in  the  rebellion.    The  codes  varied 


in  severity,  according  to  the  views  of  the 
Legislatures,  and  for  a  time  they  seriously 
interfered  with  the  recognition  of  the 
States,  the  Republicans  charging  that  the 
design  was  to  restore  slavery  under  new 
forms.  In  South  Carolina  Gen'l  Sickles 
issued  military  orders,  as  late  as  January 
17,  1866,  against  the  enforcement  of  such 
laws. 

To  assure  the  rights,  of  the  freedmen 
the  14th  amendment  of  the  Constitution 
was  passed  by  Congress,  June  18th,  1866. 
President  Johnson  opposed  it,  refused  to 
sign,  but  said  he  would  submit  it  to  the 
several  States.  This  was  done,  and  it  was 
accepted  by  the  required  three-fourths, 
January  28th,  1868.  This  had  the  effect 
to  do  away  with  many  of  the  "black 
codes,"  and  the  States  which  desired  re- 
admission  to  the  Union  had  to  finally  give 
them  up.  Since  reconstruction,  and  the 
political  ousting  of  what  were  called  the 
"carpet  bag  governments,"  some  of  the 
States,  notably  Georgia,  has  passed  class 
laws,  which  treat  colored  criminals  differ 
ently  from  white,  under  what  are  now 
known  as  the  "  conduct  laws."  Terms  of 
sentence  are  served  out,  in  any  part  of  the 
State,  under  the  control  of  public  and 
private  contractors,  and  "  vagrants "  are 
subjected  to  sentences  which  it  is  believed 
would  be  less  extended  under  a  system  of 
confinement. 


Johnson's  Policy. 

While  President  Johnson's  policy  did 
not  materially  check  reconstruction,  it  en 
couraged  Southern  politicians  to  political 
effort,  and  with  their  well  known  tact  they 
were  not  long  in  gaining  the  ascendancy 
in  nearly  every  State.  This  ascendancy 
excited  the  fears  and  jealousies  of  the 
North,  and  the  Republicans  announced  as 
their  object  and  platform  "  that  all  the  re 
sults  of  the  war  "  should  be  secured  before 
Southern  reconstruction  and  representa 
tion  in  Congress  should  be  completed.  On 
this  they  were  almost  solidly  united  in 
Congress,  but  Horace  Greeley  trained  an 
independent  sentiment  which  favored  com 
plete  amnesty  to  the  South.  President 
Johnson  sought  to  utilize  this  sentiment, 
and  to  divide  the  Republican  party 
through  his  policy,  which  now  looked  to 
the  same  ends.  He  had  said  to  a  delega 
tion  introduced  by  Gov.  Oliver  P.  Morton, 
April  21,  1865: 

"Your  slavery  is  dead,  but  I  did  not 
murder  it.  As  Macbeth  said  to  Banquo's 
bloody  ghost: 

1  Never  shake  thy  gory  locks  at  me  ; 
Thou  canst  not  say  I  did  it.' 

"  Slavery  is  dead,  and  you  must  pardon 
me  if  I  do  not  mourn  over  its  dead  body  ; 
you  can  bury  it  out  of  sight.  In  restoring 


IMPEACHMENT  TRIAL  OF  JOHNSON. 


179 


l)he  State,  leave  out  that  disturbing  and 
dangerous  element,  and  use  only  those 
parts  of  the  machinery  which  will  move  in 
harmony. 

"  But  in  calling  a  convention  to  restore 
the  State,  who  shall  restore  and  re-estab 
lish  it?  Shall  the  man  who  gave  his  in 
fluence  and  his  means  to  destroy  the 
Government?  Is  he  to  participate  in  the 
great  work  of  reorganization  ?  Shall  he 
who  brought  this  misery  upon  the  State  be 
permitted  to  control  its  destinies  ?  If  this 
be  so,  then  all  this  precious  blood  of  our 
brave  soldiers  and  officers  so  freely  poured 
out  will  have  been  wantonly  spilled.  All 
the  glorious  victories  won  by  our  noble  ar 
mies  will  go  for  nought,  and  all  the  battle 
fields  which  have  been  .  sown  with  dead 
heroes  during  the  rebellion  will  have  been 
made  memorable  in  vain." 

In  a  speech  at  Washington,  Feb.  22nd, 
1866,  Johnson  said : 

"The  Government  has  stretched  forth 
its  strong  arm,  and  with  its  physical  power 
it  has  put  down  treason  in  the  field.  That 
is,  the  section  of  country  that  arrayed  itself 
against  the  Government  has  been  con 
quered  by  the  force  of  the  Government  itself. 
Now,  what  had  we  said  to  those  people  ? 
We  said,  '  No  compromise ;  we  can  settle 
this  question  with  the  South  in  eight  and 
forty  hours.' 

"  I  have  said  it  again  and  again,  and  I 
repeat  it  now,  'disband  your  armies,  ac 
knowledge  the  supremacy  of  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States,  give  obedience 
to  the  law,  and  the  whole  question  is  set 
tled.' 

"  What  has  been  done  since  ?  Their  ar 
mies  have  been  disbanded.  They  come 
now  to  meet  us  in  a  spirit  of  magnanimity 
and  say,  'We  were  mistaken;  we  made 
the  effort  to  carry  out  the  doctrine  of  se 
cession  and  dissolve  this  Union,  and  hav 
ing  traced  this  thing  fo  its  logical  and 
physical  results,  we  now  acknowledge  the 
flag  of  our  country,  and  promise  obedience 
to  the  Constitution  and  the  supremacy  of 
the  law.' 

"  I  say,  then,  when  you  comply  with  the 
Constitution,  when  you  yield  to  the  law, 
when  you  acknowledge  allegiance  to  the 
Government — I  say  let  the  door  of  the 
Union  be  opened,  and  the  relation  be  re 
stored  to  those  that  had  erred  and  had 
strayed  from  the  fold  of  our  fathers." 

It  is  not  partisanship  to  say  that  John 
son's  views  had  undergone  a  change.  He 
did  not  admit  this  in  his  speeches,  but  the 
fact  was  accepted  in  all  sections,  and  the 
leaders  of  parties  took  position  accordingly 
— nearly  all  of  the  Republicans  against 
him,  nearly  all  of  the  Democrats  for  him. 
So  radical  had  this  difference  become  that 
he  vetoed  nearly  all  of  the  political  bills 
passed  by  the  Republicans  from  1866  until 
the  end  of  his  administration,  but  such  was 


the  Republican  preponderance  in  both 
Houses  of  Congress  that  they  passed  them 
over  his  head  by  the  necessary  two-thirds 
vote.  He  vetoed  the  several  Freedmen's 
Bureau  Bills,  the  Civil  Rights  Bill,  that 
for  the  admission  of  Nebraska  and  Colo 
rado,  the  Bill  to  permit  Colored  Suffrage 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  one  of  the 
Reconstruction  Bills,  and  finally  made  a 
direct  issue  with  the  powers  of  Congress  by 
his  veto  of  the  Civil  Tenure  Bill,  March  2, 
1867,  the  substance  of  which  is  shown  in 
the  third  section,  as  follows : 

SEC.  3.  That  the  President  shall  have 
power  to  fill  all  vacancies  which  may  hap 
pen  during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  by  rea 
son  of  death  or  resignation,  by  granting 
commissions  which  shall  expire  at  the  end 
of  their  next  session  thereafter.  And  if 
no  appointment,  by  and  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Senate,  shall  be  made 
to  such  office  so  vacant  or  temporarily 
filled  as  aforesaid  during  such  next  session 
of  the  Senate,  such  office  shall  remain  in 
abeyance  without  any  salary,  fees,  or 
emoluments  attached  thereto,  until  the 
same  shall  be  filled  by  appointment 
thereto,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  con 
sent  of  the  Senate  ;  and  during  such  time 
all  the  powers  and  duties  belonging  to  such 
office  shall  be  exercised  by  such  other  offi 
cer  as  may  by  law  exercise  such  powers  and 
duties  in  case  of  a  vacancy  in  such  office. 

The  bill  originally  passed  the  Senate  by 
22  to  10 — all  of  the  nays  Democrats  save 
Van  Winkle  and  Willey.  It  passed  the 
House  by  112  to  41— all  of  the  yeas  Re 
publicans  ;  all  of  the  nays  Democrats  save 
Hawkins,  Latham  and  Whaley.  The 
Senate  passed  it  over  the  veto  by  35  to  11 
— a  strict  party  vote ;  the  House  by  138  to 
40 — a  strict  party  vote,  except  Latham 
(Rep.)  who  voted  nay. 

The  refusal  of  the  President  to  enforce 
this  act,  and  his  attempted  removal  of 
Secretary  Stanton  from  the  Cabinet  when 
against  the  wish  of  the  Senate,  led  to  the 
effort  to  impeach  him.  Stanton  resisted 
the  President,  and  General  Grant  took  an 
active  part  in  sustaining  the  War  Secre 
tary.  He  in  fact  publicly  advised  him  to 
"  stick,"  and  his  attitude  showed  that  in 
the  great  political  battle  which  must  fol 
low,  they  would  surely  have  the  support  of 
the  army  and  its  great  commander. 


Impeachment  Trial  of    Andrew  Johnson. 

*  The  events  which  led  to  the  impeach 
ment  of  President  Johnson,  maybe  briefly 
stated  as  follows :  On  the  21st  of  Febru 
ary,  1868,  the  President  issued  an  order  to 
Mr.  Stanton,  removing  him  from  office  as 
Secretary  of  War,  and  another  to  General 
Lorenzo  Thomas,  Adjutant-General  of  the 

*  From  the  Century  of  Independence  by  John  Sully, 
Boston. 


180 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Army,  appointing  him  Secretary  of  War 
ad  interim,  directing  the  one  to  surrender 
and  the  other  to  receive,  all  the  books,  pa 
pers,  and  public  property  belonging  to  the 
War  Department.  As  these  orders  fill  an 
important  place  in  the  history  of  the  im 
peachment,  we  give  them  here.  The  or 
der  to  Mr.  Stanton  reads  : 

"  By  virtue  of  the  power  and  authority 
vested  in  me  as  President  by  the  Constitu 
tion  and  laws  of  the  United  States,  you  are 
hereby  removed  from  office  as  Secretary 
for  the  Department  of  War>  and  your 
functions  as  such  will  terminate  upon  the 
receipt  of  this  communication.  You  will 
transfer  to  Brevet  Major-General  Lorenzo 
Thomas,  Adjutant-General  of  the  Army, 
who  has  this  day  been  authorized  and  em 
powered  to  act  as  Secretary  of  War  ad 
interim,  alh-ecords,  books,  papers,  and  other 
public  property  now  in  your  custody  and 
charge." 

The  order  to  General  Thomas  reads  : 

"The  Hon.  Edwin  M.  Stanton  having 
been  this  day  removed  from  office  as  Secre 
tary  for  the  Department  of  War,  you  are 
hereby  authorized  and  empowered  to  act 
as  Secretary  of  War  ad  interim,  and  will 
immediately  enter  upon  the  discharge  of 
the  duties  pertaining  to  that  office.  Mr. 
Stanton  has  been  instructed  to  transfer  to 
you  all  the  records,  books,  and  other  public 
property  now  in  his  custody  and  charge." 

These  orders  having  been  officially  com 
municated  to  the  Senate,  that  body,  after 
an  earnest  debate,  passed  the  following 
resolution : 

"  Jtesolved,  by  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  That  under  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  United  States  the  President 
has  no  power  to  remove  the  Secretary  of 
War  and  designate  any  other  officer  to  per 
form  the  duties  of  that  office." 

The  President,  upon  the  24th,  sent  a 
jnessage  to  the  Senate,  arguing  at  length 
that  not  only  under  the  Constitution,  but 
also  under  the  laws  as  now  existing,  he  had 
the  right  of  removing  Mr.  Stanton  and 
appointing  another  to  fill  his  place.  The 
point  of  his  argument  is :  That  by  a  special 
proviso  in  the  Tenure-of-Office  Bill  the  va 
rious  Secretaries  of  Departments  "shall 
hold  their  offices  respectively  for  and  dur 
ing  the  term  of  the  President  by  whom 
they  may  have  been  appointed,  and  for  one 
month  thereafter,  subject  to  removal  by 
and  with  the  advice  of  the  Senate."  The 
President  affirms  that  Mr.  Stanton  was  ap 
pointed  not  by  him,  but  by  his  predeces 
sor,  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  held  office  onlv  by 
the  sufferance,  not  the  appointment,  of  the 
present  Executive ;  and  that  therefore  his 
tenure  is,  by  the  express  reading  of  the 
law  excepted  from  the  general  provision, 
that  every  person  duly  appointed  to  office, 
"  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate,"  etc.,  shall  be  "  entitled  to  hold 


office  until  a  successor  shall  have  been  in 
like  manner  appointed  and  duly  qualified, 
except  as  herein  otherwise  provided."  The 
essential  point  of  the  President's  argument, 
therefore,  is  that,  as  Mr.  Stanton  was  not 
appointed  by  him,  he  had,  under  the  Ten 
ure-of-Office  Bill,  the  right  at  any  time  to 
remove  him  ;  the  same  right  which  his  own 
successor  would  have,  no  matter  whether 
the  incumbent  had,  by  sufferance,  not  by 
appointment  of  the  existing  Executive, 
held  the  office  for  weeks  or  even  years. 
"  If,"  says  the  President,  "my  successor 
would  have  the  power  to  remove  Mr.  Stan- 
ton,  after  permitting  him  to  remain  a  peri 
od  of  two  weeks,  because  he  was  not  ap 
pointed  by  him,  I  who  have  tolerated  Mr. 
btanton  for  more  than  two  years,  certainly 
have  the  same  right  to  remove  him,  upon 
the  same  ground,  namely  that  he  was  not 
appointed  by  me  but  by  my  predecessor." 

In  the  meantime  General  Thomas  pre 
sented  himself  at  the  War  Department  and 
demanded  to  be  placed  in  the  position  to 
which  he  had  been  assigned  by  the  Pres 
ident.  Mr.  Stanton  refused  to  surrender 
his  post,  and  ordered  General  Thomas  to 
proceed  to  the  apartment  which  belonged 
to  him  as  Adjutant-General.  This  order 
was  not  obeyed,  and  so  the  two  claimants 
to  the  Secretaryship  of  War  held  their 
ground.  A  sort  of  legal  by-play  then  en 
sued.  Mr.  Stanton  entered  a  formal  com 
plaint  before  Judge  Carter,  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  charging  that  General  Thomas 
had  illegally  exercised  and  attempted  to 
exercise  the  duties  of  Secretary  of  War  ; 
and  had  threatened  to  "  forcibly  remove  the 
complainant  from  the  buildings  and  apart 
ments  of  the  Secretary  of  War  in  the  War 
Department,  and  forcibly  take  possession 
and  control  thereof  under  his  pretended 
appointment  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States  as  Secretary  of  War  ad  in 
terim  ;  "  and  praying  that  he  might  be  ar 
rested  and  held  to  answer  this  charge. 
General  Thomas  was  accordingly  arrested, 
and  held  to  bail  in  the  sum  of  $15,000  to 
appear  before  the  court  on  the  24th.  Ap 
pearing  on  that  day  he  was  discharged 
from  custody  and  bail ;  whereupon  he  en 
tered  an  action  against  Mr.  Stanton  for 
false  imprisonment,  laying  his  damages  at 
$150,000. 

On  the  22d  of  February  the  Hou^e 
Committee  on  Reconstruction,  through  its 
Chairman,  Mr.  Stevens,  presented  a  brief 
report,  merely  stating  the  fact  of  the  at 
tempted  removal  by  the  President  of  Mr. 
Stanton,  and  closing  as  follows : 

"  Upon  the  evidence  collected  by  the 
Committee,  which  is  hereafter  presented, 
and  in  virtue  of  the  powers  with  which 
they  have  been  invested  by  the  House, 
they  are  of  the  opinion  that  Andrew  John 
son,  President  of  the  LTnited  States,  should 


IMPEACHMENT    TRIAL    OF    JOHNSON. 


181 


be  impeached  of  high  crimes  and  misde 
meanors.  They,  therefore,  recommend  to 
the  House  the  adoption  of  the  following 
resolution : 

"  Resolved,  That  Andrew  Johnson,  Pres 
ident  of  the  United  States  be  impeached  of 
high  crimes  and  misdemeanors." 

After  earnest  debate,  the  question  on  the 
resolution  was  adopted,  on  the  24th,  by  a 
vote  of  126  to  47.  A  committee  of  two 
members — Stevens  and  Bingham — were  to 
notify  the  Senate  of  the  action  of  the 
House ;  and  another  committee  of  seven — 
Boutwell,  Stevens,  Bingham,  Wilson,  Lo 
gan,  Julian,  and  Ward — to  prepare  the 
articles  of  impeachment.  On  the  25th 
(February)  Mr.  Stevens  thus  announced 
to  the  Senate  the  action  which  had  been 
taken  by  the  House : 

"  In  obedience  to  the  order  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  we  have  appeared  be 
fore  you,  and,  in  the  name  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  and  of  all  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  we  do  impeach  Andrew 
Johnson,  President  of  the  United  States, 
of  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors  in  office. 
And  we  further  inform  the  Senate  that  the 
House  of  Representatives  will  in  due  time 
exhibit  particular  articles  of  impeachment 
against  him,  to  make  good  the  same;  and 
in  their  name  we  demand  that  the  Senate 
take  due  order  for  the  appearance  of  the 
said  Andrew  Johnson  to  answer  to  the 
said  impeachment." 

The  Senate  thereupon,  by  a  unanimous 
vote,  resolved  that  this  message  from  the 
House  should  be  referred  to  a  select  Com 
mittee  of  Seven,  to  be  appointed  by  the 
chair,  to  consider  the  same  and  report 
thereon.  The  Committee  subsequently 
made  a  report  laying  down  the  rules  of 
procedure  to  be  observed  on  the  trial. 

On  the  29th  of  February  the  Committee 
of  the  House  appointed  for  that  purpose 
presented  the  articles  of  impeachment 
which  they  had  drawn  up.  These,  with 
slight  modification,  were  accepted  on  the 
2d  of  March.  They  comprise  nine  articles, 
eight  of  which  are  based  upon  the  action 
of  the  President  in  ordering  the  removal 
of  Mr.  Stanton,  and  the  appointment  of 
General  Thomas  as  Secretary  of  War.  The 
general  title  to  the  impeachment  is : 

"Articles  exhibited  by  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States,  in 
the  name  of  themselves  and  all  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  against  Andrew 
Johnson,  President  of  the  United  States, 
as  maintenance  and  support  of  their  im 
peachment  against  him  for  high  crimes 
and  misdemeanors  in  office." 

Each  of  the  articles  commences  with  a 
preamble  to  the  effect  that  the  President, 
"unmindful  of  the  high^duties  of  his  office, 
of  his  oath  of  office,  and  of  the  require 
ments  of  the  Constitution  that  he  should 
take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  exe 


cuted,  did  unlawfully  and  in  violation  of  the 
laws  and  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
perform  the  several  acts  specified  in  the 
articles  respectively ; "  closing  with  the  de 
claration:  "Whereby  the  said  Andrew 
Johnson,  President  of  the  United  States, 
did  then  and  there  commit  and  was  guilty 
of  a  high  misdemeanor  in  office."  The 
phraseology  is  somewhat  varied.  In  some 
cases  the  offense  is  designated  as  a  "mis 
demeanor,"  in  others  as  a  "  crime."  The 
whole  closes  thus : 

"  And  the  House  of  Representatives,  by 
protestation,  saving  to  themselves  the  lib 
erty  of  exhibiting  at  any  time  hereafter 
any  further  articles  or  other  accusation  or 
impeachment  against  the  said  Andrew 
Johnson,  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  also  of  replying  to  his  answers  which 
he  shall  make  to  the  articles  herein  pre 
ferred  against  him,  and  of  offering  proof 
to  the  same  and  every  part  thereof,  and  to 
all  and  every  other  article,  accusation,  or 
impeachment  which  shall  be  exhibited  by 
them  as  the  case  shall  require,  do  demand 
that  the  said  Andrew  Johnson  may  be  put 
to  answer  the  high  crimes  and  misdemean 
ors  in  office  herein  charged  against  him, 
and  that  such  proceedings,  examinations, 
brials,  and  judgments  may  be  thereupon 
had  and  given  as  may  be  agreeable  to  law 
and  justice." 

The  following  is  a  summary  in  brief  of 
the  points  in  the  articles  of  impeachment, 
iegal  and  technical  phraseology  being  omit 
ted: 

Article  1.  Unlawfully  ordering  the  re 
moval  of  Mr.  Stanton  as  Secretary  of  War, 
in  violation  of  the  provisions  of  the  Tenure 
of-Office  Act. — Article  2.  Unlawfully  ap 
pointing  General  Lorenzo  Thomas  as  Sec 
retary  of  War  ad  interim. — Article  3  is  sub 
stantially  the  same  as  Article  2,  with  the 
addition  that  there  was  at  the  time  of  the 
appointment  of  General  Thomas  no  va 
cancy  in  the  office  of  Secretary  of  War. — 
Article  4  charges  the  President  with  "  con 
spiring  with  one  Lorenzo  Thomas  and  other 
persons,  to  the  House  of  Representatives 
inknown,"  to  prevent,  by  intimidation  and 
ihreats,  Mr.  Stanton,  the  legally-appointed 
Secretary  of  War,  from  holding  that  office. 
— Article  5  charges  the  President  with  con 
piring  with  General  Thomas  and  others 
)  hinder  the  execution  of  the  Tenure-of- 
Office  Act ;  and,  in  pursuance  of  this  con 
spiracy,  attempting  to  prevent  Mr.  Stanton 
"rom  acting  as  Secretary  of  War. — Article  6 
charges  that  the  President  conspired  with 
general  Thomas  and  others  to  take  forcible 
possession  of  the  War  Department. — Arti 
cle  7  repeats  the  charge,  in  other  terms, 
.hat  the  President  conspired  with  General 
Thomas  and  others  to  hinder  the  execution 
of  the  Tenure-of-Office  Act,  and  to  pre- 
ent  Mr.  Stanton  from  executing  the  office 
of  Secretary  of  War.— Article  8  again 


182 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


charges  the  President  with  conspiring  with 
General  Thomas  and  others  to  take  posses 
sion  of  the  property  in  the  War  Depart 
ment. — Article  9  charges  that  the  President 
called  before  him  General  Emory,  who  was 
in  command  of  the  forces  in  the  Depart 
ment  of  Washington,  and  declared  to  him 
that  a  law,  passed  on  the  30th  of  June, 
1867,  directing  that  "  all  orders  and  in 
structions  relating  to  military  operations, 
issued  by  the  President  or  Secretary  of 
War,  shall  be  issued  through  the  General 
of  the  Army,  and,  in  case  of  his  inability, 
through  the  next  in  rank,"  was  unconsti 
tutional,  and  not  binding  upon  General 
Emory ;  the  intent  being  to  induce  General 
Emory  to  violate  the  law,  and  to  obey  or 
ders  issued  directly  from  the  President. 

The  foregoing  articles  of  impeachment 
were  adopted  on  the  2d  of  March,  the 
votes  upon  each  slightly  varying,  the  aver 
age  being  125  ayes  to  40  nays.  The  ques 
tion  then  came  up  of  appointment  of  man 
agers  on  the  part  of  the  House  to  conduct 
the  impeachment  before  the  Senate.  Upon 
this  question  the  Democratic  members  did 
not  vote ;  118  votes  were  cast,  60  being 
necessary  to  a  choice.  The  following  was 
the  result,  the  number  of  votes  cast  for 
each  elected  manager  being  given :  Stevens 
of  Penn.,  105 ;  Butler,  of  Mass.,  108 ;  Bing- 
ham,  of  Ohio,  114;  Boutwell,  of  Mass., 
113 ;  Wilson,  of  Iowa,  112 ;  Williams,  of 
Petm.,  107  ;  Logan,  of  111.,  106.  The  fore 
going  seven  Representatives  were,  there 
fore,  duly  chosen  as  Managers  of  the  Bill 
of  Impeachment.  The  great  body  of  the 
Democratic  members  of  the  House  entered 
a  formal  protest  against  the  whole  course 
of  proceedings  involved  in  the  impeach 
ment  of  the  President.  They  claimed  to 
represent  "directly  or  in  principle  more 
than  one-half  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States."  This  protest  was  signed  by  forty- 
five  Eepreseutatives. 

On  the  3d  the  Board  of  Managers  pre 
sented  two  additional  articles  of  impeach 
ment,  which  were  adopted  by  the  House. 
The  first  charges,  in  substance,  that 

"  The  President,  unmindful  of  the  high 
duties  of  his  office  and  of  the  harmony 
and  courtesies  which  ought  to  be  main 
tained  between  the  executive  and  legisla 
tive  branches  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  designing  to  set  aside  the 
rightful  authority  and  powers  of  Congress, 
did  attempt  to  bring  into  disgrace  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States  and  the  several 
branches  thereof,  to  impair  and  destroy  the 
regard  and  respect  of  all  the  good  people 
of  the  United  States  for  the  Congress  and 
legislative  power  thereof,  and  to  excite  the 
odium  and  resentment  of  all  the  good 
people  of  the  United  States  against  Con 
gress  and  the  laws  by  it  enacted ;  and  in 
pursuance  of  his  said  design  openly  and 
publicly,  and  before  divers  assemblages 


convened  in  divers  parts  thereof  to  meet 
and  receive  said  Andrew  Johnson  as  the 
Chief  Magistrate  of  the  United  States,  did 
on  the  18th  day  of  August,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  1866,  and  on  divers  other  days 
and  times,  as  well  before  as  afterward, 
make  and  deliver  with  a  loud  voice  certain 
intemperate,  inflammatory,  and  scandalous 
harangues,  and  did  therein  utter  loud 
threats  and  bitter  menaces  as  well  against 
Congress  as  the  laws  of  the  United  States 
duly  enacted  thereby." 

To  this  article  are  appended  copious  ex 
tracts  from  speeches  of  Mr.  Johnson.  The 
second  article  is  substantially  as  follows : 

"  The  President  did,  on  the  18th  day  of 
August,  1866,  at  the  City  of  Washington, 
by  public  speech,  declare  and  affirm  in 
substance  that  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress 
of  the  United  States  was  not  a  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  authorized  by  the 
Constitution  to  exercise  legislative  power 
under  the  same,  but,  on  the  contrary,  was 
a  Congress  of  only  a  part  of  the  States, 
thereby  denying  and  intending  to  deny 
that  the  legislation  of  said  Congress  was 
valid  or  obligatory  upon  him,  except  in  so 
far  as  he  saw  fit  to  approve  the  same,  and 
did  devise  and  contrive  means  by  which  he 
might  prevent  Edwin  M.  Stanton  from 
forthwith  resuming  the  functions  of  the 
office  of  Secretary  for  the  Department  of 
War;  and,  also,  by  farther  unlawfully  de 
vising  and  contriving  means  to  prevent  the 
execution  of  an  act  entitled  '  An  act  mak 
ing  appropriations  for  the  support  of  the 
army  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30, 
1868,  and  for  other  purposes/  approved 
March  2,  1867;  and  also  to  prevent  the 
execution  of  an  act  entitled  'An  act  to 
provide  for  the  more  efficient  government 
of  the  rebel  States,'  passed  March  2,  1867, 
did  commit  and  was  guilty  of  a  high  mis 
demeanor  in  office." 

On  the  4th  of  March  the  Senate  notified 
the  House  that  they  were  ready -to  receive 
the  Managers  of  the  Impeachment.  They 
appeared,  and  the  articles  were  formallv 
read.  The  Senate  had  meanwhile  adopted 
the  rules  of  procedure.  Chief  Justice  Chase 
sent  a  communication  to  the  Senate  to  the 
effect  that  this  body,  when  acting  upon  an 
impeachment,  was  a  Court  presided  over  by 
the  Chief  Justice,  and  that  all  orders  and 
rules  should  be  framed  by  the  Court.  On 
the  5th  the  Court  was  formally  organized. 
An  exception  was  taken  to  the  eligibility 
of  Mr.  Wade  as  a  member  of  the  Court,  on 
the  ground  that  he  was  a  party  interested, 
since,  in  the  event  of  the  impeachment  be 
ing  sustained,  he,  as  President  of  the  Senate, 
would  become  Acting  President  of  the 
United  States.  This  objection  was  with 
drawn,  and  Mr.  Wade  was  sworn  as  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Court.  On  the  7th  the  summons 
for  the  President  to  appear  was  formally 
served  upon  him.  On  the  13th  the  Court 


IMPEACHMENT    TRIAL    OF    JOHNSON. 


183 


was  again  formally  reopened.  The  Presi 
dent  appeared  by  his  counsel,  Hon.  Henry 
Stanbery,  of  Ohio ;  Hon.  Wm.  M.  Evarts, 
of  New  York ;  Hon.  Wm.  S.  Groesbeck,  of 
Ohio ;  Hon.  Benjamin  R.  Curtis,  of  Massa 
chusetts  ;  Hon.  Thomas  A.  R.  Nelson,  of 
Tennessee,  who  asked  for  forty  days  to  pre 
pare  an  answer  to  the  indictment.  This 
was  refused,  and  ten  days  granted ;  it  be 
ing  ordered  that  the  proceedings  should 
reopen  on  the  23d.  Upon  that  day  the 
President  appeared  by  his  counsel,  and 
presented  his  answer  to  the  articles  of  im 
peachment.  This  reply  was  in  substance 
as  follows : 

The  first  eight  articles  in  the  Bill  of  Im 
peachment,  as  briefly  summed  up  in  our 
last  record,  are  based  upon  the  action  of 
the  President  in  ordering  the  removal  of 
Mr.  Stanton,  and  the  temporary  appoint 
ment  of  General  Thomas  as  Secretary  of 
War.  The  gist  of  them  is  contained  in  the 
first  article,  charging  the  unlawful  removal 
of  Mr.  Stanton ;  for,  this  failing,  the  others 
would  fail  also.  To  this  article  a  con 
siderable  part  of  the  President's  answer 
is  devoted.  It  is  mainly  an  amplifica 
tion  of  the  points  put  forth  in  the  Mes 
sage  of  February  24th,  in  which  he  gave 
his  reasons  for  his  orders.  The  President 
cites  the  laws  by  which  this  department  of 
the  administration  was  created,  and  the 
rules  laid  down  for  the  duties  pertaining  to 
it ;  prominent  among  which  are :  that  the 
Secretary  shall  "conduct  the  business  of 
the  department  in  such  manner  as  the 
President  of  the  United  States  shall  from 
time  to  time  order  and  instruct;  "  and  that 
he  should  "  hold  the  office  during  the  plea 
sure  of  the  President ;  "  and  that  Congress 
had  no  legal  right  to  deprive  the  President 
of  the  power  to  remove  the  Secretary.  He 
was,  however,  aware  that  the  design  of  the 
Tenure-of-Office  Bill  was  to  vest  this  power 
of  removal,  in  certain  cases,  jointly  in  the 
Executive  and  the  Senate ;  and  that,  while 
believing  this  act  to  be  unconstitutional, 
yet  it  having  been  passed  over  his  veto  by 
the  requisite  majority  of  two-thirds,  he  con 
sidered  it  to  be  his  duty  to  ascertain  in  how 
far  the  case  of  Mr.  Stanton  came  within  the 
provisions  of  this  law;  after  consideration, 
he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  case  did 
not  come  within  the  prohibitions  of  the 
law,  and  that,  by  that  law  he  still  had  the 
right  of  removing  Mr.  Stanton ;  but  that, 
wishing  to  have  the  case  decided  by  the  Su 
preme  Court,  he,  on  the  12th  of  August, 
issued  the  order  merely  suspending,  not 
removing,  Mr.  Stanton,  a  power  expresly 
granted  by  the  Tenure-of-Office  Act,  and 
appointed  General  Grant  Secretary  of  War 
ad  interim.  The  President  then  recites 
the  subsequent  action  in  the  case  of  Mr. 
Stanton ;  and,  as  he  avers,  still  believing 
that  he  had  the  constitutional  power  to  re 
move  him  from  office,  issued  the  order  of 


February  21st,  for  such  removal,  designing 
to  thus  bring  the  matter  before  the  Su 
preme  Court.  He  then  proceeds  formally 
to  deny  that  at  this  time  Mr.  Stanton  was 
in  lawful  possession  of  the  office  of  Secre 
tary  of  War ;  and  that,  consequently,  the 
order  for  his  removal  was  in  violation  of  the 
Tenure-of-Office  Act;  and  that  it  was  in 
violation  of  the  Constitution  or  of  any  law ; 
or  that  it  constituted  any  official  crime  or 
misdemeanor. 

In  regard  to  the  seven  succeeding  arti 
cles  of  impeachment  the  President,  while 
admitting  the  facts  of  the  order  appointing 
General  Thomas  as  Secretary  of  War  ad 
interim,  denies  all  and  every  of  the  crimi 
nal  charges  therein  set  forth.  So  of  the 
ninth  article,  charging  an  effort  to  induce 
General  Emory  to  violate  the  law,  the 
President  denies  all  such  intent,  and  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that  while,  for  urgent 
reasons,  he  signed  the  bill  prescribing  that 
orders  to  the  army  should  be  issued  only 
through  the  General,  he  at  the  same  time 
declared  it  to  be,  in  his  judgment,  unconsti 
tutional  ;  and  affirms  that  in  his  interview 
with  General  Emory  he  said  no  more  than 
he  had  before  officially  said  to  Congress — 
that  is,  that  the  law  was  unconstitutional. 

As  to  the  tenth  article,  the  first  of  the 
supplementary  ones,  the  President,  while 
admitting  that  he  made  certain  public 
speeches  at  the  times  and  places  specified, 
does  not  admit  that  the  passages  cited  are 
fair  reports  of  his  remarks  ;  denies  that  he 
has  ever  been  unmindful  of  the  courtesies 
which  ought  to  be  maintained  between 
the  executive  and  legislative  departments ; 
but  he  claims  the  perfect  right  at  all  times 
to  express  his  views  as  to  all  public  matters. 

The  reply  to  the  eleventh  article,  the 
second  supplementary  one,  is  to  the  same 
general  purport,  denying  that  he  ever  af 
firmed  that  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress  was 
not  a  valid  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
and  its  acts  obligatory  only  as  they  were 
approved  by  him ;  and  denying  that  he 
had,  as  charged  in  the  article,  contrived 
unlawful  means  for  preventing  Mr.  Stanton 
from  resuming  the  functions  of  Secretary 
of  War,  or  for  preventing  the  execution  of 
the  act  making  appropriations  for  the  sup 
port  of  the  army,  or  that  to  pro  vide  for  the 
more  efficient  government  of  the  rebel 
States.  In  his  answer  to  this  article  the 
President  refers  to  his  reply  to  the  first  ar 
ticle,  in  which  he  sets  forth  at  length  all 
the  steps,  and  the  reasons  therefor,  relating 
to  the  removal  of  Mr.  Stanton.  In  briefj 
the  answer  of  the  President  to  the  articles 
of  impeachment  is  a  general  denial  of  each 
and  every  criminal  act  charged  in  the  ar 
ticles  of  impeachment. 

The  counsel  for  the  President  then  asked 
for  a  delay  of  thirty  days  after  the  replication 
of  the  managers  of  the  impeachment  should 
have  been  rendered,  before  the  trial  should 


134 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


formally  proceed.  This  was  refused,  and 
the  managers  of  the  impeachment  stated 
that  their  replication  would  be  presented 
the  next  day  :  it  was  that, 

"  The  Senate  will  commence  the  trial  of 
the  President  upon  the  articles  of  impeach 
ment  exhibited  against  him  on  Monday, 
the  30th  day  of  March,  and  proceed  there 
in  with  all  dispatch  under  the  rules  of  the 
Senate,  sitting  upon  the  trial  of  an  im 
peachment." 

The  replication  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives  was  a  simple  denial  of  each  and 
every  averment  in  the  answer  of  the  Pres 
ident,  closing  thus : 

"  The  House  of  Representatives  ....  do 
say  that  the  said  Andrew  Johnson,  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  is  guilty  of  the 
high  crimes  and  misdemeanors  mentioned 
in  the  said  articles,  and  that  the  said  House 
of  Representatives  are  ready  to  prove  the 
same." 

The  trial  began,  as  appointed,  on  March 
30.  There  being  twenty-seven  States  rep 
resented,  there  were  fifty-four  Senators, 
who  constituted  the  Court,  presided  over 
by  Chief  Justice  Salmon  P.  Chase,  of 
Ohio.  SENATORS  :  California,  Cole,  Con- 
ness  ;  Connecticut,  Dixon,  Ferry ;  Delaware, 
Bayard,  Saulsbury ;  Indiana,  Hendricks, 
Morton  ;  Illinois,  Trumbull,  Yates ;  Iowa, 
Grimes,  Harlan  ;  Kansas,  Pomeroy,  Ross ; 
Kentucky,  Davis,  McCreery ;  Maine,  Fes- 
senden,  Morrill  (LotM.) ;  Maryland,  John 
son,  Vickers ;  Massachusetts,  Sumner,  Wil 
son  ;  Michigan,  Chandler,  Howard  ;  Minne 
sota,  Norton,  Ramsay ;  Missouri,  Drake, 
Henderson;  Nebraska,  Thayer,  Tipton; 
Nevada,  Nye,  Stewart;  New  Hampshire, 
Cragin,  Patterson  (J.  W.)  ;  New  Jersey, 
Cattell,  Frelinghuysen ;  New  York,  Conk- 
lin,  Morgan ;  Ohio,  Sherman,  Wade ;  Ore 
gon,  Corbett,  Williams ;  Pennsylvania, 
Buckalew,  Cameron;  Rhode  Island,  An 
thony,  Sprague  ;  Tennessee,  Fowler,  Patter 
son  (David);  Vermont,  Edmunds,  Merrill, 
( J.  S.) ;  West  Virginia,  Van  Winkle,  Wil- 
ley;  Wisconsin,  Doolittle,  Howe. 

Managers  for  the  Prosecution:  Messrs. 
Bingham,  Boutwell,  Butler,  Logan,  Ste 
vens,  Williams,  Wilson. 

Counsel  for  the  President.  Messrs.  Cur 
tis,  Evarts,  Groesbeck,  Nelson,  Stanbery. 

The  following  was  the  order  of  proce 
dure  :  The  Senate  convened  at  11  or  12 
o'clock,  and  was  called  to  order  by  the 
president  of  that  body,  who,  after  prayer, 
would  leave  the  chair,  which  was  immedi 
ately  assumed  by  the  Chief  Justice,  who 
wore  his  official  robes.  The  prosecution 
was  mainly  conducted  by  Mr.  Butler,  who 
examined  the  witnesses,  and,  in  conjunc 
tion  with  the  others,  argued  the  points  of 
law  which  came  up.  The  defense,  during 
the  early  part  of  the  trial,  was  mainly  con 
ducted  by  Mr.  Stanbery,  who  had  resigned 
the  office  of  Attorney-General  for  this  pur 


pose,  but,  being  taken  suddenly  ill,  Mr. 
Evarts  took  his  place.  According  to  the 
rule  at  first  adopted,  the  trial  was  to  be 
opened  by  one  counsel  on  each  side,  and 
summed  up  by  two  on  each  side ;  but  this 
rule  was  subsequently  modified  so  as  to  al 
low  as  many  of  the  managers  and  counsel 
as  chose  to  sum  up,  either  orally  or  by 
filing  written  arguments. 

THE  PROSECUTION. 

The  whole  of  the  first  day  (March  30) 
was  occupied  by  the  opening  speech  of  Mr. 
Butler.  After  touching  upon  the  import 
ance  of  the  case,  and  the  wisdom  of  the 
framers  of  the  Constitution  in  providing  for 
its  possible  occurrence,  he  laid  down  the  fol 
lowing  proposition,  supporting  it  by  a  copi 
ous  array  of  authorities  and  precedents : 

"  We  define,  therefore,  an  impeachable 
high  crime  or  misdemeanor  to  be  one,  in 
its  nature  or  consequences,  subversive  of 
some  fundamental  or  essential  principle  of 
government,  or  highly  prejudicial  to  the 
public  interest,  and  this  may  consist  of  a 
violation  of  the  Constitution,  of  law,  of  an 
official  oath,  or  of  duty,  by  an  act  com 
mitted  or  omitted,  or,  without  violating  a 
positive  law,  by  the  abuse  of  discretionary 
powers  from  improper  motives,  or  for  any 
improper  purpose." 

He  then  proceeded  to  discuss  the  nature 
and  functions  of  the  tribunal  before  which 
the  trial  is  held.  He  asked :  "  Is  this  pro 
ceeding  a  trial,  as  that  term  is  understood, 
so  far  as  relates  to  the  rights  and  duties  of 
a  court  and  jury  upon  an  indictment  for 
crime  ?  Is  it  not  rather  more  in  the  nature 
of  an  inquest?"  The  Constitution,  he 
urged,  "  seems  to  have  determined  it  to  be 
the  latter,  because,  under  its  provisions, 
the  right  to  retain  and  hold  office  is  the 
only  subject  to  be  finally  adjudicated;  all 
preliminary  inquiry  being  carried  on  solely 
to  determine  that  question,  and  that  alone." 
He  then  proceeded  to  argue  that  this  body 
now  sitting  to  determine  the  accusation,  is 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  not  a 
court.  This  question  is  of  consequence, 
he  argued,  because,  in  the  latter  case,  it 
would  be  bound  by  the  rules  and  prece 
dents  of  common  law-statutes ;  the  mem 
bers  of  the  court  would  be  liable  to  chal 
lenge  on  many  grounds ;  and  the  accused 
might  claim  that  he  could  only  be  convicted 
when  the  evidence  makes  the  fact  clear  be 
yond  reasonable  doubt,  instead  of  by  a  pre 
ponderance  of  the  evidence.  The  fact  that 
in  this  case  the  Chief  Justice  presides,  it 
was  argued,  does  not  constitute  the  Senate 
thus  acting  a  court,  for  in  all  cases  of  im 
peachment,  save  that  of  the  President,  its 
regular  presiding  officer  presides.  Moreo 
ver,  the  procedures  have  no  analogy  to 
those  of  an  ordinary  court  of  justice.  The 
accused  merely  receives  a  notice  of  the 
case  pending  against  him.  He  is  not  re- 


IMPEACHMENT    TRIAL    OF    JOHNSON. 


185 


quired  to  appear  personally,  and  the  case 
will  go  on  without  his  presence.  Mr. 
Butler  thus  summed  up  his  position  in  this 
regard : 

"A  constitutional  tribunal  solely,  you 
are  bound  by  no  law,  either  statute  or  com 
mon,  which  may  limit  your  constitutional 
prerogative.  You  consult  no  precedents 
save  those  of  the  law  and  custom  of  par 
liamentary  bodies.  You  are  a  law  unto 
yourselves,  bound  only  by  the  natural 
principles  of  equity  and  justice,  and  that 
solus  populi  suprema  est  lex." 

Mr.  Butler  then  proceeded  to  consider 
the  articles  of  impeachment.  The  first 
eight,  he  says,  "  set  out,  in  several  distinct 
forms,  the  acts  of  the  President  in  remov 
ing  Mr.  Stanton  and  appointing  General 
Thomas,  differing,  in  legal  effect,  in  the 
purposes  for  which,  and  the  intent  with 
which,  either  or  both  of  the  acts  were 
done,  and  the  legal  duties  and  rights  in 
fringed,  and  the  Acts  of  Congress  violated 
in  so  doing."  In  respect  to  all  of  these 
articles,  Mr.  Butler  says,  referring  to  his 
former  definition  of  what  constituted  an 
impeachable  high  crime : 

"  All  the  articles  allege  these  acts  to  be 
in  contravention  of  his  oath  of  office,  and 
in  disregard  of  the  duties  thereof.  If  they 
are  so,  however,  the  President  might  have 
the  power  to  do  them  under  the  law.  Still, 
being  so  done,  they  are  acts  of  official  mis 
conduct,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  impeacha 
ble.  The  President  has  the  legal  power  to 
do  many  acts  which,  if  done  in  disregard 
of  his  duty,  or  for  improper  purposes,  then 
the  exercise  of  that  power  is  an  official 
misdemeanor.  For  example,  he  has  the 
power  of  pardon ;  if  exercised,  in  a  given 
case,  for  a  corrupt  motive,  as  for  the  pay 
ment  of  money,  or  wantonly  pardoning  all 
criminals,  it  would  be  a  misdemeanor." 

Mr.  Butler  affirmed  that  every  fact 
charged  in  the  first  article,  and  substan 
tially  in  the  seven  following,  is  admitted 
in  the  reply  of  the  President;  and  also 
that  the  general  intent  to  set  aside  the 
Tenure-of-Office  Act  is  therein  admitted 
and  justified.  He  then  proceeded  to  dis 
cuss  the  whole  question  of  the  power  of 
the  President  for  removals  from  office,  and 
especially  his  claim  that  this  power  was 
imposed  upon  the  President  by  the  Consti 
tution,  and  that  it  could  not  be  taken  from 
him,  or  be  vested  jointly  in  him  and  the 
Senate,  partly  or  in  whole.  This,  Mr. 
Butler  affirmed,  was  the  real  question  at 
issue  before  the  Senate  and  the  American 
people.  He  said  : 

"  Has  the  President,  under  the  Constitu 
tion,  the  more  than  royal  prerogative  at 
will  to  remove  from  office,  or  to  suspend 
from  office,  all  executive  officers  of  the 
United  States,  either  civil,  military  or 
naval,  and  to  fill  the  vacancies,  without 
any  restraint  whatever,  or  possibility  of  re 


straint,  by  the  Senate  or  by  Congress, 
through  laws  duly  enacted  ?  The  House 
of  Representatives,  in  behalf  of  the  people, 
join  issue  by  affirming  that  the  exercise  of 
such  powers  is  a  high  misdemeanor  in 
office.  If  the  affirmative  is  maintained  by 
the  respondent,  then,  so  far  as  the  first 
eight  articles  are  concerned — unless  such 
corrupt  purposes  are  shown  as  will  of 
themselves  make  the  exercise  of  a  legal 
power  a  crime — the  respondent  must  go, 
and  ought  to  go,  quit  and  free. 

This  point  as  to  the  legal  right  of  the 
President  to  make  removals  from  office, 
which  constitutes  the  real  burden  of  the 
articles  of  impeachment,  was  argued  at 
length.  Mr.  Butler  assumed  that  the  Sen 
ate,  by  whom,  in  conjunction  with  the 
House,  the  Tenure-of-Office  Act  had  been 
passed  over  the  veto  of  the  President, 
would  maintain  the  law  to  be  constitu 
tional.  The  turning  point  was  whether 
the  special  case  of  the  removal  of  Mr. 
Stanton  came  within  the  provisions  of  this 
law.  This  rested  upon  the  proviso  of  that 
law,  that — 

"  The  Secretaries  shall  hold  their  office 
during  the  term  of  the  President  by  whom 
they  may  have  been  appointed,  and  for 
one  month  thereafter,  subject  to  removal 
by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate." 

The  extended  argument  upon  this  point, 
made  by  Mr.  Butler,  was  to  the  effect  that 
Mr.  Stanton  having  been  appointed  by  Mr. 
Lincoln^  whose  term  of  office  reached  to 
the  4th  of  March,  1869,  that  of  Mr.  Stanton 
existed  until  a  month  later,  unless  he  was 
previously  removed  by  the  concurrent  ac 
tion  of  the  President  and  Senate.  The 
point  of  the  argument  is,  that  Mr.  Johnson 
is  merely  serving  out  the  balance  of  the 
term  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  cut  short  by  his  as 
sassination,  so  that  the  Cabinet  officers  ap 
pointed  by  Mr.  Lincoln  held  their  places, 
by  this  very  proviso,  during  that  term  and 
for  a  month  thereafter ;  for,  he  argued,  if 
Mr.  Johnson  was  not  merely  serving  out 
the  balance  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  term,  then  he 
is  entitled  to  the  office  of  President  for  four 
full  years,  that  being  the  period  for  which 
a  President  is  elected.  If,  continues  the 
argument,  Mr.  Stanton's  commission  was 
vacated  by  the  Tenure-of-Office  Act,  it 
ceased  on  the  4th  of  April,  1865 ;  or,  if  the 
act  had  no  retroactive  effect,  still,  if  Mr. 
Stanton  held  his  office  merely  under  his 
commission  from  Mr.  Lincoln,  then  his 
functions  would  have  ceased  upon  the 
passage  of  the  bill,  March  2,  1867 ;  and, 
consequently,  Mr.  Johnson,  in  "  employ 
ing  "  him  after  that  date  as  Secretary  of 
War,  was  guilty  of  a  high  misdemeanor, 
which  would  give  ground  for  a  new  arti 
cle  of  impeachment. 

After  justifying  the  course  of  Mr.  Stan- 
ton  in  holding  on  to  the  secretaryship  in 


186 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


opposition  to  the  wish  of  the  President, 
on  the  ground  that  "to  desert  it  now 
would  be  to  imitate  the  treachery  of  his 
accidental  chief/'  Mr.  Butler  proceeded  to 
discuss  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  Presi 
dent  in  his  answer  to  the  articles  of  im 
peachment  for  the  attempt  to  remove  Mr. 
Stanton.  These,  in  substance,  were,  that 
the  President  believed  the  Tenure-of-Of- 
fice  Act  was  unconstitutional,  and,  there 
fore,  void  and  of  no  effect,  and  that  he 
had  the  right  to  remove  him  and  appoint 
another  person  in  his  place.  Mr.  Butler 
urged  that,  in  all  of  these  proceedings,  the 
President  professed  to  act  upon  the  as 
sumption  that  the  act  was  valid,  and  that 
his  action  was  in  accordance  with  its  pro 
visions.  He  then  went  on  to  charge  that 
the  appointment  of  General  Thomas  as 
Secretary  of  War  ad  interim,  was  a  sepa 
rate  violation  of  law.  By  the  act  of  Feb 
ruary  20,  1863,  which  repealed  all  previous 
laws  inconsistent  with  it,  the  President 
was  authorized,  in  case  of  the  "  death, 
resignation,  absence  from  the  seat  of  Gov 
ernment,  or  sickness  of  the  head  of  an 
executive  department,"  or  in  any  other 
case  where  these  officers  could  not  perform 
.their  respective  duties,  to  appoint  the  head 
of  any  other  executive  department  to  ful 
fil  the  duties  of  the  office  "  until  a  succes 
sor  be  appointed,  or  until  such  absence  or 
disability  shall  cease."  Now,  urged  Mr. 
Butler,  at  the  time  of  the  appointment  of 
General  Thomas  as  Sectary  of  War  ad 
interim,  Mr.  Stanton  "had  neither  died 
nor  resigned,  was  not  sick  nor  absent," 
and,  consequently,  General  Thomas,  not 
being  the  head  of  a  department,  but  only 
of  a  bureau  of  one  of  them,  was  not  eligi 
ble  to  this  appointment,  and  that,  there 
fore,  his  appointment  was  illegal  and  void. 

The  ninth  article  of  impeachment, 
wherein  the  President  is  charged  with  en 
deavoring  to  induce  General  Emory  to 
take  orders  directly  from  himself,  is  dealt 
with  in  a  rather  slight  manner.  Mr.  But 
ler  says,  "  If  the  transaction  set  forth  in 
this  article  stood  alone,  we  might  well  ad 
mit  that  doubts  might  arise  as  to  the  suffi 
ciency  of  the  proof;"  but,  he  adds,  "  the 
surroundings  are  so  pointed  and  signifi 
cant  as  to  leave  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of 
an  impartial  man  as  to  the  intents  and 
purposes  of  the  President " — these  intents 
being,  according  to  Mr.  Butler,  "  to  induce 
General  Emory  to  take  orders  directly 
from  himself,  and  thus  to  hinder  the  exe 
cution  of  the  Civil  Tenure  Act,  and  to 
prevent  Mr:  Stanton  from  holding  his 
office  of  Secretary  of  War." 

As  to  the  tenth  article  of  impeachment, 
based  upon  various  speeches  of  the  Presi 
dent,  Mr.  Butler  undertook  to  show  that 
the  reports  of  these  speeches,  as  given  in 
the  article,  were  substantially  correct; 
and  accepted  the  issue  made  thereupon  as 


to  whether  they  are  "  decent  and  becom 
ing  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  do  not  tend  to  bring  the  office  into 
ridicule  and  disgrace." 

After  having  commented  upon  the 
eleventh  and  closing  article,  which  charges 
the  President  with  having  denied  the  au 
thority  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  ex 
cept  so  far  as  its  acts  were  approved  by 
him,  Mr.  Butler  summed  up  the  purport 
of  the  articles  of  impeachment  in  these 
words : 

"  The  acts  set  out  in  the  first  eight  arti 
cles  are  but  the  culmination  of  a  series  of 
wrongs,  malfeasances,  and  usurpations 
committed  by  the  respondent,  and,  there 
fore,  need  to  be  examined  in  the  light  of 
his  precedent  and  concomitant  acts  to 
grasp  their  scope  and  design.  The  last 
three  articles  presented  show  the  perver 
sity  and  malignity  with  which  he  acted, 
so  that  the  man  as  he  is  known  may  be 
clearly  spread  upon  record,  to  be  seen  and 

known  of  all  men  hereafter 

We  have  presented  the  facts  in  the  con 
stitutional  manner ;  we  have  brought  the 
criminal  to  your  bar,  and  demand  judg 
ment  for  his  so  great  crimes." 

The  remainder  of  Monday,  and  a  por 
tion  of  the  following  day,  were  devoted  to 
the  presentation  of  documentary  evidence 
as  to  the  proceedings  involved  in  the  order 
for  the  removal  of  Mr.  Stanton  and  the 
appointment  of  General  Thomas.  The 
prosecution'then  introduced  witnesses  to 
testify  to  the  interviews  between  Mr. 
Stanton  and  General  Thomas.  They  then 
brought  forward  a  witness  to  show  that 
General  Thomas  had  avowed  his  deter 
mination  to  take  forcible  possession  of  the 
War  Office.  To  this  Mr.  Stanbery,  for  the 
defense,  objected.  The  Chief  Justice  de 
cided  the  testimony  to  be  admissible. 
Thereupon  Senator  Drake  took  exception 
to  the  ruling,  on  the  ground  that  this  ques 
tion  should  be  decided  by  the  Senate — not 
by  the  presiding  officer.  The  Chief  Jus 
tice  averred  that,  in  his  judgment,  it  was 
his  duty  to  decide,  in  the  first  instance, 
upon  any  question  of  evidence,  and  then, 
if  any  Senator  desired,  to  submit  the  deci 
sion  to  the  Senate.  Upon  this  objection 
and  appeal  arose  the  first  conflict  in  the 
Senate  as  to  the  powers  of  its  presiding 
officer.  Mr.  Butler  argued  at  length  in 
favor  of  the  exception.  Although,  in  this 
case,  the  decision  was  in  favor  of  the 
prosecution,  he  objected  to  the  power  of 
the  presiding  officer  to  make  it.  This 
point  was  argued  at  length  by  the  mana 
gers  for  the  impeachment,  who  denied  the 
right  of  the  Chief  Justice  to  make  such 
decision.  It  was  then  moved  that  the 
Senate  retire  for  private  consultation  on 
this  point.  There  was  a  tie  vote — 25  ayes 
and  25  nays. — The  Chief  Justice  gave  his 
casting  vote  in  favor  of  the  motion  for 


IMPEACHMENT    TRIAL    OF    JOHNSON. 


187 


consultation.  The  Senate,  by  a  vote  of  31 
to  19,  sustained  the  Chief  Justice,  deciding 
that  "  the  presiding  officer  may  rule  on  all 
questions  of  evidence  and  on  incidental 
questions,  which  decision  will  stand  as  the 
judgment  of  the  Senate  for  decision,  or  he 
may,  at  his  option  in  the  first  instance, 
submit  any  such  question  to  a  vote  of  the 
members  of  the  Senate."  In  the  further 
progress  of  the  trial  the  Chief  Justice,  in 
most  important  cases,  submitted  the  ques 
tion  directly  to  the  Senate,  without  him 
self  giving  any  decision.  Next  morning 
(April  1)  Mr.  Sumner  offered  a  resolution 
to  the  effect  that  the  Chief  Justice,  in  giv 
ing  a  casting  vote,  "acted  without  author 
ity  of  the  Constition  of  the  United  States." 
This  was  negatived  by  a  vote  of  27  to  21, 
thus  deciding  that  the  presiding  officer 
had  the  right  to  give  a  casting  vote. 
The  witness  (Mr.  Burleigh,  delegate  from 
Dakotah,)  who  had  been  called  to  prove 
declarations  of  General  Thomas,  was  then 
asked  whether,  at  an  interview  between 
them,  General  Thomas  had  said  anything 
as  "  to  the  means  by  which  he  intended  to 
obtain,  or  was  directed  by  the  President  to 
obtain,  posession  of  the  War  Department." 
To  this  question  Mr.  Stanbery  objected,  on 
the  ground  that  any  statements  made  by 
General  Thomas  could  not  be  used  as  evi 
dence  against  the  President.  Messrs.  But 
ler  and  Bingham  argued  that  the  testi 
mony  was  admissible,  on  the  ground  that 
there  was,  as  charged,  a  conspiracy  be 
tween  the  President  and  General  Thomas, 
and  that  the  acts  of  one  conspirator  were 
binding  upon  the  other ;  and,  also,  that  in 
these  acts  General  Thomas  was  the  agent 
of  the  President.  The  Senate,  by  39  to  11, 
decided  that  the  question  was  admissible. 
Mr.  Burleigh  thereupon  testified  sub 
stantially  that  General  Thomas  informed 
him  that  he  had  been  directed  by  the  Pres 
ident  to  take  possession  of  the  War  De 
partment  ;  that  he  was  bound  to  obey  his 
superior  officer ;  that,  if  Mr.  Stanton  ob 
jected,  he  should  use  force,  and  if  he  bolt 
ed  the  doors  they  would  be  broken  down. 
The  witness  was  then  asked  whether  he 
had  heard  General  Thomas  make  any 
statement  to  the  clerks  of  the  War  Office, 
to  the  effect  that,  when  he  came  into  con 
trol,  he  would  relax  or  rescind  the  rules  of 
Mr.  Stanton.  To  this  question  objection 
was  made  by  the  counsel  of  the  President 
on  the  ground  of  irrelevancy.  The  Chief 
Justice  was  of  opinion  that  the  question 
was  not  admissible,  but,  if  any  Senator  de 
manded,  he  would  submit  to  the  Senate 
whether  it  should  be  asked.  The  demand 
having  been  made,  the  Senate,  by  a  vote 
of  28  to  22,  allowed  the  question  to  be  put, 
whereupon  Mr.  Burleigh  testified  that 
General  Thomas,  in  his  presence,  called 
before  him  the  heads  of  the  divisions,  and 
told  them  that  the  rules  laid  down  by  Mr. 


Stanton  were  arbitrary,  and  that  he  should 
relax  them — that  he  should  not  hold  them 
strictly  -to  their  letters  of  instruction,  but 
should  consider  them  as  gentlemen  who 
would  do  their  duty — that  they  could  come 
in  or  go  out  when  they  chose.  Mr.  Bur 
leigh  further  testified  that,  subsequently, 
General  Thomas  had  said  to  him  that  the 
only  thing  which  prevented  him  from  tak 
ing  possession  of  the  War  Department  was 
his  arrest  by  the  United  States  marshal. 
Other  witnesses  were  called  to  prove  the 
declarations  of  General  •  Thomas.  Mr. 
Wilkeson  testified  that  General  Thomas 
said  to  him  that  he  should  demand  possess 
ion  of  the  War  Department,  and,  in  case 
Mr.  Stanton  should  refuse  to  give  it  up,  he 
should  call  upon  General  Grant  for  a  suf 
ficient  force  to  enable  him  to  do  so,  and  he 
did  not  see  how  this  could  be  refused. 
Mr.  Karsener,  of  Delaware,  testified  that 
he  saw  General  Thomas  at  the  President's 
house,  told  him  that  Delaware,  of  which 
State  General  Thomas  is  a  citizen,  expect 
ed  him  to  stand  firm  ;  to  which  General 
Thomas  replied  that  he  was  standing  firm, 
that  he  would  not  disappoint  his  friends, 
but,  that,  in  a  few  days,  he  would  "  kick 
that  fellow  out,"  meaning,  as  the  witness 
supposed,  Mr.  Stanton. 

Thursday,  April  2d. — Various  witnesses 
were  introduced  to  testify  to  the  occur 
rences  when  General  Thomas  demanded 
possession  of  the  War  Department.  After 
this  General  Emory  was  called  to  testify 
to  the  transactions  which  form  the  ground 
of  the  ninth  article  of  impeachment.  His 
testimony  was  to  the  effect  that  the  Presi 
dent,  on  the  22d  of  February,  requested 
him  to  call ;  that,  upon  so  doing,  the  Pres 
ident  asked  respecting  any  changes  that 
had  been  made  in  the  disposition  of  the 
troops  around  Washington ;  that  he  in 
formed  the  President  that  no  important 
changes  had  been  made,  and  that  none 
could  be  made  without  an  order  from  Gen 
eral  Grant,  as  provided  for  in  an  order 
founded  upon  a  law  sanctioned  by  the 
President.  The  President  said  that  this 
law  was  unconstitutional.  Emory  replied 
that  the  President  had  approved  of  it,  and 
that  it  was  not  the  prerogative  of  the  officers 
of  the  army  to  decide  upon  the  constitu 
tionality  of  a  law,  and  in  that  opinion  he  was 
justified  by  the  opinion  of  eminent  counsel, 
and  thereupon  the  conversation  ended. 

The  prosecution  then  endeavored  to  in 
troduce  testimony  as  to  the  appointment 
of  Mr.  Edmund  Cooper,  the  Private  Sec 
retary  of  the  President,  as  Assistant  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury,  in  support  of  the 
eighth  and  eleventh  articles  of  impeach 
ment,  which  charge  the  President  with  an 
unlawful  attempt  to  control  the  disposition 
of  certain  public  funds.  This  testimony, 
by  a  vote  of  27  to  22,  was  ruled  out. 

The  prosecution  now,  in  support  of  the 


188 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


tenth  and  eleventh  articles  of  impeach 
ment,  charging  the  President  with  endeav 
oring  to  "  set  aside  the  rightful  authority 
of  Congress,"  offered  a  telegraphic  dis 
patch  from  the  President  to  Mr.  Parsons, 
at  that  time  (January  17, 1867)  Provisional 
Governor  of  Alabama,  of  which  the  follow 
ing  is  the  essential  part: 

UI  do  not  believe  the  people  of  the 
whole  country  will  sustain  any  set  of  in 
dividuals  in  the  attempt  to  change  the 
whole  character  of  our  Government  by  en 
abling  acts  in  this  way.  I  believe,  on  the 
contrary,  that  they  will  eventually  uphold 
all  who  have  patriotism  and  courage  to 
stand  by  the  Constitution,  and  who  place 
their  confidence  in  the  people.  There  should 
be  no  faltering  on  the  part  of  those  who 
are  honest  in  their  determination  to  sustain 
the  several  coordinate  departments  of  the 
Government  in  accordance  with  its  origi 
nal  design."  The  introduction  of  this  was 
objected  to  by  the  counsel  for  the  Presi 
dent,  but  admitted  by  the  Senate,  the  vote 
being  27  to  17. 

The  whole  Friday,  and  a  great  part  of 
Saturday,  (April  3d  and  4th,)  were  occu 
pied  in  the  examination  of  the  persons 
who  reported  the  various  speeches  of  the 
President  which  form  the  basis  of  the  tenth 
article,  the  result  being  that  the  reports 
were  shown  to  be  either  substantially  or 
verbally  accurate.  Then,  after  some  tes 
timony  relating  to  the  forms  in  which 
commissions  to  office  were  made  out,  the 
managers  announced  that  the  case  for  the 
prosecution  was  substantially  closed.  The 
counsel  for  the  President  thereupon  asked 
that  three  working  days  should  be  granted 
them  to  prepare  for  the  defense.  This, 
after  some  discussion,  was  granted  by  the 
Senate  by  a  vote  of  36  to  9,  and  the  trial 
was  adjourned  to  Thursday,  April  9th. 

THE   DEFENSE. 

The  opening  speech  for  the  defense,  oc 
cupying  the  whole  of  Thursday,  and  a 
part  of  Friday,  was  made  by  Mr.  Curtis. 
Reserving,  for  a  time,  a  rejoinder  to  Mr. 
Butler's  argument  as  to  the  functions  of 
the  Senate  when  sitting  as  a  Court  of  Im 
peachment,  Mr.  Curtis  proceeded  to  a  con 
sideration  of  the  articles  of  impeachment, 
in  their  order,  his  purpose  being  "  to  ascer 
tain,  in  the  first  place,  what  the  substantial 
allegations  in  each  of  them  are,  what  is  the 
legal  proof  and  effect  of  these  allegations, 
and  what  proof  is  necessary  to  be  adduced 
in  order  to  sustain  them."  The  speech  is 
substantially  an  elaboration  of  and  argu 
ment  for  the  points  embraced  in  the  an 
swer  of  the  President.  The  main  stress  of 
the  argument  related  to  the  first  article, 
which,  as  stated  by  Mr.  Curtis,  when 
stripped  of  all  technical  language,  amounts 
exactly  to  these  things : 

"  First.  That  the  order  set  out  in  the  ar 


ticle  for  the  removal  of  Mr.  Stanton,  if 
executed,  would  have  been  a  violation  of 
the  Tenure-of-Office  Act. 

"  Second.  That  it  was  a  violation  of  the 
Tenure-of-Office  Act. 

"  Third.  That  it  was  an  intentional  vio 
lation  of  the  Tenure-of-Office  Act. 

"fourth.  That  it  was  in  violation  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

"Fifth.  That  it  was  intended  by  the 
President  to  be  so. 

"  Or,  to  draw  all  these  into  one  sentence, 
which  I  hope  may  be  intelligible  and  clear 
enough,  I  suppose  the  substance  of  this 
first  article  is  that  the  order  for  the  remo 
val  of  Mr.  Stanton  was,  and  was  intended 
to  be,  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  These  are  the  allega 
tions  which  it  is  necessary  for  the  honor 
able  managers  to  make  out  in  order  to 
support  that  article." 

Mr.  Curtis  proceeded  to  argue  that  the 
case  of  Mr.  Stanton  did  not  come  within 
the  provisions  of  the  Tenure-of-Office  Act, 
being  expressly  excepted  by  the  proviso 
that  Cabinet  officers  should  hold  their 
places  during  the  term  of  the  President  by 
whom  they  were  appointed,  and  for  one 
month  thereafter,  unless  removed  by  the 
consent  of  the  Senate.  Mr.  Stanton  was 
appointed  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  whose  term  of 
office  came  to  an  end  by  his  death.  He 
argued  at  length  against  the  proposition 
that  Mr.  Johnson  was  merely  serving  out 
the  remainder  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  term.  The 
object  of  this  exception,  he  said,  was  evi 
dent.  The  Cabinet  officers  were  to  be 
"the  immediate  confidential  assistants  of 
the  President,  for  whose  acts  he  was  to  be 
responsible,  and  in  whom  he  was  expected 
to  repose  the  gravest  honor,  trust,  and  con 
fidence  ;  therefore  it  was  that  this  act  has 
connected  the  tenure  of  office  of  these  offi 
cers  with  that  of  the  President  by  whom 
they  were  appointed."  Mr.  Curtis  gave  a 
new  interpretation  to  that  clause  in  the 
Constitution  which  prescribes  that  the 
President  "may  require  the  opinion,  in 
writing,  of  the  principal  officer  in  each  of 
the  executive  departments  upon  any  sub 
ject  relating  to  the  duties  of  their  several 
offices."  He  understood  that  the  word 
"their"  included  the  President,  so  that  he 
might  call  upon  Cabinet  officers  for  advice 
"  relating  to  the  duties  of  the  office  of  these 
principal  officers,  or  relating  to  the  duties 
of  the  President  himself."  This,  at  least, 
he  affirmed,  had  been  the  practical  inter 
pretation  put  upon  this  clause  from  the 
beginning.  To  confirm  his  position  as  to 
the  intent  of  the  Tenure-of-Office  Act  in 
this  respect,  Mr.  Curtis  quoted  from 
speeches  made  in  both  houses  at  the  time 
when  the  act  was  passed.  Thus,  Senator 
Sherman  said  that  the  act,  as  passed — 

"  Would  not  prevent  the  present  Presi 
dent  from  removing  the  Secretary  of  War, 


IMPEACHMENT    TRIAL    OF    JOHNSON. 


189 


the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  or  the  Secretary 
of  State ;  and,  if  I  supposed  that  either  of 
these  gentlemen  was  so  wanting  in  man 
hood,  in  honor,  as  to  hold  his  place  after 
the  politest  intimation  from  the  President 
of  the  United  States  that  his  services  were 
no  longer  needed,  I  certainly,  as  a  Senator, 
would  consent  to  his  removal  at  any  time, 
and  so  would  we  all." 

Mr.  Curtis  proceeded  to  argue  that  there 
was  really  no  removal  of  Mr.  Stanton ;  he 
still  held  his  place,  and  so  there  was  "  no 
case  of  removal  within  the  statute,  and, 
therefore,  no  case  of  violation  by  removal." 
But,  if  the  Senate  should  hold  that  the  or 
der  for  removal  was,  in  effect,  a  removal, 
then,  unless  the  Tenure-of-Office  Act  gave 
Mr.  Stanton  a  tenure  of  office,  this  removal 
would  not  have  been  contrary  to  the  pro 
visions  of  this  act.  He  proceeded  to  argue 
that  there  was  room  for  grave  doubt 
whether  Mr.  Stanton's  case  came  within 
the  provisions  of  the  Tenure-of-Office  Act, 
and  that  the  President,  upon  due  conside 
ration,  and  having  taken  the  best  advice 
within  his  power,  considering  that  it  did 
not,  and  acting  accordingly,  did  not,  even 
if  he  was  mistaken,  commit  an  act  "  so  wil 
ful  and  wrong  that  it  can  be  justly  and 
properly,  and  for  the  purposes  of  this 
prosecution,  termed  a  high  misdemeanor." 
He  argued  at  length  that  the  view  of  the 
President  was  the  correct  one,  and  that 
"  the  Senate  had  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  the  removal  of  Mr.  Stanton,  whether 
the  Senate  was  in  session  or  not." 

Mr.  Curtis  then  went  on  to  urge  that  the 
President,  being  sworn  to  take  care  that  the 
laws  be  faithfully  executed,  must  carry  out 
any  law,  even  though  passed  over  his  veto, 
except  in  cases  where  a  law  which  he  be 
lieved  to  be  unconstitutional  has  cut  off  a 
power  confided  to  him,  and  in  regard  to 
which  he  alone  could  make  an  issue  which 
would  bring  the  matter  before  a  court,  so 
as  to  cause  "  a  judicial  decision  to  come 
between  the  two  branches  of  the  Govern 
ment,  to  see  which  of  them  is  right."  This, 
said  he,  is  what  the  President  has  done. 
This  argument,  in  effect,  was  an  answer  to 
the  first  eight  articles  of  impeachment. 

The  ninth  article,  charging  the  Presi 
dent  with  endeavoring  to  induce  General 
Emory  to  violate  the  law  by  receiving  or 
ders  directly  from  him,  was  very  briefly 
touched  upon,  it  being  maintained  that,  as 
shown  by  the  evidence,  "  the  reason  why 
the  President  sent  for  General  Emory  was 
not  that  he  might  endeavor  to  seduce  that 
distinguished  officer  from  his  allegiance  to 
the  laws  and  Constitution  of  his  country, 
but  because  he  wished  to  obtain  informa 
tion  about  military  movements  which 
might  require  his  personal  attention." 

As  to  the  tenth  article,  based  upon  the 
President's  speeches,  it  was  averred  that 
they  were  in  no  way  in  violation  of  the 


Constitution,  or  of  any  law  existing  at  the 
time  when  they  were  made,  and  were  not 
therefore,  impeachable  offenses. 

The  reply  to  the  eleventh  article  was  very 
brief.  The  managers  had  "  compounded  it 
of  the  materials  which  they  had  previously 
worked  up  into  others,"  and  it  "  contained 
nothing  new  that  needed  notice."  Mr. 
Curtis  concluded  his  speech  by  saying  that 
— "  This  trial  is  and  will  be  the  most  con 
spicuous  instance  that  has  ever  been,  or 
even  can  be  expected  to  be  found,  of 
American  justice  or  of  American  injustice ; 
of  that  justice  which  is  the  great  policy  of 
all  civilized  States ;  of  that  injustice  which 
is  certain  to  be  condemned,  which  makes 
even  the  wisest  man  mad,  and  which,  in 
the  fixed  and  unalterable  order  of  God's 
providence,  is  sure  to  return  and  plague 
the  inventor." 

At  the  close  of  this  opening  speech  for 
the  defense,  General  Lorenzo  Thomas  was 
brought  forward  as  a  witness.  His  testi 
mony,  elicited  upon  examination  and  cross- 
examination,  was  to  the  effect  that,  having 
received  the  order  appointing  him  Secre 
tary  of  War  ad  interim,  he  presented  it  to 
Mr.  Stanton,  who  asked,  Do  you  wish 
me  to  vacate  the  office  at  once,  or  will  you 
give  me  time  to  get  my  private  property 
together  ?  "  to  which  Thomas  replied,  "  Act 
your  pleasure."  Afterward  Stanton  said, 
"  I  don't  know  whether  I  will  obey  your 
instructions."  Subsequently  Thomas  said 
that  he  should  issue  orders  as  Secretary  of 
War.  Stanton  said  he  should  not  do  so, 
and  afterward  gave  him  a  written  direc 
tion,  not  to  issue  any  order  except  as  Ad 
jutant-General.  During  the  examination 
of  General  Thomas  a  question  came  up 
which,  in  many  ways,  recurred  upon  the 
trial.  He  was  asked  to  tell  what  occurred 
at  an  interview  between  himself  and  the 
President.  Objection  was  made  by  Mr. 
Butler,  and  the  point  was  argued.  The 
question  was  submitted  to  the  Senate, 
which  decided,  by  a  vote  of  42  to  10,  that 
it  was  admissible.  The  testimony  of  Gen 
eral  Thomas,  from  this  point,  took  a  wide 
range,  and,  being  mainly  given  in  response 
to  questions  of  counsel,  was,  apparently, 
somewhat  contradictory.  The  substance 
was  that  he  was  recognized  by  the  Presi 
dent  as  Secretary  of  War ;  that,  since  the 
impeachment,  he  had  acted  as  such  only 
in  attending  Cabinet  meetings,  but  had 
given  no  orders  ;  that,  when  he  reported  to 
the  President  that  Mr.  Stanton  would  not 
vacate  the  War  Department,  the  President 
directed  him  to  "take  possession  of  the 
office;"  that,  without  orders  from  the 
President,  he  had  intended  to  do  this  by 
force,  if  necessary ;  that,  finding  that  this 
course  might  involve  bloodshed,  he  had 
abandoned  this  purpose,  but  that,  after 
this,  he  had,  in  several  cases,  affirmed  his 
purpose  to  do  so,  but  that  these  declara- 


190 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


tions  were  "  merely  boast  and  brag."  On 
the  following  day  General  Thomas  was  re 
called  as  a  witness,  to  enable  him  to  cor 
rect  certain  points  in  his  testimony.  The 


views,  was  to  the  effect  that  the  President 
said  that  the  relations  between  himself  and 
Mr.  Stanton  were  such  that  he  could  not 
execute  the  office  of  President  without 


first  was  the  date  of  an  unimportant  trans-  making  provision  to  appoint  a  Secretary 
action  ;  he  had  given  it  as  taking  place  on  of  War  ad  interim,  and  he  offered  that 
the  21st  of  February,  whereas  it  should  office  to  him  (General  Sherman),  but  did 
have  been  the  22d.  The  second  was  that  I  not  state  that  his  purpose  was  to  bring  the 
the  words  of  the  President  were  that  he  '  matter  directly  into  the  courts.  Sherman 
should  "  take  charge,"  not  "  take  posses-  j  said  that,  if  Mr.  Stanton  would  retire,  he 
sion  "  of  the  War  Department.  In  expla- ,  might,  although  against  his  own  wishes, 
nation  of  the  fact  that  he  had  repeatedly  !  undertake  to  administer  the  office  ad 


sworn  to  the  words  "  take  possession,"  he 
said  that  these  were  "  put  into  his  mouth." 
Finally,  General  Thomas,  in  reply  to  a  di 
rect  question  from  Mr.  Butler,  said  that 
his  testimony  on  these  points  was  "all 
wrong." 

Lieutenant-General  Sherman  was  then 
called  as  a  witness.    After 


some  unim 


portant  questions,  he  was  asked  in  refer 
ence  to  an  interview  between  himself  and 
the  President  which  took  place  on  the  14th 
of  January:  "At  that  interview  what 
conversation  took  place  between  the  Presi 
dent  and  you  in  reference  to  Mr.  Stan- 
ton?"  To  this  question  objection  was 
made  by  Mr.  Butler,  and  the  point  was 
elaborately  argued.  The  Chief  Justice 
decided  thai;  the  question  was  admissible 
within  the  vote  of  the  Senate  of  the  pre 
vious  day ;  the  question  then  was  as  to  the 
admissibility  of  evidence  as  to  a  conversa 
tion  between  the  President  and  General 
Thomas  ;  the  present  question  was  as  to  a 
conversation  between  the  President  and 
General  Sherman.  "  Both  questions,"  said 
the  Chief  Justice,  "  are  asked  for  the  pur 
pose  of  procuring  the  intent  of  the  Presi 
dent  to  remove  Mr.  Stanton."  The  ques 
tion  being  submitted  to  the  Senate,  it  was 
decided,  by  a  vote  of  28  to  23,  that  it 
should  not  be  admitted.  The  examina 
tion  of  General  Sherman  was  continued, 
the  question  of  the  conversation  aforesaid 
being  frequently  brought  forward,  and  as 
often  ruled  out  by  the  Senate.  The  only 
important  fact  elicited  was  that,  the  Presi 
dent  had  twice,  on  the  25th  and  30th  of 
January,  tendered  to  General  Sherman  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  War  ad  interim. 

On  Monday,  April  13th,  after  transac 
tions  of  minor  importance,  the  general 
matter  of  the  conversations  between  the 
President  and  General  Sherman  again 
came  up,  upon  a  question  propounded  by 
Senator  Johnson — "When  the  President 
tendered  to  you  the  office  of  Secretary 
of  War  ad  interim,  did  he,  at  the  very 
time  of  making  such  tender,  state  to  you 
what  his  purpose  in  so  doing  was  ?  "  This 
was  admitted  by  the  Senate,  by  a  vote  of 
26  to  22.  Senator  Johnson  then  added  to 
his  question,  "  If  he  did,  what  did  he  state 
his  purpose  was  ?  "  This  was  admitted  by 
a  vote  of  25  to  26.  The  testimony  of  Gen 
eral  Sherman,  relating  to  several  inter- 


interim,  but  asked  what  would  be  done  in 
case  Mr.  Stanton  would  not  yield.  Ta 
this  the  President  replied,  "  He  will 
make  no  opposition ;  you  present  the  or 
der,  and  he  will  retire.  I  know  him  bet 
ter  than  you  do ;  he  is  cowardly."  General 
Sherman  asked  time  for  reflection,  and 
then  gave  a  written  answer,  declining  to 
accept  the  appointment,  but  stated  that 
his  reasons  were  mostly  of  a  personal  na 
ture. 

On  the  14th  the  Senate  adjourned,  on 
account  of  the  sudden  illness  of  Mr.  Stan- 
bery.  It  re-assembled  on  the  15th,  but 
the  proceedings  touched  wholly  upon  for 
mal  points  of  procedure  and  the  introduc 
tion  of  unimportant  documentary  evidence. 
On  the  16th  Mr.  Sumner  moved  that  all 
evidence  not  trivial  or  obviously  irrelevant 
shall  be  admitted,  the  Senate  to  judge  of 
its  value.  This  was  negatived  by  a  vote 
of  23  to  11. 

The  17th  was  mainly  taken  up  by  testi 
mony  as  to  the  reliability  of  the  reports  of 
the  President's  speeches.  Mr.  Welles,  Sec 
retary  of  the  Navy,  was  then  called  to  tes 
tify  to  certain  proceedings  in  Cabinet 
Council  at  the  time  of  the  appointment  of 
General  Thomas.  This  was  objected  to. 
The  Chief  Justice  decided  that  it  was  ad 
missible,  and  his  decision  was  sustained  by 
a  vote  of  26  to  23.  The  defense  then  en 
deavored  to  introduce  several  members  of 
the  Cabinet,  to  show  that,  at  meetings  pre 
vious  to  the  removal  of  Mr.  Stanton,  it 
was  considered  whether  it  was  not  desira 
ble  to  obtain  a  judicial  determination  of 
the  unconstitutionality  of  the  Tenure-of- 
Office  Act.  This  question  was  raised  in 
several  shapes,  and  its  admission,  after 
thorough  argument  on  both  sides,  as  often 
refused,  in  the  last  instance  by  a  decisive 
vote  of  30  to  19.  The  defense  considered 
this  testimony  of  the  utmost  importance, 
as  going  to  show  that  the  President  had 
acted  upon  the  counsel  of  his  constitu 
tional  advisers,  while  the  prosecution 
claimed  that  he  could  not  plead  in  justifi 
cation  of  a  violation  of  the  law  that  he 
had  been  advised  by  his  Cabinet,  or  any 
one  else,  that  the  law  was  unconstitutional. 
His  duty  was  to  execute  the  laws,  and,  if 
he  failed  to  do  this,  or  violated  them,  he 
did  so  at  his  own  risk  of  the  consequences. 
With  the  refusal  of  this  testimony,  the 


GRANT. 


191 


case,  except  the  final  summings  up  and  the 
ferdict  of  the  Senate,  was  virtually  closed. 

The  case  had  been  so  fully  set  forth  in 
the  opening  speeches  of  Messrs.  Butler  and 
Curtis,  and  in  the  arguments  which  came 
up  upon  points  of  testimony,  that  there 
remained  little  for  the  other  counsel  except 
to  restate  what  had  before  been  said. 

After  the  evidence  had  been  closed  the 
case  was  summed  up,  on  the  part  of  the 
managers  by  Messrs.  Boutwell,  Williams, 
Stevens,  and  Bingham  in  oral  arguments, 
and  Mr.  Logan,  who  filed  a  written  argu 
ment,  and  on  the  part  of  the  President  by 
Messrs.  Nelson,  Groesbeck,  Stanbery,  and 
Evarts.  Many  of  these  speeches  were  dis 
tinguished  by  great  brilliancy  and  power, 
but,  as  no  new  points  were  presented,  we 
omit  any  summary. 

The  Court  decided  to  take  a  vote  upon 
the  articles  on  Tuesday,  the  12th  of  May, 
at  12  o'clock,  M.  A  secret  session  was 
held  on  Monday,  during  which  several 
Senators  made  short  speeches,  giving  the 
grounds  upon  which  they  expected  to  cast 
their  votes.  On  Tuesday  the  Court  agreed 
to  postpone  the  vote  until  Saturday,  the 
16th.  Upon  that  day,  at  12  o'clock,  a  vote 
was  taken  upon  the  eleventh  article,  it 
having  been  determined  to  vote  on  that 
article  first.  The  vote  resulted  in  35  votes 
for  conviction,  and  19  for  acquittal. 

The  question  being  put  to  each  Senator, 
"  How  say  you,  is  the  respondent,  Andrew 
Johnson,  President  of  the  United  States, 
guilty  or  not  guilty  of  a  high  misdemeanor 
as  charged  in  the  article  ?" — those  who  re 
sponded  guilty  were  Senators  Anthony, 
Cameron,  Cattell,  Chandler,  Cole,  Conk- 
ling,  Conness,  Corbett,  Cragin,  Drake,  Ed 
munds,  Ferry,  Frelinghuysen,  Harlan, 
Howard,  Howe,  Morgan,  Morrill,  of  Ver 
mont,  Morrill,  of  Maine,  O.  P.  Morton, 
Nye,  Patterson,  N.  H.  Pomeroy,  Sherman, 
Sprague,  Stewart,  Sumner,  Thayer,  Tipton, 
Wade,  Willey,  Williams,  Wilson  and  Yates. 

Those  who  responded  not  guilty  were 


Senators  Bayard,  Buckalew,  Davis,  Dixon, 
Doolittle,  Fessenden,  Fowler,  Grimes,  Hen 
derson,  Hendricks,  Johnson,  M'Creery, 
Norton,  Patterson  of  Tennessee,  Ross,  Sauls- 
bury,  Trumbull,  Van  Winkle  and  Vickers. 

The  Constitution  requiring  a  vote  of 
two-thirds  to  convict,  the  President  was 
acquitted  on  this  article.  After  taking 
this  vote  the  Court  adjourned  until  Tues 
day,  May  26th,  when  votes  were  taken 
upon  the  second  and  third  articles,  with 
precisely  the  same  result  as  on  the  elev 
enth,  the  vote  in  each  case  standing  35  for 
conviction  and  19  for  acquittal.  A  verdict 
of  acquittal  on  the  second,  third,  and  elev 
enth  articles  was  then  ordered  to  be  en 
tered  on  the  record,  and,  without  voting 
on  the  other  articles,  the  Court  adjourned 
sine  die.  So  the  trial  was  ended,  and  the 
President  acquitted. 

The  political  differences  between  Presi 
dent  Johnson  and  the  Republicans  were 
not  softened  by  the  attempted  impeach 
ment,  and  singularly  enough  the  failure  of 
their  eifort  did  not  weaken  the  Republi 
cans  as  a  party.  They  were  so  well  united 
that  those  who  disagreed  with  them  passed 
at  least  temporarily  from  public  life,  some 
of  the  ablest,  like  Senators  Trumbull  and 
Fessenden  retiring  permanently.  Presi 
dent  Johnson  pursued  his  policy,  save 
where  he  was  hedged  by  Congress,  until 
the  end,  and  retired  to  his  native  State,  ap 
parently  having  regained  the  love  of  his 
early  political  associates  there. 


Grant. 

The  Republican  National  Convention 
met  at  Chicago,  111.,  May  20th,  1868,  and 
nominated  with  unanimity,  Ulysses  S. 
Grant,  of  Illinois,  for  President,  and  Schuy- 
ler  Colfax,  of  Indiana,  for  Vice  President. 
The  Democratic  Convention  met  in  New 
York  City,  July  4th,  and  after  repeated 
ballots  finally  compromised  on  its  presiding 
officers,*  notwithstanding  repeated  and  ap- 


*  The  following  is  a  correct  table  of  the  ballots  in  the  New  York  Democratic  Convention : 


Candidates. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

11. 

9 

George  H.  Pendleton  

106 

104 

119  \4 

11814 

122 

12214 

137U 

156*4 

144 

147U 

1441^ 

Andrew  Johnson          ..          .          . 

65 

52 

34/4 

Wr 

24 

8* 

514 

5/i 

Winfield  8.  Hancock  

33U 

40\4 

45>£ 

4314 

46 

47 

42*3 

28 

^< 

34 

SS/is 

Sanford  E  Church  

vT 

S- 

33 

5r* 

33 

33 

JH 

Asa  Packer  

26 

26 

26 

26 

27 

27 

26 

26 

26*4 

2714 

26 

Joel  Parker 

13 

15\4 

13 

13 

13 

13 

7 

7 

7 

7 

7 

James  E.  English  

16 

12% 

1\d 

7V4 

7 

6 

6 

6 

6 

James  B.  Doolittle  

13 

12/| 

1' 

1* 

15 

12 

12 

12 

12 

12 

12X4 

Reverdy  Johnson 

$y 

g 

11 

g 

91% 

Thomas  A.  Hendricks.... 

2l| 

2 

914 

\\y. 

19V4 

30 

39U 

75 

80  Vo 

82\4 

88 

F.  P.  Blair,  Jr  

\L 

10V£ 

4.12 

2 

5 

*4 

i| 

U 

Thomas  Ewing  

/2 

1 

i 

/% 

/2 

J.  Q.  Adams  .                             

/2 

1 

George  B.  McClellan  

' 

Salmon  P.  Chase  

Franklin  Pierce  

John  T.  Hoffman  

Stephen  J.  Field  

Thomas  H.  Seymour  

AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


parently  decided  declarations  on  his  part, 
Horatio  Seymour,  of  New  York,  was  there 
fore  nominated  for  President,  and  Francis 
P.  Blair,  Jr.,  of  Missouri,  for  Vice  Presi 
dent.* 

An  active  canvass  followed,  in  which  the 
brief  expression — "let  us  have  peace" — in 
Grant's  letter  of  acceptance,  was  liberally 
employed  by  Republican  journals  and  ora 
tors  to  tone  down  what  were  regarded  as 
rapidly  growing  race  and  sectional  differ- 
erences,  and  with  such  effect  that  Grant 
carried  all  of  the  States  save  eight,  receiv 
ing  an  electoral  vote  of  214  against  80. 

Grant  inaugurated,  and  the  Congres 
sional  plan  of  reconstruction  was  rapidly 
pushed,  with  at  first  very  little  opposition 
save  that  manifested  by  the  Democrats  in 
Congress.  The  conditions  of  readmission 
were  the  ratification  of  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  constitutional  amendments. 

On  the  25th  of  February,  1869,  the  fif 
teenth  amendment  was  added  to  the  list  by 
its  adoption  in  Congress  and  submission  to 
the  States.  It  conferred  the  right  of  suf 
frage  on  all  citizens,  without  distinction  of 
"  race,  color  or  previous  condition  of  servi 
tude."  By  the  30th  of  March,  1870,  it  was 
ratified  by  twenty-nine  States,  the  required 
three-fourths  of  all  in  the  Union.  There 
was  much  local  agitation  in  some  of  the 
Northern  States  on  this  new  advance,  and 
many  who  had  never  manifested  their  hos 
tility  to  the  negroes  before  did  it  now,  and 
a  portion  of  these  passed  over  to  the  Demo 
cratic  party,  The  issue,  however,  was 
shrewdly  handled,  and  in  most  instances 
met  Legislatures  ready  to  receive  it.  Many 
of  the  Southern  States  were  specially  inter 
ested  in  its  passage,  since  a  denial  of  suf 
frage  would  abridge  their  representation  in 
Congress.  This  was  of  course  true  of  all 
the  States,  but  its  force  was  indisputable 
in  sections  containing  large  colored  popu 
lations. 


The  41st  Congress  met  in  extra  session 
March  4th,  1869,  with  a  large  Republican 
majority  in  both  branches.  In  the  Senate 
there  were  58  Republicans,  10  Democrats 
and  8  vacancies ;  in  the  House  149  Repub 
licans,  64  Democrats  and  25  vacancies, 
Mississippi,  Texas,  Virginia  and  Georgia 
not  being  represented.  James  G.  Blaine, 
for  several  years  previous  its  leading  parlia 
mentarian  and  orator,  was  Speaker  of  the 
House.  All  of  Grant's  nominations  for 
Cabinet  places  were  confirmed,  except  A. 
T.  Stewart,  of  New  York,  nominated  for 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  being  en 
gaged  in  foreign  commerce  he  was  ineligi 
ble  under  the  law,  and  his  name  was  with 
drawn.  The  names  of  the  Cabinet  will  be 
found  in  the  list  of  all  Cabinet  officers 
elsewhere  given.  Their  announcement  at 
first  created  the  impression  that  the  Grant 
administration  was  not  intended  to  be  par 
tisan,  rather  personal,  but  if  there  ever 
was  such  a  purpose,  a  little  political  ex 
perience  on  the  part  of  the  President  quick 
ly  changed  it.  A  political  struggle  soon 
followed  in  Congress  as  to  the  admission  of 
Virginia,  Mississippi  and  Texas,  which  had 
not  ratified  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  or 
been  reconstructed.  A  bill  was  passed 
April  10th,  authorizing  their  people  to 
vote  on  the  constitutions  already  prepared 
by  the  State  conventions,  to  elect  members 
of  Congress  and  State  officers,  and  requir 
ing  before  readmission  to  the  Union,  their 
Legislatures  to  ratify  both  the  Fourteenth 
and  Fifteenth  Amendments.  This  work 
done,  and  the  extra  session  adjourned. 

In  all  of  the  Southern  States,  those  who 
then  prided  themselves  in  being  "  unrecon 
structed"  and  "irreconcilable,"  bitterly 
opposed  both  the  Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth 
Amendments,  and  on  these  issues  excited 
new  feelings  of  hostility  to  the  "  carpet 
baggers"  and  negroes  of  the  South.  With 
the  close  of  the  war  thousands  of  North- 


Candidates. 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 

17. 

18. 

19. 

20. 

21. 

22. 

Horatio  Seymour  

317 

•George  H.  Pendleton                  

145\4 

134  Vg 

130 

129  14 

107  14 

7014 

56V< 

Andrew  Johnson 

^72 

5/4 

5% 

6 

10 

5 

Winfield  S.  Hancock  

30 

48  A. 

66 

79>| 

113/2 

137\4 

144  V^ 

13514 

14214 

135M 

San  ford  E.  Church         

A;-a  Packer  

26 

26 

26 

22 

Joel  Parker  

7 

7 

7 

7 

7 

7 

3U 

James  E.  English  

6 

16 

19 

James  R.  Doolittle 

12V/ 

13 

13 

12 

12 

12 

12 

12 

12 

12 

Reverdy  Johnson  

Thomas  A.  Hendricks 

89 

81 

8414 

|82Vo 

70V< 

80 

87 

10714 

121 

132 

F.  P.  Blair,  Jr. 

\s 

i/ 

13Vl 

13 

Thomas  Ewing  

J.  Q.  Adams  

George  B.  McClellan  

I 

14 

Salmon  P.  Chase  

y. 

y> 

14 

V<> 

Vi 

c 

Franklin  Pierce  

T" 

John  T.  Hoffman  

3 

3 

Stephen  J.  Field  

15 

9 

8 

Thomas  H.  Seymour  

4 

2 

Necessary  to  choice 212 

*  General  Blair  was  nominated  unanimously  on  the  first  ballot. 


READMISSION    OF    REBELLIOUS    STATES. 


193 


era  men  had  settled  in  the  South.  All  o 
them  were  now  denounced  as  political  ad 
venturers  by  the  rebels  who  opposed  the 
amendments,  reconstruction  and  freedman's 
bureau  acts.  Many  of  these  organized 
themselves  first  into  Ku  Klux  Klans,  secrei 
societies,  organized  with  a  view  to  affright 
negroes  from  participancy  in  the  elections 
and  to  warn  white  men  of  opposing  politi 
cal  views  to  leave  the  country.  The  objed 
of  the  organization  broadened  with  the 
troubles  which  it  produced.  Efforts  to 
affright  were  followed  by  midnight  assaults, 
by  horrible  whippings,  outrages  and  mur 
ders,  hardly  a  fraction  of  which  could  be 
traced  to  the  perpetrators.  Doubtless 
many  of  the  stories  current  at  the  time 
were  exaggerated  by  partisan  newspapers, 
but  all  of  the  official  reports  made  then 
and  since  go  to  show  the  dangerous  exces 
ses  which  political  and  race  hostilities 
may  reach.  In  Georgia  the  whites,  by 
these  agencies,  soon  gained  absolute  politi 
cal  control,  and  this  they  used  with  more 
wisdom  than  in  most  Southern  States,  for 
under  the  advice  of  men  like  Stevens  and 
Hill,  they  passed  laws  providing  for  free 
public  schools,  etc.,  but  carefully  guarded 
their  newly  acquired  power  by  also  passing 
tax  laws  which  virtually  disfranchised  more 
than  half  the  blacks.  Later  on,  several 
Southern  States  imitated  this  form  of  po 
litical  sagacity,  and  soon  those  in  favor  of 
"  a  white  man's  government,"  (the  popular 
battle  cry  of  the  period)  had  undisputed 
control  in  Virginia,  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
Arkansas  and  Texas — States  which  the  Re 
publicans  at  one  time  had  reason  to  believe 
they  could  control. 


The  Enforcement  Acts. 

To  repress  the  Ku  Klux  outrages,  Con 
gress  in  May  31, 1870,  passed  an  act  giving 
to  the  President  all  needed  powers  to  pro 
tect  the  freedmen  in  their  newly  acquired 
rights,  and  to  punish  the  perpetrators  of 
all  outrages,  whether  upon  whites  or  blacks. 
This  was  called  in  Congress  the  Enforce 
ment  Act,  and  an  Amendatory  Enforce 
ment  Act  was  inserted  in  the  Sundry  Civil 
Bill,  June  10,  1872.  The  Ku  Klux  Act 
was  passed  April  20,  1871.  All  of  these 
measures  were  strongly  advocated  by  Sena 
tor  Oliver  P.  Morton,  who  through  this 
advocacy  won  new  political  distinction  as 
the  special  champion  of  the  rights  of  the 
blacks.  Later  on  James  G.  Elaine,  then 
the  admitted  leader  of  the  House,  opposed 
some  of  the  supplements  for  its  better  en 
forcement,  and  to  this  fact  is  traceable  the 
refusal  on  the  part  of  the  negroes  of  the 
South  to  give  him  that  warm  support  as  a 
Presidential  candidate  which  his  high  abili 
ties  commanded  in  other  sections. 

The  several  Enforcement  Acts  and  their 
supplements  are  too  voluminous  for  inser- 
13 


tion  here,  and  they  are  of  little  use  save  as 
relics  of  the  bitter  days  of  reconstruction. 
They  have  little  force  now,  although  some 
of  them  still  stand.  They  became  a  dead 
letter  after  the  defeat  of  the  "  carpet-bag 
governments,"  but  the  President  enforced 
them  as  a  rule  with  moderation  and  wisdom. 
The  enforcement  of  the  Ku  Klux  Act 
led  to  the  disbanding  of  that  oiganization 
after  the  trial,  arrest  and  conviction  of 
many  of  the  leaders.  These  trials  brought 
out  the  facts,  and  awakened  many  South 
ern  minds,  theretofore  incredulous,  to  the 
enormity  of  the  secret  political  crimes 
which  had  been  committed  in  all  the  South 
ern  States,  and  for  a  time  popular  senti 
ment  even  in  the  South,  and  amongst  for 
mer  rebel  soldiers,  ran  strongly  against  the 
Klan.  With  fresh  political  excitements, 
however,  fresh  means  of  intimidation  were 
employed  at  elections.  Rifle  clubs  were 
formed,  notably  in  South  Carolina  and 
Mississippi,  while  in  Louisiana  the  "  White 
League''  sprang  into  existence,  and  was 
organized  in  all  of  the  neighboring  States. 
These  were  more  difficult  to  deal  with.. 
They  were  open  organizations,  created  un 
der  the  semblance  of  State  militia  acts. 
They  became  very  popular,  especially 
among  the  younger  men,  and  from  this 
time  until  the  close  of  the  Presidential 
election  in  1876,  were  potent  factors  in> 
several  Southern  States,  and  we  shall  have 
occasion  further  on  to  describe  their  more 
important  movements. 


Readmisaion  of  Rebellions  States. 

Before  the  close  of  1869  the  Supreme1 
Court,  in  the  case  of  Texas  vs.  White,  sus 
tained  the  constitutionality  of  the  Recon- 

uction  acts  of  Congress.  It  held  that 
the  ordinances  of  secession  had  been  "  ab 
solutely  null;"  that  the  seceding  States 
bad  no  right  to  secede  and  had  never  been 
out  of  the  Union,  but  that,  during  and 
after  their  rebellion,  they  had  no  govern 
ments  "  competent  to  represent  these  States 
"n  their  relations  with  the  National  gov 
ernment,"  and  therefore  Congress  had  the 
)ower  to  re-establish  the  relations  of  any 
•ebellious  State  to  the  Union.  This  de 
cision  fortified  the  position  of  the  Repub- 
icans,  and  did  much  to  aid  President 
Grant  in  the  difficult  work  of  reconstruc- 
ion.  It  modified  the  assaults  of  the  Dem- 
>crats,  and  in  some  measure  changed  their 
mrpose  to  make  Reconstruction  the  pivot 
round  which  smaller  political  issues 
should  revolve. 

The  regular  session  of  the  41st  Congress 
met  Dec.  4th,  1869,  and  before  its,  close 
Virginia,  Georgia,  Texas,  and  Mississippi 
had  all  complied  with  the  conditions  of  re 
construction,  and  were  re-admitted  to  the 
Union.  This  practically  completed  the 
work  of  reconstruction.  To  summarize : — 


194 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Tennessee  was  re-admitted  July  24th, 
I860;  Arkansas,  June  22d,  1868;  North 
Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Louisiana, 
Georgia  and  Florida  under  the  act  of  June 
25th,  1868,  which  provided  that  as  soon  as 
they  fulfilled  the  conditions  imposed  by 
the  acts  of  March,  1£  67,  they  should  be  re 
admitted.  All  did  this  promptly  except 
Georgia.  Virginia  was  re-admitted  Jan 
uary  25th,  1870;  Mississippi,  Feb.  23d, 
1870 ;  Texas,  March  30th,  1870.  Georgia, 
the  most  powerful  and  stubborn  of  all,  had 
passed  State  laws  declaring  negroes  incapa 
ble  of  holding  office,  in  addition  to  what 
was  known  as  the  "  black  code,"  and  Con 
gress  refused  foil  admission  until  she  had 
revoked  the  laws  and  ratified  the  15th 
Amendment.  The  State  finally  came  back 
into  the  Union  July  15th,  1870. 

The  above  named  States  completed  the 
ratification  of  the  loth  amendment,  and 
the  powers  of  reconstruction  were  plainly 
used  to  that  end.  Some  of  the  Northern 
States  had  held  back,  and  for,  a  time  its 
ratification  by  the  necessary  three-fourths 
was  a  matter  of  grave  doubt.  Congress 
next  parsed  a  bill  to  enforce  it,  May  30th, 
1870.  This  made  penal  any  interference, 
by  force  or  fraud,  with  the  right  of  free 
and  full  manhood  suffrage,  and  authorized 
the  President  to  use  the  army  to  prevent 
violations.  The  measure  was  generally 
•upported  by  the  Republicans,  and  opposed 
by  all  of  the  Democrats. 

The  Republicans  through  other  guards 
about  the  ballot  by  passing  an  act  to 
amend  the  naturalization  laws,  which  made 
it  penal  to  use  false  naturalization  papers, 
authorized  the  appointment  of  Federal 
supervisors  of  elections  in  cities  of  over 
20,000  inhabitants ;  gave  to  these  power  of 
arrest  for  any  offense  committed  in  their 
view,  and  gave  alien  Africans  the  right  to 
naturalize.  The  Democrats  in  their  oppo 
sition  laid  particular  stress  upon  the  extra 
ordinary  powers  given  to  Federal  super 
visors,  while  the  Republicans  charged  that 
Seymour  had  carried  New  York  by  gigan 
tic  naturalization  frauds  in  New  York  city, 
and  sought  to  sustain  these  charges  by  the 
unprecedented  vote  polled.  A  popular 
quotation  of  the  time  was  from  Horace 
Greeley,  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  who 
showed  that  under  the  manipulations  of 
the  Tweed  ring,  more  votes  had  been  cast 
for  Seymour  in  one  of  the  warehouse  wards 
of  the  city,  "than  there  were  men,  women, 
children,  and  cats  and  dogs  in  it" 


;hat  Thaddeus  Stevens  admitted  the  Re- 
>ublicans  were  travelling;  "outside  of  the 
constitution  "  with  a  view  to  preserve  the 
overnment,  and  this  soon  became  one  of 
lis  favorite  ways  of  meeting  partisan  ob- 
ections  to  war  measures.  At  the  Decem- 
3er  term  of  the  Supreme  Court,  in  1869,  a 
decision  was  rendered  that  the  action  of 
Congress  was  unconstitutional,  the  Court 
hen  being  accidentally  Democratic  in  its 
iomposition.  The  Republicans,  believing 
hey  could  not  afford  to  have  their  favorite, 
and  it  must  be  admitted  most  useful  finan- 
ial  measure  questioned,  secured  an  in 
crease  of  two  in  the  number  of  Supreme 
Justices — one  under  a  law  creating  an  ad 
ditional  Justiceship,  the  other  in  place  of 
a  Justice  who  had  resigned — and  in  March, 
L870,  after  the  complexion  of  the  Court 
lad  been  changed  through  Republican  ap 
pointments  made  by  President  Grant,  the 
constitutionality  of  the  legal  tender  act 
was  again  raised,  and,  witlT  Chief  Justice 
3hase  (who  had  been  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  in  1862  presiding)  the  previous 
decision  was  reversed.  This  was  clearly  a 
partisan  struggle  before  the  Court,  and  on 
the  part  of  the  Republicans  an  abandon 
ment  of  old  landmarks  impressed  on  the 
country  by  the  Jackson  Democrats,  but  it 
is  plain  that  without  the  greenbacks  the 
war  could  not  have  been  pressed  with  half 
the  vigor,  if  at  all.  Neither  party  was 
consistent  in  this  struggle,  for  Southern 
Democrats  who  sided  with  their  North 
ern  colleagues  in  the  plea  of  uncon 
stitutional  ity,  had  when  "out  of  the 
Union,"  witnessed  and  advocated  the  issue 
of  the  same  class  of  money  by  the  Con 
federate  Congress.  The  difference  was 
only  in  the  ability  to  redeem,  and  this 
ability  depended  upon  success  in  arms — 


The  Legal  Tender  Decision. 

The  Act  of  Congress  of  1862  had  made 
"  greenback"  notes  a  legal  tender,  and  they 
passed  as  such  until  1869  against  the  pro 
tests  of  the  Democrats  in  Congress,  who 
had  questioned  the  ri«;ht  of  Congress  to 
issue  paper  money.  It  was  on  thU  issue 


the  very  thing  the  issue  was  designed  to 
promote.  The  last  decision,  despite  its 
partisan  surroundings  and  opposition,  soon 
won  popularity,  and  this  popularity  was 
subsequently  taken  as  the  groundwork  for 
the  establishment  of 

Tlie  Greenback  Party. 

This  party,  with  a  view  to  ease  the 
rigors  of  the  monetary  panic  of  1873,  ad 
vocated  an  unlimited  i^sue  of  greenbacks, 
or  an  "  issue  based  upon  the  resources  of 
the  country."  So  vigorously  did  dis 
contented  leaders  of  both  parties  press  this 
idea,  that  they  soon  succeeded  in  demoral 
izing  the  Democratic  minority —which 
was  by  this  time  such  a  plain  minority, 
and  so  greatly  in  need  of  new  issues  to 
make  the  people  forget  the  war,  that  it  is 
not  surprising  they  yielded,  at  least  par 
tially,  to  new  theories  and  alliances.  The 
present  one  took  them  away  from  the 
principles  of  Jackson,  from  the  hard- 
money  theories  of  the  early  days,  and  would 
land  them  they  knew  not  where,  nor  did 


THE    GREENBACK    PARTY. 


195 


many  of  them  care,  if  they  could  once 
moro  get  upon  their  feet.  Some  resisted, 
and  comparatively  few  of  the  Democrats 
in  the  Middle  States  yielded,  but  in  part 
of  New  England,  the  great  West,  and 
nearly  all  of  the  South,  it  was  for  several 
years  quite  difficult  to  draw  a  line  between 
Greenbackers  and  Democrats.  Some  Re 
publicans,  too,  who  had  tired  of  the  "  old 
war  issues,"  or  discontented  with  the  man 
agement  and  leadership  of  their  party, 
aided  in  the  construction  of  the  Green 
back  bridge,  and  kept  upon  it  as  long  as  it 
was  safe  to  do  so.  In  State  elections  up 
to  as  late  as  1880  this  Greenback  element 
was  a  most  important  factor.  Ohio  was 
carried  by  an  alliance  of  Greenbackers  and 
Democrats,  Allen  being  elected  Governor, 
only  to  be  supplanted  by  Hayes  (after 
wards  President)  after  a  most  rsmarkable 
contest,  the  alliance  favoring  the  Green 
back,  the  Republicans  not  quite  the  hard- 
money,  but  a  redeemable-in-gold  theory. 
Indiana,  always  doubtful,  passed  over  to 
the  Democratic  column,  while  in  the 
Southern  States  the  Democratic  leaders 
made  open  alliances  until  the  Greenback- 
crs  became  over-confident  and  sought  to 
win  Congressional  and  State  elections  on 
their  own  merits.  They  fancied  that  the 
desire  to  repudiate  ante-war  debts  would 
greatly  aid  them,  and  they  openly  advo 
cated  the  idea  of  repudiation  there,  but 
they  had  experienced  and' wise  leaders  to 
cope  with.  They  were  not  allowed  to 
monopolize  this  issue  by  the  Democrats, 
and  their  arrogance,  if  such  it  may  be 
called,  was  punished  by  a  more  complete 
assertion  of  Democratic  power  in  the  South 
than  was  ever  known  before.  The  theory 
in  the  South  was  welcomed  where  it  would 
suit  the  Democracy,  crushed  where  it 
would  not,  as  shown  in  the  Presidential 
election  of  1880,  when  Garfield,  Hancock 
and  Weaver  (Greenbacker)  were  the  can 
didates.  The  latter,  in  his  stumping  tour 
of  the  South,  proclaimed  that  he  and  his 
friends  were  as  much  maltreated  in  Ala 
bama  and  other  States,  as  the  Republicans, 
and  for  some  cause  thereafter  (the  Demo- 
crate  alleged  "a  bargain  and  sale")  he 
practically  threw  his  aid  to  the  Repub 
licans — this  when  it  became  apparent  that 
the  Greenbackers,  in  the  event  of  the  elec 
tion  going  to  the  House,  could  have  no 
chance  even  there. 

Gen'l  Weaver  went  from  the  South  to 
Maine,  the  scene  of  what  was  regarded  at 
that  moment  as  a  pivotal  struggle  for  the 
Presidency.  Elaine  had  twice  been  the 
most  prominent  candidate  for  the  Presi 
dency— 1876  and  1880 — and  had  both 
times  been  defeated  by  compromise  candi 
dates.  He  was  still,  as  he  had  been  for 
many  years,  Chairman  of  the  Republican 
State  Committee  of  Maine,  and  now  as 
•ver  before  swallowed  the  mortification  of 


defeat  with  true  political  grace.  The 
Greenbackers  had  the  year  before  formed 
a  close  alliance  with  the  Democrats,  and 
in  the  State  election  made  the  result  so 
close  that  for  many  weeks  it  remained  a 
matter  of  doubt  who  was  elected  Governor, 
the  Democratic  Greenbacker  or  the  Re 
publican.  A  struggle  followed  in  the 
Legislature  and  before  the  Returning 
Board  composed  of  State  officers,  who 
were  Democrats,  (headed  by  Gov.  Gar- 
celon)  and  sought  to  throw  out  returns  on 
slight  technicalities.  Finally  the  Repub 
licans  won,  but  not  without  a  struggle, 
which  excited  attention  all  over  the  Union, 
and  commanded  the  presence  of  the  State 
militia.  Following  Garfield's  nomination 
another  struggle,  as  we  have  stated,  was 
inaugurated,  with  Davis  as  the  Republican 
nominee  for  Governor,  Plaisted  the  Demo 
cratic-Greenback,  (the  latter  a  former  Re 
publican).  All  eyes  now  turned  to  Maine,* 
which  voted  in  September.  Gen?l  Weaver 
was  on  the  stump  then,  as  the  Greenback 
candidate  for  President,  and  all  of  his. 
efforts  were  bent  to  breaking  the  alliance 
between  the  Greenbackers  and  Demo 
crats. 

He  advocated  a  straight-out  policy  for  his 
Greenback  friends,  described  his  treatment 
in  the  South,  and  denounced  the  Demo 
cracy  with  such  plainness  that  it  displayed 
his  purpose  and  defeated  his  object. 
Plaisted  was  elected  by  a  close  vote,  and 
the  Republicans  yielded  after  some  threats 
to  invoke  the  "Garcelon  precedents." 
This  was  the  second  Democratic-Green 
back  victory  in  Maine,  the  first  occurring 
two  years  before,  when  through  an  alii- 
ance  in  the  Legislature  (no  candidate 
having  received  a  majority  of  all  the  popu 
lar  vote)  Garland  was  returned. 

The  victory  of  Plaisted  alarmed  the  Re 
publicans  and  enthused  the  Democrats, 
who  now  denounced  Weaver,  but  still 
sought  alliance  with  his  followers.  Gene 
ral  B.  F.  Butler,  long  a  brilliant  Republi 
can  member  of  Congress  from  Massachu 
setts,  for  several  years  advocated  Green 
back  ideas  without  breaking  from  his  Re 
publican  Congressional  colleagues.  Be 
cause  of  this  fact  he  lost  whatever  of 
chance  he  had  for  a  Republican  nomination 
for  Governor,  "his  only  remaining  politi 
cal  ambition,"  and  thereupon  headed  the 
Greenbackers  in  Massachusetts,  and  in 
spite  of  the  protests  of  the  hard-money 
Democrats  in  that  State,  captured  the  De 
mocratic  organization,  and  after  these  tac 
tics  twice  ran  for  Governor,  and  was  de 
feated  both  times  by  the  Republicans, 
though  he  succeeded,  upon  State  and 
"  anti-blue  blood  "  theories,  in  greatly  re 
ducing  their  majority.  In  the  winter  of 
1882  he  still  held  control  of  the  Demo^ 
cratic  State  Committee,  after  the  Green 
back  organization  had  passed  from  view, 


196 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


and  "  what  will  he  do  next?"  is  one  of  the 
political  questions  of  the  hour. 

The  Greenback  labor  party  ceased  all 
Congressional  alliance  with  the  Democrats 
after  their  quarrel  with  General  Weaver, 
and  as  late  as  the  47th  session— 1881-82— 
refused  all  alliance,  and  abstained  from 
exercising  what  some  still  believe  a  "  bal 
ance  of  power"  in  the  House,  though 
nearly  half  of  their  number  were  elected 
more  as  Republicans  than  Greenbackers. 

As  a  party,  the  Greenbackers,  standing 
alone,  never  carried  either  a  State  or  a 
Congressional  district.  Their  local  suc 
cesses  were  due  to  alliances  with  one  or 
other  of  the  great  parties,  and  with  the 
passage  of  the  panic  they  dissolved  in- 
many  sections,  and  where  they  still  obtain 
it  is  in  alliance  with  labor  unions,  or  in 
strong  mining  or  workingmen's  districts. 
In  the  Middle  States  they  won  few  local 
successes,  but  were  strong  in  the  coal 
regions  of  Pennsylvania.  Advocates  of 
similar  theories  have  not  been  wanting  in 
all  the  countries  of  Western  Europe  follow 
ing  great  wars  or  panics,  but  it  was  re 
served  to  the  genius  of  Americans  to  estab 
lish  an  aggressive  political  party  on  the 
basis  of  theories  which  all  great  political 
economists  have  from  the  beginning  an 
tagonized  as  unsafe  and  unsound. 


Tne  Prohibitory  Party. 

The  attempt  to  establish  a  third  party  in 
the  Greenback,  begot  that  to  establish  a 
National  Prohibitory  Party,  which  in  1880 
ran  James  Black  of  Pennsylvania,  as  a 
candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and  four 
years  previous  ran  Neal  J)ow  of  Maine. 
He,  however,  commanded  little  attention, 
and  received  but  sparsely  scattered  votes 
in  all  the  States.  The  sentiment  at  the 
base  of  this  party  never  thrived  save  as  in 
States,  particularly  in  New  England,  where 
it  sought  to  impress  itself  on  the  prevail 
ing  political  party,  and  through  it  to  influ 
ence  legislation.  Neal  Dow  of  Maine,  first 
advocated  a  prohibitory  law,  and  by  his 
eloquent  advocacy,  secured  that  of  Maine, 
which  has  stood  for  nearly  thirty  years. 
That  of  Massachusetts  has  recently  been 
repealed.  The  prohibitory  amendment  to 
the  Constitution  of  Kansas  was  adopted  in 
1881,  etc.  The  Prohibitory  Party,  how 
ever,  never  accomplished  anything  by  sep 
arate  political  action,  and  though  fond  of 
nominating  candidates  for  State  and  local 
officers,  has  not  as  yet  succeeded  in  hold 
ing  even  a  balance  of  power  between  the 
political  parties,  though  it  has  often  con- 
rused  political  calculations  as  to  results  in 
New  York,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  Connecti 
cut,  Massachusetts,  etc.  It  seems  never  to 
have  taken  hold  in  any  of  the  Southern 
States,  and  comparatively  little  in  the 


Western,  until  the  whole  country  was  sur 
prised  in  1880  by  the  passage  of  the  Kan 
sas  amendment  by  over  20,000  majority  in 
a  vote  of  the  people  invoked  by  the  Legis 
lature.  An  effort  followed  to  submit  a  sim 
ilar  amendment  through  the  Pennsylvania 
Legislature  in  1881.  It  passed  the  House 
by  a  large  majority,  but  after  discussion  in 
the  Senate,  and  amendments  to  indemnify 
manufacturers  and  dealers  in  liquor  (an 
amendment  which  would  cripple  if  it  would 
not  bankrupt  the  State)  was  adopted.  Gov 
ernor  St.  John  of  Kansas,  a  gentleman  fond 
of  stumping  for  this  amendment,  insists 
that  the  results  are  good  in  his  State,  while 
its  enemies  claim  that  it  has  made  many 
criminals,  that  liquor  is  everywhere  smug 
gled  and  sold,  and  that  the  law  has  turned 
the  tide  of  immigration  away  from  that  great 
State.  The  example  of  Kansas,  however, 
will  probably  be  followed  in  other  States, 
and  the  Prohibitory  Party  will  hardly  pass 
from  view  until  this  latest  experiment  has 
been  fairly  tested.  It  was  also  the  author 
of  "  Local  Option,"  which  for  a  time  swept 
Pennsylvania,  but  was  repealed  by  a  large 
majority  after  two  years'  trial. 


Annexation  of  San  Domingo. 

The  second  session  of  the  41st  Congress 
began  December  5th,  1870.  With  all  of 
the  States  represented,  reconstruction  be 
ing  complete,  the  body  was  now  divided 
politically  as  follows :  Senate,  61  Repub- 
licans,  13  Democrats ;  House  172  Republi 
cans,  71  Democrats.  President  Grant's  an 
nual  message  discussed  a  new  question, 
and  advocated  the  annexation  of  San  Do 
mingo  to  the  United  States.  A  treaty  had 
been  negotiated  between  President  Grant 
and  the  President  of  the  Republic  of  San 
Domingo  as  early  as  September  4th,  1869, 
looking  to  annexation,  but  it  had  been  re 
jected  by  the  Senate,  Charles  Sumner  be 
ing  prominent  in  his  opposition  to  the 
measure.  He  and  Grant  experienced  a 
growing  personal  unpleasantness,  because 
of  the  President's  attempt  to  negotiate  a 
treaty  without  consulting  Mr.  Sumner,  who 
was  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  For 
eign  Affairs,  and  it  was  charged  that 
through  the  influence  of  the  President  he 
was  removed  by  the  Republican  caucus 
from  this  Chairmanship,  and  Senator  Si 
mon  Cameron  put  in  his  place.  Whether 
this  was  true  or  not,  the  differences  be 
tween  Grant  and  Sumner  were  universally 
remarked,  and  Sumner's  imperious  pride 
led  him  into  a  very  vindictive  assault  up 
on  the  proposition.  Grant  gave  few  other 
reasons  for  annexation  than  military  ones, 
suggested  that  as  a  naval  station  it"  would 
facilitate  all  home  operations  in  the  Gulf, 
while  in  the  hands  of  a  foreign  power,  in 
the  event  of  war,  it  would  prove  the  depot 
for  many  and  dangerous  warlike  prepa- 


THE    FORCE    BILL. 


197 


rations.  The  question  had  little  political 
significance,  if  it  was  ever  designed  to  have 
any,  and  this  second  attempt  to  bring  the 
scheme  to  the  attention  of  Congress,  was 
that  a  joint  resolution  (as  in  the  annexa 
tion  of  Texas)  might  be  passed.  This 
would  require  but  a  majority,  but  the  ob 
jection  was  met  that  no  Territory  could  be 
annexed  without  a  treaty,  and  this  must 
be  ratified  by  two-thirds  of  the  Senate.  A 
middle  course  was  taken,  and  the  Presi 
dent  was  authorized  to  appoint  three  Com 
missioners  to  visit  San  Domingo  and  as 
certain  the  desires  of  its  people.  These 
reported  favorably,  but  the  subject  was 
finally  dropped,  probably  because  the  pro 
position  could  not  command  a  two-thirds 
vote,  and  has  not  since  attracted  attention. 


Amendatory  Enforcement  Acts. 

The  operation  of  the  15th  Amendment, 
being  still  resisted  or  evaded  in  portions 
of  the  South,  an  Act  was  passed  to  enforce 
it.  This  extended  the  powers  of  the  Fed 
eral  supervisors  and  marshals,  authorized 
in  the  first,  and  gave  the  Federal  Circuit 
Courts  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  all  cases 
tried  under  the  provisions  of  the  Act  and 
its  supplements.  It  also  empowered  these 
Courts  to  punish  any  State  officer  who 
should  attempt  to  interfere  with  or  try 
such  cases  as  in  contempt  of  the  Court's 
jurisdiction.  The  Republicans  sustained, 
the  Democrats  opposed  the  measure,  but 
it  was  passed  and  approved  February  28, 
1871,  and  another  supplement  was  insert 
ed  in  the  Sundry  Civil  Bill,  and  approved 
June  10th,  1872,  with  continued  resistance 
on  the  part  of  the  Democrats.  After  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  to  investi 
gate  the  condition  of  affairs  in  the  South 
ern  States,  Congress  adjourned  March  4th, 
1871. 


The  Alabama  Claims. 

During  this  year  the  long  disputed  Ala 
bama  Claims  of  the  United  States  against 
Great  Britain,  arising  from  the  depreda 
tions  of  the  Anglo-rebel  privateers,  built 
and  fitted  out  in  British  waters,  were  re 
ferred  by  the  Treaty  of  Washington,  dated 
May  8th,  1871,  to  arbitrators,  and  this 
was  the  first  and  most  signal  triumph 
of  the  plan  of  arbitration,  so  far  as  tne 
Government  of  the  United  States  was 
concerned.  The  arbitrators  were  appointed, 
at  the  invitation  of  the  governments  of 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  from 
these  powers,  and  from  Brazil,  Italy,  and 
Switzerland.  On  September  14th,  1872, 
they  gave  to  the  United  States  gross  dam 
ages  to  the  amount  of  $15,500,000,  an 
amount  which  has  subsequently  proved  to 
be  really  in  excess  of  the  demands  of  mer 
chants  and  others  claiming  the  loss  of 


property  through  the  depredations  of  the 
rebel  ram  Alabama  and  other  rebel  priva 
teers.  We  append  a  list  of  the  representa 
tives  of  the  several  governments : 

Arbitrator  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States — CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS. 

Arbitrator  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain — 
The  Right  Honorable  Sir  ALEXANDER 
COCKBURN,  Baronet,  Lord  Chief  Justice  of 
England. 

Arbitrator  on  the  part  of  Italy — His  Ex 
cellency  Senator  Count  SCLOPIS. 

Arbitrator  on  the  part  of  Switzerland — 
Mr.  JACOB  STAMPFLI. 

Arbitrator  on  the  part  of  Brazil — Baron 

D'lTAJUBA. 

Agent  on  the  part  of  the  United  States — J. 
C.  BANCROFT  DAVIS. 

Agent  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain- — 
Eight  Honorable  LORD  TENTERDEN. 

Counsel  for  the  United  States— CALEB 
GUSHING,  WILLIAM  M.  EVARTS,  MORRI 
SON  R.  WAITE. 

Counsel  for  Great  Britain — Sir  ROUN- 
DELL  PALMER. 

/Solicitor  for  the  United  States — CHARLES 
C.  BE  AM  AN,  Jr. 


The  Force  Bill. 

The  42d  Congress  met  March  4,  1871, 
the  Republicans  having  suffered  somewhat 
in  their  representation.  In  the  Senate 
there  were  57  Republicans,  17  Democrats; 
in  the  House  138  Republicans,  103  Demo 
crats.  James  G.  Blaine  was  again  chosen 
Speaker.  The  most  exciting  political 
question  of  the  session  was  the  passage  of 
the  "  Force  Bill,"  as  the  Democrats  called 
it.  The  object  was  more  rigidly  to  enforce 
observance  of  the  provisions  of  the  14th 
Amendment,  as  the  Republicans  claim; 
to  revive  a  waning  political  power  in  the 
South,  and  save  the  "  carpet-bag  "  govern 
ments  there,  as  the  Democrats  claimed. 
The  Act  allowed  suit  in  the  Federal  courts 
against  any  person  who  should  deprive 
another  of  the  rights  of  a  citizen,  and  it 
made  it  a  penal  offense  to  conspire  to  take 
away  any  one's  rights  as  a  citizen.  It  also 
provided  that  inability,  neglect,  or  refusal 
by  any  State  governments  to  suppress  such 
conspiracies,  or  their  refusal  to  call  upon 
the  President  for  aid,  should  be  deemed  a 
denial  by  such  State  of  the  equal  protec 
tion  of  the  laws  under  the  14th  Amend 
ment.  It  further  declared  such  conspira 
cies  "  a  rebellion  against  the  government 
of  the  United  States,"  and  authorized  the 
President,  when  in  his  judgment  the  pub 
lic  safety  required  it,  to  suspend  the  privi 
lege  of  habeas  corpus  in  any  district,  and 
suppress  any  such  insurrection  by  the 
army  and  navy. 


198 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Pirsident  Hayes's  Civil  Service  Order. 

;     EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  Washington,  June  22, 1877. 

SIR  :— I  desire  to  call  your  attention  to 
the  following  paragraph  in  a  letter  ad 
dressed  by  me  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  on  the  conduct  to  be  observed  by 
the  officers  of  the  General  Government  in 
relation  to  the  elections  : 

"  No  officer  should  be  required  or  per 
mitted  to  take  part  in  the  management  of 
political  organizations,  caucuses,  conven 
tion,*  or  election  campaigns.  Their  right  to 
vote  and  to  express  their  views  on  public 
questions,  either  orally  or  through  the 
press,  is  not  denied,  provided  it  does  not 
interfere  with  the  discharge  of  their  offi 
cial  duties.  No  assessment  for  political 
purposes  on  officers  or  subordinates  should 
be  allowed." 

This  rule  is  applicable  to  every  depart 
ment  of  vhe  Civil  Service.  It  should  be 
understood  by  every  officer  of  the  General 
Government  that  he  is  expected  to  conform 
his  conduct  to  its  requirements. 

Very  respectfully,  R.  B.  HAYES. 

Some  of  the  protests  were  strong,  and  it 
is  difficult  to  say  whether  Curtis,  Julian, 
or  Eaton — its  three  leading  advocates — or 
the  politicians,  had  the  best  of  the  argu 
ment.  It  was  not  denied,  however,  that  a 
strong  and  very  respectable  sentiment  had 
been  created  in  favor  of  the  reform,  and  to 
this  sentiment  all  parties,  and  the  President 
&4  well,  made  a  show  of  bowing.  It  was 
fashionable  to  insert  civil  service  planks 
in  National  and  State  platforms,  but  it  was 
was  not  such  an  issue  as  could  livein  the 
presence  of  more  exciting  ones;  and  while 
to  this  day  it  has  earnest  and  able  advo 
cates,  it  has  from  year  to  year  fallen  into 
greater  disuse.  Actual  trial  showed  the 
impracticability  of  some  of  the  rules,  and 
President  Grant  lost  interest  in  Che  subject, 
aa  did  Congress,  for  in  several  instances  it 
neglected  to  appropriate  the  funds  necessary 
to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  the  law. 
President  Arthur,  in  his  message,  to  Con 
gress  in  December,  1381 ,  argued  against 
its  full  application,  and  showed  that  it 
blocked  the  way  to  preferment,  certainly 
of  the  middle-aged  and  older  persons,  who 
could  not  recall  their  early  lessons  ac 
quired  by  rote ;  that  its  eifect  was  to  ele 
vate  the  inexperienced  to  positions  which 
required  executive  ability,  sound  judgment 
business  aptitude,  and  experience.  The 
feature  of  the  message  met  the  endorament 
of  nearly  the  entire  Republican  press,  and 
at  this  writing  the  sentiment,  at  least  of 
the  Republican  party,  appears  to  favor  a 
partial  modification  of  the  rules. 

The. system  was  begun  January  1st,  1872, 
but  in  December,  1874,  Congress  refused  to 
make  any  anpropriations,  and  it  was  for  a 
"time  abandoned,  with  slight  and  spasmodic 


revivals  under  the  administration  of  Presi 
dent  Hayes,  who  issued  the  foregoing  order. 

By  letter  from  the  Attorney-General, 
Charles  Devens,  August  1, 1877,  this  order 
was  held  to  apply  to  the  Pennsylvania  Re 
publican  Association  at  Washington.  Still 
later  there  was  a  further  exposition,  in 
which  Attorney- General  Devens,  writing 
from  Washington  in  October  1,  1877,  ex 
cuses  himself  from  active  participation  in 
the  Massachusetts  State  campaign,  and 
says  :  "  I  learn  with  surprise  and  regret 
that  any  of  the  Republican  officials  hesitate 
either  to  speak  or  vote,  alleging  as  a  reason 
the  President's  recent  Civil  Service  order. 
In  distinct  terms  that  order  states  that  the 
right  of  officials  to  vote  and  express  their 
views  on  public  questions,  either  orally  or 
through  the  press,  is  not  denied,  provided 
it  does  not  interfere  with  the  discharge  of 
their  official  duties.  If  such  gentlemen 
choose  not  to  vote,  or  not  to  express  or  en 
force  their  views  in  support  of  the  princi 
ples  of  the  Republican  party,  either  orally 
or  otherwise,  they,  at  least,  should  give  a 
reason  for  such  a  course  which  is  not  jus 
tified  by  the  order  referred  to,  and  which 
is  simply  a  perversion  of  it.M 

Yet  later,  when  the  interest  in  the  Penn 
sylvania  election  became  general,  because 
of  the  sharp  struggle  between  Governor 
Hoyt  and  Senator  Dill  for  Governor,  a 
committee  of  gentlemen  (Republicans) 
visited  President  Hayes  and  induced  him 
to  "  suspend  the  operation  of  the  order  "  as 
to  Pennsylvania,  where  political  contribu 
tions  were  collected. 

And  opposition  was  manifested  after  even 
the  earlier  trials.  Benjamin  F.  Butler  de 
nounced  the  plan  as  English  and  anti-Re 
publican,  and  before  long  some  of  the  more 
radical  Republican  papers,  which  had  in 
deed  given  little  attention  to  the  subject, 
began  to  denounce  it  as  a  plan  to  exclude 
faithful  Republicans  from  and  permit 
Democrats  to  enter  the  offices.  These 
now  argued  that  none  of  the  vagaries  of 
political  dreamers  could  ever  convince 
them  that  a  free  Government  can  be  run 
without  political  parties  ;  that  while  rota 
tion  in  office  may  not  be  a  fundamental 
element  of  republican  government,  yet  the 
right  of  the  people  to  recommend  is  its 
corner-stone;  that  civil  service  would  lead 
to  the  creation  of  rings,  and  eventually  to 
the  purchase  of  places;  that  it  would  es 
tablish  an  aristocracy  of  office-holders,  who 
could  not  be  removed  at  times  when  it 
might  be  important,  as  in  the  rebellion  fot 
the  Administration  to  have  only  friends  in 
public  office ;  that  it  would  establish  grades 
and  life-tenures  in  civic  positions,  etc. 

For  later  particulars  touching  civil  ser 
vice,  see  the  Act  of  Congress  of  18S3,  and 
the  regulations  made  pursuant  to  thesainr» 
in  Book  V. 


THE    LIBERAL    REPUBLICANS. 


199 


Amnesty. 

The  first  regular  session  of  the  42d  Con 
gress  met  Dec.  4th,  1871.  The  Democrats 
consumed  much  of  the  time  in  efforts  to 
pass  bills  to  remove  the  political  disabilities 
of  former  Southern  rebels,  and  they  were 
materially  aided  by  the  editorials  of  Hor 
ace  Greeley,  in  the  New  York  Tribune, 
which  had  long  contended  for  universal 
amnesty.  At  this  session  all  such  efforts 
were  defeated  by  the  Republicans,  who  in 
variably  amended  such  propositions  by  ad 
ding  Sumner's  Supplementary  Civil  Rights 
Bill,  which  was  intended  to  prevent  any  dis 
crimination  against  colored  persons  by 
common  carriers,  hotels,  or  other  chartered 
or  licensed  servants.  The  Amnesty  Bill, 
however  was  passed  May  22d,  1872,  after  an 
an  agreement  to  exclude  from  its  provisions 
all  who  held  the  higher  military  and  civic 
positions  under  the  Confederacy — iu  all 
about  350  persons.  The  following  is  a  copy : 

Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  (two-thirds  of  each 
House  concurring  therein,)  That  all  legal 
and  political  disabilities  imposed  by  the 
third  section  of  the  fourteenth  article  of 
the  amendments  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  are  hereby  removed  from 
all  persons  whomsoever,  except  Senators 
and  Representatives  of  the  Thirty-sixth 
and  Thirty-seventh  Congress,  officers  in 
the  judicial,  military,  and  naval  service  of 
the  United  States,  heads  of  Departments, 
and  foreign  ministers  of  the  United  States. 

Subsequently  many  acts  removing  the 
disabilities  of  all  excepted  (save  Jefferson 
Davis]  from  the  provisions  of  the  above, 
were  passed. 


The  Liberal  Republicans. 

An  issue  raised  in  Missouri  gave  imme 
diate  rise  to  the  Liberal  Republican  party, 
though  the  course  of  Horace  Greeley  had 
long  pointed  toward  the  organization  of 
something  of  the  kind,  and  with  equal 
plainness  it  pointed  to  his  desire  to  be  its 
champion  and  candidate  for  the  Presi 
dency.  In  1870  the  Republican  party, 
then  in  control  of  the  Legislature  of  Mis 
souri,  split  into  two  parts  on  the  question 
of  the  removal  of  the  disqualifications  im 
posed  upon  rebels  by  the  State  Constitu 
tion  during  the  war.  Those  favoring  the 
removal  of  disabilities  were  headed  by  B. 
Gratz  Brown  and  Carl  Schurz,  and  they 
called  themselves  Liberal  Republicans; 
those  opposed  were  called  and  accepted 
the  name  of  Radical  Republicans.  The 
former  quickly  allied  themselves  with  the 
Democrats,  and  thus  carried  the  State, 
though  Grant's  administration  "  stood  in" 
with  the  Radicals.  As  a  result  the  dis 
abilities  were  quickly  removed,  and  those 
who  believed  with  Greeley  now  sought  to 
promote  a  reaction  in  Republican  senti 


ment  all  over  the  country.  Greeley  was 
the  recognized  head  of  this  movement,  and 
he  was  ably  aided  by  ex-Governor  Curtin 
and  Col.  A.  K.  AJcClure  in  Pennsylvania  ; 
Charles  Francis  Adams,  Massachusetts ; 
Judge  Trumbull,  in  Illinois ;  Reuben  E, 
Fenton,  in  New  York  ;  Brown  and  Schurz 
in  Missouri,  and  in  fact  by  leading  Re 
publicans  in  nearly  all  of  the  States,  wh'> 
at  once  began  to  lay  plans  to  carry  the 
next  Presidential  election. 

They  charged  that  the  Enforcement  Act* 
of  Congress  were  designed  more  for  the 
political  advancement  of  Grant's  adherents 
than  for  the  benefit  of  the  country ;  that 
instead  of  suppressing  they  were  calcula 
ted  to  promote  a  war  of  races  in  the  South ; 
that  Grant  was  seeking  the  establishment 
of  a  military  despotism,  etc.  These  leaders 
were,  as  a  rule,  brilliant  men.  They  had 
tired  of  unappreciated  and  unrewarded 
service  in  the  Republican  party,  or  had  a 
natural  fondness  for  "  pastures  new,"  and, 
in  the  language  of  the  day,  they  quickly 
succeeded  in  making  political  movements 
"  lively." 

In  the  spring  of  1871  the  Liberal  Repub 
licans  and  Democrats  of  Ohio — and  Ohio 
seems  to  be  the  most  fertile  soil  for  new 
ideas — prepared  for  a*  fusion,  and  after  fre 
quent  consultations  of  the  various  leader* 
with  Mr.  Greeley  in  New  York,  a  call  was 
issued  from  Missouri  on  the  24th  of  Janu 
ary,  1872,  for  a  National  Convention  of 
the  Liberal  Republican  party  to  be  held 
at  Cincinnati,  May  1st.  The  well-matured 
plans  of  the  leaders  were  carried  out  in  the 
nomination  of  Hon.  Horace  Greeiey  for 
President  and  B.  Gratz  Brown  for  Vice- 
President,  though  not  without  a  serious 
struggle  over  the  chief  nomination,  which 
was  warmly  contested  by  the  friends  of 
Charles  Francis  Adams.  Indeed  he  led 
in  most  of  the  six  ballots,  but  finally  all 
the  friends  of  other  candidates  voted  for 
Greeley,  and  he  received  482  to  187  for 
Adams.  Dissatisfaction  followed,  and  a 
later  effort  was  made  to  substitute  Adams 
for  Greeley,  but  it  failed.  The  original 
leaders  now  prepared  to  capture  the  Demo 
cratic  Convention,  which  met  at  Baltimore, 
June  9th.  By  nearly  an  unanimous  vote 
it  was  induced  to  endorse  the  Cincinnati 
platform,  and  it  likewise  finally  endorsed 
Greeley  and  Brown — though  not  without 
many  bitter  protests.  A  few  straight-out 
Democrats  met  later  at  Louisville,  Ky., 
Sept.  3d,  and  nominated  Charles  O'Coiior, 
of  New  York,  for  President,  and  John 
Quincy  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  for  Vice- 
President,  and  these  were  kept  in  the  race 
to  the  end,  receiving  a  popular  vote  of 
about  30,000. 

The  regular  Republican  National  Con 
vention  was  held  at  Philadelphia,  June 
5th.  It  renominated  President  Grant 
unanimously,  and  Henry  Wilson,  of  Mas- 


200 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


sachusetts,  for  Vice-President  by 
votes  to  321  £  for  Schuyler  Colfax,  who 
thus  shared  the  fate  of  Hannibal  Haralin 
in  his  second  candidacy  for  Vice-President 
on  the  ticket  with  Abraham  Lincoln. 
This  change  to  Wilson  was  to  favor  the 
solid  Republican  States  of  New  England, 
and  to  prevent  both  candidates  coming 
from  the  West. 


Civil  Service  Reform. 

After  considerable  and  very  able  agita 
tion  by  Geo.  W.  Curtis,  the  editor  of 
Harper's  Weekly,  an  Act  was  passed  March 
3d,  1871,  authorizing  the  President  to  be 
gin  a  reform  in  the  civil  service.  He  ap 
pointed  a  Commission  headed  by  Mr.  Cur 
tis,  and  after  more  than  a  year's  preparation 
this  body  defeated  a  measure  which  se 
cured  Congressional  approval  and  that  of 
President  Grant. 

The  civil  service  law  (and  it  is  still  a 
law  though  more  honored  now  in  the 
breach  than  the  observance)  embraced  in 
a  single  section  of  the  act  making  appropri 
ations  for  sundry  civil  expenses  for  the 
year  ending  June  30, 1872,  and  authorize  the 
President  to  prescribe  such  rules  and  reg 
ulations  for  admission  into  the  civil  ser 
vice  as  will  best  promote  the  efficiency 
thereof,  and  ascertain  the  fitness  of  each 
candidate  for  the  branch  of  service  into 
which  he  seeks  to  enter.  Under  this  law 
a  commission  was  appointed  to  draft  rules 
and  regulations  which  were  approved  and 
are  now  being  enforced  by  the  President. 
All  applicants  for  position  in  any  of  the 
government  departments  come  under  these 
rules : — all  classes  of  clerks,  copyists,  coun 
ters  ;  in  the  customs  service  all  from  deputy 
collector  down  to  inspectors  and  clerks 
with  the  salaries  of  $1200  or  more ;  in  ap 
praisers'  offices  all  assistants  and  clerks  5 
in  the  naval  service  all  clerks ;  all  light 
house  keepers ;  in  the  revenue,  supervisors, 
collectors,  assessors,  assistants ;  in  the  pos 
tal  really  all  postmasters  whose  pay  is  over 
$200,  and  all  mail  messengers.  The  rules 
apply  to  all  new  appointments  in  the  de 
partments  or  grades  named,  except  that 
"  nothing  shall  prevent  the  reappointment 
at  discretion  of  the  incumbents  of  any  of 
fice  the  term  of  which  is  fixed  by  law." 
So  that  a  postmaster  or  other  officer 
escapes  their  application.  Those  specially 
exempt  are  the  Heads  of  Departments; 
their  immediate  assistants  and  deputies,  the 
diplomatic  service,  the  judiciary,  and  the 
district  attorneys.  Each  branch  of  the 
service  is  to  be  grouped,  and  admission 
ishall  always  be  to  the  lowest  grade  of  any 
group.  Such  appointments  are  made  for  a 
probationary  term  of  six  months,  when  if 
the  Board  of  Examiners  approve  the  in- 
caimbent  is  continued.  This  Board  of  Ex 
aminers,  three  in  number  in  each  case, 


shall  be  chosen  by  the  President  from  the 
several  Departments,  and  they  shall  ex  = 
amine  at  Washington  for  any  position 
there,  or,  when  directed  by  an  Advisory 
Board,  shall  assign  places  for  examination 
in  the  several  States.  Examinations  are 
in  all  cases  first  made  of  applicants  within 
the  office  or  department,  and  from  the  list 
three  reported  in  the  order  of  excellence  ; 
if  those  within  fail,  then  outside  applicants 
may  be  examined.  In  the  Federal  Blue 
Book,  which  is  a  part  of  this  volume,  we 
give  the  Civil  Service  Rules. 

When  first  proposed,  partisan  politics 
had  no  part  or  place  in  civil  service  re 
form,  and  the  author  of  the  plan  was  him 
self  a  distinguished  Republican.  In  fact 
both  parties  thought  something  good  had 
been  reached,  and  there  was  practically  no 
resistance  at  first  to  a  trial. 

The  Democrats  resisted  the  passage  of 
this  bill  with  even  more  earnestness  than 
any  which  preceded  it,  but  the  Republi 
can  discipline  was  almost  perfect,  and 
when  passed  it  received  the  prompt  ap 
proval  of  President  Grant,  who  by  this 
time  was  classed  as  "  the  most  radical  of 
the  radicals."  Opponents  denounced  it  as 
little  if  any  less  obnoxious  than  the  old 
Sedition  law  of  1798,  while  the  Republi 
cans  claimed  that  it  was  to  meet  a  state  of 
growing  war  in  the  South — a  war  of  races 
— and  that,  the  form  of  domestic  violence 
manifested  was  in  the  highest  degree  dan 
gerous  to  the  peace  of  the  Union  and  the 
safety  of  the  newly  enfranchised  citizens. 


The  Credit  Mobilicr. 

At  the  second  session  of  the  42d  Con 
gress,  beginning  Dec.  2,  1872,  the  speaker 
(Blaine)  on  the  first  day  called  attention 
to  the  charges  made  by  Democratic  orators 
and  newspapers  during  the  Presidential 
campaign  just  closed,  that  the  Vice  Presi 
dent  (Colfax),  the  Vice  President  elect 
(Wilson),  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
several  Senators,  the  Speaker  of  the  House, 
and  a  large  number  of  Representatives  had 
been  bribed,  during  the  years  1867  and 
1868,  by  Oakes  Ames,  a  member  of  the 
House  from  Massachusetts ;  that  he  and 
his  agents  had  given  them  presents  of 
stock  in  a  corporation  known  as  the  Credit 
Mobilier,  to  influence  their  legislative  ac 
tion  for  the  benefit  of  the  Union  Pacific 
Railroad  Compay. 

Upon  Speaker  Elaine's  motion,  a  com 
mittee  of  investigation  was  appointed  by 
Hon.  S.  S.  Cox,  of  New  York,  a  noted 
Democrat  temporarily  called  to  the  Chair. 

After  the  close  of  the  campaign,  (as  was 
remarked  by  the  Republic  Magazine  at  the 
time)  the  dominant  party  might  well  have 
claimed,  and  would  have  insisted  had  they 
been  opposed  to  a  a  thorough  investigation 


THE    CREDIT    MOBILIER. 


201 


and  a  full  exposure  of  corruption,  that  the 
verdict  of  the  people  in  the  late  canvss 
was  sufficient  answer  to  these  charges ;  but 
the  Republican  party  not  merely  granted 
all  the  investigations  sought,  but  sum 
moned  on  the  leading  committee  a  ma 
jority  of  its  political  foes  to  conduct  the 
inquest. 

The  committee  consisted  of  Messrs.  Po 
land,  of  Vermont;  McCreary,  of  Iowa; 
Banks,  of  Massachusetts ;  Niblack,  of  Indi 
ana,  and  Merrick,  of  Maryland. 

Messrs.  Poland  and  McCreary — the  two 
Republicans — were  gentlemen  of  ability 
and  standing,  well  known  for  their  integ 
rity,  moderation,  and  impartiality.  Gen 
eral  Banks  was  an  earnest  supporter  of 
Horace  Greeley,  upon  the  alleged  ground 
that  the  Republican  organization  had  be 
come  effete  and  corrupt:  while  Messrs. 
Niblack  and  Merrick  are  among  the  ablest 
representatives  of  the  Democratic  party ; 
in  fact,  Mr.  Merrick  belonged  to  the  ex 
treme  Southern  school  of  political  thought. 

Having  patiently  and  carefully  exam 
ined  and  sifted  the  entire  testimony — often 
"  painfully  conflicting,"  as  the  committee 
remarked — their  report  ought  to  be  con 
sidered  a  judicial  document  commanding 
universal  approval,  yet  scraps  of  the  testi 
mony  and  not  the  report  itself  were  used 
with  painful  frequency  against  James  A. 
Garfield  in  his  Presidential  canvass  of 
1880.  There  has  not  been  a  state  paper 
submitted  for  many  years  upon  a  similar 
subject  that  carried  with  it  greater  weight, 
or  which  bore  upon  its  face  a  fuller  reali 
zation  of  the  grave  responsibilities  assumed, 
and  it  is  the  first  time  in  the  political  his 
tory  of  the  United  States  that  an  all-im 
portant  investigation  has  been  entrusted  by 
the  dominant  party  to  a  majority  of  its  po 
litical  foes. 

The  report  of  the  committee  gives  the 
best  and  by  far  the  most  reliable  history  of 
the  whole  affair,  and  its  presentation  here 
may  aid  in  preventing  partisan  misrepre 
sentations  in  the  future — misrepresenta 
tions  made  in  the  heat  of  contest,  and 
doubtless  regretted  afterwards  by  all  who 
had  the  facilities  for  getting  at  the  facts. 
We  therefore  give  the 

OFFICIAL    REPORT    OF    THE    CREDIT    MO 
BILIER  INVESTIGATING  COMMITTEE. 

Mr.  Poland,  from  the  select  committee 
to  investigate  the  alleged  Credit  Mobilier 
bribery,  made  the  following  report  Febru 
ary  18,  1873 : 

The  special  committee  appointed  under 
the  following  resolutions  of  the  House  to 
wit  : 

WHEREAS,  Accusations  have  been  made 
in  the  public  press,  founded  on  alleged 
letters  of  Oakes  Ames,  a  Representative  of 
Massachusetts,  and  upon  the  alleged  affi 
davits  of  Henry  S.  McComb,  a  citizen  of 


Wilmington,  in  the  State  of  Delaware,  to 
the  effect  that  members  of  this  House 
were  bribed  by  Oakes  Ames  to  perform 
certain  legislative  acts  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  by 
presents  of  stock  in  the  Credit  Mobilier  of 
America,  or  by  presents  of  a  valuable  char 
acter  derived  therefrom :  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  a  special  committee  of 
five  members  be  appointed  by  the  Speaker 
pro  teinpore,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  in 
vestigate  whether  any  member  of  this 
House  was  bribed  by  Oakes  Ames,  or  any 
other  person  or  corporation,  in  any  matter 
touching  his  legislative  duty. 

Resolved,  further,  That    the    committee 
have  the  right  to  employ  a  stenographer, 
and  that  they  be  empowered  to  send  for 
persons  and  papers ; 
beg  leave  to  make  the  following  report: 

In  order  to  a  clear  understanding  of  the 
facts  hereinafter  stated  as  to  contracts  and 
dealings  in  reference  to  stock  of  the  Credit 
Mobilier  of  America,  between  Mr.  Oakes 
Ames  and  others,  and  members  of  Con 
gress,  it  is  necessary  to  make  a  preliminary 
statement  of  the  connection  of  that  com 
pany  with  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Com 
pany,  and  their  relations  to  each  other. 

The  company  called  the  "  Credit  Mo 
bilier  of  America "  was  incorporated  by 
the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  and  in 
1864  control  of  its  charter  and  franchises 
had  been  obtained  by  certain  persons  in 
terested  in  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad 
Company,  for  the  purpose  of  using  it  as  a 
construction  company  to  build  the  Union 
Pacific  road.  In  September,  1864,  a  con 
tract  was  entered  into  between  the  Union 
Pacific  Company  and  H.  M.  Hoxie,  for  the 
building  by  said  Hoxie  of  one  hundred 
miles  of  said  road  from  Omaha  west. 

This  contract  was  at  once  assigned  by 
Hoxie  to  the  Credit  Mobilier  Company,  as 
it  was  expected  to  be  when  made.  Under 
this  contract  and  extensions  of  it  some  two 
or  three  hundred  miles  of  road  were  built 
by  the  Credit  Mobilier  Company,  but  no 
considerable  profits  appear  to  have  been 
realized  therefrom.  The  enterprise  of 
building  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  was  of 
such  vast  magnitude,  and  was  beset  by  so 
many  hazards  and  risks  that  the  capitalists 
of  the  country  were  generally  averse  to  in 
vesting  in  it,  and,  notwithstanding  the  lib 
eral  aid  granted  by  the  Government  it 
seemed  likely  to  fail  of  completion. 

In  1865  or  1866,  Mr.  Oakes  Ames,  then 
and  now  a  member  of  the  House  from  the 
State  of  Massachusetts,  and  his  brother 
Oliver  Ames  became  interested  in  the 
Union  Pacific  Company  and  also  in  the 
Credit  Mobilier  Company  as  the  agents  for 
the  construction  of  the  road.  The  Mes 
srs.  Ames  were  men  of  very  large  capital, 
and  of  known  character  and  integrity  in 
business.  By  their  example  and  credit, 


202 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


and  the  personal  efforts  of  Mr.  Oakes 
Ames,  many  men  of  capital  were  induced 
to  embark  in  the  enterprise,  and  to  take 
stock  in  the  Union  Pacific  Company  and 
also  in  the  Credit  Mobilier  Company. 
Among  them  were  the  firm  of  S.  Hooper 
&  Co.,  of  Boston,  the  leading  member  of 
which,  Mr.  Samuel  Hooper,  was  then  and 
is  now  a  member  of  the  House  ;  Mr.  John 
B.  Alley,  then  a  member  of  the  House 
from  Massachusetts,  and  Mr.  Grimes,  then 
a  Senator  from  the  State  of  Iowa.  Not 
withstanding  the  vigorous  efforts  of  Mr. 
Ames  and  others  interested  with  him,  great 
difficulty  was  experienced  in  securing  the 
required  capital. 

In  the  spring  of  1867  the  Credit  Mo 
bilier  Company  voted  to  add  50  per  cent, 
to  their  capital  stock,  which  was  then  two 
and  a  half  millions  of  dollars ;  and  to  cause 
it  to  be  readily  taken  each  subscriber  to  it 
was  entitled  to  receive  as  a  bonus  an  equal 
amount  of  first  mortgage  bonds  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Company.  The  old  stock 
holders  were  entitled  to  take  this  increase, 
but  even  the  favorable  terms  offered  did 
not  induce  all  the  old  stockholders  to  take 
it,  and  the  stock  of  the  Credit  Mobilier 
Company  was  never  considered  worth  its 
par  value  until  after  the  execution  of  the 
Oakes  Ames  contract  hereinafter  men 
tioned. 

On  the  16th  day  of  August,  1867,  a  con 
tract  was  executed  between  the  Union  Pa 
cific  Railroad  Company  and  Oakes  Ames, 
by  which  Mr.  Ames  contracted  to  build  six 
hundred  and  sixty-seven  miles  of  the  Union 
Pacific  road  at  prices  ranging  from  $42,000 
to  $96,000  per  mile,  amounting  in  the  ag 
gregate  to  $47,000,000.  Before  the  con 
tract  was  entered  into  it  was  understood 
that  Mr.  Ames  was  to  transfer  it  to  seven 
trustees,  who  were  to  execute  it,  and  the 
profits  of  the  contract  were  to  be  divided 
among  the  stockholders  in  the  Credit  Mo 
bilier  Company,  who  should  comply  with 
certain  conditions  set  out  in  the  instru 
ment  transferring  the  contract  to  the  trus 
tees.  The  Ames  contract  and  the  trans 
fer  to  trustees  are  incorporated  in  the  evi 
dence  submitted,  and  therefore  further  re 
cital  of  their  terms  is  not  deemed  neces 
sary. 

Substantially,  all  the  stockholders  of  the 
Credit  Mobilier  complied  with  the  condi 
tions  named  in  the  transfer,  and  thus  be 
came  entitled  to  share  in  any  profits  said 
trustees  might  make  in  executing  the  con 
tract. 

All  the  large  stockholders  in  the  Union 
Pacific  were  also  stockholders  in  the  Credit 
Mobilier,  and  the  Ames  contract  and  its 
transfer  to  trustees  were  ratified  by  the 
Union  Pacific,  and  received  the  assent  of 
the  great  body  of  stockholders,  but  not  of 
all. 

After  the  Ames  contract  had  been  exe 


cuted,  it  was  expected  by  those  interested 
that  by  reason  of  the  enormous  prices 
agreed  to  be  paid  for  the  work  very  large 
profits  would  be  derived  from  building  the 
road,  and  very  soon  the  stock  of  the  Cred 
it  Mobilier  was  understood  by  those  hold 
ing  it  to  be  worth  much  more  than  its  par 
value.  The  stock  was  not  in  the  market 
and  had  no  fixed  market  value,  but  the 
holders  of  it,  in  December,  1867,  consid 
ered  it  worth  at  least  double  the  par  value, 
and  in  January  and  February,  1868,  three 
or  four  times  the  par  value,  but  it  does  not 
appear  that  these  facts  were  generally  or 
publicly  known,  or  that  the  holders  of  the 
stock  desired  they  should  be. 

The  foregoing  statement  the  committee 
think  gives  enough  of  the  historic  details, 
and  condition  and  value  of  the  stock,  to 
make  the  following  detailed  facts  intelli 
gible. 

Mr.  Oakes  Ames  was  then  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  came  to 
Washington  at  the  commencement  of  the 
session,  about  the  beginning  of  December, 
1867.  During  that  month  Mr.  Ames  en 
tered  into  contracts  with  a  considerable 
number  of  members  of  Congress,  both  Sen 
ators  and  Representatives,  to  let  them  have 
shares  of  stock  in  the  Credit  Mobilier 
Company  at  par,  with  interest  thereon  from 
the  first  day  of  the  previous  July.  It  does 
not  appear  that  in  any  instance  he  asked 
any  of  these  persons  to  pay  a  higher  price 
than  the  par  value  and  interest,  nor  that 
Mr.  Ames  used  any  special  effort  or  ur 
gency  to  get  these  persons  to  take  it.  In 
all  these  negotiations  Mr.  Ames  did  not 
enter  into  any  details  as  to  the  value  of 
the  stock  or  the  amount  of  dividend  that 
might  be  expected  upon  it,  but  stated  gen 
erally  that  it  would  be  good  stock,  and  in 
several  instances  said  he  would  guarantee 
that  they  should  get  at  least  10  per  cent, 
on  their  money. 

Some  of  these  gentlemen,  in  their  con 
versations  with  Mr.  Ames,  raised  the  ques 
tion  whether  becoming  holders  of  this 
stock  would  bring  them  into  any  embar 
rassment  as  members  of  Congress  in  their 
legislative  action.  Mr.  Ames  quieted  such 
suggestions  by  saying  it  could  not,  for  the 
Union  Pacific  had  received  from  Congress 
all  the  grants  and  legislation  it  wanted, 
and  they  should  ask  for  nothing  more.  In 
some  instances  those  members  who  con 
tracted  for  stock  paid  to  Mr.  Ames  the 
money  for  the  price  of  the  stock,  par  and 
interest;  in  others,  where  they  had  not  the 
money,  Mr.  Ames  agreed  to  carry  the 
stock  for  them  until  they  could  get  the 
money  or  it  should  be  met  by  the  divi 
dends. 

Mr.  Ames  was  at  this  time  a  large  stock 
holder  in  the  Credit  Mobiler,  but  he  did 
not  intend  any  of  these  transactions  to  be 
sales  of  his  own  stock,  but  intended  to  nil- 


THE    CREDIT    MOBILIER. 


203 


fill  all  these  contracts  from  stock  belong 
ing  to  the  company. 

At  this  time  there  were  about  six  hun 
dred  and  fifty  shares  of  the  stock  of  the  com 
pany,  which  had  for  some  reason  been 
placed  in  the  name  of  Mr.  T.  C.  Durant, 
one  of  the  leading  and  active  men  of  the 
concern. 

Mr.  Ames  claimed  that  a  portion  of  this 
stock  should  be  assigned  to  him  to  enable 
him  to  fulfill  engagements  he  had  made 
for  stock.  Mr.  Durant  claimed  that  he 
had  made  similar  engagements  that  he 
should  be  allowed  stock  to  fulfill.  Mr. 
McComb,  who  was  present  at  the  time, 
claimed  that  he  had  also  made  engage 
ments  for  stock  which  he  should  have 
stock  given  him  to  carry  out.  This  claim 
of  McComb  was  refused,  but  after  the 
stock  was  assigned  to  Mr.  Ames,  McComb 
insisted  that  Ames  should  distribute  some 
of  the  stock  to  his  (McComb's)  friends,  and 
named  Senators  Bayard  and  Fowler,  and 
Representatives  Allison  and  Wilson,  of 
Iowa. 

It  was  finally  arranged  that  three  hun 
dred  and  forty-three  shares  of  the  stock  of 
the  company  should  be  transferred  to  Mr. 
Ames  to  enable  him  to  perform  his  engage 
ments,  and  that  number  of  shares  were  set 
over  on  the  books  of  the  company  to  Oakes 
Ames,  trustee,  to  distinguish  it  from  the 
stock  held  by  him  before.  Mr.  Ames  at 
the  time  paid  to  the  company  the  par  of 
the  stock  and  interest  from  the  July  pre 
vious,  and  this  stock  still  stands  on  the 
books  in  the  name  of  Oakes  Ames,  trustee, 
except  thirteen  shares  which  have  been 
transferred  to  parties  in  no  way  connected 
with  Congress.  The  committee  dp  not  find 
that  Mr.  Ames  had  any  negotiation  what 
ever  with  any  of  these  members  of  Con 
gress  on  the  subject  of  this  stock  prior  to 
the  commencement  of  the  session  of  De 
cember,  1837,  except  Mr.  Scofield,  of  Penn 
sylvania,  and  it  was  not  claimed  that  any 
obligation  existed  from  Mr.  Ames  to  him 
as  the  result  of  it. 

In  relation  to  the  purpose  and  motives 
of  Mr.  Ames  in  contracting  to  let  members 
of  Congress  have  Credit  Mobilier  stock  at 
par,  which  he  and  all  other  owners  of  it 
considered  worth  at  least  double  that  sum, 
the  committee,  upon  the  evidence  taken 
by  them  and  submitted  to  the  House,  can 
not  entertain  doubt.  When  he  said  he  did 
not  suppose  the  Union  Pacific  Company 
would  ask  or  need  further  legislation,  he 
stated  what  he  believed  to  be  true.  But 
he  feared  the  interests  of  the  road  might 
suffer  by  adverse  legislation,  and  what  he 
desired  to  accomplish  was  to  enlist  strength 
and  friends  in  Congress  who  would  resist 
any  encroachment  upon  or  interference 
with  the  rights  and  privileges  already  se 
cured,  and  to  that  end  wished  to  create  in 
them  an  interest  identical  with  his  own. 


This  purpose  is  clearly  avowed  in  his  let 
ters  to  McComb,  copied  in  the  evidence. 
He  says  he  intends  to  place  the  stock 
"  where  it  will  do  most  good  to  us."  And 
again,  "  we  want  more  friends  in  this  Con 
gress."  In  his  letter  to  McComb,  and  also 
in  his  statement  prepared  by  counsel,  he 
gives  the  philosophy  of  his  action,  to  wit, 
"  That  he  has  found  there  is  no  difficulty 
in  getting  men  to  look  after  their  own 
property."  The  committee  are  also  satis 
fied  that  Mr.  Ames  entertained  a  fear  that, 
when  the  true  relations  between  the  Credit 
Mobilier  Company  and  the  Union  Pacific 
became  generally  known,  and 'the  means 
by  which  the  great  profits  expected  to  be 
made  were  fully  understood,  there  was 
danger  that  congressional  investigation  and 
action  would  be  invoked. 

The  members  of  Congress  with  whom  he 
dealt  were  generally  those  who  had  been 
friendly  and  favorable  to  a  Pacific  Rail 
road,  and  Mr.  Ames  did  not  fear  or  expect 
to  find  them  favorable  to  movements  hos 
tile  to  it;  but  he  desired  to  stimulate  their 
activity  and  watchfulness  in  opposition  to 
any  unfavorable  action  by  giving  them  a 
personal  interest  in  the  success  of  the  en 
terprise,  especially  so  far  as  it  affected  the 
interest  of  the  Credit  Mobilier  Company. 
On  the  9th  day  of  December,  1867,  Mr.  C.  C. 
Washburn,  of  Wisconsin,  introduced  in  the 
House  a  bill  to  regulate  by  law  the  rates 
of  transportation  over  the  Pacific  Railroad. 

Mr.  Ames,  as  well  as  others  interested  in 
the  Union  Pacific  road,  was  opposed  to 
this,  and  desired  to  defeat  it.  Other  mea 
sures  apparently  hostile  to  that  company 
were  subsequently  introduced  into  the 
House  by  Mr.  Washburn  of  Wisconsin,  and 
Mr.  Washburne  of  Illinois  The  commit 
tee  believe  that  Mr.  Ames,  in  his  distribu 
tions  of  stock,  had  specially  in  mind  the 
hostile  efforts  of  the  Messrs.  Washburn, 
and  desired  to  gain  strength  to  secure  their 
defeat.  The  reference  in  one  of  his  letters 
to  "  Washbum's  move "  makes  this  quite 
apparent. 

The  foregoing  is  deemed  by  the  commit 
tee  a  sufficient  statement  of  facts  as  to  Mr. 
Ames,  taken  in  connection  with  what  will 
be  subsequently  stated  of  his  transactions 
with  particular  persons.  Mr.  Ames  made 
some  contracts  for  stock  in  the  Credit 
Mobilier  with  members  of  the  Senate.  In 
public  discussions  of  this  subject  the  names 
of  members  of  both  Houses  have  been  so 
connected,  and  all  these  transactions  were 
so  nearly  simultaneous,  that  the  committee 
deemed  it  their  duty  to  obtain  all  evidence 
in  their  power,  as  to  all  persons  then  mem 
bers  of  either  House,  and  to  report  the 
same  to  the  House.  Having  done  this,  and 
the  House  having  directed  that  evidence 
transmitted  to  the  Senate,  the  committee 
consider  their  own  power  and  duty,  as  well 
as  that  of  the  House,  fully  performed,  so 


204 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


far  as  members  of  the  Senate  are  concerned. 
Some  of  Mr.  Ames's  contracts  to  sell  stock 
were  with  gentlemen  who  were  then  mem 
bers  of  the  House,  but  are  not  members  of 
the  present  Congress. 

The  committee  have  sought  for  and  ta 
ken  all  the  evidence  within  their  reach  as 
to  those  gentlemen,  and  reported  the  same 
to  the  House.  As  the  House  has  ceased 
to  have  jurisdiction  over  them  as  members, 
the  committee  have  not  deemed  it  their 
duty  to  make  any  special  finding  of  facts 
as  to  each,  leaving  the  House  and  the 
country  to  their  own  conclusions  upon  the 
testimony. 

In  regard  to  each  of  the  members  of  the 
present  House,  the  committee  deem  it 
their  duty  to  state  specially  the  facts  they 
find  proved  by  the  evidence,  which,  in 
some  instances,  is  painfully  conflicting. 

MR.  JAMES  G.  ELAINE,  OF  MAINE. 

Among  those  who  have  in  the  public 
press  been  charged  with  improper  partici 
pation  in  Credit  Mobilier  stock  is  the  pre 
sent  Speaker,  Mr.  Elaine,  who  moved  the 
resolution  for  this  investigation.  The  com 
mittee  have,  therefore,  taken  evidence  in 
regard  to  him.  They  find  from  it  that  Mr. 
Ames  had  conversation  with  Mr.  Elaine  in 
regard  to  taking  ten  shares  of  the  stock, 
and  recommended  it  as  a  good  investment. 
Upon  consideration  Mr.  Elaine  concluded 
not  to  take  the  stock,  and  never  did  take 
it,  and  never  paid  or  received  anything  on 
account  of  it;  and  Mr.  Elaine  never  had 
any  interest,  direct  or  indirect,  in  Credit 
Mobilier  stock  or  stock  of  the  Union 
Pacific  Railroad  Company. 

MR.  HENRY  L.  DAWES,  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 

Mr.  Dawes  had,  prior  to  December,  1867, 
made  some  small  investments  in  railroad 
bonds  through  Mr.  Ames.  In  December, 
1867,  Mr.  Dawes  applied  to  Mr.  Ames  to 
purchase  a  thousand -dollar  bond  of  the 
Cedar  Rapids  road,  in  Iowa.  Mr.  Ames 
informed  him  that  he  had  sold  them  all, 
but  that  he  would  let  him  have  for  his 
thousand  dollars  ten  shares  of  Credit  Mo 
bilier  stock,  which  he  thought  was  better 
than  the  railroad  bond.  In  answer  to  in 
quiries  by  Mr.  Dawes  Mr.  Ames  said  the 
Credit  Mobilier  Company  had  the  con 
tract  to  build  the  Union  Pacific  road,  and 
thought  they  would  make  money  out  of  it, 
and  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing ;  that  he 
would  guarantee  that  he  should  get  10  per 
cent,  on  his  money,  and  that  if  at  any 
time  Mr.  Dawes  did  not  want  the  stock  he 
would  pay  back  his  money  with  10  per 
cent,  interest.  Mr.  Dawes  made  some  fur 
ther  inquiry  in  relation  to  the  stock  of  Mr. 
John  B.  Alley,  who  said  he  thought  it  was 
good  stock,  but  not  as  good  as  Mr.  Ames 
thought,  but  that  Mr.  Ames's  guarantee 
would  make  it  a  perfectly  safe  investment. 


Mr.  Dawes  thereupon  concluded  to  pur 
chase  the  ten  shares,  and  on  the  llth  of 
January  he  paid  Mr.  Ames  $800,  and  in  a 
few  days  thereafter  the  balance  of  the 
price  of  this  stock,  at  par  and  interest  from 
July  previous.  In  June,  1868,  Mr.  Ames 
received  a  dividend  of  60  per  cent,  in 
money  on  this  stock,  and  of  it  paid  to  Mr. 
Dawes  $400,  and  applied  the  balance  of 
$200  upon  accounts  between  them.  This 
$400  was  all  that  was  paid  over  to  Mr. 
Dawes  as  a  dividend  upon  this  stock.  At 
some  time  prior  to  December,  1868,  Mr. 
Dawes  was  informed  that  a  suit  had  been 
commenced  in  the  courts  of  Pennsylvania 
by  former  owners  of  the  charter  of  the 
Credit  Mobilier,  claiming  that  those  then 
claiming  and  using  it  had  no  right  to  do 
so.  Mr.  Dawes  thereupon  informed  Mr. 
Ames  that  as  there  was  a  litigation  about 
the  matter  he  did  not  desire  to  keep  the 
stock.  On  the  9th  of  December,  1868,  Mr. 
Ames  and  Mr.  Dawes  had  a  settlement  of 
their  matters  in  which  Mr.  Dawes  was  al 
lowed  for  the  money  he  paid  for  the  stock 
with  10  per  cent,  interest  upon  it,  and  ac 
counted  to  Mr.  Ames  for  the  $400  he  had 
received  as  a  dividend.  Mr.  Dawes  re 
ceived  no  other  benefit  under  the  contract 
than  to  get  10  per  cent,  upon  his  money, 
and  after  the  settlement  had  no  further  in 
terest  in  the  stock. 

MR.   GLENNI  W.   8COFIELD,  OF  PENN 
SYLVANIA. 

In  1866  Mr.  Scofield  purchased  some 
Cedar  Rapids  bonds  of  Mr.  Ames,  and  in 
that  year  they  had  conversations  about 
Mr.  Scofield  taking  stock  in  the  Credit 
Mobilier  Company,  but  no  contract  was 
consummated.  In  December,  1867,  Mr. 
Scofield  applied  to  Mr.  Ames  to  purchase 
more  Cedar  Rapids  bonds,  when  Mr.  Ames 
suggested  he  should  purchase  some  Credit 
Mobilier  stock,  and  explained  generally 
that  it  was  a  contracting  company  to  build 
the  Union  Pacific  road;  that  it  was  a 
Pennsylvania  corporation,  and  he  would 
like  to  have  some  P^nnsylvanians  in  it; 
that  he  would  sell  it  to  him  at  par  and  in 
terest,  and  that  he  would  guarantee  he 
should  get  8  per  cent,  if  Mr.  Scofield  would 
give  him  half  the  dividends  above  that. 
Mr.  Scofield  said  he  thought  he  would 
take  $1,000  of  the  stock ;  but  before  any 
thing  further  was  done  Mr.  Scofield  was 
called  home  by  sickness  in  his  family.  On 
his  return,  the  latter  part  of  January, 
1868,  he  spoke  to  Mr.  Ames  about  the 
stock,  when  Mr.  Ames  said  he  thought  it 
was  all  sold,  but  he  would  take  his  money 
and  give  him  a  receipt,  and  get  the  stock 
for  him  if  he  could.  Mr.  Scofield  there 
upon  paid  Mr.  Ames  $1,041,  and  took  his 
receipt  therefor. 

Not  long  after  Mr.  Ames  informed  Mr. 
Scofield  he  qpuld  have  the  stock,  but  could 


THE    CREDIT    MOBILIER. 


205 


not  give  him  a  certificate  for  it  until  he 
could  get  a  larger  certificate  dividend. 
Mr.  Scofield  received  the  bond  dividend  of 
80  per  cent.,  which  was  payable  January  3, 
1868,  taking  a  bond  for  $1,000  and  paying 
Mr.  Ames  the  difference.  Mr.  Ames  re 
ceived  the  60  per  cent,  cash  dividend  on 
the  stock  in  June,  1868,  and  paid  over  to 
Mr.  Scofield  $600,  the  amount  of  it. 

Before  the  close  of  that  session  of  Con 
gress,  which  was  toward  the  end  of  July, 
Mr.  Scofield  became,  for  some  reason,  dis 
inclined  to  take  the  stock,  and  a  settlement 
was  made  between  them,  by  which  Mr. 
Ames  was  to  retain  the  Credit  Mobilier 
stock  and  Mr.  Scofield  took  a  thousand 
dollars  Union  Pacific  bond  and  ten  shares 
of  Union  Pacific  stock. 

The  precise  basis  of  the  settlement  does 
not  appear,  neither  Mr.  Ames  nor  Mr. 
Scofield  having  any  full  date  in  reference 
to  it ;  Mr.  Scofield  thinks  that  he  only  re 
ceived  back  his  money  and  interest  upon 
it,  while  Mr.  Ames  states  that  he  thinks 
Mr.  Scofield  had  ten  shares  of  Union 
Pacific  stock  in  addition.  The  committee 
do  not  deem  it  specially  important  to  settle 
this  difference  of  recollection.  Since  that 
settlement  Mr.  Scofield  has  had  no  interest 
in  the  Credit  Mobilier  stock  and  derived 
no  benefit  therefrom. 

MR.  JOHN  A.  BINGHAM,  OF  OHIO. 

In  December,  1867,  Mr.  Ames  advised 
Mr.  Bingham  to  invest  in  the  stock  of  the 
Credit  Mobilier,  assuring  him  that  it  would 
return  him  his  money  with  profitable  divi 
dends.  Mr.  Bingham  agreed  to  take 
twenty  shares,  and  about  the  1st  of  Febru 
ary,  1868,  paid  to  Mr.  Ames  the  par  value 
of  the  stock,  for  which  Mr.  Ames  executed 
to  him  some  receipt  or  agreement.  Mr. 
Ames  received  all  the  dividends  on  the 
stock,  whether  in  Union  Pacific  bonds,  or 
stock,  or  money;  some  were  delivered  to 
Mr.  Bingham  and  some  retained  by  Mr. 
Ames.  The  matter  was  not  finally  ad 
justed  between  them  until  February,  1872, 
when  it  was  settled,  Mr.  Ames  retaining 
the  twenty  shares  of  Credit  Mobilier  stock, 
and  accounting  to  Mr.  Bingham  for  such 
dividends  upon  it  as  Mr.  Bingham  had  not 
already  received.  Mr.  Bingham  was 
treated  as  the  real  owner  of  the  stock  from 
the  time  of  the  agreement  to  take  it,  in 
December,  1867,  to  the  settlement  in  Feb 
ruary,  1872,  and  had  the  benefit  of  all  the 
dividends  upon  it.  Neither  Mr.  Ames  nor 
Mr.  Bingham  had  such  records  of  their 
dealing  as  to  be  able  to  give  the  precise 
amount  of  those  dividends. 

MB.  WILLIAM    D.   KELLEY,   OF    PENNSYL 
VANIA. 

The  committee  find  from  the  evidence 
that  in  the  early  part  of  the  second  session 
of  the  Fortieth  Congress,  and  probably  in 


December,  1867,  Mr.  Ames  agreed  with 
Mr.  Kelley  to  sell  him  ten  shares  of  Credit 
Mobilier  stock  at  par  and  interest  from 
July  1,  1867.  Mr.  Kelley  was  not  then 
prepared  to  pay  for  the  stock,  and  Mr. 
Ames  agreed  to  carry  the  stock  for  him 
until  he  could  pay  for  it.  On  the  third 
day  of  January,  1868,  there  was  a  dividend 
of  80  per  cent,  on  Credit  Mobilier  stock  in 
Union  Pacific  bonds.  Mr.  Ames  received 
the  bonds,  as  the  stock  stood  in  his  name, 
and  sold  them  for  97  per  cent,  of  their  face. 
In  June,  1868,  there  was  a  cash  dividend 
of  60  per  cent.,  which  Mr.  Ames  also  re 
ceived.  The  proceeds  of  the  bonds  sold, 
and  the  cash  dividends  received  by  Mr. 
Ames,  amounted  to  $1,376.  The  par  value 
of  the  stock  and  interest  thereon  from  the 
previous  July  amounted  to  $1,047  ;  so  that, 
after  paying  for  the  stock,  there  was  a 
balance  of  dividends  due  Mr.  Kelley  of 
$329.  On  the  23d  day  of  June,  1868,  Mr. 
Ames  gave  Mr.  Kelley  a  check  for  that 
sum  on  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  Mr.  Kelley  re 
ceived  the  money  thereon. 

The  committee  find  that  Mr.  Kelley  then 
understood  that  the  money  he  thus  re 
ceived  was  a  balance  of  dividends  due  him 
after  paying  for  the  stock. 

All  the  subsequent  dividends  upon  the 
stock  were  either  in  Union  Pacific  stock 
or  bonds,  and  they  were  all  received  by 
Mr.  Ames.  In  September,  1868,  Mr. 
Kelley  received  from  Mr.  Ames  $750  in 
money,  which  was  understood  between 
them  to  be  an  advance  to  be  paid  out  of 
dividends.  There  has  never  been  any  ad 
justment  of  the  matter  between  them,  and 
there  is  now  an  entire  variance  in  the  tes 
timony  of  the  two  men  as  to  what  the 
transaction  between  them  was,  but  the 
committee  are  unanimous  in  finding  the 
facts  above  stated.  The  evidence  reported 
to  the  House  gives  some  subsequent  con 
versations  and  negotiations  between  Mr. 
Kelley  and  Mr.  Ames  on  this  subject. ,  The 
committee  do  not  deem  it  material  to  refer 
to  it  in  their  report. 

MR.   JAMES  A.  GARFIELD,   OF  OHIO. 

The  facts  in  regard  to  Mr.  Garfield,  as 
found  by  the  committee,  are  identical  with 
the  case  of  Mr.  Kelley  to  the  point  of  re 
ception  of  the  check  for  $329.  He  agreed 
with  Mr.  Ames  to  take  ten  shares  of  Credit 
Mobilier  stock,  but  did  not  pay  for  the 
same.  Mr.  Ames  received  the  80  per  cent, 
dividend  in  bonds  and  sold  them  for  97 
per  cent.,  and  also  received  the  60  per  cent, 
cash  dividend,  which  together  paid  the 
price  of  the  stock  and  interest,  and  left  a 
balance  of  $329.  This  sum  was  paid  over 
to  Mr.  Garfield  by  a  check  on  the  Sergeant- 
at-Arms,  and  Mr.  Garfield  then  understood 
this  sum  was  the  balance  of  dividends  after 
paying  for  the  stock.  Mr.  Ames  received 


206 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


all  the  subsequent  dividends,  and  the  com 
mittee  do  not  find  that,  since  the  payment 
of  the  $329,  there  has  been  any  communi 
cation  between  Mr.  Ames  and  Mr.  Garfield 
on  the  subject  until  this  investigation  be 
gan.  Some  correspondence  between  Mr. 
Garfield  and  Mr.  Ames,  and  some  conver 
sations  between  them  during  this  investi 
gation,  will  be  found  in  the  reported  testi 
mony. 

The  committee  do  not  find  that  Mr. 
Ames,  in  his  negotiations  with  the  persons 
above  named,  entered  into  any  detail  of 
the  relations  between  the  Credit  Mobilier 
Company  and  the  Union  Pacific  Company, 
or  gave  them  any  specific  information  as 
to  the  amount  of  dividends  they  would  be 
likely  to  receive  further  than  has  been  al 
ready  stated.  They  all  knew  from  him,  or 
otherwise,  that  the  Credit  Mobilier  was  a 
contracting  company  to  build  the  Union 
Pacific  road,  but  it  does  not  appear  that 
any  of  them  knew  that  the  profits  and 
dividends  were  to  be  in  stock  and  bonds  of 
that  company. 

The  Credit  Mobilier  Company  was  a 
State  corporation,  not  subject  to  congres 
sional  legislation,  and  the  fact  that  its  pro 
fits  were  expected  to  be  derived  from 
building  the  Union  Pacific  road  did  not, 
apparently,  create  such  an  interest  in  that 
company  as  to  disqualify  the  holder  of 
Credit  Mobilier  stock  from  participating 
in  any  legislation  affecting  the  railroad 
company.  In  his  negotiations  with  these 
members  of  Congress,  Mr.  Ames  made  no 
suggestion  that  he  desired  to  secure  their 
favorable  influence  in  Congress  in  favor  of 
the  railroad  company,  and  whenever  the 
question  was  raised  as  to  Avhether  the 
ownership  of  this  stock  would  in  any  way 
interfere  with  or  embarrass  them  in  their 
action  as  members  of  Congress,  he  assured 
them  it  would  not. 

The  committee,  therefore,  do  not  find, 
as  to  the  members  of  the  present  House 
above  named,  that  they  were  aware  of  the 
object  of  Mr.  Ames,  or  that  they  had  any 
other  purpose  in  taking  this  stock  than  to 
make  a  profitable  investment.  It  is  appa 
rent  that  those  who  advanced  their  money 
to  pay  for  their  stock  present  more  the  ap 
pearance  of  ordinary  investors  than  those 
who  did  not,  but  the  committee  do  not  feel 
at  liberty  to  find  any  corrupt  purpose  or 
knowledge  founded  upon  the  fact  of  non 
payment  alone. 

It  ought  also  to  be  observed  that  those 
gentlemen  who  surrendered  their  stock  to 
Mr.  Ames  before  there  was  any  public  ex 
citement  upon  the  subject,  do  not  profess 
to  have  done  so  upon  any  idea  of  impro 
priety  in  holding  it,  but  for  reasons  affect 
ing  the  value  and  security  of  the  invest 
ment.  But  the  committee  believe  that 
they  must  have  felt  that  there  was  some 
thing  so  out  of  the  ordinary  course  of 


business  in  the  extraordinary  dividends 
they  were  receiving  as  to  render  the  in 
vestment  itself  suspicions,  and  that  this 
was  one  of  the  motives  of  their  action. 

The  committee  have  not  been  able  to 
find  that  any  of  these  members  of  Congress 
have  been  affected  in  their  official  action 
in  consequence  of  their  interest  in  Credit 
Mobilier  stock. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  fact  that 
none  of  this  stock  was  transferred  to  those 
with  whom  Mr.  Ames  contracted  was  a 
circumstance  from  which  a  sense  of  impro 
priety,  if  not  corruption,  was  to  be  infer 
red.  The  committee  believe  this  is  capable 
of  explanation  without  such  inference. 
The  profits  of  building  the  road,  under  the 
Ames  contract,  were  only  to  be  divided 
among  such  holders  of  Credit  Mobilier 
stock  as  should  come  in  and  become  par 
ties  to  certain  conditions  set  out  in  the 
contract  of  transfer  to  the  trustees,  so  that 
a  transfer  from  Mr.  Ames  to  new  holders 
would  cut  off  the  right  to  dividends  from 
the  trustees,  unless  they  also  became  par 
ties  to  the  agreement ;  *and  this  the  com 
mittee  believe  to  be  the  true  reasrn  why 
no  transfers  were  made. 

The  committee  are  also  of  opinion  that 
there  was  a  satisfactory  reason  for  delay 
on  Mr.  Ames's  part  to  close  settlements 
with  some  of  these  gentlemen  for  stock 
and  bonds  he  had  received  as  dividends 
upon  the  stock  contracted  to  them.  In  the 
fall  of  1868  Mr.  McComb  commenced  a 
suit  against  the  Credit  Mobilier  Company, 
and  Mr.  Ames  and  others,  claiming  to  be 
entitled  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  shares 
of  the  Credit  Mobilier  stock  upon  a  sub 
scription  for  stock  to  that  amount.  That 
suit  is  still  pending.  If  McComb  pre 
vailed  in  that  suit,  Mr.  Ames  might  be 
compelled  to  surrender  so  much  of  the 
stock  assigned  to  him  as  trustee,  and  he 
was  not  therefore  anxious  to  have  the 
stock  go  out  of  his  hands  until  that  suit 
was  terminated.  It  ought  also  to  be  stated 
that  no  one  of  the  present  members  of  the 
House  above  named  appears  to  have  had 
any  knowledge  of  the  dealings  of  Mr. 
Ames  with  other  members. 

The  committee  do  not  find  that  either 
of  the  above-named  gentlemen,  in  contract 
ing  with  Mr.  Ames,  had  any  corrupt  mo 
tive  or  purpose  himself,  or  was  aware  that 
Mr.  Ames  had  any,  nor  did  either  of  them 
suppose  he  was  guilty  of  any  impropriety 
or  even  indelicacy  in  becoming  a  purchaser 
of  this  stock.  Had  it  appeared  that  these 
gentlemen  were  aware  of  the  enormous  di 
vidends  upon  this  stock,  and  how  they 
were  to  be  earned,  we  could  not  thus  ac 
quit  them.  And  here  as  well  as  anywhere, 
the  committee  may  allude  to  that  subject. 
Congress  had  chartered  the  Union  Pacific 
road,  given  to  it  a  liberal  grant  of  lands, 
and  promised  a  liberal  loan  of  Government 


THE    CREDIT    MOBILIEB. 


207 


bonds,  to  be  delivered  as  fast  as  sections  of 
the  road  were  completed.  As  these  alone 
might  not  be  sufficient  to  complete  the 
road,  Congress  authorized  the  company  to 
issue  their  own  bonds  for  the  deficit,  and 
secured  them  by  a  mortgage  upon  the  road, 
which  should  be  a  lien  prior  to  that  of  the 
Government.  Congress  never  intended 
that  the  owners  of  the  road  should  execute 
a  mortgage  011  the  road  prior  to  that  of  the 
Government,  to  raise  money  to  put  into  their 
own  pockets,  but  only  to  build  the  road. 

The  men  who  controlled  the  Union 
Pacific  seem  to  have  adopted  as  the  basis 
of  their  action  the  right  to  incumber  the 
road  by  a  mortgage  prior  to  that  of  the 
Government  to  the  full  extent,  whether 
the  money  was  needed  for  the  construction 
of  the  road  or  not. 

It  was  clear  enough  they  could  not  do 
this  directly  and  in  terms,  and  therefore 
they  resorted  to  the  device  of  contracting 
with  themselves  to  build  the  road,  and  fix 
a  price  high  enough  to  require  the  issue  of 
bonds  to  the  full  extent,  and  then  divide 
the  bonds  or  the  proceeds  of  them  under 
the  name  of  profits  on  the  contract.  All 
those  acting  in  the  matter  seem  to  have 
been  fully  aware  of  this,  and  that  this  was 
to  be  the  effect  of  the  transaction.  The 
sudden  rise  of  value  of  Credit  Mobilier 
stock  was  the  result  of  the  adoption  of  this 
scheme.  Any  undue  and  unreasonable 
profits  thus  made  by  themselves  were  as 
much  a  fraud  upon  the  Government  as  if 
they  had  sold  their  bonds  and  divided  the 
money  without  going  through  the  form  of 
denominating  them  profits  on  building  the 
road. 

Now  had  these  facts  been  known  to 
these  gentlemen,  and  had  they  understood 
they  were  to  share  in  the  proceeds  of  the 
scheme,  they  would  have  deserved  the 
severest  censure. 

Had  they  known  only  that  the  profits 
were  to  be  paid  in  stock  and  bonds  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Company,  and  so  make  them 
interested  in  it,  we  cannot  agree  to  the 
doctrine,  which  has  been  urged  before  us 
and  elsewhere,  that  it  was  perfectly  legiti 
mate  for  members  of  Congress  to  invest  in 
a  corporation  deriving  all  its  rights  from 
and  subject  at  all  times  to  the  action  of 
Congress. 

In  such  case  the  rule.3  of  the  House,  as 
well  as  the  rules  of  decency,  would  require 
such  member  to  abstain  from  voting  on 
any  question  affecting  his  interest.  But, 
after  accepting  the  position  of  a  member  of 
Congress,  we  do  not  think  he  has  the 
right  to  disqualify  himself  from  acting 
upon  subjects  likely  to  come  before  Con 
gress  without  some  higher  and  more  urgent 
motive  than  merely  to  make  a  profitable 
investment.  But  it  is  not  so  much  to  be 
feared  that  in  such  case  an  interested  mem 
ber  would  vote  as  that  he  would  exercise 


his  influence  by  personal  appeal  to  his  fel 
low-members,  and  by  other  modes,  which 
often  is  far  more  potent  than  a  single  silent 
vote. 

We  do  not  think  any  member  ought  to 
feel  so  confident  of  his  own  strength  as  to 
allow  himself  to  be  brought  into  this  temp 
tation.  We  think  Mr.  Ames  judged 
shrewdly  in  saying  that  a  man  is  much 
more  likely  to  be  watchful  of  his  own  in 
terests  than  those  of  other  people.  But 
there  is  a  broader  view  still  which  we  think 
ought  to  be  taken.  This  country  is  fast 
becoming  filled  with  gigantic  corporations, 
wielding  and  controlling  immense  aggrega 
tions  of  money,  and  thereby  commanding 
great  influence  and  power.  It  is  notorious 
in  many  State  legislatures  that  these  in 
fluences  are  often  controlling,  so  that  in 
effect  they  become  the  ruling  power  of  the 
State.  Within  a  few  years  Congress  has, 
to  some  extent,  been  brought  within  similar 
influences,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  pub 
lic  on  that  subject  has  brought  great  dis 
ci  edit  upon  the  body,  far  more,  we  believe, 
than  there  were  facts  to  justify. 

But  such  is  the  tendency  of  the  time,  and 
the  belief  is  far  too  general  that  all  men 
can  be  ruled  with  money,  and  that  the  use 
of  such  means  to  carry  public  measures  is 
legitimate  and  proper.  No  member  of  Con 
gress  ought  to  place  himself  in  circum 
stances  of  suspicion,  so  that  any  discredit 
of  the  body  shall  arise  on  his  account.  Ifc 
is  of  the  highest  importance  that  the  na 
tional  legislature  should  be  free  of  all  taint 
of  corruption,  and  it  is  of  almost  equal 
necessity  that  the  people  should  feel  confi 
dent  that  it  is  so. 

In  a  free  government  like  ours,  we  can 
not  expect  the  people  will  long  respect  the 
laws,  if  they  lose  respect  for  the  law 
makers. 

For  these  reasons  we  think  it  behooves 
every  man  in  Congress  or  in  any  public 
position  to  hold  himself  aloof,  a?  far  as 
possible,  from  all  such  influences,  that  he 
may  not  only  be  enabled  to  look  at  every 
public  question  with  an  eye  only  to  the 
public  good,  but  that  his  conduct  and  mo 
tives  be  not  suspected  or  questioned.  The 
only  criticism  the  committee  feel  compelled 
to  make  on  the  action  of  these  members  in 
taking  this  stock  is  that  they  were  not  suf 
ficiently  careful  in  ascertaining  what  they 
were  getting,  and  that  in  their  judgment 
the  assurance  of  a  good  investment  was  all 
the  assurance  they  needed.  We  commend 
to  them,  and  to  all  men,  the  letter  of  the 
venerable  Senator  Bayard,  in  response  to 
an  offer  of  some  of  this  stock,  found  on 
page  74  of  the  testimony. 

The  committee  find  nothing  in  the  con 
duct  or  motives  of  either  of  these  members 
in  taking  this  stock,  that  calls  for  any 
recommendation  by  the  committee  of  the 
House. 


208 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


MR.  JAMES  BROOKS,  OF  KETW  YORK. 

The  case  of  Mr.  Brooks  stands  upon  a 
different  state  of  facts  from  any  of  those  al 
ready  given.  The  committee  find  from  the 
evidence  as  follows :  Mr.  Brooks  had  been 
a  warm  advocate  of  a  Pacific  Railroad,  both 
in  Congress  and  in  the  public  press.  After 
persons  interested  in  the  Union  Pacific 
road  had  obtained  control  of  the  Credit 
Mobil  ier  charter  and  organized  under  it 
for  the  purpose  of  making  it  a  construction 
company  to  build  the  road,  Dr.  Durant, 
who  was  then  the  leading  man  in  the  en 
terprise,  made  great  efforts  to  get  the  stock 
of  the  Credit  Mobilier  taken.  Mr.  Brooks 
was  a  friend  of  Dr.  Durant,  and  he  made 
some  efforts  to  aid  Dr.  Durant  in  getting 
subscriptions  for  the  stock,  introduced  the 
matter  to  some  capitalists  of  New^  York, 
but  his  efforts  were  not  crowned  with  suc- 


Durin^  this  period  Mr.  Brooks  had 
talked  with  Dr.  Durant  about  taking  some 
of  the  stock  for  himself,  and  had  spoken  of 
taking  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  dollars 
of  it,  but  no  definite  contract  was  made 
between  them,  and  Mr.  Brooks  was  under 
no  legal  obligation  to  take  the  stock,  or 
Durant  to  give  it  to  him.  In  October, 
1867,  Mr.  Brooks  was  appointed  by  the 
President  one  of  the  Government  directors 
of  the  Union  Pacific  road.  In  December, 
1867,  after  the  stock  of  the  Credit  Mobilier 
was  understood,  by  those  familiar  with  the 
affairs  between  the  Union  Pacific  and  the 
Credit  Mibilier,  to  be  worth  very  much 
more  than  par,  Mr.  Brooks  applied  to  Dr. 
Durant,  and  claimed  that  he  should  have 
two  hundred  shares  of  Credit  Mobilier 
stock.  It  does  not  appear  that  Mr.  Brooks 
claimed  he  had  any  legal  contract  for 
stock  that  he  could  enforce,  or  that  Durant 
considered  himself  in  any  way  legally 
bound  to  let  him  have  any,  but  still,  on 
account  of  what  had  been  said,  and  the 
efforts  of  Mr.  Brooks  to  aid  him,  he  con 
sidered  himself  under  obligations  to  satisfy 
Mr.  Brooks  in  the  matter. 

The  stock  had  been  so  far  taken  up,  and 
was  then  in  such  demand,  that  Durant 
could  not  well  comply  with  Brooks'a  de 
mand  for  two  hundred  shares.  After  con 
siderable  negotiation,  it  was  finally  ad 
justed  between  them  by  Durant's  agreeing 
to  let  Brooks  have  one  hundred  shares  of 
Credit  Mobilier  stock,  and  giving  him  with 
it  $5,000  of  Union  Pacific  bonds,  and  $20,- 
000  of  Union  Pacific  stock.  Dr.  Durant 
testifies  that  he  then  considered  Credit 
Mobilier  stock  worth  double  the  par 
value,  and  that  the  bonds  and  stock  he 
was  to  give  Mr.  Brooks  worth  about  $9,000, 
so  thatlie  saved  about  $1,000  by  not  giving 
Brooks  the  additional  hundred  shares  he 
claimed.  After  the  negotiation  had  been 
concluded  between  Mr. 'Brooks  and  Dr. 
Dnrant,  Mr.  Brooks  said  that  as  he  was  a 


Government  director  of  the  Union  Pacific 
road,  and  as  the  law  provided  such  direc 
tors  should  not  be  stockholders  in  that 
company,  he  would  not  hold  this  stock, 
and  directed  Dr.  DuranD  to  transfer  it  to 
Charles  H.  Neilson,  his  son-in-law.  The 
whole  negotiation  with  Durant  was  con 
ducted  by  Mr.  Brooks  himself,  and  Neilson 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  transaction, 
except  to  receive  the  transfer.  The  $10,- 
000  to  pay  for  the  one  hundred  shares  was 
paid  by  Mr.  Brooks,  and  he  received  the 
|>5,000  of  Pacific  bonds  which  came  with 
the  stock. 

The  certificate  of  transfer  of  the  hun 
dred  shares  from  Durant  to  Neilson  is 
dated  December  26,  1867.  On  the  3d  of 
January,  1868,  there  was  a  dividend  of  80 
per  cent,  in  Union  Pacific  bonds  paid  on 
the  Credit  Mobilier  stock.  The  bonds 
were  received  by  Neilson,  but  passed  over 
at  once  to  Mr.  Brooks.  It  is  claimed,  both 
by  Mr.  Brooks  and  Neilson,  that  the  $10,- 
000  paid  by  Mr.  Brooks  for  the  stock  was  a 
loan  of  that  sum  by  him  to  Neilson,  and, 
that  the  bonds  he  received  from  Durant, 
and  those  received  for  the  dividend,  were 
delivered  and  held  by  him  as  collateral 
security  for  the  loan. 

No  note  or  obligation  was  given  for  the 
money  by  Neilson,  nor,  so  far  as  we  can 
learn  from  either  Brooks  or  Neilson,  was 
any  account  or  memorandum  of  the  trans 
action  kept  by  either  of  them.  At  the 
time  of  the  arrangement  or  settlement 
above  spoken  of  between  Brooks  and  Du 
rant,  there  was  nothing  said  about  Mr. 
Brooks  being  entitled  to  have  50  per  cent, 
more  stock  by  virtue  of  his  ownership  of 
the  hundred  shares.  Neither  Brooks  nor 
Durant  thought  of  any  such  thing. 

Some  time  after  the  transfer  of  the 
shares  to  Neilson,  Mr.  Brooks  called  on 
Sidney  Dillon,  then  the  president  of  the 
Credit  Mobilier,  and  claimed  he  or  Neilson 
was  entitled  to  fifty  additional  shares  of 
the  stock,  by  virtue  of  the  purchase  of  the 
one  hundred  shares  of  Durant. 

This  was  claimed  by  Mr.  Brooks  as  his 
right  by  virtue  of  the  50  per  cent,  increase 
of  the  stock  hereinbefore  described.  Mr. 
Dillon  said  he  did  not  know  how  that  was, 
but  he  would  consult  the  leading  stock 
holders,  and  be  governed  by  them.  Mr. 
Dillon,  in  order  to  justify  himself  in  the 
transaction,  got  up  a  paper  authorizing  the 
issue  of  fifty  shares  of  the  stock  to  Mr. 
Brooks,  and  procured  it  to  be  signed  by 
most  of  the  principal  shareholders.  After 
this  had  been  done,  an  entry  of  fifty  shares 
was  made  on  the  stock-ledger  to  some  per 
son  other  than  Neilson.  The  name  in  two 
places  on  the  book  has  been  erased,  and 
the  name  of  Neilson  inserted.  The  com 
mittee  are  satisfied  that  the  stock  was  first 
entered  on  the  books  in  Mr.  Brooks's  name. 

Mr.  Neilson  soon  after  called  for  the  cer- 


THE    CREDIT    MOBILIER. 


209 


tificate  for  the  fifty  shares,  and  on  the  29th 
of  February,  1868,  the  certificate  was  issued 
to  him,  and  the  entry  on  the  stock-book 
was  changed  to  Neilson. 

Neilson  procured  Mr.  Dillon  to  advance 
the  money  to  pay  for  the  stock,  and  at  the 
same  time  delivered  to  Dillon  $4,000  Union 
Pacific  bonds,  and  fifty  shares  of  Union 
Pacific  stock  as  collateral  security.  These 
bonds  and  stock  were  a  portion  of  divi 
dends  received  at  the  time,  as  he  was  al 
lowed  to  receive  the  same  per  centage  of 
dividends  on  these  fifty  shares  that  had 
previously  been  paid  on  the  hundred. 
This  mitter  has  never  been  adjusted  be 
tween  Neilson  and  Dillon.  Brooks  and 
Neilson  both  testify  they  never  paid  Dillon. 
Dillon  thi-iks  he  has  received  his  pay,  as 
he  has  not  now  the  collaterals  in  his  pos 
session.  If  he  has  been  paid  it  is  probable 
that  it  was  from  the  collaterals  in  some 
form.  The  subject  has  never  been  named 
between  Dillon  and  Neilson  since  Dillon 
advanced  the  money,  and  no  one  connected 
with  the  transaction  seems  able  to  give  any 
further  light  upon  it.  Tne  whole  business 
by  which  these  fifty  shares  were  procured 
was  done  by  Mr.  Brooks.  Neilson  knew 
nothing  of  any  right  to  have  them,  and 
only  went  for  the  certificate  when  told  to 
do  so  by  Mr.  Brooks. 

The  committee  find  that  no  such  right  to 
fifty  shares  additional  stock  passed  by  the 
transfer  of  the  hundred.  And  from  Mr. 
Brooks's  familiarity  with  the  affairs  of  the 
company,  the  committee  believe  he  must 
have  known  his  claim  to  them  was  un 
founded.  The  question  naturally  arises, 
How  was  he  able  to  procure  them  ?  The 
stock  at  this  time  by  the  stockholders  was 
considered  worth  three  or  four  times  its 
par  value.  Neilson  sustained  no  relations 
to  any  of  these  people  that  commanded 
any  favor,  and  if  he  could  have  used  any 
influence  he  did  not  attempt  it ;  if  he  had 
this  right  he  was  unaware  of  it  till  told  by 
Mr.  Brooks,  and  left  the  whole  matter  in 
his  hands.  It  is  clear  that  the  shares  were 
procured  by  the  sole  efforts  of  Mr.  Brooks, 
and,  as  the  stockholders  who  consented  to 
it  supposed,  for  the  benefit  of  Mr.  Brooks. 
What  power  had  Mr.  Brooks  to  enforce  an 
unfounded  claim,  to  have  for  $5,000,  stock 
worth  $15,000  or  $20,000?  Mr.  McComb 
swears  that  he  heard  conversation  between 
Mr.  Brooks  and  Mr.  John  B.  Alley,  a  large 
stockholder,  and  one  of  the  executive  com 
mittee,  in  which  Mr.  Brooks  urged  that  he 
should  have  the  additional  fifty  shares,  be 
cause  he  was  or  would  procure  himself  to 
be  made  a  Government  director,  and  also 
that,  being  a  member  of  Congress,  he 
"  would  take  care  of  the  democratic  side  of 
the  House." 

Mr.  Brooks  and  Mr.  Alley  both  deny 
having  had  any  such  conversation,  or  that 
Mr.  Brooks  ever  made  such  a  statement  to 

14 


Mr.  Alley.  If,  therefore,  this  matter  rested 
wholly  upon  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Mc 
Comb,  the  committee  would  not  feel  justi 
fied  in  finding  that  Mr.  Brooks  procured 
the  stock  by  such  use  of  his  official  posi 
tion;  but  all  the  circumstances  seem  to 
I  point  exactly  in  that  direction,  and  we  can 
j  find  no  other  satisfactory  solution  of  the 
question  above  propounded.  Whatever 
I  claim  Mr.  Brooks  had  to  stock,  either 
legal  or  moral,  had  been  adjusted  and 
satisfied  by  Dr.  Durant.  Whether  he  was 
getting  this  stock  for  himself  or  to  give 
to  his  son-in-law,  we  believe,  from  the  cir 
cumstances  attending  the  whole  transac 
tion,  that  he  obtained  it  knowing  that  it 
was  yielded  to  its  official  position  and  in 
fluence,  and  with  the  intent  to  secure  his 
favor  and  influence  in  such  positions.  Mr. 
Brooks  claims  that  he  has  had  no  interest 
in  this  stock  whatever ;  that  the  benefit 
and  advantage  of  his  right  to  have  it  he 
gave  to  Mr.  Neilson,  his  son-in-law,  and 
that  he  has  had  all  the  dividends  upon  it. 
The  committee  are  unable  to  find  this  to 
be  the  case,  for  in  their  judgment  all  the 
facts  and  circumstances  show  Mr.  Brooks 
to  be  the  real  and  substantial  owner,  and 
that  Neilson's  ownership  is  merely  nominal 
and  colorable. 

In  June,  1868,  there  was  a  cash  dividend 
of  $9,000  upon  this  one  hundred  and  fifty 
shares  of  stock.  Neilson  received  it,  of 
course,  as  the  stock  was  in  his  name  ;  but 
on  the  same  day  it  was  paid  over  to  Mr. 
Brooks,  as  Neilson  says,  to  pay  so  much  of 
the  $10,000  advanced  by  Mr.  Brooks  to 
pay  for  the  stock.  This,  then,  repaid  all 
but  $1,000  of  the  loan;  but  Mr.  Brooks 
continued  to  hold  $16,000  of  Union  Pacific 
bonds,  which  Neilson  says  he  gave  him  as 
collateral  security,  and  to  draw  the  interest 
upon  all  but  $5,000.  The  interest  upon  the 
others,  Neilson  says,  he  was  permitted  to 
draw  and  retain,  but  at  one  time  in  his 
testimony  he  spoke  of  the  amount  he  was 
allowed  as  being  Christmas  and  New 
Year's  presents.  Neilson  says  that  during 
the  last  summer  he  borrowed  $14,000  of 
Mr.  Brooks,  and  he  now  owes  Mr.  Brooks 
nearly  as  much  as  the  collaterals ;  but,  ac 
cording  to  his  testimony,  Mr.  Brooks  for 
four  years  held  $16,000  in  bonds  as 
security  for  $1,000,  and  received  the  inter 
est  on  $11,000  of  the  collaterals.  No  ac 
counts  appear  to  have  been  kept  between 
Mr.  Brooks  and  Neilson,  and  doubtless 
what  sums  he  has  received  from  Mr. 
Brooks,  out  of  the  dividends,  were  intended 
|  as  presents  rather  than  as  deliveries  of 
|  money  belonging  to  him. 

Mr.  Brooks's  efforts  procured  the  stock ; 
j  his  money  paid  for  it ;  all  the  cash  divi 
dends  he  has  received ;  and  he  holds  all 
the  bonds,  except  those  Dillon  received, 
which  seem  to  have  been  applied  toward 
paying  for  the  fifty  shares.  Without 


210 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


farther  comment  on  the  evidence,  the 
committee  find  that  the  one  hundred  and 
fifty  shares  of  stock  appearing  on  the 
books  of  the  Credit  Mobilier  in  the  name 
of  Neilson  were  really  the  stock  of  Mr. 
Brooks,  and  subject  to  his  control,  and 
that  it  was  so  understood  by  both  the  par 
ties.  Mr.  Brooks  had  taken  such  an  inter 
est  'in  the  Credit  Mobilier  Company,  and 
was  so  connected  with  Dr.  Durant,  that  he 
must  be  regarded  as  having  full  knowledge 
of  the  relations  between  that  company  and 
the  railroad  company,  and  of  the  contracts 
between  them.  He  must  have  known  the 
cause  of  the  sudden  increase  in  value  of 
the  Credit  Mobilier  stock,  and  how  the 
large  expected  profits  were  to  be  made. 
We  have  already  expressed  our  views  of 
the  propriety  of  a  member  of  Congress  be 
coming  the  owner  of  stock,  possessing  this 
knowledge. 

But  Mr.  Brooks  was  not  only  a  member 
of  Congress,  but  he  was  a  Government 
director  of  the  Union  Pacific  Company. 
As  such  it  was  his  duty  to  guard  and 
watch  over  the  interests  of  the  Govern 
ment  in  the  road  and  to  see  that  they  were 
protected  and  preserved.  To  insure  such 
faithfulness  on  the  part  of  Government 
directors,  Congress  wisely  provided  that 
they  should  not  be  stockholders  in  the 
road.  Mr.  Brooks  readily  saw  that,  though 
becoming  a  stockholder  in  the  Credit 
Mobilier  was  not  forbidden  by  the  letter  of 
the  law,  yet  it  was  a  violation  of  its  spirit  and 
essence,  and  therefore  had  the  stock  placed 
in  the  name  of  his  son-in-law.  The  trans 
fer  of  the  Oakes  Ames  contract  to  the 
trustees  and  the  building  of  the  road  un 
der  that  contract,  from  which  the  enormous 
dividends  were  derived,  were  all  during 
Mr.  Brooks's  official  life  as  a  Government 
director,  must  have  been  within  his  know 
ledge,  and  yet  passed  without  the  slightest 
opposition  from  him.  The  committee  be 
lieved  this  could  not  have  been  done 
without  an  entire  disregard  of  his  official 
obligation  and  duty,  and  that  while  ap 
pointed  to  guard  the  public  interests  in 
the  road  he  joined  himself  with  the  pro 
moters  of  a  scheme  whereby  the  Govern 
ment  was  to  be  defrauded,  and  shared  in 
the  spoil. 

In  the  conclusions  of  fact  upon  the 
evidence,  the  committee  are  entirely 
agreed. 

In  considering  what  action  we  ought  to 
recommend  to  the  House  upon  these  facts, 
the  committee  encounter  a  question  which 
has  been  much  debated :  Has  this  House 
power  and  jurisdiction  to  inquire  concern 
ing  offenses  committed  by  its  members  prior 
to  their  election,  and  to  punish  them  by  cen 
sure  or  expulsion?  The  committee  are 
unanimous  upon  the  right  of  jurisdiction 
of  this  House  over  the  cases  of  Mr.  Ames 
and  Mr.  Brooks,  upon  the  facts  found  in 


regard  to  them.  Upon  the  question  of 
jurisdiction  the  committee  present  the  fol 
lowing  views : 

The  Constitution,  in  the  fifth  section  of 
the  first  article,  defines  the  power  of  either 
House  as  follows : 

"  Each  House  may  determine  the  rules 
of  its  proceedings,  punish  its  members  for 
disorderly  behavior,  and  with  the  concur 
rence  of  two-thirds  expel  a  member.' 

It  will  be  observed  that  there  is  no  qual 
ification  of  the  power,  but  there  is  an  im 
portant  qualification  of  the  manner  of  its 
exercise — it  must  be  done  "  with  the  con 
currence  of  two-thirds." 

The  close  analogy  between  this  power 
and  the  power  of  impeachment  is  deserv 
ing  of  consideration. 

The  great  purpose  of  the  power  of  im 
peachment  is  to  remove  an  unfit  and  un 
worthy  incumbent  from  office,  and  though  a 
judgment  of  impeachment  may  to  some 
extent  operate  as  punishment,  that  is  not 
its  principal  object.  Members  of  Congress 
are  not  subject  to  be  impeached,  but  may 
be  expelled,  and  the  principal  purpose  of 
expulsion  is  not  as  punishment,  but  to  re 
move  a  member  whose  character  and  con 
duct  show  that  he  is  an  unfit  man  to  par 
ticipate  in  the  deliberations  and  decisions 
of  the  body,  and  whose  presence  in  it  tends 
to  bring  the  body  into  contempt  and  dis 
grace. 

In  both  cases  it  is  a  power  of  purgation 
and  purification  to  be  exercised  for  the 
public  safety,  and,  in  the  case  of  expulsion, 
for  the  protection  and  character  of  the 
House.  The  Constitution  defines  the 
causes  of  impeachment,  to  wit,  "  treason, 
bribery,  or  other  high  crimes  and  mis 
demeanors."  The  office  of  the  power  of 
expulsion  is  so  much  the  same  as  that  of 
the  power  to  impeach  that  we  think  it 
may  be  safely  assumed  that  whatever 
would  be  a  good  cause  of  impeachment 
would  also  be  a  good  cause  of  expulsion. 

It  has  never  been  contended  that  the 
power  to  impeach  for  any  of  the  causes 
enumerated  was  intended  to  be  restricted 
to  those  which  might  occur  after  appoint 
ment  to  a  civil  office,  so  that  a  civil  officer 
who  had  secretly  committed  such  offense 
before  his  appointment  should  not  be  sub 
ject  upon  detection  and  exposure  to  be 
convicted  and  removed  from  office.  Every 
consideration  of  justice  and  sound  policy 
would  seem  to  require  that  the  public  in 
terests  be  secured,  and  those  chosen  to  be 
their  guardians  be  free  from  the  pollution 
of  high  crimes,  no  matter  at  what  time 
that  pollution  had  attached. 

If  this  be  so  in  regard  to  other  civil  of 
ficers,  under  institutions  which  rest  upon 
the  intelligence  and  virtue  of  the  people, 
can  it  well  be  claimed  that  the  law-making 
Representative  n*ay  be  vile  and  criminal 
with  impunity,  provided  the  evidences  of 


THE    CREDIT    MOBILIEB. 


211 


his  corruption  are  found  to  antedate  his 
election  ? 

In  the  report  made  to  the  Senate  by  John 
Quincy  Adams  in  December,  1807,  upon 
the  case  of  John  Smith,  of  Ohio,  the  fol 
lowing  language  is  used :  "  The  power  of 
expelling  a^nember  for  misconduct  results, 
on  the  principles  of  common  sense,  from 
the  interests  of  the  nation  that  the  high 
trust  of  legislation  shall  be  invested  in 
pure  hands.  When  the  trust  is  elective, 
it  is  not  to  be  presumed  that  the  constitu 
ent  body  will  commit  the  deposit  to  the 
keeping  of  worthless  characters.  But  when 
a  man  whom  his  fellow-citizens  have  hon 
ored  with  their  confidence  on  a  pledge  of 
a  spotless  repution,  has  degraded  himself 
by  the  commission  of  infamous  crimes, 
which  become  suddenly  and  unexpectedly 
revealed  to  the  world,  defective  indeed 
would  be  that  institution  which  should  be 
impotent  to  discard  from  its  bosom  the  con 
tagion  of  such  a  member;  which  should 
have  no  remedy  of  amputation  to  apply 
until  the  poison  had  reached  the  heart." 

The  case  of  Smith  was  that  of  a  Senator, 
who,  after  his  election,  but  not  during  a 
session  of  the  Senate,  had  been  involved 
in  the  treasonable  conspiracy  of  Aaron 
Burr.  Yet  the  reasoning  is  general,  and 
was  to  antagonize  some  positions  which 
had  been  taken  in  the  case  of  Marshall, 
a  Senator  from  Kentucky;  the  Senate  in 
that  case  having,  among  other  reasons,  de 
clined  to  take  jurisdiction  of  the  charge  for 
the  reason  that  the  alleged  offence  had  been 
committed  prior  to  the  Senator's  election, 
and  was  matter  cognizable  by  the  criminal 
courts  of  Kentucky.  None  of  the  com 
mentators  upon  the  Constitution  or  upon 
parliamentary  law  assign  any  such  limita 
tion  as  to  the  time  of  the  commission  of 
the  offense,  or  the  nature  of  it,  which  shall 
control  and  limit  the  power  of  expulsion. 
On  the  contrary  they  all  assert  that  the 
power  in  its  very  nature  is  a  discretionary 
one,  to  be  exercised  of  course  with  grave 
circumspection  at  all  times,  and  only  for 
good  cause.  Story,  Kent,  and  Sergeant, 
all  seem  to  accept  and  rely  upon  the  ex 
position  of  Mr.  Adams  in  the  Smith  case 
as  sound.  May,  in  his  Parliamentary 
Practice,  page  59,  enumerates  the  causes 
for  expulsion  from  Parliament,  but  he  no 
where  intimates  that  the  offense  must  have 
been  committed  subsequent  to  the  election. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  framers 
of  our  Constitution  were  familiar  with  the 
parliamentary  law  of  England,  and  must 
have  had  in  mind  the  then  recent  contest 
over  Wilkes's  case,  it  is  impossible  to  con 
clude  that  they  meant  to  limit  the  discre 
tion  of  the  Houses  as  to  the  causes  of  ex 
pulsion.  It  is  a  received  principle  of  con 
struction  that  the  Constitution  is  to  be  in 
terpreted  according  to  the  known  rules  of 
law  at  the  time  of  its  adoption,  and  there 


fore,  when  we  find  them  dealing  with  a 
recognized  subject  of  legislative  authority, 
and  while  studiously  qualifying  and  re 
stricting  the  manner  of  its  exercise,  assign 
ing  no  limitations  to  the  subject-matter 
itself,  they  must  be  assumed  to  have  in 
tended  to  leave  that  to  be  determined  ac 
cording  to  established  principles,  as  a  high 
prerogative  power  to  be  exercised  accord 
ing  to  the  sound  discretion  of  the  body. 
It  was  not  to  be  apprehended  that  two- 
thirds  of  the  Representatives  of  the  people 
would  ever  exercise  this  power  in  any 
capricious  or  arbitrary  manner,  or  trifle 
with  or  trample  upon  constitutional  rights. 
At  the  same  time  it  could  not  be  foreseen 
what  necessities  for  self-preservation  or 
self-purification  might  arise  in  the  legisla 
tive  body.  Therefore  it  was  that  they  did 
not,  and  would  not,  undertake  to  limit  or 
define  the  boundaries  of  those  necessities. 

The  doctrine  that  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
House  over  its  members  is  exclusively  con 
fined  to  matters  arising  subsequent  to  their 
election,  and  that  the  body  is  bound  to  re 
tain  the  vilest  criminal  as  a  member  if  his 
criminal  secret  was  kept  until  his  election 
was  secured,  has  been  supposed  by  many 
to  have  been  established  and  declared  in 
the  famous  case  of  John  Wilkes  before  al 
luded  to.  A  short  statement  of  that  case 
will  show  how  fallacious  is  that  supposi 
tion.  Wilkes  had  been  elected  a  member 
of  Parliament  for  Middlesex,  and  in  1764 
was  expelled  for  having  published  a  libel 
on  the  ministry.  He  was  again  elected 
and  again  expelled  for  a  similar  offense  on 
the  3d  of  February,  1769.  Being  again 
elected  on  the  17th  of  February,  1769,  the 
commons  passed  the  following  resolution : 
"  That  John  Wilkes,  Esq.,  having  been  in 
this  session  of  Parliament  expelled  this 
house  was  and  is  incapable  of  being  elected 
a  member  to  serve  in  this  present  Parlia 
ment."  Wilkes  was  again  elected,  but  the 
House  of  Commons  declared  the  seat  va 
cant  and  ordered  a  new  election.  At  this 
election  Wilkes  was  again  elected  by  1,143 
votes,  against  296  for  his  competitor,  Lut- 
trell. 

On  the  15th  of  April,  1769,  the  house 
decided  that  by  the  previous  action  Wilkes 
had  become  ineligible,  and  that  the  votes 
given  for  him  were  void  and  could  not  be 
counted,  and  gave  the  seat  to  Luttrell. 
Subsequently,  in  1783,  the  House  of  Com 
mons  declared  the  resolution  of  February 
17,  1769,  which  had  asserted  the  incapacity 
of  an  expelled  member  to  be  re-elected 
to  the  same  Parliament,  to  be  subversive  of 
the  rights  of  the  electors,  and  expunged  it 
from  the  journal.  It  will  be  seen  from 
this  concise  statement  of  Wilkes's  case 
that  the  question  was  not  raised  as  to  the 
power  of  the  house  to  expel  a  member 
for  offenses  committed  prior  to  his  election  ; 
the  point  decided,  and  afterward  moet 


212 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


.properly  expunged,  was  that  expulsion  per 
3e  rendered  the  expelled  member  legally 
ineligible,  and  that  votes  cast  for  him  could 
not  be  counted.  Wilkes's  offense  was  of 
•purely  a  political  character,  not  involving 
moral  turpitude;  he  had  attacked  the 
ministry  in  the  press,  and  the  proceedings 
against  him  in  Parliament  were  then 
claimed  to  be  a  partisan  political  persecu 
tion,  subversive  of  the  rights  of  the  people 
and  of  the  liberty  of  the  press.  These 
proceedings  in  Wilkes's  case  took  place 
during  the  appearance  of  the  famous  J uni- 
us  letters,  and  several  of  them  are  devoted 
to  the  discussion  of  them.  The  doctrine 
that  expulsion  creates  ineligibility  was  at 
tacked  and  exposed  by  him  with  great 
force.  Bat  he  concedes  that  if  the  cause 
of  expulsion  be  one  that  renders  a  man  | 
unfit  and  unworthy  to  be  a  member,  he  | 
may  be  expelled  for  that  cause  as  often  as 
he  shall  be  elected. 

The  case  of  Matteson,  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  has  also  often  been  quoted 
as  a  precedent  for  this  limitation  of  juris 
diction.  In  the  proceedings  and  debates 
of  the  House  upon  that  case  it  will  be  seen 
that  this  was  one  among  many  grounds 
taken  in  the  debate ;  but  as  the  whole  sub 
ject  was  ended  by  being  laid  on  the  table, 
it  is  quite  impossible  to  say  what  was  de 
cided  by  the  House.  It  appeared,  how 
ever,  in  that  case  that  the  charge  against 
Matteson  had  become  public,  and  his  letter 
upon  which  the  whole  charge  rested  had 
been  published  and  circulated  through  his 
district  during  the  canvass  preceding  his 
•election.  This  fact,  we  judge,  had  a  most 
important  influence  in  determining  the 
action  of  the  House  in  his  case. 

The  committee  have  no  occasion  in  this 
report  to  discuss  the  question  as  to  the 
power  or  duty  of  the  House  in  a  case  where 
a  constituency,  with  a  full  knowledge  of 
the  objectionable  character  of  a  man,  have 
selected  him  to  be  their  Representative. 
It  is  hardly  a  case  to  be  supposed  that  any 
•constituency,  with  a  full  knowledge  that  a 
man  had  been  guilty  of  an  offense  involv 
ing  moral  turpitude,  would  elect  him.  The 
majority  of  the  committee  are  not  pre 
pared  to  concede  such  a  man  could  be 
forced  upon  the  House,  and  would  not  con 
sider  the  expulsion  of  such  a  man  any  vio 
lation  of  the  rights  of  the  electors,  for 
while  the  electors  have  rights  that  should 
be  respected,  the  House  as  a  body  has  rights 
also  that  should  be  protected  and  preserved. 
But  that  in  such  case  the  judgment  of  the 
constituency  would  be  entitled  to  the  great 
est  consideration,  and  that  this  should  form 
an  important  element  in  its  determination, 
is  readily  admitted. 

It  is  universally  conceded,  as  we  believe, 

that  the  House  has  ample  jurisdiction  to 

punish  or  expel  a  member  for  an  offense 

.to  T.p.'tteil  during  his  term  as  a  member, 


though  committed  during  a  vacation  of 
Congress  and  in  no  way  connected  with 
his  duties  as  a  member.  Upon  what  prin 
ciple  is  it  that  such  a  jurisdiction  can  be 
maintained  ?  It  must  be  upon  one  or  both 
of  the  following:  that  the  offense  shows 
him  to  be  an  unworthy  and  improper  man 
to  be  a  member,  or  that  his  conduct  brings 
odium  and  reproach  upon  the  body.  But 
suppose  the  offense  has  been  committed 
prior  to  his  election,  but  comes  to  light 
afterward,  is  the  effect  upon  his  own 
character,  or  the  reproach  and  disgrace 
upon  the  body,  if  they  allow  him  to  remain 
a  member,  any  the  less?  We  can  see  no 
difference  in  principle  in  the  two  cases,  and 
to  attempt  any  would  be  to  create  a  purely 
technical  and  arbitrary  distinction,  having 
no  just  foundation.  In  our  judgment,  the 
time  is  not  at  all  material,  except  it  be 
coupled  with  the  further  fact  that  he  was 
re-elected  with  a  knowledge  on  the  part  of 
his  constituents  of  what  he  had  been  guilty, 
and  in  such  event  we  have  given  our  views 
of  the  effect. 

It  seems  to  us  absurd  to  say  that  an  elec 
tion  has  given  a  man  political  absolution 
for  an  offense  which  was  unknown  to  his 
constituents.  If  it  be  urged  again,  as  it 
has  sometimes  been,  that  this  view  of  the 
power  of  the  House,  and  the  true  ground 
of  its  proper  exercise,  may  be  laid  hold  of 
and  used  improperly,  it  may  be  answered 
that  no  rule,  however  narrow  and  limited, 
that  may  be  adopted  can  prevent  it.  If 
two-thirds  of  the  House  shall  see  fit  to  ex 
pel  a  man  because  they  do  not  like  his 
political  or  religious  principles,  or  without 
any  reason  at  all,  they  have  the  power,  and 
there  is  no  remedy  except  by  appeal  to  the 
people.  Such  exercise  of  the  power  would 
be  wrongful,  and  violative  of  the  princi 
ples  of  the  Constitution,  but  we  see  no 
encouragement  of  such  wrong  in  the  views 
we  hold. 

It  is  the  duty  of  each  House  to  exercise 
its  rightful  functions  upon  appropriate  oc 
casions,  and  to  trust  that  those  who  come 
after  them  will  be  no  less  faithful  to  duty, 
and  no  less  jealous  for  the  rights  of  free 
popular  representation  than  themselves. 
It  will  be  quite  time  enough  to  square 
other  cases  with  right  reason  and  principle 
when  they  arise.  Perhaps  the  best  way  to 
prevent  them  will  be  to  maintain  strictly 
public  integrity  and  public  honor  in  all 
cases  as  they  present  themselves.  Nor  do 
we  imagine  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  will  charge  their  servants  with  in 
vading  their  privileges  when  they  confine 
themselves  to  the  preservation  of  a  stand 
ard  of  official  integrity  which  the  common 
instincts  of  humanity  recognize  as  essen 
tial  to  all  social  order  and  good  govern  • 
ment. 

The  foregoing  are  the  views  which  we 
deem  proper  to  submit  upon  the  general 


THE    CREDIT    MOBILIER. 


213 


question  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  House 
over  its  members.  But  apart  from  these 
general  views,  the  committee  are  of  opin 
ion  that  the  facts  found  in  the  present  case 
amply  justify  the  taking  jurisdiction  over 
them,  for  the  following  reasons : 

The  subject-matter  upon  which  the  ac 
tion  of  members  was  intended  to  be  influ 
enced  was  of  a  continuous  character,  and 
was  as  likely  to  be  a  subject  of  congres 
sional  action  in  future  Congresses  as  in  the 
Fortieth.  The  influences  brought  to  bear 
on  members  were  as  likely  to  be  operative 
upon  them  in  the  future  as  in*  the  present, 
and  were  so  intended.  Mr.  Ames  and  Mr. 
Brooks  have  both  continued  members  of 
the  House  to  the  present  time,  and  so  have 
most  of  the  members  upon  whom  these  in 
fluences  were  sought  to  be  exerted.  The 
committee  are,  therefore,  of  opinion  that 
the  acts  of  these  men  may  properly  be 
treated  as  offenses  against  the  present 
House,  and  so  within  its  jurisdiction  upon 
the  most  limited  rule. 

Two  members  of  the  committee,  Messrs. 
Niblack  and  McCrary,  prefer  to  express 
no  opinion  on  the  general  jurisdictional 
questions  discussed  in  the  report,  and  rest 
their  judgment  wholly  on  the  ground  last 
stated. 

In  relation  to  Mr.  Ames,  he  sold  to  sev 
eral  members  of  Congress  stock  of  the 
Credit  Mobilier  Company,  at  par,  when  it 
was  worth  double  that  amount  or  more, 
with  the  purpose  and  intent  thereby  to  in 
fluence  their  votes  and  decisions  upon 
matters  to  come  before  Congress. 

The  facts  found  in  the  report  as  to  Mr. 
Brooks,  show  that  he  used  the  influence  of 
his  official  positions  as  member  of  Congress 
and  Government  director  in  the  Union 
Pacific  Railroad  Company,  to  get  fifty 
shares  of  the  stock  of  the  Credit  Mobilier 
Company,  at  par,  when  it  was  worth  three 
or  four  times  that  sum,  knowing  that  it 
was  given  to  him  with  intent  to  influence 
his  votes  and  decisions  in  Congress,  and 
his  action  as  a  Government  director. 

The  sixth  section  of  the  act  of  February 
26,  1853,  10  Stat.  United  States,  171,  is  in 
the  following  words : 

"  If  any  person  or  persons  shall,  directly 
or  indirectly,  promise,  offer,  or  give,  or 
cause  or  procure  to  be  promised,  offered,  or 
given,  any  money,  goods,  right  in  action, 
bribe,  present,  or  reward,  or  any  promise, 
contract,  undertaking,  obligation,  or  se 
curity  for  the  payment  or  delivery  of  any 
money,  goods,  right  in  action,  bribe,  pres 
ent,  or  reward,  or  any  other  valuable  thing 
whatever,  to  any  member  of  the  Senate  or 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States,  after  his  election  as  such  member, 
and  either  before  or  after  he  shall  have 
qualified  and  taken  his  seat,  or  to  any  offi 
cer  of  the  United  States,  or  person  holding 
any  place  of  trust  or  profit,  or  discharging 


any  official  function  under  or  in  connec 
tion  with  any  Department  of  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,  or  under  the 
Senate  or  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States,  after  the  passage  of  this  act, 
with  intent  to  influence  his  vote  or  de 
cision  on  any  question,  matter,  cause,  or 
proceeding  which  may  then  be  pending,  or 
may  by  law,  or  under  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  be  brought  before  him 
in  his  official  capacity,  or  in  his  place  of 
trust  or  profit,  and  shall  thereof  be  con 
victed,  such  person  or  persons  so  offering, 
promising,  or  giving,  or  causing  or  pro 
curing  to  be  promised,  offered,  or  given, 
any  such  money,  goods,  right  in  action, 
bribe,  present,  or  reward,  or  any  promise, 
contract,  undertaking,  obligation,  or  se 
curity  for  the  payment  or  delivery  of  any 
money,  goods,  right  in  action,  bribe,  pres 
ent,  or  reward,  or  other  valuable  thing 
whatever,  and  the  member,  officer,  or  per 
son  who  shall  in  anywise  accept  or  receive 
the  same,  or  any  part  thereof,  shall  be 
liable  to  indictment  as  for  a  high  crime 
and  misdemeanor  in  any  of  the  courts  of 
the  United  States  having  jurisdiction  for 
the  trial  of  crimes  and  misdemeanors ;  and 
shall,  upon  conviction  thereof,  be  fined  not 
exceeding  three  times  the  amount  so 
offered,  promised,  or  given,  and  imprisoned 
in  the  penitentiary  not  exceeding  three 
years ;  and  the  person  so  convicted  of  so 
accepting  or  receiving  the  same,  or  any 
part  thereof,  if  an  officer  or  person  holding 
any  such  place  of  trust  or  profit  as  afore 
said,  shall  forfeit  his  office  or  place ;  and 
any  person  so  convicted  under  this  section 
shall  forever  be  disqualified  to  hold  any 
office  of  honor,  trust,  or  profit  under  the 
United  States." 

In  the  judgment  of  the  committee,  the 
facts  reported  in  regard  to  Mr.  Ames  and 
Mr.  Brooks  would  have  justified  their  con 
viction  under  the  above-recited  statute  and 
subjected  them  to  the  penalties  therein 
provided. 

The  committee  need  not  enlarge  npon 
the  dangerous  character  of  these  offenses. 
The  sense  of  Congress  is  shown  by  the 
severe  penalty  denounced  by  the  statute 
itself.  The  offenses  were  not  violations  of 
private  rights,  but  were  against  the  very 
life  of  a  constitutional  Government  by 
poisoning  the  fountain  of  legislation. 

The  duty  devolved  upon  the  committee 
has  been  of  a  most  painful  and  delicate 
character.  They  have  performed  it  to  the 
best  of  their  ability.  They  have  proceeded 
with  the  greatest  care  and  deliberation, 
for  while  they  desired  to  do  their  full  duty 
to  the  House  and  the  country,  they  were 
most  anxious  not  to  do  injustice  to  any 
man.  In  forming  their  conclusions  they 
have  intended  to  be  entirely  cool  and  dis 
passionate,  not  to  allow  themselves  to  be 
swerved  by  any  popular  fervor  on  the  one 


214 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


hand,  or  any  feeling  of  personal  favor  and 
sympathy  on  the  other. 

The  committee  submit  to  the  House  and 
recommend  the  adoption  of  the  following 
resolutions. 

"1.  Whereas  Mr.  Oakes  Ames,  a  Repre 
sentative  in  this  House  from  the  State  of 
Massachusetts,  has  been  guilty  of  selling 
to  members  of  Congress  shares  of  stock  in 
the  Credit  Mobilier  of  America,  for  prices 
much  below  the  true  value  of  such  stock, 
with  intent  thereby  to  influence  the  votes 
and  decisions  of  such  members  in  matters 
to  be  brought  before  Congress  for  action  : 
Therefore, 

Resolved,  That  Mr.  Oakes  Ames  be,  and 
he  is  hereby,  expelled  from  his  seat  as  a 
member  of  this  House. 

2.  Whereas  Mr.  James  Brooks,  a  Repre 
sentative  in  this  House  from  the  State  of 
New  York,  did  procure  the  Credit  Mo 
bilier  Company  to  issue  and  deliver  to 
Charles  H.  Neilson,  for  the  use  and  bene 
fit  of  said  Brooks,  fifty  shares  of  the  stock 
of  said  company,  at  a  price  much  below  its 
real  value,  well  knowing  that  the  same 
was  so  issued  and  delivered  with  intent  to 
influence  the  votes  and  decisions  of  said 
Brooks,  as  a  member  of  the  House,  in  mat 
ters  to  be  brought  before  Congress  for  ac 
tion,  and  also  to  influence  the  action  of 
said  Brooks  as  a  Government  director  in 
the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company: 
Therefore, 

Resolved,  That  Mr.  James  Brooks  be, 
and  he  is  hereby,  expelled  from  his  seat  as 
a  member  of  this  House." 

The  House,  after  much  discussion,  modi 
fied  the  propositions  of  the  committee  of 
investigation,  and  subjected  Oakes  Ames 
and  James  Brooks  to  the  "  absolute  con 
demnation  of  the  House."  Both  members 
died  within  three  months  thereafter. 

The  session  was  full  of  investigations, 
but  all  the  others  failed  to  develop  any 
tangible  scandals.  The  Democrats  de 
manded  and  secured  the  investigation  of 
the  New  York  custom-house ;  the  United 
States  Treasury ;  the  use  of  Seneca  sand 
stone;  the  Chorpenning  claim,  and  the 
Navy  Department,  etc.  They  were,  as 
stated,  fruitless. 


The  "  Salary  Gral».» 

At  the  same  session— 1871-73,  acts  were 
passed  to  abolish  the  franking  privilege,  to 
increase  the  President's  salary  from  $25- 
000  to  $50,000,  and  that  of  Senators  and 
Representatives  from  $5,000  to  $7,500.  The 
last  proved  quite  unpopular,  and  was  gene 
rally  denounced  as  "  The  Salary  Grab," 
because  of  the  feature  wlik-h  made  it  ap 
ply  to  the  Congressmen  who  passed  the 
bill,  and  of  course  to  go  backward  to  the 
beginning  of  the  term.  This  was  not 
new,  as  earlier  precedents  were  found  to 


excuse  it,  but  the  people  were  neverthe 
less  dissatisfied,  and  it  was  made  an  issue 
by  both  parties  in  the  nomination  and 
election  of  Representatives.  Many  were 
defeated,  but  probably  more  survived  the 
issue,  and  are  still  enjoying  public  life. 
Yet  the  agitation  was  kept  up  until  the 
obnoxious  feature  of  the  bill  and  the  Con 
gressional  increase  of  salary  were  repealed, 
leaving  it  as  now  at  the  rate  of  $5,000  a 
year  and  mileage. 

A  House  committee,  headed  by  B.  F. 
Butler,  on  Feb.  7th,  1873,  made  a  report 
which  gave  a  fair  idea  of  the  expenses  un 
der  given  circumstances — the  increase  to 
be  preserved,  but  the  franking  privilege 
and  mileage  to  be  repealed.  We  quote 
the  figures : 

Increase  of  President's  salary  $25,000  00 
Increase  of  Cabinet  ministers' 

salary 14,000  00 

Increase  of  salary  of  judges 

United   States  Supreme 

Court 18,500  00 

Increase  of  salary  of  Senators, 

Members,  and  Delegates...      972,000  00 

Total  increase $1,029,500  00 


Saving  to  the  Government,  \ 
cording  to  the  official  sta 


ac- 

ing  to  the  official  state 
ment  of  the  Postmaster- 
General,  per  annum,  by  the 
abolition  of  the  franking 

privilege $2,543,327  72 

Saving  to  the  Government  by 
abolition  of  mileage,  sta 
tionery,  postage,  and  news 
paper  accounts  (estimated)  200  000  00 


$2,753,327  72 
1,029,500  00 

Total  net  saving $1,713,827  72 

The  House  passed  a  bill  for  the  aboli 
tion  of  mileage,  but  in  the  Senate  it  was 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Civil  Service 
and  Retrenchment,  and  not  again  heard 
from.  So  that  the  increased  pay  no  longer 
obtains,  the  franking  privilege  only  to  the 
extent  of  mailing  actual'  Congressional 
documents,  and  mileage  remains. 

The  following  curious  facts  relating  to 
these  questions  we  take  from  Hon.  Edward 
McPherson's  admirable  compilation  in  his 

Hand-Book  of  Politics"  for  1874. 


Statement  of  Compensation  and  Mileage. 

Drawn  by  U.  S.  Senators  under  the  various  Compensation 
Acts. 

Mr.  Gorham,  Secretary  of  the  Senate, 
prepared,  under  date  of  January  3, 1874,  a 
statement,  in  answer  to  a  resolution  of  the 
Senate,  covering  these  points : 


COMPENSATION    AND    MILEAGE. 


215 


I. — The  several  rates  of  compensation  fixed 
by  various  laws,  and  the  cases  in  which 
the  same  were  retroactive,  and  for  what 
length  of  time. 

1.  By  the  act  of  September  22,  1789,  the 
compensation  of  Senators  and  Representa 
tives  in  Congress  was  fixed  at  six  dollars  a 
day,  and  thirty  cents  a  mile  for  traveling 
to  and  from  the  seat  of  Government.    This 
rate  was  to  continue  until  March  4,  1795. 
The    same  act    fixed   the    compensation 
from  March  4,  1795,  to  March  4,  1796,  (at 
which  last-named  date,  by  its  terms,  it  ex 
pired,)  at  seven  dollars  a  day,  and  thirty- 
five  cents  a  mile  for  travel.     This  act  was 
retroactive,   extending  back   six    months 
and  eighteen  days,  namely,  to  March  4, 
1789. 

2.  The  act  of  March  10,  1796,  fixed  the 
compensation  at  six  dollars   a  day,   and 
thirty  cents  a  mile  for  travel.     (This  act 
extended  back  over  six  days  only.) 

3.  The  act  of  March  19,  1816,  fixed  the 
compensation  at $1,500  a  year,  "instead  of 
the  daily  compensation,"  and  left  the  mile 
age  unchanged.     This  act  was  retroactive, 
extending  back  one  year  and  fifteen  days, 
namely  to  March  4,  1815.     (This  act  was 
repealed  by  the  act  of  February  6, 1817, 
but  it  was    expressly    declared    that  no 
former  act  was  thereby  revived.) 

4.  The  act  of  January  22,  1818,  fixed  the 
compensation  at  eight  dollars  a  day,  and 
forty  cents  a  mile  for  travel.     This  act  was 
retroactive,  extending  back  fifty-three  days, 
namely,  to   the   assembling  of   Congress, 
December  1, 1817. 

5.  The  act  of  August  16,  1856,  fixed  the 
compensation  at  $3,000  a  year,  and  left  the 
mileage  unchanged.   This  act  was  retroac 
tive,  extending  back  one  year,  five  months, 
and  twelve  days,  namely,  to  March  4, 1855. 

6.  The  act  of  July  28,  1866,  fixed  the 
compensation  at  $5,000  a  year,  and  twenty 
cents  a  mile  for  travel,  (not  to  affect  mile 
age  accounts  already  accrued. )     This  act 
was  retroactive,  extending  back  one  year, 
four  months,  and  twenty-four  days,  namely, 
to  March  4,  1865. 

7.  The  act  of  March  3,  1873,  fixed  the 
compensation  at  $7,500  a  year,  and  actual 
traveling  expenses;  the   mileage  already 
paid  for  the  Forty-Second  Congress  to  be 
deducted  from  the  pay  of  those  who  had 
received  it.     This  act  was  retroactive,  ex 
tending  back  two  years,  namely,  to  March 
4,  1871. 

NOTE. — Stationery  was  allowed  to  Sena 
tors  and  Representatives  without  any 
special  limit  until  March  3,  1868,  when 
the  amount  for  stationery  and  newspapers 
for  each  Senator  and  Member  was  limited 
to  $125  a  session.  This  was  changed  by  a 
subsequent  act,  taking  effect  July  1,  1869, 
to  $125  a  year.  The  act  of  1873  abolished 
all  allowance  for  stationery  and  news 
papers. 


II. — Names  of  Senators  who  drew  pay  un 
der  the  retroactive  provisions  of  the 
several  laws,  amounts  drawn,  and  dates  of 
same. 

ACT  OF  1789. — The  records  of  my  office 
do  not  furnish  the  exact  information  de 
sired  under  this  head  concerning  the 
First  Congress,  the  compensation  of  which 
was  fixed  by  act  of  September  22,  1789.  It 
appears,  however,  that  the  account  of  each 
Senator  was  made  up,  and  that  each  re 
ceived  the  amount  allowed  by  law.  The 
following  is  a  copy  from  the  record : 

January  19,  1790. — That  there  is  due  to 
the  Senators  of  the  United  States  for 
attendance  in  Congress  the  present  session, 
to  the  31st  of  March  inclusive,  and  ex 
penses  of  travel  to  Congress  ,  as  allowed 
by  law,  as  follows,  to  wit : 

Messrs.  Richard  Basset,  $496.50 ;  Pierce 
Butler,  $796;  Charles  Carroll,  $186; 
Tristram  Dalton,  $612 ;  Oliver  Ellsworth, 
$546.50;  Jonathan  Elmer,  $414  ;  William 
Few,  $833.50 ;  John  Henry,  $596.50 ;  Ben 
jamin  Hawkins,  $615  ;  William  S.  John 
son,  $544 ;  Samuel  Johnson,  $534  ;  Rufus 
King,  $522 ;  John  Langdon,  $618 ;  William 
Maclay,  $585;  Robert  Morris,  $430.50; 
William  Paterson,  $514.50 ;  George  Read, 
$195;  Caleb  Strong,  $575.50;  Philip 
Schuyler,  $571.50  ;  PaineWingate,  $616.50. 
ACT  OF  1816. — The  record  contains  no 
showing  as  to  the  amount  paid  to  Senators 
under  the  retroactive  provision  of  the  act 
of  March  19,  1816.  The  following,  taken 
from  the  books,  shows  the  amount  of  com 
pensation  paid  to  each  Senator  for  the  en 
tire  Congress,  exclusive  of  mileage : 

Messrs.  Eli  P.  Ashmun,  $920 ;  James 
Barbour,  $2,850  ;  William  T.  Barry,  $2,080 ; 
William  W.  Bibb,  $2,070  ;  James  Brown, 
$2,980 ;  George  W.  Campbell,  $2,950 ;  Dud 
ley  Chace,  $3,000 ;  John  Condit,  $2,980 ; 
David  Daggett,  $3,000 ;  Samuel  W.  Dana, 
$2,640 ;  Elegius  Fromentin,  $3,000 ;  John 
Gaillard,  President,  $6,000;  Robert  H. 
Goldsborough,  $2,840 ;  Christopher  Gore, 
$1,940;  Alexander  Contee  Hanson,  $530; 
Martin  D.  Hardin,  $900  ;  Robert  G.  Har 
per,  $1,450;  Outerbridge  Horsey,  $3,000 ; 
Jeremiah  B.  Howell,  $3,000;  William 
Hunter,  $2,930;  Rufus  King,  $2,660; 
Abner  Lacock,  $3,000 ;  Nathaniel  Macon, 
$2,946 ;  Jeremiah  Mason  of  New  Hamp 
shire,  $2,680  ;  Armistead  T.  Mason  of  Vir 
ginia,  $2,360  ;  Jeremiah  Morrow,  $3,000  ; 
James  Noble,  $920;  Jonathan  Roberts, 
$3,000  ;  Benjamin  Ruggles,  $3,000  ;  Nathan 
Sanford,  $2,720;  William  Smith,  $540; 
Montfort  Stokes,  $810;  Charles  Tait, 
$3,000  ;  Isham  Talbot,  $2,730  ;  John  Tay 
lor  of  South  Carolina,  $1,990  ;  Waller  Tay 
lor  of  Indiana,  $920 ;  Thomas  W.  Thomp 
son,  $2,850 ;  Isaac  Tichenor,  $3,000 ;  Georgo 
M.  Troup,  $830 ;  James  Turner,  $2,060 ; 
Joseph  B.  Varnum,  $3,000;  William  H. 


216 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


$2,610;  John  Williams,  $3,000; 
James  J.  Wilson,  $3,000. 

ACT  OF  1818.— Under  the  retroactive 
provision  of  the  act  of  January  22,  1818, 
the  following  named  Senators  drew  the 
amounts  for  compensation  and  mileage  op 
posite  their  respective  names : 

Messrs.  Eli  P.  Ashmun,  $668 ;  James 
Barbour,  $520  ;  James  Burril,  $762  ;  George 
W.  Campbell,  $1,008  ;  John  J.  Crittenden, 
$1,007.20 ;  David  Daggett,  $690.40 ;  Samuel 
W.  Dana,  $283.20;  Mahlon  Dickerson, 
$628.80;  John  W.  Eppes,  $584;  James 
Fisk,  $848 ;  Elegius  Fromentin,  $1,393.60 ; 
John  Gaillard,  $880 ;  Robert  H.  Golds- 
borough,  $483.20;  Outerbridge  Horsey, 
$485.60  ;  William  Hunter,  $543.20 ;  Henry 
Johnson,  $1,273.60 ;  Rufus  King,  $627.20 ; 
Abner  Lacock,  $649.60;  Walter  Leake, 
$1,384;  Nathaniel  Macon,  $600  ;  David  L. 
Morril,  $876;  Jeremiah  Morrow,  $776; 
James  Noble,  $918.40 ;  Harrison  Gray  Otis, 
$792.80 ;  Jonathan  Roberts,  $564.80  ;  Ben 
jamin  Ruggles,  $688;  Nathan  Sanford, 
$616;  William  Smith,  $774.40;  Montfort 
Stokes,  $745.60  ;  Clement  Storer,  $875.20 ; 
Charles  Tait,  $952;  Isham  Talbot,  $872; 
Waller  Taylor,  $1,080 ;  Isaac  Tichenor, 

$784;  George  M.  Troup,  $952; Van 

Dyke,  $380.80;  Thomas  H.  Williams  of 
Mississippi,  $1,433.60;  John  Williams  of 
Tennessee,  $861.60;  James  J.  Wilson, 
$568. 

ACT  OF  1856. — Under  the  retroactive 
provision  of  the  act  of  August  16,  1856, 
the  following  named  Senators  drew  the 
amounts  opposite  their  respective  names : 

Messrs.  Stephen  Adams,  $2,243.77 ; 
Philip  Allen,  $2,202.79 ;  James  A.  Bayard, 
$2,088.03;  James  Bell,  $1,083.93;  John 
Bell,  $2,268.36;  J.  P.  Benjamin,  $2,210.99 ; 
Asa  Biggs,  $2,161.81 ;  William  Bigler,  $1,- 
594.24;  Jesse  D.  Bright,  president  pro 
tetnpore,  $6,772.40 ;  R.  Brodhead,  $2,251.- 
97  ;  A.  G.  Brown,  $2,251.97 ;  A.  P.  Butler, 
$2,202.70;  Lewis  Cass,  $2,251.97;  C.  C. 
Clay,  jr.,  $2,251.97  ;  J.  M.  Clayton,  $2,292.- 
95  ;  J.  Collamer,  $2,219.18  ;  J.  J.  Critten 
den,  $2,243.79;  H.  Dodge,  $2,292.95;  S.  A. 
Douglas,  $2,268.36  ;  C.  Durkee,  $2,235.56  ; 
J.  J.  Evans,  $2,121.70  ;  W.  S.  Fessenden, 
$2,276.56  ;  H.  Fish,  $2,237.28  ;  B.  Fitzpat- 
rick,  $2,194.59;  S.  Foot,  $2,292.94;  L.  F. 
S.  Foster,  $2,112.62;  H.  S.  Geyer,  $2,276.- 
56  ;  J.  P.  Hale,  $887.10;  H.  Hamlin,  $1,- 
989.68 ;  J.  Harlan,  $2,268.36 ;  S.  Houston, 
$2,292.95;  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  2,210.99;  A. 
Iverson,  $2,210.99;  C.  T.James,  $2,210.99; 
R.  W.  Johnson,  $632.21 ;  G.  W.  Jones, 
$2,235.58;  J.  C.  Jones,  $2,047.05;  S.  R. 
Mallory,  $2,276.56 ;  J.  M.  Mason,  $2,170  ; 
J.  A.  Pearce,  $2,191.59 ;  T.  G.  Pratt,  $2,- 
129.02;  G.  E.  Pugh,  $2,096.21 ;  D.  S.  Reid, 
$2,235.58  ;  T.  J.  Rusk,  $2,292.95 ;  W.  K. 
Sebastian,  $2,137.22 ;  W.  H.  Seward,  $2,- 
292.95;  John  Slidell,  $2,276.56;  C.  E. 
Stuart,  $2,292.95;  C.  Sumner,  $2,292.95; 


J.  B.  Thompson,  $2,235.57;  John  R. 
Thomson,  $2,022.46  ;  Robert  Toombs,  $2,- 
006.07  ;  Isaac  Toucey,  $2,292.65 ;  L.  Trum- 
bull,  $2,251.97  ;  B.  F.  Wade,  $2,202.79  ;  J. 

B.  Weller,  $2,251  97 ;  H.  Wilson,  $2,178.- 
20;  W.  Wright,  $2,120.82;  D.  L.  Yulee, 
$2,194.59. 

ACT  OF  1866. — Under  the  retroactive 
provision  of  the  act  of  July  28,  1866,  the 
following  named  Senators  received  the 
amounts  opposite  their  respective  names : 

Messrs.  H.  B.  Anthony,  $2.805  56 ;  B. 
Gratz  Brown,  $2,805  56 ;  C.  R.  Buckalew, 
$2,80556;  Z.  Chandler,  $2,80556;  D. 
Clark,  $2,805  56  ;  J.  Collamer,  $1,366  15 ; 
J.  Conness,  $2,805  56 ;  E.  Cowan,  $2,- 
805  56 ;  A.  H.  Cragin,  $2,805  56 ;  J.  A.  J. 
Creswell,  $2,805,  56 ;  G.  Davis,  $2,805  56 ; 
J.  Dixon,  $2,805  56 ;  J.  R.  Doolittle,  $2,- 
805  56 ;  W.  P.  Fessenden,  $2,805  56 ;  S, 
Foot,  $2,136  76  ;  L.  F.  S.  Foster,  President 
pro  tempore,  $261  93 ;  J.  W.  Grimes,  $2,- 
805  56 ;  J.  Guthrie,  $2,805  56  ;  I.  Harris, 
$2,805  56  ;  J.  B.  Henderson,  $2,805  56 ;  T. 
A.  Hendricks,  $2,805.56 ;  J.  M.  Howard, 
$2,805  56  ;  T.  O.  Howe,  $2,805  56 ;  R.  John 
son,  $2,80556;  H.  S.  Lane,  $2,80556; 
J.  H.  Lane,  $2,71049;  James  A.  Mc- 
Dougall,  $2,80556;  E.  D.  Morgan,  $2,- 
805  56 ;  L.  M.  Morrill,  $2,805  56 ;  J.  W. 
Nesmith,  $2,805  56 ;  D.  S.  Norton,  $2,- 
805  56 ;  J.  W.  Nye,  $2,805  56 ;  S.  C.  Pome- 
roy,  $2,  805  56 ;  A.  Ramsey,  $2,805  56  ;  G. 
R.  Riddle,  $2,805  56 ;  W.  Saulsbury,  $2,- 
80556;  J.  Sherman,  $2,80556;  W.  M. 
Stewart,  $2,805  56 ;  C.  Sumner,  $2,805  56  ; 
L.  Trumbull,  $2,805  56 ;  P.  G.  Van  Winkle, 
$2,80556;  B.  Wade,  $2,80556;  W.  T. 
Willey,  $2,805  56 ;  G.  H.  Williams,  $2,- 
805  56;  H.  Wilson,  $2,805  56 ;  W.  Wright, 
$2,805  56  ;  R.  Yates,  $2,805  56 ;  J.  Harlan, 
$350  ;  L.  P.  Poland,  $1,361 ;  John  P.  Stock 
ton,  $2,131  20;  S.  J.  Kirkwood,  $2,361  10; 
G.  F.  Edmunds,  $666  66 ;  E.  G.  Ross, 
$180  40. 

ACT  OF  1873. — Under  the  retroactive 
provision  of  the  act  of  March  3,  1873,  the 
following  named  Senators  received  the 
sums  set  opposite  their  respective  names  : 

Messrs.  A.  Ames,  $2,840 ;  J.  L.  Alcorn, 
$2,312  39;  J.  T.  Bayard,  $4,865  60;  F.  P. 
Blair,  $3,76160;  A.  I.  Boreman,  $4,514; 
W.  G.  Brownlow,  $4,588  ;  A.  Caldwell,  $2,-' 
647  60 ;  S.  Cameron,  $4,856 ;  M.  H.  Cai* 
penter,  $3,887  60  ;  E.  Casserly,  $970  40  ;  7* 
Chandler,  $3,906  80 ;  P.  Clayton,  $2,600; 

C.  Cole,  $97040;  H.  Cooper,  $3,760 ;  H. 
G.  Davis,  $4,635  20  ;  O.  S.  Ferry,  $4,652 ; 
T.  W.  Ferry,  $3,920;  J.  W.  Flanagan,  $2,- 
000;  A.  Gilbert,  $3,680;  George  Goldth- 
waite,  $3,924  80 ;  M.  C.  Hamilton,  $2,480 ; 
Joshua  Hill,  $4,083  20 ;  P.  W.  Hitchcock, 
$2,85280;  T.  O.  Howe,  $3,68960,  J.  W. 
Johnston,  $4,705  60 ;  John  T.  Lewis,  $4>- 
80440;  John  A.  Logan,   $3,800;  W.    B. 
Machen,  $552  98 ;  L.  M.  Morrill,  $4,190 ; 
J.  S.  Morrill,  (draft  in  favor  of  the  treas- 


RETURNING    BOARDS. 


217 


urer  of  the  State  of  Vermont,)  $4,386  80  ; 
T.  M.  Norwood,  $4,169  60 ;  J.  W.  Nye,  $2,- 
076  80;  T.  W.  Osborn,  $3,440 ;  J.  W.  Pat 
terson,  $4,280;  S.  C.  Pomeroy,  $3,320; 
John  Pool,  $4,620  80 ;  M.  W.  Ransom,  $4,- 
817  60 ;  B.  F.  Rice,  $3,200 ;  T.  J.  Robert 
son,  $4,37480;  F.  A.  Sawyer,  $4,294  40 ; 
George  E.  Spencer,  $4,106;  W.  Sprague, 
$4,508 ;  W.  M.  Stewart,  $1,486  40 ;  J.  P. 
Stockton,  $4,790 ;  T.  W.  Tipton,  $3,358 ; 
Lyman  Trumbull,  $3,980 ;  G.  Vickers,  $4,- 
880 ;  J.  R.  West,  $2,468  80. 
ill. — Names  of  Senators  who  covered  into 
the  Treasury  amounts  due  them  under  re 
troactive  provisions  of  law,  with  date  of 
such  action. 

There  is  no  record  in  my  office  showing 
that  any  Senator  covered  into  the  Trea 
sury  any  money  to  which  he  was  entitled 
by  the  retroactive  provisions  of  either  of 
the  acts  of  September  22,  1789,  March  19, 
1816,  January  22,  1818,  August  16,  1856,  or 
July  28, 1866. 

The  following  Senators  covered  into  the 
Treasury  the  amounts  due  them  under  the 
retroactive  provision  of  the  act  of  March  3, 
1873,  namely : 

1873.— May  26,  H.  B.  Anthony,  $4,497 
20 ;  June  23,  W.  A.  Buckingham,  $4,553  60 ; 
May  21,  R.  E.  Fenton,  $4,184;  June  2,  F. 
T.  Frelinghuysen,  $4,644  80 ;  May  19,  H. 
Hamlin,  $4,136 ;  August  14,  O.  P.  Morton, 
$3,922  40  ;  April  9,  D.  D.  Pratt,  $4,121  60 ; 
August  25,  A.  Ramsey,  $3,041  40 ;  March 
28,  C.  Schurz,  $3,76160;  May  9,  .John 
Scott,  $4,733  06 ;  July  11,  John  Sherman, 
$4,336  40 ;  May  2,  C.  Sumner,  $4,445  60 ; 
May  22,  A.  G.  Thurman,  $4,359  20 ;  March 
28,  Henry  Wilson,  $4,448;  September  6, 
George  G.  Wright,  $3,140  80. 

NOTE. — Several  of  these  Senators,  as 
well  as  others  who  have  not  either  drawn 
or  covered  into  the  Treasury  the  amounts 
due  them  under  the  retroactive  provision 
of  the  act  of  1873,  expressed  to  me  their 
intention  to  allow  the  money  to  lapse  into 
the  Treasury  by  the  ordinary  operation  of 
law,  which  they  supposed  would  occur 
July  3,  1873.  After  learning  that  it  could 
not  be  covered  in,  except  by  their  order, 
before  July  3,  1875,  some  gave  me  written 
instructions  to  anticipate  the  latter  date. 
I  am  unable  to  furnish  from  any  informa 
tion  in  my  office  the  names  of  Senators 
who  themselves  paid  into  the  Treasury 
salary  drawn  under  the  act  of  1873  or  pre 
vious  acts.  I  have  not  furnished  the 
names  of  Senators  who  have  left  increased 
salary  undrawn,  as  this  information  was 
not  called  for  in  the  resolution. 

IV. — A  Comparative  Statement. 
Total  compensation  and  allowance  of 
Senators,  under  act  of  July  28,  1866,  from 
March  4,  1871,  to  March  3,  1872 :  Com 
pensation,  $370,000  ;  mileage,  $37,041  20  ; 
itationery  and  newspapers,  $9,250;  total, 


$416,291  20 ;  average  per  Senator,  $5,- 
625  55f  f . 

Under  same  act,  from  March  4,  1872,  to 
March  3,  1873,  during  which  year  members 
of  the  Senate  received  mileage  for  attend 
ing  the  special  session  of  the  Senate,  held 
in  May,  1872,  the  following  amounts  were 
paid:  Compensation,  $370,000;  mileage, 
|59,002  80 ;  newspapers  and  stationery,  $9,- 
250 ;  total,  $438,252  80 ;  average  per  Sen 
ator,  $5,922  23|f. 

Total  compensation  and  allowance  of 
Senators  under  act  of  March  3,  1873: 
Compensation,  $555,000 ;  traveling  ex 
penses,  based  upon  the  certificates  of  forty- 
six  Senators,  (twenty-eight  having  pre 
sented  none,)  amounting  to  $4,607  95,  giv 
ing  an  average  of  $100  17x74=$7,412  58 ;. 
total,  $562,412  58;  average  per  Senator, 
$7,600  17. 

In  connection  with  this  were  statements, 
prepared  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate, 
and  laid  before  that  body  by  Senator 
CAMERON,  January  9, 1874,  of  the  amounts 
of  mileage  paid  in  dollars  (cents  omitted) 
at  particular  dates  under  the  acts  of  1856 
and  1866,  are  given.  The  act  of  1856  fixed 
mileage  at  forty  cents  per  mile  each  way, 
and  the  act  of  1866  fixed  it  at  twenty  cent* 
per  mile  each  way. 


Returning  Boards. 

At  the  second  session  of  the  42d  Con 
gress  that  body,  and  the  President  as  well, 
were  compelled  to  consider  a  new  question 
in  connection  with  politics — an  actual  con 
flict  of  State  Governments.  There  had  al 
ways  been,  in  well  regulated  State  govern 
ments,  returning  boards,  but  with  a  view 
the  better  to  guard  the  newly  enfranchised 
citizens  of  the  South  from  intimidation, 
the  Louisiana  Republicans,  under  very 
bold  and  radical  leaders,  had  greatly 
strengthened  the  powers  of  her  returning 
boards.  It  could  canvass  the  votes,  reject 
the  returns  in  part  or  as  a  whole  of 
parishes  where  force  or  fraud  had  been 
used,  and  could  declare  results  after  such 
revision.  The  Governor  of  Louisiana  had 
made  several  removals  and  appointments 
of  State  officers  for  the  purpose  mainly  of 
making  a  friendly  majority  in  the  return 
ing  board,  and  this  led  to  the  appointment 
of  two  bodies,  both  claiming  to  be  the  le 
gitimate  returning  board.  There  soon 
followed  two  State  governments  and  legis 
latures,  the  Democratic  headed  by  Gover 
nor  John  McEnery,  the  Republican  by 
Governor  Wm.  Pitt  Kellogg,  later  in  the 
U.  S.  Senate.  Kellogg  brought  suit 
against  the  Democratic  officers  before 
Judge  Durell,  of  the  Federal  District 
Court,  and  obtained  an  order  that  the 
U.  S.  Marshal  (S.  B.  Packard,  afterwards 
Governor),  should  seize  the  State  House 
and  prevent  the  meetings  of  the  McEneiy 


218 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


legislature.     Then  both  governments  were 
hastily  inaugurated,  and  claimed  the  re 
cognition  of  Congress.    The  Senate  Com 
mittee  reported  that  Judge  Durell's  deci 
sion  was   not  warranted,  but  the   report 
refused  a  decisive   recognition  of   either 
government.     A  bill  was  introduced  de 
claring  the  election  of  Nov.  4,  1872,  on 
which  this  condition  of  affairs  was  based,  | 
null  and  void,  and  providing  for  a  new  | 
election,  but  this  bill  was  defeated  by  a 
close  vote.     Later  on,  Louisiana  claimed 
^  large  share  in  National  politics.    Some 
what  similar  troubles  occurred  in  Alabama, 
Arkansas,  and  Texas,  but  they  were  settled  j 
with  far  greater  ease  than  those  of  Louisi-  [ 
ana.    The  correspondence  in  all  of  these  , 
cases  was   too  voluminous   to   reproduce  j 
here,  and  we   shall   dismiss   the   subject  i 
until  the  period  of  actual  hostilities  were 
reached  in  Louisiana. 


The  Grangers. 

So  early  as   1867  a  secret  society  had 
been  formed  first  in  Washington,  known 
as  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  and  it  soon 
succeeded  in  forming  subordinate  lodges 
or  granges  in  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  and  other 
States.     It  was  declared  not  to  be  politi- 1 
cal;  that  its  object  was  co-operation  among  | 
farmers  in  purchasing  supplies  from  first 
hands,  so  as  to  do  away  with  middle-men, 
"but,  like  many  other  secret  organizations, 
it  was  soon  perverted  to  political  purposes,  i 
and  for  a  time  greatly  disturbed  the  politi 
cal  parties  of  the  Western  States.     This 
was  especially  true  of  the  years  1873-74, 
when  the  Grangers  announced  a  contem 
plated  war  on  railroad  corporations,  and 
succeeded  in  carrying  the  legislatures  of 
Illinois  and  Wisconsin,  and  inducing  them  I 
subsequently  to  pass  acts,  the  validity  of  | 
which  the  Supreme  Courts  of  the  State,  I 
under  a  temporary  popular  pressure  which  j 
was  apparently  irresistible,  could  not  sus 
tain.     The  effect  of  these  laws  was  to  al 
most  bankrupt  the  Illinois  Central,  there 
tofore  wealthy,  to   cripple  all    railroads, 
to  interfere  largely  with  foreign  exports, 
and  to  react  against  the  interests  of  the 
people  of  the  States  passing  them,  that  the 
demand  for  repeal  was  soon  very  much 
greater  than  the  original  demand  for  pas 
sage.     As  these  laws,  though  repealed,  are 
still  often  referred  to  in  the  discussion  of 
political  and  corporate  questions,  we  give 
the  text  of  one  of  them : 

Illinois  Railroad  Act    of  1873. 

An  Act  to  prevent  extortion  and  unjust 
discrimination  in  the  rates  charged  for 
the  transportation  of  passengers  and 
freights  on  railroads  in  this  State,  and  to 
punish  the  same,  and  prescribe  a  mode 
of  procedure  and  rules  of  evidence  in 


relation  thereto,  and  to  repeal  an  aot  en 
titled  "  An  act  to  prevent  unjust  discrim 
ination  and  extortions  in  the  rates  to  be 
charged  by  the  different  railroads  in 
this  State  for  the  transportation  of  freights 
on  said  roads,"  approved  April  7,  A.  D. 
1871. 

SECTION  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  People 
of  the  State  of  Illinois,  represented  in  the 
General  Assembly,  If  any  railroad  corpo 
ration,  organized  or  doing  business  in  this 
State  under  any  act  of  incorporation,  or 
general  law  of  this  State  now  in  force,  or 
which  may  hereafter  be  enacted,  or  any 
railroad  corporation  organized  or  which 
may  hereafter  be  organized  under  the  laws 
of  any  other  State,  and  doing  business  in 
this  State,  shall  charge,  collect,  demand, 
or  receive  more  than  a  fair  and  reasonable 
rate  of  toll  or  compensation  for  the  trans 
portation  of  passengers  or  freight  "of  any 
description,  or  for  the  use  and  transporta 
tion  of  any  railroad  car  upon  its  track,  or 
any  of  the  branches  thereof,  or  upon  any 
railroad  within  this  State  which  it  has  the 
right,  license,  or  permission  to  use,  oper 
ate,  or  control,  the  same  shall  be  deemed 
guilty  of  extortion,  and  upon  conviction 
thereof  shall  be  dealt  with  as  hereinafter 
provided. 

SEC.  2.  If  any  such  railroad  corporation 
aforesaid  shall  make  any  unjust  discrimi 
nation  in  its  rates  or  charges  of  toll,  or 
compensation,  for  the  transportation  of 
passengers  or  freight  of  any  description, 
or  for  the  use  and  transportation  of  any 
railroad  car  upon  its  said  road,  or  upon 
any  of  the  branches  thereof,  or  upon  rail- 
roads  connected  therewith,  which  it  has 
the  right,  license,  or  permission  to  operate, 
control,  or  use,  within  this  State,  the  same 
shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  having  violated 
the  ^provisions  of  this  act,  and  upon  con 
viction  thereof  shall  be  dealt  with  as  here 
inafter  provided. 

SEC.  3.  If  any  such  railroad  corporation 
shall  charge,  collect,  or  receive  for  the 
transportation  of  any  passenger,  or  freight 
of  any  description,  upon  its  railroad,  for 
any  distance  within  this  State,  the  same 
or  a  greater  amount  of  toll  or  compensa 
tion  than  is  at  the  same  time  charged,  col 
lected,  or  received  for  the  transportation, 
in  the  same  direction,  of  any  passenger,  or 
like  quantity  of  freight  of  the  same  class, 
over  a  greater  distance  of  the  same  rail 
road  ;  or  if  it  shall  charge,  collect,  or  re 
ceive  at  any  point  upon  this  railroad  a 
higher  rate  of  toll  or  compensation  for  re 
ceiving,  handling,  or  delivering  freight  of 
the  same  class  and  quantity  than  it  shall 
at  the  same  time  charge,  collect,  or  receive 
at  any  other  point  upon  the  same  railroad  ; 
or  if  it  shall  charge,  collect  or  receive  for 
the  transportation  of  any  passenger,  or 
freight  of  any  description,  over  its  railroad 
a  greater  amount  as  toll  or  compensation 


ILLINOIS    RAILROAD    ACT    OF    1873. 


219 


ihan  shall  at  the  same  time  be  charged, 
collected,  or  received  by  it  for  the  trans 
portation  of  any  passenger  or  like  quantity 
of  freight  of  the  same  class,  being  trans 
ported  in  the  same  direction  over  any  por 
tion  of  the  same  railroad  of  equal  distance ; 
or  if  it  shall  charge,  collect,  or  receive  from 
any  person  or  persons  a  higher  or  greater 
amount  of  toll  or  compensation  than  it 
shall  at  the  same  time  charge,  collect,  or 
receive  from  any  other  person  or  persons 
for  receiving,  handling,  or  delivering  freight 
of  the  same  class  and  like  quantity  at  the 
same  point  upon  its  railroad ;  or  if  it  shall 
charge,  collect,  or  receive  from  any  person 
or  persons  for  the  transportation  of  any 
freight  upon  its  railroad  a  higher  or  great 
er  rate  of  toll  or  compensation  than  it  shall 
.at  the  same  time  charge,  collect,  or  receive 
from  any  other  person  or  persons  for  the 
transportation  of  the  like  quantity  of  freight 
of  the  same  class  being  transported  from 
the  same  direction  over  equal  distances  of 
the  same  railroad ;  or  if  it  shall  charge, 
collect,  or  receive  from  any  person  or  per 
sons  for  the  use  and  transportation  of  any 
railroad  car  or  cars  upon  its  railroad  for  any 
distance  the  same  or  a  greater  amount  of 
toll  or  compensation  than  is  at  the  same 
time  charged,  collected,  or  received  from 
any  person  or  persons  for  the  use  and  trans 
portation  of  any  railroad  car  of  the  same 
class  or  number,  for  a  like  purpose,  being 
transported  in  the  same  direction  over  a 
greater  distance  of  the  same  railroad ;  or 
if  it  shall  charge,  collect,  or  receive  from 
any  person  or  persons  for  the  use  and  trans 
portation  of  any  railroad  car  or  cars  upon 
its  railroad  a  higher  or  greater  rate  of  toll 
or  compensation  than  it  shall  at  the  same 
time  charge,  collect,  or  receive  from  any 
other  person  or  persons  for  the  use  and 
transportation  of  any  railroad  car  or  cars 
of  the  same  class  or  number,  for  a  like 
purpose,  being  transported  from  the  same 
point  in  the  same  direction  over  an  equal 
distance  of  the  same  railroad ;  all  such  dis 
criminating  rates,  charges,  collections,  or 
receipts,  whether  made  directly  or  by  means 
of  any  rebate,  drawback,  or  other  shift  or 
evasion,  shall  be  deemed  and  taken  against 
such  railroad  corporation  as  prima  facie 
evidence  of  the  unjust  discriminations 
prohibited  by  the  provisions  of  this  act, 
and  it  shall  not  be  deemed  a  sufficient  ex 
cuse  or  justification  of  such  discriminations 
on  the  part  of  such  railroad  corporation, 
that  the  railway  station  or  point  at  which 
it  shall  charge,  collect,  or  receive  the  same 
or  less  rates  of  toll  or  compensation  for  the 
transportation  of  such  passenger  or  freight, 
or  for  the  use  and  transportation  of  such 
railroad  car  the  greater  distance  than  for 
the  shorter  distance,  is  a  railway  station  or 
point  at  which  there  exists  competition 
with  any  other  railroad  or  means  of  trans 
portation.  This  section  shall  not  be  con 


strued  so  as  to  exclude  other  evidence  tend 
ing  to  show  any  unjust  discrimination  in 
freight  and  passenger  rates.  The  pro 
visions  of  this  section  shall  extend  and  ap 
ply  to  any  railroad,  the  branches  thereof, 
and  any  road  or  roads  which  any  railroad 
corporation  has  the  right,  license,  or  per 
mission  to  use,  operate,  or  control,  wholly 
or  in  part,  within  the  State:  Provided, 
however,  That  nothing  herein  c  mtained 
shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prevent  railroad 
corporations  from  issuing  commutation, 
excursion,  or  thousand  mile  tickets,  as  the 
same  are  now  issued  by  such  corporations. 

SEC.  4.  Any  such  railroad  corporation 
guilty  of  extortion,  or  of  making  any  un 
just  discrimination  as  to  passenger  or 
freight  rates,  or  the  rates  for  the  use  and 
transportation  of  railroad  cars,  or  in  re 
ceiving,  handling,  or  delivering  freights 
shall,  upon  conviction  thereof,  be  fined  in 
any  sum  not  less  than  one 'thousand  dol 
lars  ($1,000)  nor  more  than  five  thousand 
dollars  ($5,000)  for  the  first  offense;  and 
for  the  second  offense  not  less  than  five 
thousand  dollars  ($5,000)  nor  more  than 
ten  thousand  dollars  ($10,000;)  and  for 
the  third  offense  not  less  than  ten 
thousand  dollars  ($10,000)  nor  more  than 
twenty  thousand  dollars  ($20,000;)  and  s 
for  every  subsequent  offense  and  convic 
tion  thereof  shall  be  liable  to  a  fine  of 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  ($25,000:) 
Provided,  That  in  all  cases  under  this  act 
either  party  shall  have  the  right  of  trial 
by  jury. 

SEC.  5.  The  fines  hereinbefore  provided 
for  may  be  recovered  in  an  action  of  debt 
in  the  name  of  the  people  of  the  State  of 
Illinois,  and  there  may  be  several  counts 
joined  in  the  same  declaration  as  to  extor 
tion  and  unjust  discrimination,  and  as  to 
passenger  and  freight  rates,  and  rates  for 
the  use  and  transportation  of  railroad  cars, 
and  for  receiving,  handling,  or  delivering 
freights.  If,  upon  the  trial  of  any  case 
instituted  under  this  act,  the  jury  shall 
find  for  the  people,  they  shall  assess  and 
return  with  their  verdict  the  amount  of 
the  fine  to  be  imposed  upon  the  defendant, 
at  any  sum  not  less  than  one  thousand 
dollars  ($1,000)  nor  more  than  five  thou 
sand  dollars  ($5,000,)  and  the  court  shall 
render  judgment  accordingly ;  and  if  the 
jury  shall  find  for  the  people,  and  that  the 
defendant  has  been  once  before  convicted 
of  a  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this  act, 
they  shall  return  such  finding  with  their 
verdict,  and  shall  assess  and  return  with 
their  verdict  the  amount  of  the  fine  to  be 
imposed  upon  the  defendant,  at  any  sum 
not  less  than  five  thousand  dollars  ($5,000) 
nor  more  than  ten  thousand  dollars  ($10,- 
000,)  and  the  court  shall  render  judgment 
accordingly ;  and  if  the  jury  shall  find  for 
the  people,  and  that  the  defendant  has 
been  twice  before  convicted  of  a  violation 


220 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


of  the  provisions  of  this  act,  with  respect  |  and  the  Attorney  General  shall  consent 


to  extortion  or  unjust  discrimination,  they 
shall  return  such  finding  with  their  ver 
dict,  and  shall  assess  and  return  with  their 
verdict  the  amount  of  the  fine  to  be  im 
posed  upon  the  defendant,  at  any  sum  not 
less  than  ten  thousand  dollars  ($10,000) 
nor  more  than  twenty  thousand  dollars 
($20,000;)  and  in  like  manner  for  every 
subsequent  offense  and  conviction  such  de 
fendant  shall  be  liable  to  a  fine  of  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  ($25,000.)  Provided, 
That  in  all  cases  under  the  provisions  of 
this  act  a  preponderance  of  evidence  in 
favor  of  the  people  shall  be  sufficient  to 
authorize  a  verdict  and  judgment  for  the 
people. 

SEC.  6.  If  any  such  railroad  corporation 
shall,  in  violation  of  any  of  the  provisions 
of  this  act,  ask,  demand,  charge,  or  receive 
of  any  person  or  corporation,  any  extor 
tionate  charge  or  charges  for  the  transpor 
tation  of  any  passengers,  goods,  mer 
chandise,  or  property,  or  for  receiving, 
handling,  or  delivering  freights,  or  shall 
make  any  unjust  discrimination  against 
any  person  or  corporation  in  its  charges 
therefor,  the  person  or  corporation  so  of 
fended  against  may  for  each  offense  re 
cover  of  such  raiiroad  corporation,  in  any 
form  of  action,  three  times  the  amount  of 
the  damages  sustained  by  the  party  ag 
grieved,  together  with  cost  of  suit  and  a 
reasonable  attorney's  fee,  to  be  fixed  by 
the  court  where  the  same  is  heard,  on  ap 


peal  or  otherwise,  and 
the  costs  of  the  case. 


taxed  as  a  part  of 


SEC.  7.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  rail 
road  a§d  warehouse  commissioners  to  per 
sonally  investigate  and  ascertain  whether 
the  provisions  of  this  act  are  violated  by 
any  railroad  corporation  in  this  State,  and 
to  visit  the  various  stations  upon  the  line 
of  each  railroad  for  that  purpose,  as  often 
as  practicable ;  and  whenever  the  facts  in 
any  manner  ascertained  by  said  commis 
sioners  shall  in  their  judgment  warrant 
such  prosecution,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
said  commissioners  to  immediately  cause 
suits  to  be  commenced  and  prosecuted 
against  any  railroad  corporation  which 
may  violate  the  provisions  of  this  act. 
Such  suits  and  prosecutions  may  be  insti 
tuted  in  any  county  in  the  State,  through 
or  into  which  the  line  of  the  railroad  cor 
poration  sued  for  violating  this  act  may 
extend.  And  such  railroad  and  ware 
house  commissioners  are  hereby  author 
ized,  when  the  facts  of  the  case  presented 
to  them  shall,  in  their  judgment,  warrant 
the  commencement  of  such  action,  to  em 
ploy  counsel  to  assist  the  Attorney  General 


thereto. 

SEC.  8.  The  railroad  and  warehouse 
commissioners  are  hereby  directed  to  make 
for  each  of  the  railroad  corporations  doing 
business  in  this  State,  as  soon  as  practi 
cable,  a  schedule  of  reasonable  maximum 
rates  of  charges  for  the  transportation  of 
passengers  and  freight  and  cars  on  each  ot 
said  railroads ;  and  said  schedule  shall,  in 
all  suits  brought  against  any  such  railroad 
corporations,  wherein  is  in  anv  way  in 
volved  the  charges  of  any  sucn  railroad 
corporation  for  the  transportation  of  any 
passenger  or  freight  or  cars,  or  unjust  dis 
crimination  in  relation  thereto,  be  deemed 
and  taken,  in  all  courts  of  this  State,  as 
prima  facie  evidence  that  the  rates  therein 
fixed  are  reasonable  maximum  rates  of 
charges  for  the  transportation  of  passen 
gers  and  freights  and  cars  upon  the  rail 
roads  for  which  said  schedules  may  have- 
been  respectively  prepared.  Said  commis 
sioners  shall,  from  time  to  time,  and  as 
often  as  circumstances  may  require,  change 
and  revise  said  schedules.  When  such 
schedules  shall  have  been  made  or  revised 
as  aforesaid,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  said 
commissioners  to  cause  publication  thereof 
to  be  made  for  three  successive  weeks,  in 
some  public  newspaper  published  in  the 
city  of  Springfield  in  this  state :  "  Provided,. 
That  the  schedules  thus  prepared  shall 
not  be  taken  as  prima  facie  evidence  as 
herein  provided  until  schedules  shall  have 
been  prepared  and  published  as  aforesaid 
for  all  the  railroad  companies  now  organ 
ized  under  the  laws  of  this  State,  and  until 
the  fifteenth  day  of  January,  A..  D.  1874, 
or  until  ten  days  after  the  meeting  of  the 
next  session  of  this  General  Assembly, 
provided  a  session  of  the  General  Assembly 
shall  be  held  previous  to  the  fifteenth  day 
of  January  aforesaid."  All  such  schedules, 
purporting  to  be  printed  and  published  as 
aforesaid,  shall  be  received  and  held,  in 
all  such  suits,  as  prima  facie  the  schedules 
of  said  commissioners,  without  further 
proof  than  the  production  of  the  paper  in 
which  they  were  published,  together  with 
the  certificate  of  the  publisher  of  said 
paper  that  the  schedule  therein  contained 
is  a  true  copy  of  the  schedule  furnished 
for  publication  by  said  commissioners,  and 
that  it  has  been  published  the  above  speci 
fied  time ;  and  any  such  paper  purporting 
to  have  been  published  at  said  city,  and  to 
be  a  public  newspaper,  shall  be  presumed 
to  have  been  so  published  at  the  date 
thereof,  and  to  be  a  public  newspaper. 

SEC.  10.  In  all  cases  under  the  provi 
sions  of  this  act,  the  rules  of  evidence  shall 
be  the  same  as  in  other  civil  actions,  ex- 


in  conducting  such  suit  on  behalf  of  the  cept  as  hereinbefore  otherwise  provided. 
State.  No  such  suits  commenced  by  said  !  All  fines  recovered  under  the  provisions  of 
commissioners  shall  be  dismissed,  except  i  this  act  shall  be  paid  into  the  county 
said  railroad  and  warehouse  commissioners  1  treasury  of  the  county  in  which  the  suit  is 


SUPPLEMENTARY    CIVIL    BIGHTS    BILL. 


221 


tried,  by  the  person  collecting  the  same, 
in  the  manner  now  provided  by  law,  to  be 
used  for  county  purposes.  The  remedies 
hereby  given  shall  be  regarded  as  cumula 
tive  to  the  remedies  now  given  by  law 
Zinst  railroad  corporations,  and  this  act 
11  not  be  construed  as  repealing  any 
statute  giving  such  remedies.  Suits  com 
menced  under  the  provisions  of  this  act 
shall  have  precedence  over  all  other  busi 
ness,  except  criminal  business. 

SEC.  11.  The  term  "railroad  corpora 
tion,"  contained  in  this  act,  shall  be 
deemed  and  taken  to  mean  all  corpora 
tions,  companies,  or  individuals  now  own 
ing  or  operating,  or  which  may  hereafter 
own  or  operate  any  railroad,  in  whole  or 
in  part,  in  this  State ;  and  the  provisions 
of  this  act  shall  apply  to  all  persons,  firms, 
and  companies,  and  to  all  associations  of 
persons,  whether  incorporated  or  other 
wise,  that  shall  do  business  as  common 
carriers  upon  any  of  the  lines  of  railways 
in  this  State  (street  railways  excepted)  the 
same  as  to  railroad  corporations  therein 
before  mentioned. 

SEC.  12.  An  act  entitled  "  An  act  to  pre 
vent  unjust  discriminations  and  extortions 
in  the  rates  to  be  charged  by  the  different 
railroads  in  this  State  for  the  transporta 
tion  of  freight  on  said  roads,"  approved 
April  7,  A.  D.  1871,  is  hereby  repealed, 
but  such  repeal  shall  not  affect  nor  repeal 
any  penalty  incurred  or  right  accrued 
under  said  act  prior  to  the  time  this  act 
takes  effect,  nor  any  proceedings  or  prose 
cutions  to  enforce  such  rights  or  penalties. 

Approved  May  2,  1873. 

S.  M.  CULLOM, 

Speaker  House  of  Representatives. 
JOHN  EARLY, 

President  of  the  Senate. 
JOHN  L.  BEVERIDGE, 

Governor. 

The  same  spirit,  if  not  the  same  organi 
zation,  led  to  many  petitions  to  Congress 
for  the  regulation  of  inter-state  commerce 
and  freight  rates,  and  to  some  able  reports 
on  the  subject.  Those  which  have  com 
manded  most  attention  were  by  Senator 
Windom  of  Minnesota  and  Representative 
Reagan  of  Texas,  the  latter  being  the  au 
thor  of  a  bill  which  commanded  much 
ronsideration  from  Congress  in  the  sessions 
of  1878-' 80,  but  which  has  not  yet  secured 
favorable  action.  In  lieu  of  such  bill 
Senator  Cameron,  of  Pennsylvania,  intro 
duced  a  joint  resolution  for  the  appoint 
ment  of  a  Commission  to  investigate  and 
report  upon  the  entire  question.  Final 
action  has  not  yet  been  taken,  and  at  this 
writing  interest  in  the  subject  seems  to 
have  flagged. 

The  disastrous  political  action  attempted 
by  the  Grangers  in  Illinois  and  Wisconsin, 
led  to  such  general  condemnation  that  sub 


sequent  attempts  were  abandoned  save  in 
isolated  cases,  and  as  a  rule  the  society  has 
passed  away.  The  principle  upon  which 
it  was  based  was  wholly  unsound,  and  if 
strictly  carried  out,  would  destroy  all  home 
improvements  and  enterprise.  Parties  and 
societies  based  upon  a  class,  and  directed 
or  perverted  toward  political  objects,  are 
very  happily  short-lived  in  this  Republic 
of  ours.  If  they  could  thrive,  the  Repub 
lic  could  not  long  endure. 


Supplementary  Civil  Rights  Bill. 

Senator  Sumner's  Supplementary  Civil 
Rights  Bill  was  passed  by  the  second  ses 
sion  of  the  43d  Congress,  though  its  great 
author  had  died  the  year  before — March 
llth,  1874.  The  text  of  the  Act  is  given 
in  Book  Y.  of  this  volume,  on  Existing 
Political  Laws.  Its  validity  was  sustained 
by  the  IT.  S.  District  Courts  in  their  in 
structions  to  grand  juries.  The  first  con 
viction  under  the  Act  was  in  Philadelphia, 
in  February,  1876.  Rev.  Fields  Cook, 
pastor  of  the  Third  Baptist  colored  church 
of  Alexandria,  Virginia,  was  refused  sleep 
ing  and  eating  accommodations  at  the  Bing- 
ham  House,  by  Upton  S.  Newcomer,  one 
of  its  clerks ;  and  upon  the  trial  of  the 
case,  in  the  U.  S.  District  Court,  JOHN 
CADWALADER,  Judge,  instructed  the  jury 
as  follows : 

The  fourteenth  amendment  of  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  makes  all 
persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United 
States,  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction 
thereof,  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and 
provides  that  no  State  shall  make  or  en 
force  any  law  which  shall  abridge  the 
privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens  of  the 
United  States;  nor  shall  any  State  *  *  * 
deny  to  any  person  within  its  jurisdiction 
the  equal  protection  of  the  laws.  This 
amendment  expressly  gives  to  Congress 
the  power  to  enforce  it  by  appropriate 
legislation.  An  act  of  Congress  of  March 
1,  1875,  enacts  that  all  persons  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
entitled  to  the  full  and  equal  enjoyment  of 
the  accommodations,  advantages,  facilities 
and  privileges  of  inns,  public  conveyances 
on  land  or  water,  theatres  and  other  places 
of  public  amusement,  subject  only  to  the 
conditions  and  limitations  established  by 
law,  and  applicable  alike  to  citizens  of 
every  race  and  color,  and  makes  it  a  crimi 
nal  offense  to  violate  these  enactments  by 
denying  to  any  citizen,  except  for  reasons 
by  law  applicable  to  citizens  of  every  race 
and  color,  *  *  *  the  full  enjoyment  of  any 
of  the  accommodations,  advantages,  facili 
ties  or  privileges  enumerated.  As  the  law 
of  Pennsylvania  had  stood  until  the  22d  of 
March,  1867,  it  was  not  wrongful  for  inn 
keepers  or  carriers  by  land  or  water  to  dis- 


222 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


criminate  against  travelers  of  the  colored 
race  to  such  an  extent  as  to  exclude  them 
from  any  part  of  the  inns  or  public  con 
veyances  which  was  set  apart  for  the  ex 
clusive  accommodation  of  white  travelers. 
The  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  by  an 
act  of  22d  of  March,  1867,  altered  the  law 
in  this  respect  as  to  passengers  on  railroads. 
But  the  law  of  the  State  was  not  changed 
as  to  inns  by  any  act  of  the  State  Legisla 
ture.      Therefore,   independently    of   the 
amendment  of  the  Constitution    of  the 
United  States  and  of  the  act  of  Congress 
now  in  question,  the  conduct  of  the  de 
fendant  on  the  occasion  in  question  might, 
perhaps,  have  been  lawful.     It  is  not  ne 
cessary  to  express  an  opinion  upon  this 
point,  because  the  decision  of  the  case  de 
pends  upon  the  effect  of  this  act  of  Con 
gress.     I  am  under  opinion  that  under  the 
Fourteenth  Amendment  of  the  Constitu 
tion  the  enactment  of  this  law  was  within 
the  legislative  power  of  Congress,  and  that 
we  are  bound  to  give  effect  to  the  act  of 
Congress  according  to  its  fair  meaning. 
According  to  this  meaning  of  the  act  I  am 
of  opinion  that  if  this  defendant,  being  in 
charge  of  the  business  of  receiving  travelers 
in  this  inn,  and  of  providing  necessary  and 
proper  accommodations  for  them  in  it,  re 
fused  such  accommodations  to  the  witness 
Cook,  then  a  traveler,  by  reason  of  his 
color,  the  defendant  is  guilty  in  manner 
and  form  as  he  stands  indicted.     If  the 
case  depended  upon  the  unsupported  tes 
timony  of  this  witness  alone,  there  might 
be  some  reason  to  doubt  whether  this  de 
fendant  was  the  person  in  charge  of  this 
part  of  the  business.     But  under  this  head 
the  additional  testimony  of  Mr.  Annan 
seems  to  be  sufficient  to  remove  all  reason 
able  doubt.     If  the  jury  are  convinced  of 
the  defendant's  identity,   they  will  con 
sider  whether  any  reasonable  doubt  of  his 
conduct  or  motives  in  refusing  the  accom 
modations  to  Fields  Cook  can  exist.     The 
case  appears  to  the  court  to  be  proved ;  but 
this  question  is  for  the  jury,  not  for  the 
court.     If  the  jury  have  any  reasonable 
doubt,  they  should  find  the  defendant  not 
guilty ;  otherwise  they  will  find  him  guilty 
The  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  of  guilty 
March  1,  1876,  and  the  Court  imposed  '< 
fine  of  $500. 


The  Morton  Amendment. 

In  the  session  of  '73,  Senator  Morton,  o 
Indiana,  introduced  an  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  providing  for  the  general 
choice  of  Presidential  Electors  by  Con 
gressional  districts,  and  delivered  several 
speeches  on  the  subject  which  attractec 
much  attention  at  the  time.  Since  then 
many  amendments  have  been  introducec 
on  the  subject,  and  it  is  a  matter  for  an 
nual  discussion.  We  quote  the  Morton 


\mendment  as  the  one  most  likely  to  com- 
land  favorable  action : 
"  Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  of  the  United  States  of  America 
n  Congress  assembled,  (two-thirds  of  each 
louse  concurring  therein :)  That  the  fol- 
owing  article  is  hereby  proposed  as  an 
amendment  to    the  Constitution   of   the 
United  States,  and,  when  ratified  by  the 
egislatures  of  three-fourths  of  the  several 
States,  shall  be  valid,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  as  a  part  of  the  Constitution,  to 
wit: 

"  ARTICLE  — . 

'I.  The  President  and  Vice-President 
ihall  be  elected  by  the  direct  vote  of  the 
people  in  the  manner  following:  Each 
State  shall  be  divided  into  districts,  equal 
n  number  to  the  number  of  Representa 
tives  to  which  the  State  may  be  entitled 
n  the  Congress,  to  be  composed  of  con- 
iguous  territory,  and  to  be  as  nearly  equal 
.n  population  as  may  be ;  and  the  person 
having  the  highest  number  of  votes  in  each 
district  for  President  shall  receive  the  vote 
of  that  district,  which  shall  count  one  pres- 
dential  vote. 

"II.  The  person  having  the  highest 
number  of  votes  for  President  in  a  State 
shall  receive  two  presidential  votes  from 
the  State  at  large. 

"  III.  The  person  having  the  highest 
number  of  presidential  votes  in  the  United 
States  shall  be  President. 

"  IV.  If  two  persons  have  the  same 
number  of  votes  in  any  State,  it  being  the 
highest  number,  they  shall  receive  each 
one  presidential  vote  from  the  State  at 
large ;  and  if  more  than  two  persons  shall 
have  each  the  same  number  of  votes  in  any 
State,  it  being  the  highest  number,  no 
presidential  vote  shall  be  counted  from  the 
State  at  large.  If  more  persons  than  one 
shall  have  the  same  number  of  votes,  it 
being  the  highest  number  in  any  district, 
no  presidential  vote  shall  be  counted  from 
that  district. 

"  V.  The  foregoing  provisions  shall  ap 
ply  to  the  election  of  Vice-President. 

"  VI.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to 
provide  for  holding  and  conducting  the 
elections  of  President  and  Vice-President, 
and  to  establish  tribunals  for  the  decision 
of  such  elections  as  may  be  contested." 

VII.  The  States  shall  be  divided  into 
districts  by  the  legislatures  thereof,  but  the 
Congress  may  at  any  time  by  law  make  or 
alter  the  same. 

The  present  mode  of  election  is  given  in 
Book  V.  of  this  volume. 


The  -Whisky  Ring. 

During  1875  an  extensive  Whisky  Ring, 
organized  to  control  revenue  legislation 
and  avoidance  of  revenue  taxes,  was  dia- 


THE    WHITE    LEAGUE. 


223 


covered  in  the  West.  It  was  an  associa 
tion  of  distillers  in  collusion  with  Federal 
officers,  and  for  a  time  it  succeeded  in  de 
frauding  the  government  of  the  tax  on  dis 
tilled  spirits.  This  form  of  corruption, 
after  the  declaration  by  President  Grant — 
•'let  no  guilty  man  escape" — was  traced 
by  detectives  to  the  portals  of  the  White 
House,  but  even  partisan  rancor  could  not 
connect  the  President  therewith.  O.  E. 
Babcock,  however,  was  his  private  Secre 
tary,  and  upon  him  was  charged  complicity 
with  the  fraud.  He  was  tried  and  acquit 
ted,  but  had  to  resign.  Several  Federal 
officers  were  convicted  at  St.  Louis. 


Impeachment  of  Belknap. 

Another  form  of  corruption  was  dis 
covered  in  1876,  when  the  House  im 
peached  Wm.  W.  Belknap,  the  Secretary 
of  War,  on  the  charge  of  selling  an  Indian 
trading  establishment.  The  first  and  main 
specification  was,  that — 

On  or  about  the  second  day  of  Novem 
ber,  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy,  said 
William  W.  Belknap,  while  Secretary  of 
War  as  aforesaid,  did  receive  from  Caleb 
P.  Marsh  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  in  con 
sideration  of  his  having  appointed  said 
John  S.  Evans  to  maintain  a  trading- 
establishment  at  Fort  Sill  aforesaid,  and 
for  continuing  him  therein. 

The  following  summary  of  the  record 
shows  the  result,  and  that  Belknap  escaped 
punishment  by  a  refusal  of  two-thirds  to 
vote  "guilty:" 

The  examination  of  witnesses  was  be 
gun,  and  continued  on  various  days,  till 
July  26,  when  the  case  was  closed. 

August  1. — The  SENATE  voted.  On  the 
first  article,  thirty-five  voted  guilty,  and 
twenty-five  not  guilty.  On  the  second, 
third  and  fourth,  Mr.  MAXEY  made  the 
thirty-sixth  who  voted  guilty.  On  the  fifth, 
Mr.  MORTON  made  the  thirty-seventh  who 
voted  guilty.  The  vote  on  first  was : 

VOTING  GUILTY  —  Messrs.  Bayard, 
BOOTH,  Cameron  of  Pennsylvania,  Cockrell, 
Cooper,  Davis,  Dawes,  Dennis,  Edmunds, 
Gordon,  Hamilton,  Harvey,  Hitchcock, 
Kelly,  Kernan,  Key,  Me  Cr eery,  McDonald, 
Merrimon,  Mitchell,  Morrill  of  Vermont, 
Norwood,  Oglesby,  Randolph,  Ransom, 
Robertson,  Sargent,  Saulsbury,  Sherman, 
Stevenson,  Thurman,  Wadleigh,  Wallace, 
Whyte,  Withers— 35. 

VOTING  NOT  GUILTY — Messrs.  Allison, 
Anthony,  Boutwell,  Bruce,  Cameron  of 
Wisconsin,  Christiancy,  Conkling,  Cono- 
ver,  Cragin,  Dorsey,  Eaton,  Ferry  of  Michi 
gan,  Frelinghuysen,  Hamlin,  Howe,  In- 
galls,  Jones  of  Nevada,  Logan,  McMillan, 
Paddock,  Patterson,  Spencer,  West,  Win- 
dom,  Wright— 25. 

Mr.  JONES  of  Florida  declined  to  vote. 


Those  "voting  not  guilty"  generally  de 
nied  jurisdiction,  and  so  voted  accordingly. 
Belknap  had  resigned  and  the  claim  was 
set  up  that  he  was  a  private  citizen. 


The  White  League. 

By  1874  the  Democrats  of  the  South, 
who  then  generally  classed  themselves  as 
Conservatives,  had  gained  control  of  all 
the  State  governments  except  those  of 
Louisiana,  Florida  and  South  Carolina. 
In  nearly  all,  the  Republican  governments 
had  called  upon  President  Grant  for  mili 
tary  aid  in  maintaining  their  positions,  but 
this  was  declined  except  in  the  presence  of 
such  outbreak  as  the  proper  State  authori 
ties  could  not  suppress.  In  Arkansas, 
Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Texas,  Grant 
declined  to  interfere  save  to  cause  the 
Attorney  General  to  give  legal  advice. 
The  condition  of  all  these  governments 
demanded  constant  attention  from  the  Ex 
ecutive,  and  his  task  was  most  difficult  and 
dangerous.  The  cry  came  from  the  Demo 
cratic  partisans  in  the  South  for  home-rule ; 
another  came  from  the  negroes  that  they 
were  constantly  disfranchised,  intimidated 
and  assaulted  by  the  White  League,  a  body 
of  men  organized  in  the  Gulf  States  for 
the  purpose  of  breaking  up  the  "  carpet 
bag  governments."  So  conflicting  were 
the  stories,  and  so  great  the  fear  of  a  final 
and  destructive  war  of  races,  that  the  Con 
gressional  elections  in  the  North  were  for 
the  first  time  since  the  war  greatly  in 
fluenced.  The  Forty-fourth  Congress,  vvhich 
met  in  December,  1875,  had  been  changed 
by  what  was  called  "  the  tidal  wave,"  from 
Republican  to  Democratic,  and  M.  C.  Kerrr 
of  Indiana,  was  elected  Speaker.  The 
Senate  remained  Republican  with  a  re 
duced  margin. 

The  troubles  in  the  South,  and  especially 
in  Louisiana,  had  been  in  the  year  previous 
and  were  still  of  the  gravest  character. 
Gen'l  Sheridan  had  been  sent  to  New  Or 
leans  and  on  the  10th  of  January,  1875, 
made  a  report  which  startled  the  country 
as  to  the  doings  of  the  White  League.  As 
it  still  remains  a  subject  for  frequent  quo 
tation  we  give  its  text : 

SHERIDAN'S  REPORT. 
NEW  ORLEANS,  January  10, 1875. 
HON.  W.  W.  BELKNAP,  Secretary  of  War  .- 
Since  the  year  1866,  nearly  thirty-five 
hundred  persons,  a  great  majority  of  whom 
were  colored  men,  have  been  killed  and 
wounded  in  this  State.  In  1868  the  official 
record  shows  that  eighteen  hundred  and 
eighty-four  were  killed  and  wounded. 
From  1868  to  the  present  time,  no  official 
investigation  has  been  made,  and  the  civil 
authorities  in  all  but  a  few  cases  have  been 


224 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


unable  to  arrest,  convict  and  punish  per 
petrators.  Consequently,  there  are  no  cor 
rect  records  to  be  consulted  for  informa 
tion.  There  is  ample  evidence,  however, 
to  show  that  more  than  twelve  hundred 
persons  have  been  killed  and  wounded  du 
ring  this  time,  on  account  of  their  political 
sentiments.  Frightful  massacres  have  oc 
curred  in  the  parishes  of  Bossier,  Caddo, 
Catahoula,  Saint  Bernard,  Saint  Landry, 
Grant  and  Orleans.  The  general  charac 
ter  of  the  massacres  in  the  above  named, 
parishes  is  so  well  known  that  it  is  unneces 
sary  to  describe  them.  The  isolated  cases 
can  best  be  illustrated  by  the  following  in 
stances  which  I  have  taken  from  a  mass 
of  evidence  now  lying  before  me  of  men 
killed  on  account  of  their  political  princi 
ples.  In  Natchitoches  Parish,  the  num 
ber  of  isolated  cases  reported  is  thirty- 
three.  In  the  parish  of  Bienville,  the 
number  of  men  killed  is  thirty.  In  Ked 
River  Parish  the  number  of  isolated  cases 
of  men  killed  is  thirty-four.  In  Winn  Par 
ish  the  number  of  isolated  cases  where  men 
were  killed  is  fifteen.  In  Jackson  Parish 
the  number  killed  is  twenty ;  and  in  Cata 
houla  Parish  the  number  of  isolated  cases 
reported  where  men  were  killed  is  fifty  ; 
and  most  of  the  country  parishes  through 
out  the  State  will  show  a  corresponding 
state  of  affairs.  The  following  statement 
will  illustrate  the  character  and  kind  of 
these  outrages.  On  the  29th  of  August, 
1874,  in  Eed  Eiver  Parish,  six  State  and 
parish  officers,  named  Twitchell,  Divers, 
Holland,  Howell,  Edgerton  and  Willis, 
were  taken,  together  with  four  negroes, 
under  guard,  to  be  carried  out  of  the  State, 
and  were  deliberately  murdered  on  the  30th 
of  August,  1874.  The  White  League  tried, 
sentenced,  and  hung  two  negroes  on  the 
28th  of  August,  1874.  Three  negroes  were 
shot  and  killed  at  Brownsville,  just  before 
the  arrival  of  the  United  States  troops  in 
the  parish.  Two  White  Leaguers  rode  up 
to  a  negro  cabin  and  called  for  a  drink  of 
water.  When  the  old  colored  man  turned 
to  draw  it,  they  shot  him  in  the  back  and 
killed  him.  The  courts  were  all  broken 
up  in  this  district,  and  the  district  judge 
driven  out.  In  the  parish  of  Caddo,  prior 
to  the  arrival  of  the  United  States  troops, 
all  of  the  officers  at  Shreveport  were  com 
pelled  to  abdicate  by  the  White  League, 
which  took  possession  of  the  place.  Among 
those  obliged  to  abdicate  were  Walsh,  the 
mayor,  Rapers,  the  sheriff,  Wheaton,  clerk 
of  the  court,  Durant,  the  recorder,  and 
Ferguson  and  Renfro,  administrators.  Two 
colored  men,  who  had  given  evidence  in 
regard  to  frauds  committed  in  the  parish, 
were  compelled  to  flee  for  their  lives  and 
reached  this  city  last  night,  having  been 
smuggled  through  in  a  cargo  of  cotton.  In 
the  parish  of  Bossier  the  White  League 
have  attempted  to  force  the  abdication  of 


Judge  Baker,  the  United  States  Commis 
sioner  and  parish  judge,  together  with 
O'Neal,  the  sheriff,  and  Walker,  the  clerk 
of  the  court ;  and  they  have  compelled  the 
parish  and  district  courts  to  suspend  opera 
tions.  Judge  Baker  states  that  the  White 
Leaguers  notified  him  several  times  that  if 
he  became  a  candidate  on  the  republican 
ticket,  or  if  he  attempted  to  organize  the 
republican  party,  he  should  not  live  until 
election. 

They  also  tried  to  intimidate  him  through 
his  family  by  making  the  same  threats  to 
his  wife,  and  when  told  by  him  that  he  was 
a  United  States  commissioner,  they  notified 
him  not  to  attempt  to  exercise  the  functions 
of  his  office.  In  but  few  of  the  country 
parishes  can  it  be  truly  said  that  the  law  is 
properly  enforced,  and  in  some  of  the  par 
ishes  the  judges  have  not  been  able  to  hold 
court  for  the  past  two  years.  Human  life 
in  this  State  is  held  so  cheaply,  that  when 
men  are  killed  on  account  of  political 
opinions,  the  murderers  are  regarded  rather 
as  heroes  than  as  criminals,  in  the  locali 
ties  where  they  reside,  and  by  the  White 
League  and  their  supporters  An  illustra 
tion  of  the  ostracism  that  prevails  in  the 
State  may  be  found  in  a  resolution  of  a 
White  League  club  in  the  parish  of  De 
Soto,  which  states,  "That  they  pledge 
themselves  under  (no?)  circumstances  after 
the  coming  election  to  employ,  rent  land 
to,  or  in  any  other  manner  give  aid,  com 
fort,  or  credit,  to  any  man,  white  or  black, 
who  votes  against  the  nominees  of  the 
white  man's  party."  Safety  for  individuals 
who  express  their  opinion  in  the  isolated 
portion  of  this  State  has  existed  only  when 
that  opinion  was  in  favor  of  the  principles 
and  party  supported  by  the  Ku-Klux  and 
White  League  organizations.  Only  yes 
terday  Judge  Myers,  the  parish  judge  of 
the  parish  of  Natchitoches,  called  on  me 
upon  his  arrival  in  this  city,  and  stated 
that  in  order  to  reach  here  alive,  he  was 
obliged  to  leave  his  home  by  stealth,  and 
after  nightfall,  and  make  his  way  to  Little 
Rock,  Arkansas,  and  come  to  this  city  by 
way  of  Memphis.  He  further  states  that 
while  his  father  was  lying  at  the  point  of 
death  in  the  same  village,  he  was  unable 
to  visit  him  for  fear  of  assassination  ;  and 
yet  he  is  a  native  of  the  parish,  and  pro 
scribed  for  his  political  sentiments  only. 
It  is  more  than  probable  that  if  bad  gov 
ernment  has  existed  in  this  State  it  is  the 
result  of  the  armed  organizations,  which 
have  now  crystallized  into  what  is  called  the 
White  League  ;  instead  of  bad  government 
developing  them,  they  have  by  their  ter 
rorism  prevented  to  a  considerable  extent 
the  collection  of  taxes,  the  holding  of 
courts,  the  punishment  of  criminals,  and 
vitiated  public  sentiment  by  familiarizing 
it  with  the  scenes  above  described.  I  am 
now  engaged  in  compiling  evidence  for  a 


THE    WHITE    LEAGUE. 


225 


detailed  report  upon  the  above  subject,  but 
it  will  be  some  time  before  I  can  obtain 
all  the  requisite  data  to  cover  the  cases 
that  have  occurred  throughout  the  State. 
I  will  also  report  in  due  time  upon  the  same 
subject  in  the  States  of  Arkansas  and  Mis 
sissippi. 

P.  H.  SHERIDAN, 
Lieutenant-  General. 

'  President  Grant  said  in  a  special  mes- 
jsage  to  Congress,  January  13,  1875 : — 

"It  has  been  bitterly  and  persistently 
alleged  that  Kellogg  was  not  elected. 
Whether  he  was  or  not  is  not  altogether 
certain,  nor  is  it  any  more  certain  that  his 
competitor,  McEnery,  was  chosen.  The 
election  was  a  gigantic  fraud,  and  there  are 
no  reliable  returns  of  its  result.  Kellogg 
obtained  possession  of  the  office,  and  in 
my  opinion  has  more  right  to  it  than  his 
competitor. 

"  On  the  20th  of  February,  1873,  the 
Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections  of 
the  Senate  made  a  report,  in  which  they 
say  they  were  satisfied  by  testimony  that 
the  manipulation  of  the  election  machinery 
by  Warmoth  and  others  was  equivalent  to 
twenty  thousand  votes  ;  and  they  add,  to 
recognize  the  McEnery  government 
'  would  be  recognizing  a  government  based 
upon  fraud,  in  defiance  of  the  wishes  and 
intention  of  the  voters  of  the  State.'  As 
suming  the  correctness  of  the  statements 
in  this  report,  (and  they  seem  to  have  been 
generally  accepted  by  the  country,)  the 
great  crime  in  Louisiana,  about  which  so 
much  has  been  said,  is,  that  one  is  holding 
the  office  of  governor  who  was  cheated  out 
of  twenty  thousand  votes,  against  another 
whose  title  to  the  office  is  undoubtedly 
based  on  fraud,  and  in  defiance  of  the 
wishes  and  intentions  of  the  voters  of  the 
State. 

"  Misinformed  and  misjudging  as  to  the 
nature  and  extent  of  this  report,  the  sup 
porters  of  McEnery  proceeded  to  displace 
by  force  in  some  counties  of  the  State  the 
appointees  of  Governor  Kellogg ;  and  on 
the  13th  of  April,  in  an  effort  of  that  kind, 
a  butchery  of  citizens  was  committed  at 
Colfax,  which  in  blood-thirstiness  and  bar 
barity  is  hardly  surpassed  by  any  acts  of 
savage  warfare. 

"  To  put  this  matter  beyond  controversy, 
I  quote  from  the  charge  of  Judge  Woods, 
of  the  United  States  circuit  court,  to  the 
jury  in  the  case  of  the  United  States  vs. 
Cruikshank  and  others,  in  New  Orleans, 
in  March,  1874.  He  said : 

"  '  In  the  case  on  trial  there  are  many 
facts  not  in  controversy.  I  proceed  to 
state  some  of  them  in  the  presence  and 
hearing  of  counsel  on  both  sides ;  and  if  I 
state  as  a  conceded  fact  any  matter  that  is 
disputed,  they  can  correct  me.' 
-  After  stating  the  origin  of  the  diffi- 

15 


culty,  which  grew  put  of  an  attempt  of 
white  persons  to  drive  the  parish  judge 
and  sheriff,  appointees  of  Kellogg,  from 
office,  and  their  attempted  protection  by 
colored  persons,  which  led  to  some  fight 
ing  in  which  quite  a  number  of  negroes 
were  killed,  the  judge  states : 

"  '  Most  of  those  who  were  not  killed 
were  taken  prisoners.  Fifteen  or  sixteen 
of  the  blacks  had  lifted  the  boards  and 
taken  refuge  under  the  floor  of  the  court 
house.  They  were  all  captured.  About 
thirty -seven  men  were  taken  prisoners; 
the  number  is  not  definitely  fixed.  They 
were  kept  under  guard  until  dark.  They 
were  led  out,  two  by  two,  and  shot.  Most 
of  the  men  were  shot  to  death.  A  few 
were  wounded,  not  mortally,  and  by  pre 
tending  to  be  dead  were  afterward,  during 
the  night,  able  to  make  their  escape. 
Among  them  was  the  Levi  Nelson  named 
in  the  indictment. 

"  '  The  dead  bodies  of  the  negroes  killed 
in  this  affair  were  left  unburied  until  Tues 
day,  April  15,  when  they  were  buried  by  a 
deputy  marshal  and  an  officer  of  the 
militia  from  New  Orleans.  These  persons 
found  fifty-nine  dead  bodies.  They  show 
ed  pistol-shot  wounds,  the  great  majority 
in  the  head,  and  most  of  them  in  the  back 
of  the  head.  In  addition  to  the  fifty-nine 
dead  bodies  found,  some  charred  remains 
of  dead  bodies  were  discovered  near  the 
court-house.  Six  dead  bodies  were  found 
under  a  warehouse,  all  shot  in  the  head 
but  one  or  two,  which  were  shot  in  the 
breast. 

" '  The  only  white  men  injured  from  the 
beginning  of  these  troubles  to  their  close 
were  Hadnot  and  Harris.  The  court 
house  and  its  contents  were  entirely  con 
sumed. 

"  '  There  is  no  evidence  that  any  one  in 
the  crowd  of  whites  bore  any  lawful  war 
rant  for  the  arrest  of  any  of  the  blacks. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  either  Nash  or 
Cazabat,  after  the  affair,  ever  demanded 
their  offices,  to  which  they  had  set  up 
claim,  but  Register  continued  to  act  as 
parish  judge,  and  Shaw  as  Sheriff. 

" '  These  are  facts  in  this  case,  as  I  under 
stand  them  to  be  admitted.' 

"  To  hold  the  people  of  Louisiana  gen 
erally  responsible  for  these  atrocities  would 
not  be  just ;  but  it  is  a  lamentable  fact  that 
insuperable  obstructions  were  thrown  in 
the  way  of  punishing  these  murderers,  and 
the  so-called  conservative  papers  of  the 
State  not  only  justified  the  massacre,  but 
denounced  as  Federal  tyranny  and  despot 
ism  the  attempt  of  the  United  States  offi 
cers  to  bring  them  to  justice.  Fierce  de 
nunciations  ring  through  the  country 
about  office-holding  and  election  matters 
in  Louisiana,  while  everyone  of  the  Colfax 
miscreants  goes  unwhipped  of  justice,  and 
no  way  can  be  found  in  this  boasted  land 


226 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


of  civilization  and  Christianity  to  punish 
the  perpetrators  of  this  bloody  and  mon 
strous  crime. 

"  Not  unlike  this  was  the  massacre  in 
August  last.  Several  northern  young  men 
of  capital  and  enterprise  had  started  the 
little  and  nourishing  town  of  Coushatta. 
Some  of  them  were  republicans  and  office 
holders  under  Kellogg.  They  were  there 
fore  doomed  to  death.  Six  of  them  were 
seized  and  carried  away  from  their  homes 
and  murdered  in  cold  blood.  No  one  has 
been  punished ;  and  the  conservative  press 
of  the  State  denounced  all  efforts  to  that 
end,  and  boldly  justified  the  crime." 

The  House  on  the  1st  of  March,  1875, 
by  a  strict  party  vote,  155  Republicans  to 
86  Democrats,  recognized  the  Kellogg  gov 
ernment.  The  Senate  did  the  same  on 
March  5th,  by  33  to  23,  also  a  party  vote. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  resolution 
unanimously  adopted  by  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States, 
recommending  that  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  of  that  State  seat  the  persons 
rightfully  entitled  thereto  from  certain 
districts,  the  whole  subject  was,  by  consent 
of  parties,  referred  to  the  Special  Commit 
tee  of  the  House  who  examined  into 
Louisiana  affairs,  viz. :  Messrs.  George  F. 
Hoar,  William  A.  Wheeler,  William  P. 
Frye,  Charles  Foster,  William  Walter 
Phelps,  Clarkson  N.  Potter  and  Samuel  S. 
Marshall,  who,  after  careful  examination, 
made  an  award,  which  was  adopted  by  the 
Legislature  in  April,  1875.  It  is  popularly 
known  as  the  "  Wheeler  Compromise." 


Text  of  tlie  Wheeler  Compromise. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  March,  1875. 

Whereas,  It  is  desirable  to  adjust  the 
difficulties  growing  out  of  the  general  elec 
tion  in  this  State,  in  1872,  the  action  of 
the  Returning  Board  in  declaring  and  pro 
mulgating  the  results  of  the  general  elec 
tion,  in  the  month  of  November  last,  and 
the  organization  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  on  the  4th  day  of  January  last, 
such  adjustment  being  deemed  necessary 
to  the  re-establishment  of  peace  and  order 
in  this  State. 

Now,  therefore,  the  undersigned  mem 
bers  of  the  Conservative  party,  claiming  to 
have  been  elected  members  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  that  their  certifi 
cates  of  election  have  been  illegally  with 
held  by  the  Returning  Board,  hereby 
severally  agree  to  submit  their  claims  to 
seats  in  the  House  of  Representatives  to 
the  award  and  arbitrament  of  George  F. 
Hoar,  William  A.  Wheeler,  William  P. 
Frye,  Charles  Foster,  William  Walter 
Phelps,  Clarkson  N.  Potter,  and  Samuel  S. 
Marshall,  who  are  hereby  authorized  to 
examine  and  determine  the  same  upon  the 
equities  of  the  several  cases ;  and  when 


such  awards  shall  be  made,  we  hereby 
severally  agree  to  abide  by.  the  same : 

And  such  of  us  as  may  become  members 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  under 
this  arrangement,  hereby  severally  agree 
to  sustain  by  our  influence  and  votes  the 
joint  resolution  herein  set  forth. 

[Here  follow  the  signatures  of  the  Demo 
crats  who  claimed  that  their  certificates  of 
election  as  members  of  the  House  of  Re- 

Eresentatives  had  been  illegally  withheld 
y  the  Returning  Board.] 

And  the  undersigned  claiming  to  havef 
been  elected  Senators  from  the  Eighth  and 
Twenty-Second  Senatorial  Districts,  hereby 
agree  to  submit  their'  claims  to  the  fore 
going  award  and  arbitrament,  and  in  all 
respects  to  abide  the  results  of  the  same. 

[Here  follow  the  signatures  of  the  Demo 
crats,  who  made  a  like  claim  as  to  seats  in 
the  Senate.] 

And  the  undersigned,  holding  certifi 
cates  of  election  from  the  Returning  Board, 
hereby  severally  agree  that  upon  the  com 
ing  in  of  the  award  of  the  foregoing  arbi 
trators  they  will,  when  the  same  shall  have 
been  ratified  by  the  report  of  the  Commit 
tee  on  Elections  and  Qualifications  of  the 
body  in  session  at  the  State  House  claim 
ing  to  be  the  House  of  Representatives, 
attend  the  sitting  of  the  said  House  for  the 
purpose  of  adopting  said  report,  and  if 
said  report  shall  be  adopted,  and  the  mem 
bers  embraced  in  the  foregoing  report 
shall  be  seated,  then  the  undersigned  seve 
rally  agree  that  immediately  upon  the 
adoption  of  said  report  they  will  vote  for 
the  following  joint  resolution  : 

[Here  follow  the  signatures  of  the  Demo 
cratic  members  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  in  relation  to  whose  seats  there  was 
no  controversy.] 

JOINT  RESOLUTION. 

Resolved,  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  Louisiana,  That  said  Assembly, 
without  approving  the  same,  will  not  dis 
turb  the  present  State  Government  claim 
ing  to  have  been  elected  in  1872,  known  as 
the  Kellogg  Government,  or  seek  to  im 
peach  the  Governor  for  any  past  official 
acts,  and  that  henceforth  it  will  accord  to 
said  Governor  all  necessary  and  legitimate 
support  in  maintaining  the  laws  and  ad 
vancing  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the 
people  of  this  State :  and  that  the  House 
of  Representatives,  as  to  its  members,  as 
constituted  under  the  award  of  George  F. 
Hoar,  W.  A.  Wheeler,  W.  P.  Frye,  Charles 
Foster,  Samuel  S.  Marshall,  Clarkson 
N.  Potter,  and  William  Walter  Phelps, 
shall  remain  without  change  except  by 
resignation  or  death  of  members  until  a 
new  general  election,  and  that  the  Senate, 
as  now  organized,  shall  also  remain  un 
changed  except  so  far  as  thafr  body  shall 
make  changes  on  contests. 


TEXT    OF    THE    WHEELER    COMPROMISE. 


227 


TEXT   OF  THE  AWARD. 

NEW  YORK,  March  13,  1875. 
The  undersigned  having  been  requested 
to  examine  the  claims  of  the  persons  here 
inafter  named  to  seats  in  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  State 
of  Louisiana,  and  having  examined  the  re 
turns  and  the  evidence  relating  to  such 
claims,  are  of  opinion,  and  do  hereby  find, 
award  and  determine,  that  F.  S.  Goode  is 
entitled  to  a  seat  in  the  Senate  from  the 
Twenty-second  Senatorial  District;  and 
that  J.  B.  Elam  is  not  entitled  to  a  seat  in 
the  Senate  from  the  Eighth  Senatorial 
District;  and  that  the  following  named 
persons  are  entitled  to  seats  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  from  the  following 
named  parishes  respectively:  From  the 
Parish  of  Assumption,  R.  R.  Beaseley,  E. 
F.  X.  Dugas ;  from  the  Parish  of  Bien- 
ville,  James  Brice  ;  from  the  Parish  of  De 
Soto,  J.  S.  Scales,  Charles  Schuler;  from 
the  Parish  of  Jackson,  E.  Kidd ;  from  the 
Parish  of  Rapides,  James  Jeffries,  R.  C. 
Lucktstt,  G.  W.  Stafford ;  from  the  Parish 
of  Terrebone,  Edward  McCollum,  W.  H. 
Keyes ;  from  the  Parish  of  Winn,  George 
A.  Kelley.  And  that  the  following  named 
persons  are  not  entitled  to  seats  which 
they  claim  from  the  following  named 
parishes  respectively,  but  that  the  persons 
now  holding  seats  from  said  parishes  are 
entitled  to  retain  the  seats  now  held  by 
them ;  from  the  Parish  of  Avoyelles,  J.  O. 
Quinn  ;  from  the  Parish  of  Iberie,  W.  F. 
Schwing ;  from  the  Parish  of  Caddo,  A. 
D.  Land,  T.  R.  Vaughan,  J.  J.  Horan. 
We  are  of  opinion  that  no  person  is  en 
titled  to  a  seat  from  the  Parish  of  Grant. 

In   regard  to   most  of   the  cases,   the 
undersigned   are    unanimous;    as   to   the 
others  the  decision  is  that  of  a  majority. 
GEORGE  F.  HOAR, 
W.  A.  WHEELER, 
W.  P.  FRYE, 
CHARLES  FOSTER, 
CLARKSON  N.  POTTER, 
WILLIAM  WALTER  PHELPS, 
SAMUEL  S.  MARSHALL. 

This  adjustment  and  award  were  accept 
ed  and  observed,  until  the  election  in  No- 
vem  "er,  1876,  when  a  controversy  arose  as 
to  tlie  result,  the  Republicans  claiming  the 
election  of  Stephen  B.  Packard  as  Govern 
or  by  about  3,500  majority,  and  a  Republi 
can  Legislature  ;  and  the  Democrats  claim 
ing  the  election  of  Francis  T.  Nicholls  as 
Governor,  by  about  8,000  majority,  and  a 
Democratic  Legislature.  Committees  of 
gentlemen  visited  New  Orleans,  by  reques 
of  President  Grant  and  of  various  politi 
cal  organizations,  to  witness  the  count  o 
the  votes  by  the  Returning  Board.  Anc 
in  December,  1876,  on  the  meeting  of  Con 
gress,  committees  of  investigation  were  ap 
pointed  by  the  Senate  and  by  the  House  o:" 


Representatives.  Exciting  events  were 
now  daily  transpiring.  On  the  1st  of  Jan 
uary,  1877,  the  Legislature  organized  in  the 
State  House  without  exhibitions  of  vio- 
ence.  The  Democrats  did  not  unite  in  the 
proceedings,  but  met  in  a  separate  build- 
ng,  and  organized  a  separate  Legislature. 
Telegraphic  communication  was  had  be- 
;ween  the  State  House  and  the  Custom 
Souse,  where  was  the  office  of  Marshal 
Pitkin,  who  with  the  aid  of  the  United 
States  troops,  was  ready  for  any  emergency. 
About  noon  the  Democratic  members,  ac 
companied  by  about  500  persons,  called  at 
the  State  House  and  demanded  admission. 
The  officer  on  duty  replied  that  the  mem- 

s  could  enter,  but  the  crowd  could  not. 
A  formal  demand  was  then  made  upon 
General  Badger  and  other  officials,  by  the 
pokesman,  for  the  removal  of  the  obstruc 
tions,  barricades,  police,  etc.,  which  pre 
vented  the  ingress  of  members,  which  being 
denied,  Col.  Bush,  in  behalf  of  the  crowd, 
read  a  formal  protest,  and  the  Democrats 
retired.  Gov.  Kellogg  was  presented  by  a 
committee  with  a  copy  of  the  protest,  and 
he  replied,  that  as  chief  magistrate  and 
conservator  of  the  peace  of  the  State,  be 
lieving  that  there  was  danger  of  the  orT 
ganization  of  the  General  Assembly  being 
violently  interfered  with,  he  had  caused  a 
police  force  to  be  stationed  in  the  lower 
portion  of  the  building ;  that  he  had  no 
motive  but  to  preserve  the  peace ;  that  no 
member  or  attache  of  either  house  will  be 
interfered  with  in  any  way,  and  that  no 
United  States  troops  are  stationed  in  the 
capitol  building.  Clerk  Trezevant  declined 
to  call  the  House  to  order  unless  the  police 
men  were  removed.  Upon  the  refusal  to  do 
so,  he  withdrew,  when  Louis  Sauer,  a  mem 
ber,  called  the  roll,  and  68  members — a  full 
House  being  120 — answered  to  their  names. 
Ex-Gov.  Hahn  was  elected  Speaker,  re 
ceiving  53  votes  as  against  15  for  Ex-Gov. 
Warmoth. 

The  Senate  was  organized  by  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Antoine  with  19  present — a  full 
Senate  being  30 — eight  of  whom  held  over, 
and  11  were  returned  by  the  Board.  Gov. 
Kellogg's  message  was  presented  'to  each 
House. 

The  Democrats  organized  their  Legisla 
ture  in  St.  Patrick's  hall.  The  Senators 
were  called  to  order  by  Senator  Ogden. 
Nineteen  Senators,  including  nine  holding 
over,  and  four,  who  were  counted  out  by 
the  board,  were  present. 

The  Democratic  members  of  the  House 
were  called  to  order  by  Clerk  Trezevant, 
and  61  answered  to  their  names.  Louis 
Bush  was  elected  Speaker. 

January  3d — Republican  Legislature 
passed  a  resolution  asking  for  military  pro 
tection  against  apprehended  Democratic 
violence,  and  it  was  telegraphed  to  the 
President. 


228 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


On  Sunday,  January  8th,  Gov.  Kellogg 
telegraphed  to  President  Grant  to  the  same 
effect. 

January  8th — Stephen  B.  Packard  took 
the  oath  of  office  as  Governor,  and  C.  C. 
Antoine  as  Lieutenant-Governor,  at  the 
Brate  House  at  1 : 30,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Legislature. 

January  8 — Francis  T.  Nicholls  and  L. 
A.  Wiltz  to-day  took  the  oath  of  office  of 
Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor,  re 
spectively,  on  the  balcony  of  St.  Patrick's 
hall. 

By  the  llth  of  January  both  parties  were 
waiting  for  the  action  of  the  authorities  at 
Washington.  Gov.  Packard  to-day  com 
missioned  A.  S.  Badger  Major-General  of 
the  State  National  Guard,  and  directed  him 
to  organize  the  first  division  at  once.  Two 
members  of  the  Packard  Legislature,  Mr. 
Barrett,  of  Rapides,  and  Mr.  Kennedy,  of 
fet.  Charles,  had  withdrawn  from  that 
body  and  gone  over  to  the  Nicholls  Legis 
lature. 

Messrs.  Breux,  Barrett,  Kennedy,  Es- 
topiyal.  Wheeler,  and  Hamlet,  elected  as 
Republicans,  under  the  advice  of  Pinch- 
back — a  defeated  Republican  candidate  for 
II.  S.  Senator,  left  the  Packard  or  Repub 
lican,  and  joined  the  Nicholls  Legislature. 

On  the  15th,  Governor  Packard,  after 
receiving  a  copy  of  the  telegram  of  the 
President  to  General  Augur,  issued  a 
proclamation  aimed  at  the  "  organized  and 
armed  combination  and  conspiracy  of  men 
now  offering  unlawful  and  violent  resist 
ance  to  the  lawful  authority  of  the  State 
government." 

The  Nicholls  court  issued  an  order  to 
Sheriff  Handy  to  provide  the  means  for 
protecting  the  court  from  any  violence  or 
intrusion  on  the  part  of  the  adherents  of 
"S.  B.  Packard,  a  wicked  and  shameless 
impostor." 

Governor  Packard  on  the  16th,  in  a  let 
ter  to  Gen.  Augur,  acknowledges  the  re 
ceipt  of  a  communication  from  his  aide- 
de-camp  asking  for  assurances  from  him 
that  the  President's  wishes  concerning  the 
preservation  of  the  present  status  be  re- 
gpected,  and  says  that  the  request  would 
have  been  more  appropriate  if  made  im 
mediately  after  his  installation  as  Gov 
ernor  and  before  many  of  the  main 
branc-hes  of  the  Government  had  been 
forcibly  taken  possession  of  by  the  oppo 
sition.  He  says :  "  I  had  scarcely  taken 
the  oath  of  office  when  the  White 'League 
were  called  to  arms;  the  Court  room  and 
the  records  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State  were  forcibly  taken  possession  of, 
and  various  precinct  police-stations  were 
captured  in  like  manner  by  overwhelm 
ing  forces.  Orders  had  been  issued  by  the 
Secretary  of  War  early  on  that  day  that 
all  unauthorized  armed  bodies  should  de- 
gist.  A  dispatch  from  yourself  of  the  same 


date  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  conveyed 
the  assurances  that  Nicholls  had  promised 
the  disbandment  of  his  armed  forces.  * 
*  *  *  It  was  my  understanding,  that 
neither  side  should  be  permitted  to  inter 
fere  with  the  status  of  the  other  side.  Yet 
the  day  after  this  order  was  received  and 
the  pledge  given  by  Nicholls,  a  force  of 
several  hundred  armed  White  Leaguers 
repaired  to  the  State  Arsenal  and  took  there 
from  into  their  own  keeping  five  pieces  of 
artillery,  and  a  garrison  of  armed  men  was 
placed  in  and  around  the  Supreme  Court 
building.  That  on  the  following  day,  Jan 
uary  11,  an  armed  company  of  the  White 
League  broke  into  and  took  possession  of 
the  office  of  the  Recorder  of  Mortgages. 
*  *  *  In  view  of  all  these  facts  it 
seemed  to  me  that  to  give  the  pledge  ver 
bally  asked  of  me  this  morning  would 
be  to  sanction  revolution,  and  by  acquies 
cence  give  it  the  force  of  accomplished 
fact,  and  I  therefore  declined." 

Many  telegrams  followed  between  the 
Secretary  of  War,  J.  Don.  Cameron,  Gen'l 
Augur  and  Mr.  Packard,  the  latter  daily 
complaining  of  new  "  outrages  by  the 
White  League,"  while  the  Nicholls  gov 
ernment  professed  to  accord  rights  to  all 
classes,  and  to  obey  the  instructions  from 
Washington,  to  faithfully  maintain  the 
status  of  affairs  until  decisive  action  should 
be  taken  by  the  National  government. 
None  was  taken,  President  Grant  being 
unwilling  to  outline  a  Southern  policy  for 
his  successor  in  office. 


Election  of  Hayes  and  Wheeler. 

The  troubles  in  the  South,  and  the  al 
most  general  overthrow  of  the  "  carpet  bag 
government,"  impressed  all  with  the  fact 
that  the  Presidential  election  of  1876  would 
be  exceedingly  close  and  exciting,  and  the 
result  confirmed  this  belief.  The  Green- 
backers  were  the  first  to  meet  in  National 
Convention,  at  Indianapolis,  May  17th. 
Peter  Cooper  of  New  York  was  nominated 
for  President,  and  Samuel  F.  Cary  of  Ohio, 
for  Vice  President. 

The  Republican  National  Convention 
met  at  Cincinnati,  June  14th,  with  James 
G.  Blaine  recognized  as  the  leading  candi 
date.  Grant  had  been  named  for  a  third 
term,  and  there  was  a  belief  that  his  name 
would  be  presented.  Such  was  the  feeling 
on  this  question  that  the  House  of  Con 
gress  and  a  Republican  State  Convention 
in  Pennsylvania,  had  passed  resolutions 
declaring  that  a  third  term  for  President 
would  be  a  violation  of  the  "  unwritten 
law  "  handed  down  through  the  examples 
of  Washington,  and  Jackson.  His  name, 
however,  was  not  then  presented.  The  "unit 
rule  "  at  this  Convention  was  for  the  first 
time  resisted,  and  by  the  friends  of  Blaine, 


THE    ELECTORAL    COUNT. 


229 


with  a  view  to  release  from  instructions  of 
State  Conventions  some  of  his  friends. 
New  York  had  instructed  for  Conkling, 
and  Pennsylvania  for  Hartranft.  In  both 
of  these  states  some  delegates  had  been 
chosen  by  their  respective  Congressional 
districts,  in  advance  of  any  State  action, 
and  these  elections  were  as  a  rule  confirmed 
by  the  State  bodies.  Where  they  were  not, 
there  were  contests,  and  the  right  of  dis 
trict  representation  was  jeopardized  if  not 
destroyed  by  the  reinforcement  of  the 
unit  rule.  It  was  therefore  thought  to  be 
a  question  of  much  importance  by  the  war 
ring  interests.  Hon.  Edw.  McPherson  was 
the  temporary  Chairman  of  the  Conven 
tion,  and  he  took  the  earliest  opportunity 
presented  to  decide  against  the  binding 
force  of  the  unit  rule,  and  to  assert  the  lib 
erty  of  each  delegate  to  vote  as  he  pleased. 
The  Convention  sustained  the  decision  on 
an  appeal. 

Ballots  of  the  Cincinnati  Republican 
Convention,  1876  : 

Ballots,  1234567 

Blaine,  285  293  292  293  287  308  351 

Conkling,  113  114  121  126  114  111     21 

Bristow,  99    93    90    84    82    81 

Morton,  124  120  113  108     95     85 

Hayes,  61     64    67    68  102  113  384 

Hartranft,  58    63    68    71    69    50 

Jewell,  11 

Washb'ne,  11334 

Wheeler,          332222 

Gen.  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  of  Ohio,  was 
nominated  for  President,  and  Hon.  Wm.  A. 
Wheeler,  of  New  York,  for  Vice  President. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention 
met  at  St.  Louis,  June  28th.  Great  interest 
was  excited  by  the  attitude  of  John  Kel 
ly,  the  Tammany  leader  of  New  York, 
who  was  present  and  opposed  with  great 
bitterness  the  nomination  of  Tilden.  He 
afterwards  bowed  to  the  will  of  the  major 
ity  and  supported  him.  Both  the  unit  and 
the  two-thirds  rule  were  observed  in  this 
body,  as  they  have  long  been  by  the  Dem 
ocratic  party.  On  the  second  ballot,  Hon. 
Samuel  J.  Tilden,  of  New  York,  had  535 
votes  to  203  for  all  others.  His  leading 
competitor  was  Hon.  Thomas  A.  Hen- 
dricks,  of  Indiana,  who  was  nominated  for 
Vice  President. 


The  Electoral  Count. 

The  election  followed  Nov.  7th,  1876, 
Hayes  and  Wheeler  carrying  all  of  the 
Northern  States  except  Connecticut,  New 
York,  New  Jersey  and  Indiana;  Tilden 
and  Hendricks  carried  all  of  the  Southern 
States  except  South  Carolina,  Florida  and 
Louisiana.  The  three  last  named  States 
were  claimed  by  the  Democrats,  but  their 
members  of  the  Congressional  Investiga 


ting  Committee  quieted  rival  claims  as  to 
South  Carolina  by  agreeing  that  it  had 
fairly  chosen  the  Republican  electors.  So 
close  was  the  result  that  success  or  failure 
hinged  upon  the  returns  of  Florida  and 
Louisiana,  and  for  days  and  weeks  conflict 
ing  stories  and  claims  came  from  these 
States.  The  Democrats  claimed  that  they 
had  won  on  the  face  of  the  returns  from 
Louisiana,  and  that  there  was  no  authority 
to  go  behind  these.  The  Republicans  pub 
licly  alleged  frauds  in  nearly  all  of  the 
Southern  States ;  that  the  colored  vote  had  ' 
been  violently  suppressed  in  the  Gulf 
States,  but  they  did  not  formally  dispute 
the  face  of  the  returns  in  any  State  save 
where  the  returning  boards  gave  them  the 
victory.  This  doubtful  state  of  affairs  in 
duced  a  number  of  prominent  politicians 
of  both  the  great  parties  to  visit  the  State 
capitals  of  South  Carolina,  Florida  and 
Louisiana  to  witness  the  count.  Some  of 
these  were  appointed  by  President  Grant; 
others  by  the  Democratic  National  Com 
mittee,  and  both  sets  were  at  the  time 
called  the  "  visiting  statesmen,"  a  phrase 
on  which  the  political  changes  were  rung 
for  months  and  years  thereafter. 

The  electoral  votes  of  Florida  were  de 
cided  by  the  returning  board  to  be  Repub 
lican  by  a  majority  of  926,' — this  after 
throwing  out  the  votes  of  several  districts 
where  fraudulent  returns  were  alleged  to  be 
apparent  or  shown  by  testimony.  The 
Board  was  cited  before  the  State  Supreme 
Court,  which  ordered  a  count  of  the  face 
of  the  returns ;  a  second  meeting  only  led 
to  a  second  Republican  return,  and  the 
Republican  electors  were  then  declared  to 
have  been  choseu  by  a  majority  of  206. 
though  before  this  was  done,  the  Electoral 
College  of  the  State  had  met  and  cast  their, 
four  votes  for  Hayes  and  Wheeler.  Both 
parties  agreed  very  closely  in  their  counts, 
except  as  to  Baker  county,  from  which  the 
Republicans  claimed  41  majority,  the  Dem 
ocrats  95  majority — the  returning  board  ae- 
cepting  the  Republican  claim. 

In  Louisiana  the  Packard  returning 
board  was  headed  by  J.  Madison  Wells, 
and  this  body  refused  to  permit  the  Demo 
crats  to  be  represented  therein.  It  was  in 
session  three  weeks,  the  excitement  all  the 
time  being  at  fever  heat,  and  finally  made 
the  following  average  returns :  Republican 
electors,  74,436;  Democratic,  70,505;  Re 
publican  majority,  3,931.  McEnery,  who 
claimed  to  be  Governor,  gave  the  Demo 
cratic  electors  a  certificate  based  on  an 
average  vote  of  83,635  against  75,759,  a 
Democratic  majority  of  7,876. 

In  Oregon,  the  three  Republican  electors 
had  an  admitted  majority  of  the  popular 
vote,  but  on  a  claim  that  one  of  the  number 
was  a  Federal  office-holder  and  therefore 
ineligible,  the  Democratic  Governor  gave 
a  certificate  to  two  of  the  Republican  elec- 


230 


AMERICAN:  POLITICS. 


tors,  and  a  Mr.  Cronin,  Democrat.  The 
three  Republican  electors  were  certified  by 
the  Secretary  of  State,  who  was  the  can 
vassing  officer  by  law.  This  Oregon  busi 
ness  led  to  grave  suspicions  against  Mr. 
Tilden,  who  was  thereafter  freely  charged 
by  the  Republicans  with  the  use  of  his 
immense  private  fortune  to  control  the  re 
sult,  and  thereafter,  the  New  York  Tribune, 
nvith  unexampled  enterprise,  exposed  and 
reprinted  the  "  cipher  dispatches "  from 
Gramercy,  which  Mr.  Pel  ton,  the  nephew 
and  private  secretary  of  Mr.  Tilden,  had 
fee nt  to  Democratic  "  visiting  statesmen  "  in 
the  four  disputed  sections.  In  1878,  the 
Potter  Investigating  Committee  subse 
quently  confirmed  the  "  cipher  dispatches  " 
but  Mr.  Tilden  denied  any  knowledge  of 
them. 

The  second  session  of  the  44th  Congress 
met  on  Dec.  5th,  1876,  and  while  by  that 
time  all  knew  the  dangers  of  the  approach 
ing  electoral  count,  yet  neither  House 
would  consent  to  the  revision  of  the  joint 
rule  regulating  the  count.  The  Republi 
cans  claimed  that  the  President  of  the  Sen 
ate  had  the  sole  authority  to  open  and  an 
nounce  the  returns  in  the  presence  of  the 
two  Houses ;  the  Democrats  plainly  disputed 
this  right,  and  claimed  that  the  joint  body 
could  control  the  count  under  the  law. 
Some  Democrats  went  so  far  as  to  say  that 
the  House  (which  was  Democratic,  with 
Samuel  J.  Randall  in  the  Speaker's  chair) 
could  for  itself  decide  when  the  emergency 
had  arrived  in  which  it  was  to  elect  a 
President. 

There  was  grave  danger,  and  it  was  as 
serted  that  the  Democrats,  fearing  the 
President  of  the  Senate  would  exercise 
the  power  of  declaring  the  result,  were 
preparing  first  to  forcibly  and  at  least  with 
secrecy  swear  in  and  inaugurate  Tilden. 
Mr.  Watterson,  member  of  the  House  from 
'Kentucky,  boasted  that  he  had  completed 
arrangements  to  have  100,000  men  at 
Washington  on  inauguration  day,  to  see 
that  Tilden  was  installed.  President  Grant 
and  Secretary  of  War  Cameron,  thought 
the  condition  of  affairs  critical,  and  both 
made  active  though  secret  preparations  to 
secure  the  safe  if  not  the  peaceful  inaugu 
ration  of  Hayes.  Grant,  in  one  of  his  sen 
tentious  utterances,  said  he  "  would  have 
peace  if  he  had  to  fight  for  it."  To  this 
end  he  sent  for  Gov.  Hartranft  of  Penn 
sylvania,  to  know  if  he  could  stop  any  at 
tempted  movement  of  New  York  troops  to 
Washington,  as  he  had  information  that 
the  purpose  was  to  forcibly  install  Tilden. 
Gov.  Hartranft  replied  that  he  could  do  it 
with  the  National  Guard  and  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic.  He  was  told  to 
return  to  Harrisburg  and  prepare  for  such 
an  emergency.  This  he  did,  and  as  the 
Legislature  was  then  in  session,  a  Repub 
lican  caucus  was  called,  and  it  resolved, 


without  knowing  exactly  why,  to  sustain 
any  action  of  the  Governor  with  the  re 
sources  of  the  State.  Secretary  Cameron 
also  sent  for  Gen'l  Sherman,  and  for  a 
time  went  on  with  comprehensive  prepa 
rations,  which  if  there  had  been  need  for 
completion,  would  certainly  have  put  a 
speedy  check  upon  the  madness  of  any 
mob.  There  is  a  most  interesting  unwrit 
ten  history  of  events  then  transpiring 
which  no  one  now  living  can  fully  relate 
without  unjustifiable  violations  of  political 
and  personal  confidences.  But  the  danger 
was  avoided  by  the  patriotism  of  prominent 
members  of  Congress  representing  both  of 
the  great  political  parties.  These  gentle 
men  held  several  important  and  private 
conferences,  and  substantially  agreed  upon 
a  result  several  days  before  the  exciting 
struggle  which  followed  the  introduction 
of  the  Electoral  Commission  Act.  The 
leaders  on  the  part  of  the  Republicans  in 
these  conferences  were  Conkling,  Edmunds, 
Frelinghuysen  ;  on  the  part  of  the  Demo 
crats  Bayard,  Gordon,  Randall  and  Hewitt, 
the  latter  a  member  of  the  House  and 
Chairman  of  the  National  Democratic 
Committee. 

The  Electoral  Commission  Act,  the  basis 
of  agreement,  was  supported  by  Conkling 
in  a  speech  of  great  power,  and  of  all  men 
engaged  in  this  great  work  he  was  at  the 
time  most  suspected  by  the  Republicans, 
who  feared  that  his  admitted  dislike  to 
Hayes  would  cause  him  to  favor  a  bill 
which  would  secure  the  return  of  Tilden, 
and  as  both  of  the  gentlemen  were  New 
Yorkers,  there  was  for  several  days  grave 
fears  of  a  combination  between  the  two. 
The  result  showed  the  injustice  done,  and 
convinced  theretofore  doubting  Republi 
cans  that  Conkling,  even  as  a  partisan,  was 
faithful  and  far-seeing.  The  Electoral 
Commission  measure  was  a  Democratic 
one,  if  we  are  to  judge  from  the  character 
of  the  votes  cast  for  and  against  it.  In  the 
Senate  the  vote  stood  47  for  to  17  against. 
There  were  21  Republicans  for  it  and  16 
against,  while  there  were  also  26  Demo 
crats  for  it  to  only  1  (Eaton)  against.  In 
the  House  much  the  same  proportion  was 
maintained,  the  bill  passing  that  body  by 
191  to  86.  The  following  is  the  text  of  the 

ELECTORAL  COMMISSION  ACT. 

An  act  to  provide  for  and  regulate  the 
counting  of  votes  for  President  and  Vice- 
President,  and  the  decision  of  questions 
arising  thereon,  for  the  term  commencing 
March  fourth,  Anno  Domini  eighteen 
hundred  and  seventy-seven. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  shall 
meet  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  at  the  hour  of  one  o'clock  post 


THE    ELECTORAL    COUNT. 


231 


meridian,  on  the  first  Thursday  in  Febru 
ary,  Anno  Domini  eighteen  hundred  and 
seventy-seven ;  the  President  of  the  Senate 
shall  be  their  presiding  officer.  Two  tellers 
shall  be  previously  appointed  on  the  part 
of  the  Senate,  and  two  on  the  part  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  to  whom  shall 
be  handed,  as  they  are  opened  by  the  Pre 
sident  of  the  Senate,  all  the  certificates, 
and  papers  purporting  to  be  certificates,  of 
the  electoral  votes,  which  certificates  and 
papers  shall  be  opened,  presented  and 
acted  upon  in  the  alphabetical  order  of  the 
States,  beginning  with  the  letter  A;  and 
said  tellers  having  then  read  the  same  in 
presence  and  hearing  of  the  two  Houses, 
shall  make  a  list  of 'the  votes  as  they  shall 
appear  from  the  said  certificates  ;  and  the 
votes  having  been  ascertained  and  counted 
as  in  this  act  provided,  the  result  of  the 
same  shall  be  delivered  to  the  President  of 
the  Senate,  who  shall  thereupon  announce 
the  state  of  the  vote,  and  the  names  of  the 
persons,  if  any  elected,  which  announce 
ment  shall  be  deemed  a  sufficient  declara 
tion  of  the  persons  elected  President  and 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  and, 
together  with  a  list  of  the  votes,  be  entered 
on  the  journals  of  the  Houses.  Upon  such 
reading  of  any  such  certificate  or  paper 
when  there  shall  only  be  one  return  from 
a  State,  the  President  of  the  Senate  shall 
call  for  objections,  if  any.  Every  objection 
shall  be  made  in  writing,  and  shall  state 
clearly  and  concisely,  and  without  argu 
ment,  the  ground  thereof,  and  shall  be 
signed  by  at  least  one  Senator  and  one 
Member  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
before  the  same  shall  be  received.  When 
all  objections  so  made  to  any  vote 
or  paper  from  a  State  shall  have  been  re 
ceived  and  read,  the  Senate  shall  there 
upon  withdraw,  and  such  objections  shall 
be  submitted  to  the  Senate  for  its  decision ; 
and  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  shall,  in  like  manner,  submit  such 
objections  to  the  House  of  Representatives 
for  its  decision ;  and  no  electoral  vote  or 
votes  from  any  State. from  which  but  one 
return  has  been  received  shall  be  rejected, 
except  by  the  affirmative  vote  of  the  two 
Houses.  When  the  two  Houses  have 
votes,  they  shall  immediately  again  meet, 
and  the  presiding  officer  shall  then  an 
nounce  the  decision  of  the  question  sub 
mitted. 

SEC.  2.  That  if  more  than  one  return,  or 
paper  purporting  to  be  a  return  from  a  State, 
shall  have  been  received  by  the  President 
of  the  Senate,  purporting  to  be  the  cer 
tificate  of  electoral  votes  given  at  the  last 
preceding  election  for  President  and  Vice- 
President  in  such  State  (unless  they  shall 
be  duplicates  of  the  same  return),  all  such 
returns  and  papers  shall  be  opened  by  him 
in  the  presence  of  the  two  Houses  when  met 
as  aforesaid,  and  read  by  the  tellers,  and 


all  such  returns  and  papers  shall  thereupon 
be  submitted  to  the  judgment  and  decision 
as  to  which  is  the  true  and  lawful  electoral 
vote  of  such  State,  of  a  commission  consti 
tuted  as  follows,  namely :  During  the  ses 
sion  of  each  House,  on  the  Tuesday  next 
preceding  the  first  Thursday  in  February, 
eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-seven,  each 
House  shall,  by  viva  voce  vote,  appoint 
five  of  its  members,  with  the  five  associate 
justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  to  be  ascertained  as  hereinafter  pro 
vided,  shall  constitute  a  commission  for  the 
decision  of  all  questions  upon  or  in  respect 
of  such  double  returns  named  in  this  sec 
tion.  On  the  Tuesday  next  preceding  the 
first  Thursday  in  February,  Anno  Domini, 
eighteen  hundred  and  seventy -seven,  or  as 
soon  thereafter  as  may  be,  the  associate 
justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  now  assigned  to  the  first,  third, 
eighth,  and  ninth  circuits  shall  select,  in 
such  manner  as  a  majority  of  them 
shall  deem  fit,  another  of  the  associ 
ate  justices  of  said  court,  which  five  per 
sons  shall  be  members  of  said  commission ; 
and  the  person  longest  in  commission  of 
said  five  justices  shall  be  the  president  of 
said  commission.  The  members  of  said 
commission  shall  respectively  take  and 

subscribe  the  following  oath  :  "  I 

do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm,  as  the  case 
may  be,)  that  I  will  impartially  examine 
and  consider  all  questions  submitted  to  the 
commission  of  which  I  am  a  member,  and 
a  true  judgment  give  thereon,  agreeably 
to  the  Constitution  and  the  laws :  so  help 
me  God ;  "  which  oath  shall  be  filed  witn 
the  Secretary  of  the  Senate.  When  the 
commission  shall  have  been  thus  organized, 
it  shall  not  be  in  the  power  of  either 
House  to  dissolve  the  same,  or  to  with 
draw  any  of  its  members ;  but  if  any  such 
Senator  or  member  shall  die  or  become 
physically  unable  to  perform  the  duties 
required  by  this  act,  the  fact  of  such  death 
or  physical  inability  shall  be  by  said 
commission,  before  it  shall  proceed  fur 
ther,  communicated  to  the  Senate  or 
House  of  Representatives,  as  the  case  may 
be,  which  body  shall  immediately  and 
without  debate  proceed  by  viva  voce  vote 
to  fill  the  place  so  vacated,  and  the  person 
so  appointed  shall  take  and  subscribe  the 
oath  hereinbefore  prescribed,  and  become 
a  member  of  said  commission  ;  and  in  like 
manner,  if  any  of  said  justices  of  the  Su 
preme  Court  shall  die  or  become  physically 
incapable  of  performing  the  duties  re 
quired  by  this  act,  the  other  of  said  jus 
tices,  members  of  the  said  commission, 
shall  immediately  appoint  another  justice 
of  said  court  a  member  of  said  commission, 
and  in  like  manner,  if  any  of  said  justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court  shall  die  or  become 
physically  incapable  of  performing  the 
duties  required  by  this  act,  the  other  of  said 


232 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


justices,  members  of  the  said  commission, 
shall  immediately  appoint  another  justice 
of  said  court  a  member  of  said  commission, 
and,  iu  such  appointment,  regard  shall  be 
had  to  the  impartiality  and  freedom  from 
bias  sought  by  the  original  appointments 
to  said  commission,  who  shall  thereupon 
immediately  take  and  subscribe  the  oath 
hereinbefore  prescribed,  and  become  a 
member  of  said  commission  to  fill  the 
vacancy  so  occasioned.  All  the  certificates 
and  papers  purporting  to  be  certificates  of 
the  electoral  votes  of  each  State  shall  be 
opened,  iu  the  alphabetical  order  of  the 
States,  as  provided  in  section  one  of  this 
act ;  and  when  there  shall  be  more  than 
one  such  certificate  or  paper,  as  the  certifi 
cates  and  papeis  from  such  State  shall  so  be 
opened  (excepting  duplicates  of  the  same 
return),  they  shall  be  read  by  the  tellers, 
and  thereupon  the  President  of  the  Senate 
shall  call  for  objections,  if  any.  Every 
objection  shall  be  made  in  writing,  and 
ehall  state  clearly  and  concisely,  and  with 
out  argument,  the  ground  thereof,  and 
shall  be  signed  bv  at  least  one  Senator  and 
one  member  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  before  the  same  shall  be  received. 
When  all  such  objections  so  made  to  any 
certificate,  vote,  or  paper  from  a  State  shall 
have  been  received  and  read,  all  such  cer 
tificates,  votes  and  papers  so  objected  to, 
and  all  papers  accompanying  the  same, 
together  with  such  objections,  shall  be 
forthwith  submitted  to  said  commission, 
which  shall  proceed  to  consider  the  same, 
with  the  same  powers,  if  any,  now  possessed 
for  that  purpose  by  the  two  Houses  acting 
separately  or  together,  and,  by  a  majority 
of  votes,  decide  whether  any  and  what 
votes  from  such  State  are  the  votes  provid 
ed  for  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  how  many  and  what  persons 
were  duly  appointed  electors  in  such  State, 
and  may  therein  take  into  view  such  peti 
tions,  depositions,  and  other  papers,  if  any, 
as  shall,  by  the  Constitution  and  now  exist 
ing  law,  be  competent  and  pertinent  in  such 
consideration;  which  decision  shall  be 
made  in  writing,  stating  briefly  the  ground 
thereof,  and  signed  by  the  members  of  said 
commission  agreeing  therein  ;  whereupon 
the  two  Houses  shall  again  meet,  and 
such  decision  shall  be  read  and  entered  in 
the  journal  of  each  house,  and  the  count 
ing  of  the  vote  shall  proceed  in  conformity 
therewith,  unless,  upon  objection  made 
thereto  in  writing  by  at  least  five  Senators 
and  five  members  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  the  two  Houses  shall  separately 
concur  in  ordering  otherwise,  in  which  case 
Wich  concurrent  order  shall  govern.  No 
votes  or  papers  from  any  other  State  shall 
be  acted  upon  until  the  objections  previ 
ously  made  to  the  votes  or  papers  from 
any  State  shall  have  been  finally  disposed 
of. 


SEC.  3.  That,  while  the  two  Houses  shall 
be  in  meeting,  as  provided  in  this  act,  no 
debate  shall  be  allowed  and  no  question 
shall  be  put  by  the  presiding  officer,  except 
to  either  House  on  a  motion  to  withdraw  ; 
and  he  shall  have  power  to  preserve  order. 

SEC.  4.  That  when  the  two  Houses  sepa 
rate  to  decide  upon  an  objection  that  may 
have  been  made  to  the  counting  of  any 
electoral  vote  or  votes  from  any  State,  or 
upon  objection  to  a  report  of  said  commi»- 
sion,  or  other  question  arising  under  this 
act,  each  Senator  and  Eepresentative  may 
speak  to  such  objection  or  question  ten  min 
utes,  and  not  oftener  than  once ;  but  alter 
such  debate  shall  have  lasted  two  hours,  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  each  House  to  put  the 
main  question  without  further  debate. 

SEC.  5.  That  at  such  joint  meeting  of  the 
two  Houses,  seats  shall  be  provided  as  fol 
lows  :  For  the  President  of  the  Senate,  the 
Speaker's  chair ;  for  the  Speaker,  immedi 
ately  upon  his  left;  the  Senators  in  the 
body  of  the  hall  upon  the  right  of  the  pre 
siding  officer ;  for  the  Representatives,  in 
the  body  of  the  hall  not  provided  for  the 
Senators ;  for  the  tellers,  Secretary  of  the 
Senate,  and  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  at  the  Clerk's  desk  ;  for  the  other 
officers  of  the  two  Houses,  in  front  of  the 
Clerk's  desk  and  upon  each  side  of  the 
Speaker's  platform.  Such  joint  meeting 
shall  not  be  dissolved  until  the  count  of 
electoral  votes  shall  be  completed  and  the 
result  declared ;  and  »no  recess  shall  be 
taken  unless  a  question  shall  have  arisen  in 
regard  to  counting  any  such  votes,  or  other 
wise  under  this  act,  in  which  case  it  shall 
be  competent  for  either  House,  acting  sepa 
rately,  in  the  manner  hereinbefore  provid 
ed,  to  direct  a  recess  of  such  House  not  be 
yond  the  next  day,  Sunday  excepted,  at  the 
hour  of  ten  o'clock  in  the  forenoon.  And 
while  any  question  is  being  considered  by 
said  commission,  either  House  may  pro 
ceed  with  its  legislative  or  other  business. 

SEC.  6.  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be 
held  to  impair  or  aifect  any  right  now  ex 
isting  under  the  Constitution  and  laws  to 
question,  by  proceeding  in  the  judicial 
courts  of  the  United  States,  the  right  or 
title  of  the  person  who  shall  be  declared 
elected,  or  who  shall  claim  to  be  President 
or  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  if 
any  such  light  exists. 

SEC.  7.  That  said  commission  shall  make 
its  own  rules,  keep  a  record  of  its  proceed 
ings,  and  shall  have  power  to  employ  such 
persons  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  trans 
action  of  its  business  and  the  execution  of 
its  powers. 

Approved,  January  29,  1877. 

Members  of  the  Commission. 

Hon.  NATHAN  CLIFFORD,  Associate  Ju* 
tice  Supreme  Court,  First  Circuit. 


THE    TITLE    OF    PRESIDENT    HAYES. 


233 


Hon.  WILLIAM  STRONG,  Associate  Justice 
Supreme  Court,  Third  Circuit. 

Hon.  SAMUEL  F.  MILLER,  Associate 
Justice  Supreme  Court,  Eighth  Circuit. 

Hon.  STEPHEN  J.  FIELD,  Associate  Jus 
tice  Supreme  Court,  Ninth  Circuit. 

Hon.  JOSEPH  P.  BRADLEY,  Associate 
Justice  Supreme  Court,  Fifth  Circuit. 

Hon.  GEORGE  F.  EDMUNDS,  United 
States  Senator. 

Hon.  OLIVER  P.  MORTON,  United  States 
Senator, 

Hon.  FREDERICK  T.  FRELINGHUYSEN, 
United  States  Senator. 

Hon.  ALLEN  G.  THURMAN,  United 
States  Senator. 

Hon.  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD,  United  States 
Senator. 

Hon.  HENRY  B.  PAYNE,  United  States 
Representative. 

Hon.  EPPA  HUNTON,  United  States  Rep 
resentative. 

Hon.  JOSIAH  G.  ABBOTT,  United  States 
Representative. 

Hon.  JAMES  A.  GARFIELD,  United  States 
Representative. 

Hon.  GEORGE  F.  HOAR,  United  States 
Representative. 

The  Electoral  Commission  met  Febru 
ary  1st,  and  by  uniform  votes  of  8  to  7,  de 
cided  all  objections  to  the  Electoral  votes 
of  Florida,  Louisiana,  South  Carolina,  and 
Oregon,  in  favor  of  the  Republicans,  and 
while  the  two  Houses  disagreed  on  nearly 
all  of  these  points  by  strict  party  votes,  the 
electoral  votes  were,  under  the  provisions 
of  the  law,  given  to  Hayes  and  Wheeler, 
and  the  final  result  declared  to  be  185 
electors  for  Hayes  and  Wheeler,  to  184  for 
Tilden  and  Hendricks.  Questions  of  eligi 
bility  had  been  raised  against  individual 
electors  from  Michigan,  Nevada,  Pennsyl 
vania,  Rhode  Island,  Vermont  and  Wis 
consin,  but  the  Commission  did  not  sustain 
any  of  them,  and  as  a  rule  they  were  un 
supported  by  evidence.  Thus  closed  the 
gravest  crisis  which  ever  attended  an  elec 
toral  count  in  this  country,  so  far  as  the 
Nation  was  concerned ;  and  while  for  some 
weeks  the  better  desire  to  peacefully  settle 
all  differences  prevailed,  in  a  few  weeks 
partisan  bitterness  was  manifested  on  the 
part  of  a  great  majority  of  Northern  Demo 
crats,  who  believed  their  party  had  been 
deprived  by  a  partisan  spirit  of  its  right 
ful  President. 


The  Title  of  President  Hayes. 

The  uniform  vote  of  8  to  7  on  all  im 
portant  propositions  considered  by  the 
Electoral  Commission,  to  their  minds 
showed  a  partisan  spirit,  the  existence  of 
which  it  was  difficult  to  deny.  The  action 
of  the  Republican  "  visiting  statesmen  "  in 
Louisiana,  in  practically  overthrowing  the 


Packard  or  Republican  government  there, 
caused  distrust  and  dissatisfaction  in  the 
minds  of  the  more  radical  Republicans, 
who  contended  with  every  show  of  reason 
that  if  Hayes  carried  Louisiana,  Packard 
must  also  have  done  so.  The  only  sensible 
excuse  for  seating  Hayes  on  the  one  side 
and  throwing  out  Governor  Packard  on 
the  other,  was  a  patriotic  desire  for  peace 
in  the  settlement  of  both  Presidential  and 
Southern  State  issues.  This  desire  was 
plainly  manifested  by  President  Hayes  on 
the  day  of  his  inauguration  and  for  two 
years  thereafter.  He  took  early  occasion 
to  visit  Atlanta,  Ga.,and  while  at  that  point 
and  eri  route  there  made  the  most  concilia 
tory  speeches,  in  which  he  called  those 
who  had  engaged  in  the  Rebellion,  "  broth 
ers,"  "  gallant  soldiers,"  etc.  These  speech 
es  excited  much  attention.  They  had  lit 
tle  if  any  effect  upon  the  South,  while  the 
more  radical  Republicans  accused  the 
President  of  "  slopping  over."  They  did 
not  allay  the  hostility  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  did  not  restore  the  feeling  in 
the  South  to  a  condition  better  than  that 
which  it  had  shown  during  the  exciting 
days,  of  the  Electoral  count.  The  South 
then,  under  the  lead  of  men  like  Stephens, 
Hill  and  Gordon,  in  the  main  showed  every 
desire  for  a  peaceful  settlement.  As  a  rule 
only  the  Border  States  and  Northern  Demo 
crats  manifested  extreme  distrust  and  bit 
terness,  and  these  were  plainly  told  by 
some  of  the  leaders  from  the  Gulf  States, 
that  so  far  as  they  were  concerned,  they 
had  had  enough  of  civil  war. 

As  late  as  April  22,  1877,  the  Maryland 
Legislature  passed  the  following : 

Resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of 
Maryland,  That  the  Attorney  General  of 
the  State  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  instructed, 
in  case  Congress  shall  provide  for  expe 
diting  the  action,  to  exhibit  a  bill  in  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  on 
behalf  of  the  State  of  Maryland,  with 
proper  parties  thereto,  setting  forth  the 
fact  that  due  effect  has  not  been  given  to 
the  electoral  vote  cast  by  this  State  on  the 
6th  day  of  December,  1876,  by  reason  of 
fraudulent  returns  made  from  other  States 
and  allowed  to  be  counted  provisionally  by 
the  Electoral  Commission,  and  subject  to 
judicial  revision,  and  praying  said  court  to 
make  the  revision  contemplated  by  the  act 
establishing  said  commission;  and  upon 
such  revision  to  declare  the  returns  from 
the  States  of  Louisiana  and  Florida,  which 
were  counted  for  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  and 
William  A.  Wheeler,  fraudulent  and  void, 
and  that  the  legal  electoral  votes  of  said 
States  were  cast  for  Samuel  J.  Tilden  as 
President,  and  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  as 
Vice  President,  and  that  by  virtue  there 
of  and  of  184  votes  cast  by  other  States, 
of  which  8  were  cast  by  the  State  of  Mary 
land,  the  said  Tilden  and  Hendricks  were 


234 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


duly  elected,  and  praying  said  Court  to 
decree  accordingly. 

k  It  was  this  resolution  which  induced  the 
Clarkson  N.  Potter  resolution  of  investi 
gation,  a  resolution  the  passage  of  which 
was  resisted  by  the  Eepublicans  through 
filibustering  for  many  days,  but  was  finally 
passed  by  146  Democratic  votes  to  2  Demo 
cratic  votes  (Mills  and  Morse)  against,  the 
Republicans  not  voting. 


Tlte  Cipher  Despatches. 

An  amendment  offered  to  the  Potter 
resolution  but  not  accepted,  and  defeated 
by  the  Democratic  majority,  cited  some 
fair  specimens  of  the  cipher  dispatches 
exposed  by  the  New  York  Tribune.  These 
are  matters  of  historical  interest,  and  con 
vey  information  as  to  the  methods  which 
politicians  will  resort  to  in  desperate  emer 
gencies.  We  therefore  quote  the  more  per 
tinent  portions. 

Hf  solved,  That  the  select  committee  to 
whom  this  House  has  committed  the  in 
vestigation  of  certain  matters  affecting,  as 
is  alleged,  the  legal  title  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States  to  the  high  office 
which  he  now  holds,  be  and  is  hereby  in 
structed  in  the  course  of  its  investigations 
to  fully  inquire  into  all  the  facts  connected 
with  the  election  in  the  State  of  Florida  in 
November,  1876,  and  especially  into  the 
circumstances  attending  the  transmission 
and  receiving  of  certain  telegraphic  dis 
patches  sent  in  said  year  between  Tallahas 
see  in  said  State  and  New  York  City,  viz. : 

"TALLAHASSEE,  November  9,  1876. 
"A.  S.  HEWITT,  New  York  : 
"Comply  if  possible  with  my  telegram. 
"Geo.  P.  RAREY." 

Also  the  following : 

"  TALLAHASSEE,  December  1, 1876. 
"  W.  T.  PELTON,  New  York  : 

"Answer  Mac's  dispatch  immediately, 
or  we  will  be  embarrasssed  at  a  critical 


time. 


WILKINSON  CALL.' 


Also  the  following : 

"  TALLAHASSEE,  December  4, 1876. 
"W.  T.  PELTON: 

"Things  culminating  here.  Answer 
Mac's  despatch  to-day.  W.  CALL." 

And  also  the  facts  connected  with  all 
telegraphic  dispatches  between  one  John 
F.  Coyle  and  said  Pelton,  under  the  lat- 
ter's  real  or  fictitious  name,  and  with  any 
and  all  demands  for  money  on  or  about 
December  1,  1876,  from  said  Tallahassee, 
on  said  Pelton,  or  said  Hewitt,  or  with  any 
attempt  to  corrupt  or  bribe  any  official  of 
the  said  State  of  Florida  by  any  person 


acting  for  said  Pelton,  or  in  the  interest  of 
Samuel  J.  Tilden  as  a  presidential  candi 
date. 

Also  to  investigate  the  charges  of  in 
timidation  at  Lake  City,  in  Columbia 
county,  where  Joel  Niblack  and  other 
white  men  put  ropes  around  the  necks  of 
colored  men  and  proposed  to  hang  them, 
but  released  them  on  their  promise  to  join 
a  Democratic  club  and  vote  for  Samuel  J. 
Tilden. 

Also  the  facts  of  the  election  in  Jackson 
county,  where  the  ballot-boxes  were  kept 
out  of  the  sight  of  voters,  who  voted  through 
openings  or  holes  six  feet  above  the  ground, 
and  where  many  more  Republican  votes 
were  thus  given  into  the  hands  of  the  De 
mocratic  inspectors  than  were  counted  or 
returned  by  them. 

Also  the  facts  of  the  election  in  Waldo 
precinct,  in  Alachua  county,  where  the 
passengers  on  an  emigrant-train,  passing 
through  on  the  day  of  election,  were  al 
lowed  to  vote. 

Also  the  facts  of  the  election  in  Manatee 
county,  returning  235  majority  for  the 
Tilden  electors,  where  there  were  no  county 
officers,  no  registration,  no  notice  of  the 
election,  and  where  the  Republican  party, 
therefore,  did  not  vote. 

Also  the  facts  of  the  election  in  the  third 
precinct  of  Key  West,  giving  342  Demo 
cratic  majority  where  the  Democratic  in 
spector  carried  the  ballot-box  home,  and 
pretended  to  count  the  ballots  on  the  next 
day,  outside  of  the  precinct  and  contrary 
to  law. 

Also  the  facts  of  the  election  in  Hamil 
ton,  where  the  election-officers  exercised 
no  control  over  the  ballot-box,  but  left  it 
in  unauthorized  hands,  that  it  might  be 
tampered  with. 

Also  the  reasons  why  the  Attorney- 
General  of  the  State,  Wm.  Archer  Cocke, 
as  a  member  of  the  Canvassing  Board,  offi 
cially  advised  the  board,  and  himself  voted, 
to  exclude  the  Hamilton  county  and  Key 
West  precinct  returns,  thereby  giving,  in 
any  event,  over  500  majority  to  the  Re 
publican  electoral  ticket,  and  afterwards 
protested  against  the  result  which  he  had 
voted  for,  and  whether  or  not  said  Cocke 
was  afterward  rewarded  for  such  protest 
by  being  made  a  State  Judge. 

OREGON. 

And  that  said  committee  is  further  in 
structed  and  directed  to  investigate  into 
all  the  facts  connected  with  an  alleged  at 
tempt  to  secure  one  electoral  vote  in  the 
State  of  Oregon  for  Samuel  J.  Tilden  for 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  Thom 
as  A.  Hendricks  for  Vice-President,  by  un 
lawfully  setting  up  the  election  of  E.  A. 
Cronin  as  one  of  such  presidential  electors 
elected  from  the  State  of  Oregon  on  the 
7th  of  November,  the  candidates  for  the 


THE    CIPHER    DESPATCHES. 


235 


presidential  electors  on  the  two  tickets  be 
ing  as  follows : 

On  the  Republican  ticket:  W.  C.  Odell, 
J.  C.  Cartwright,  and  John  W.  Watts. 

On  the  Democratic  ticket :  E.  A.  Cronin, 
W.  A.  Laswell,  and  Henry  Klippel. 

The  votes  received  by  each  candidate,  as 
shown  by  the  official  vote  as  canvassed, 
declared,  and  certified  to  by  the  Secretary 
of  State  under  the  seal  of  the  State, — the 
Secretary  being  under  the  laws  of  Oregon 
sole  canvassing-officer,  as  will  be  shown 
hereafter, — being  as  follows : 

W.  K.  Odell  received 15,206  votes 

John  C.  Cartwright  received....!5,214    " 

John  W.  Watts  received 15,206     " 

E.  A.  Cronin  received 14,157     " 

W.  A.  Laswell  receiyed 14,149    " 

Henry  Klippel  received 14,136 

And  by  the  unlawful  attempt  to  bribe  one 
of  said  legally  elected  electors  to  recognize 
said  Cronin  as  an  elector  for  President  and 
Vice-President,  in  order  that  one  of  the 
electoral  votes  of  said  State  might  be  cast 
for  said  Samuel  J.  Tilden  as  President  and 
for  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  as  Vice-Presi 
dent  ;  and  especially  to  examine  and  inquire 
into  all  the  facts  relating  to  the  sending  of 
money  from  New  York  to  some  place  in 
said  Oregon  for  the  purposes  of  such 
bribery,  the  parties  sending  and  receiving 
the  same,  and  their  relations  to  and 
agency  for  said  Tilden,  and  more  particu 
larly  "to  investigate  into  all  the  circum 
stances  attending  the  transmission  of  the 
following  telegraphic  despatches : 

"PORTLAND,  Oregon,  Nov.  14,  1876. 
"  Gov.  L.  F.  GROVER  : 
"  Come  down  to-morrow  if  possible. 
"  W.  H.  EFFINGER, 

"  A.  NOLTNER, 

"  C.  P.  BELLINGER." 
"PORTLAND,  November  16, 1876. 
"To  Gov.  GROVER,  Salem  : 

"  We  want  to  see  you  particularly  on 
account  of  despatches  from  the  East. 
"  WILLIAM  STRONG,     S.  H.  REED, 
"C.P.BELLINGER,       W.  W.  THAYER, 
"  C.  E.  BRONAUGH." 

Also  the  following  cipher  despatch  sent 
from  Portland,  Oregon,  on  the  28th  day  of 
November,  1876,  to  New  York  City : 

"  PORTLAND,  November  28,  1876. 
"  To  W.  T.  Pelton,  No.  15  Gramercy  Park, 

New  York: 

"  By  vizier  association  innocuous  negli 
gence  cunning  minutely  previously  read 
mit  doltish  to  purchase  afar  act  with 
cunning  afar  sacristy  unweighed  afar 
pointer  tigress  cattle  superannuated  sylla 
bus  dilatoriness  misapprehension  contra 
band  Kountz  bisulcuous  top  usher  spinifer- 
ous  answer.  J.  H.  N.  PATRICK. 


"  I  fully  endorse  this. 

"  JAMES  K.  KELLY." 

Of  which,  when  the  key  was  discovered, 
the  following  was  found  to  be  the  true  in 
tent  and  meaning: 

"  PORTLAND,  November  28, 1876. 
"  To  W.  T.  PELTON,  No.  15  Gramercy  Park, 

New  York: 

"  Certificate  will  be  issued  to  one  Demo 
crat.  Must  purchase  a  Republican  elector 
to  recognize  and  act  with  Democrats  and 
secure  the  vote  and  prevent  trouble.  De 
posit  $10,000  to  my  credit  with  Kountz 
Brothers,  Wall  Street.  Answer. 

J.  H.  N.  PATRICK. 

"  I  fully  endorse  this. 

"  JAMES  K.  KELLY." 

Also  the  following : 

"  NEW  YORK,  November  25, 1876. 
"  A.  BUSH,  Salem  : 

"  Use  all  means  to  prevent  certificate. 
Very  important.  C.  E.  TILTON." 

Also  the  following : 

"December  1,1876. 

"  To  Hon.  SAM.  J.  TILDEN,  No.  15  Gra 
mercy  Park,  New  York  : 
"  I  shall  decide  every  point  in  the  case 
of  post-office  elector  in  i'avor  of  the  highest 
Democratic  elector,  arid  grant  certificate 
accordingly  on  morning  of  6th   instant. 
Confidential.  GOVERNOR." 

Also  the  following : 

"  SAN  FRANCISCO,  December  5. 
"  LADD  &  BUSH,  Salem : 

"Funds  from  New  York  will  be  de 
posited  to  your  credit  here  to-morrow  when 
bank  opens.  I  know  it.  Act  accordingly. 
Answer.  W.  C.  GRISWOLD." 

Also  the  following,  six  days  before  the 
foregoing : 

"  NEW  YORK,  November  29, 1876. 
"  To  J.  H.  N.  PATRICK,  Portland,  Oregon  : 
"  Moral  hasty  sideral  vizier  gabble  cramp 
by  hemistic  welcome  licentiate  muskeete 
compassion  neglectful  recoverable  hathouse 
live  innovator  brackish  association  dime 
afar  idolater  session  hemistic  mitre." 

[No  signature.] 

Of  which  the  interpretation  is  as  follows: 

"  NEW  YORK,  November  29,  1876. 
"  To  J.  H.  N.  PATRICK,  Portland,  Oregon : 
"  No.  How  soon  will  Governor  decide 
certificate  ?  If  you  make  obligation  con 
tingent  on  the  result  in  March,  it  can  be 
done,  and  slightly  if  necessary." 

[No  signature.] 

Also  the  following,  one  day  later : 


236 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


"  PORTLAND,  November  30,  1876. 
"  To  W.  T.  PELTON,  No.  15  Gramercy  Park, 

New  York  : 

"Governor  all  right  without  reward. 
Will  issue  certificate  Tuesday.  This  is  a 
secret.  Republicans  threaten  if  certificate 
issued  to  ignore  Democratic  claims  and  fill 
vacancy,  and  thus  defeat  action  of  Gover 
nor.  One  elector  must  be  paid  to  recog 
nize  Democrat  to  secure  majority.  Have 
employed  three  lawyers,  editor  of  only  Re 
publican  paper  as  one  lawyer,  fee  $3,000. 
Will  take  $5,000  for  Republican  elector  ; 
must  raise  money  ;  can't  make  fee  contin 
gent.  Sail  Saturday.  Kelly  and  Bellin 
ger  will  act.  Communicate  with  them. 
Must  act  promptly."  [No  signature]. 

Also  the  following  : 

FRANCISCO,  December  5,  1876. 


"  To  KOUNTZE  BROS.,  No.  12  Wall  St.,  New 

York: 

"  Has  my  account  credit  by  any  funds 
lately?    How  much? 

"J.  H.N.PATRICK." 

Also  the  following  : 

"  NEW  YORK,  December  6. 
'*  J.  H.  N.  PATRICK,  San  Francisco: 
11  Davis  deposited  eight  thousand  dollars 


December  first. 


KOUNTZE  BROS.' 


Also  the  following : 

"  SAN  FRANCISCO,  December  6. 
"To  JAMES  K.  KELLY: 

"The  eight  deposited  as  directed  this 
morning.  Let  no  technicality  prevent 
winning.  Use  your  discretion." 

[No  signature.] 

And  the  following: 

"NEW  YORK,  December  6. 
"HON.  JAS.  K.  KELLY: 

"Is  your  matter  certain?  There  must 
be  no  mistake.  All  depends  on  you.  Place 
no  reliance  on  any  favorable  report  from 
three  southward.  Sonetter.  Answer  quick." 

[No  signature.] 
Also  the  following: 

"DECEMBER  6,  1876. 
"To   Col.  W.  T.   PELTON,  15    Gramercy 

Park,  N.   Y.  : 

"Glory  to  God  I  Hold  on  to  the  one 
Vote  in  Oregon!  I  have  one  hundred 
thousand  men  to  back  it  up  1 

"CORSE." 

And  said  committee  is  further  directed 
to  inquire  into  and  bring  to  light,  so  far  as  it 
may  be  possible,  the  entire  correspondence 
and  conspiracy  referred  to  in  the  above 
telegraphic  despatches,  and  to  ascertain 
what  were  the  relations  existing  between 
any  of  the  parties  sending  or  receiving  said 


despatches  and  W.  T.  Pelton,  of  New  York, 
and  also  what  relations  existed  between 
said  W.  T.  Pelton  and  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  of 
New  York. 

April  15,  1878,  Mr.  Kimmel  introduced 
a  bill,  which  was  never  finally  acted  upon, 
to  provide  a  mode  for  trying  and  deter 
mining  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  the  title  of  the  President  and  Vice- 
Presidentof  the  United  States  to  take  their 
respective  offices  when  their  election  to 
such  offices  is  denied  by  one  or  more  of  the 
States  of  the  Union. 

The  question  of  the  title  of  President 
was  finally  settled  June  14,  1878,  by  the 
following  report  of  the  House  Judiciary 
Commitee : 


Report  of  the  Judiciary  Committee. 

June  14— Mr.  HARTRIDGE,  from  the 
Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  made  the  fol 
lowing  report  : 

The  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  to 
whom  were  referred  the  bill  (H.  R.  No. 
4315)  and  the  resolutions  of  the  Legisla 
ture  of  the  State  of  Maryland  directing 
judicial  proceedings  to  give  effect  to  the 
electoral  vote  of  that  State  in  the  last  elec 
tion  of  President  and  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States,  report  back  said  bill 
and  resolutions  with  a  recommendation 
that  the  bill  do  not  pass. 

Your  committee  are  of  the  opinion  that 
Congress  has  no  power,  under  the  Consti 
tution,  to  confer  upon  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  the  .original  juris 
diction  sought  for  it  by  this  bill.  The 
only  clause  of  the  Constitution  which 
could  be  plausibly  invoked  to  enable  Con 
gress  to  provide  the  legal  machinery  for 
the  litigation  proposed,  is  that  which  gives 
the  Supreme  Court  original  jurisdiction 
in  "  cases  "  or  "  controversies  "  between  a 
State  and  the  citizens  of  another  State. 
The  committee  are  of  the  opinion  that  this 
expression  "  cases  "  and  "  controversies  " 
was  not  intended  by  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution  to  embrace  an  original  pro 
ceeding  by  a  State  in  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  to  oust  any  incum 
bent  from  a  political  office  filled  by  the  de 
claration  and  decision  of  the  two  Houses 
of  Congress  clothed  with  the  constitutional 
power  to  count  the  electoral  votes  and  de 
cide  as  a  final  tribunal  upon  the  election 
for  President  and  Vice-President.  The 
Forty-fourth  Congress  selected  a  commis 
sion  to  count  the  votes  for  President  and 
Vice-President,  reserving  to  itself  the  rigkc 
to  ratify  or  reject  such  count,  in  the  way 
prescribed  in  the  act  creating  such  com 
mission.  By  the  joint  action  of  the  two 
Houses  it  ratified  the  count  made  by  the 
commission,  and  thus  made  it  the  expres 
sion  of  its  own  judgment. 

All    the    Departments  of   the  Federal 


THE    HAYES    ADMINISTRATION. 


237 


Government,  all  the  State  governments  in 
their  relations  to  Federal  authority,  for 
eign  nations,  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  all  the  material  interests  and  indus 
tries  of  the  country,  have  acquiesced  in, 
and  acted  in  accordance  with,  the  pro 
nounced  finding  of  that  Congress.  In  the 
opinion  of  this  committee,  the  present 
Congress  has  no  power  to  undo  the  work 
of  its  predecessor  in  counting  the  electoral 
(vote,  or  to  confer  upon  any  judicial  tri 
bunal  the  right  to  pass  upon  and  perhaps 
set  aside  the  action  of  that  predecessor  in 
reference  to  a  purely  political  question,  the 
decision  of  which  is  confided  by  the  Con 
stitution  in  Congress. 

But  apart  from  these  fundamental  ob 
jections  to  the  bill  under  consideration, 
there  are  features  and  provisions  in  it 
which  are  entirely  impracticable.  Your 
committee  can  find  no  warrant  of  authority 
to  summon  the  chief-justices  of  the 
supreme  courts  of  the  several  States  to  sit 
at  Washington  as  a  jury  to  try  any  case, 
however  grave  and  weighty  may  be  its 
nature.  The  right  to  summon  must  carry 
with  it  the  power  to  enforce  obedience  to 
the  mandate,  and  the  Committee  can  see 
no  means  by  which  the  judicial  officers  of 
a  State  can  be  compelled  to  assume  the 
functions  of  jurors  in  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States. 

There  are  other  objections  to  the  prac 
tical  working  of  the  bill  under  considera 
tion,  to  which  we  do  not  think  it  necessary 
to  refer. 

It  may  be  true  that  the  State  of  Mary 
land  has  been,  in  the  late  election  for 
President  and  Vice -President,  deprived  of 
her  just  and  full  weight  in  deciding  who 
were  legally  chosen,  by  reason  of  frauds 
perpetrated  by  returning  boards  in  some 
of  the  States.  It  may  also  be  true  that 
these  fraudulent  acts  were  countenanced 
or  encouraged  or  participated  in  by  some 
who  now  enjoy  high  offices  as  the  fruit  of 
such  frauds.  It  is  due  to  the  present  gen 
eration  of  the  people  of  this  country  and 
their  posterity,  and  to  the  principles  on 
which  our  Government  is  founded,  that 
all  evidence  tending  to  establish  the  fact 
of  such  fraudulent  practices  should  be 
calmly,  carefully,  and  rigorous!  v  examined. 

But  your  committee  are  of  the  opinion 
that  the  consequence  of  such  examination, 
if  it  discloses  guilt  upon  the  part  of  any  in 
high  official  position,  should  not  be  an  ef 
fort  to  set  aside  the  judgment  of  a  former 
Congress  as  to  the  election  of  a  President 
and  Vice-President,  but  should  be  confined 
to  the  punishment,  by  legal  and  constitu 
tional  means,  of  the  offenders,  and  to  the 
preservation  and  perpetuation  of  the  evi 
dences  of  their  guilt,  so  that  the  American 
people  may  be  protected  from  a  recurrence 
of  the  crime. 

Your  committee,  therefore,  recommend 


the  adoption  of  the  accompanying  resolu 
tion  : 

Resolved,  That  the  two  Houses  of  the 
Forty-fourth  Congress  having  counted  the 
votes  cast  for  President  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent  of  the  United  States,  and  having  de 
clared  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  to  be  elected 
President,  and  William  A.  Wheeler  to  be 
elected  Vice-President,  there  is  no  power 
in  any  subsequent  Congress  to  reverse  that 
declaration,  nor  can  any  such  power  be 
exercised  by  the  courts  of  the  United 
States,  or  any  other  tribunal  that  Congress 
can  create  under  the  Constitution. 

We  agree  to  the  foregoing  report  so  far 
as  it  states  the  reasons  for  the  resolution 
adopted  by  the  committee,  but  dissent  from 
the  concluding  portion,  as  not  having  re 
ference  to  such  reasons,  as  not  pertinent 
to  the  inquiry  before  us,  and  as  giving  an 
implied  sanction  to  the  propriety  of  the 
pending  investigation  ordered  by  a  ma 
jority  vote  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
to  which  we  were  and  are  opposed. 

WM.  P.  FRYE. 

O.  D.  CONGER. 

E.  G.  LAPHAM. 

Leave  was  given  to  Mr.  KNOTT  to  pre 
sent  his  individual  views,  also  to  Mr.  BUT 
LER  (the  full  committee  consisting  of 
Messrs.  Knott,  Lynde,  Harris,  of  Virginia, 
Hartridge,  Stenger,  McMahon,  Culberson, 
Frye,  Butler,  Conger,  Lapham.) 

The  question  being  on  the  resolution  re 
ported  by  the  committee,  it  was  agreed  to 
— yeas  235,  nays  14,  not  voting  42. 


The  Hayes  Administration. 

It  can  be  truthfully  said  that  from  the 
very  beginning  the  administration  of  Pre 
sident  Hayes  had  not  the  cordial  support 
of  the  Republican  party,  nor  was  it  solidly 
opposed  by  the  Democrats,  as  was  the  last 
administration  of  General  Grant.  His 
early  withdrawal  of  the  troops  from  the 
Southern  States,— and  it  was  this  with 
drawal  and  the  suggestion  of  it  from  the 
"  visiting  statesmen  "  which  overthrew  the 
Packard  government  in  Louisiana, — em 
bittered  the  hostility  of  many  radical  Re 
publicans.  Senator  Conkling  was  conspi 
cuous  in  his  opposition,  as  was  Logan  of 
Illinois;  and  when  he  reached  Washing 
ton,  the  younger  Senator  Cameron,  of 
Pennsylvania.  It  was  during  this  admi 
nistration,  and  because  of  its  conservative 
tendencies,  that  these  three  leaders  formed 
the  purpose  to  bring  Grant  again  to  the 
Presidency.  Yet  the  Hayes'  administra 
tion  was  not  always  conservative,  and 
many  Republicans  believed  that  its  mode 
ration  had  afforded  a  much  needed  breath 
ing  spell  to  the  country.  Toward  its  close 
all  became  better  satisfied,  the  radical  por- 


238 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


tion  by  the  President's  later  efforts  to  pre 
vent  the  intimidation  of  negro  voters  in 
the  South,  a  form  of  intimidation  which 
was  now  accomplished  by  means  of  rifle 
clubs,  still  another  advance  from  the  White 
League  and  the  Ku  Klux.  He  made  this 
a  leading  feature  in  his  annual  message  to 
the  Congress  which  began  December  2d, 
1878,  and  by  a  virtual  abandonment  of  his 
earlier  policy  he  succeeded  in  reuniting 
what  were  then  fast  separating  wings  of 
his  own  party.  The  conference  report  on 
the  Legislative  Appropriation  Bill  was 
adopted  by  both  Houses  June  18th,  and 
approved  the  21st.  The  Judicial  Expenses 
Bill  was  vetoed  by  the  President  June  23d, 
on  the  ground  that  it  would  deprive  him  of 
the  means  of  executing  the  election  laws. 
An  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Democrats 
to  pass  the  Bill  over  the  veto  failed  for 
want  of  a  two-thirds  vote,  the  Republicans 
voting  solidly  against  it.  June  26th  the 
veltoed  bill  was  divided,  the  second  division 
still  forbidding  the  pay  of  deputy  marshals 
at  elections.  This  was  again  vetoed,  and 
the  President  sent  a  special  message  urging 
the  necessity  of  an  appropriation  to  pay 
United  States  marshals.  Bills  were  accord 
ingly  introduced,  but  were  defeated.  This 
failure  to  appropriate  moneys  called  for 
continued  until  the  end  of  the  session. 
The  President  was  compelled,  therefore,  to 
call  an  extra  session,  which  he  did  March 
19th,  1879,  in  words  which  briefly  explain 
the  cause : — 

THE  EXTRA  SESSION  OF   1879. 

"The  failure  of  the  last  Congress  to 
make  the  requisite  appropriation  for  legis 
lative  and  judicial  purposes,  for  the  ex 
penses  of  the  several  executive  departments 
of  the  Government,  and  for  the  support  of 
the  Army,  has  made  it  necessary  to  call 
a  special  session  of  the  Forty-sixth  Con 
gress. 

"The  estimates  of  the  appropriations 
needed,  which  were  sent  to  Congress  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  at  the  opening 
of  the  last  session,  are  renewed,  and  are 
herewith  transmitted  to  both  the  Senate 
and  the  House  of  Representatives. 

"  Regretting  the  existence  of  the  emer 
gency  which  requires  a  special  session  of 
Congress  at  a  time  when  it  is  the  general 
judgment  of  the  country  that  the  public 
welfare  will  be  best  promoted  by  perma 
nency  in  our  legislation,  and  by  peace  and 
rest,  I  commend  these  few  necessary  mea 
sures  to  your  considerate  attention." 

By  this  time  both  Houses  were  Demo 
cratic.  In  the  Senate  there  were  42  De 
mocrats,  33  Republicans  and  1  Independent 
(David  Davis).  In  the  House  149  Demo- 
crate,  130  Republicans,  and  14  Nationals — 
a  name  then  assumed  by  the  Greenbackers 
and  Labor-Reformers.  The  House  passed 
the  Warner  Silver  Bill,  providing  for  the 


unlimited  coinage  of  silver,  the  Senate  Fi 
nance  Committee  refused  to  report  it,  the 
Chairman,  Senator  Bayard,  having  refused 
to  report  it,  and  even  after  a  request  to  do 
so  from  the  Democratic  caucus, — a  course 
of  action  which  heralded  him  every  where 
as  a  "  hard-money  "  Democrat. 

The  main  business  of  the  extra  session 
was  devoted  to  the  consideration  of  the 
Appropriation  Bills  which  the  regular  ses 
sion  had  failed  to  pass.  On  all  of  these 
the  Democrats  added  "riders"  for  the 
purpose  of  destroying  Federal  supervision 
of  the  elections,  and  all  of  these  political 
riders  were  vetoed  by  President  Hayes. 
The  discussions  of  the  several  measures 
and  the  vetoes  were  highly  exciting,  and 
this  excitement  cemented  afresh  the  Re 
publicans,  and  caused  all  of  them  to  act  in 
accord  with  the  administration.  The  De 
mocrats  were  equally  solid,  while  the  Na 
tionals  divided — Forsythe,  Gillette,  Kelley, 
Weaver,  and  Yocum  generally  voting  with 
the  Republicans;  De  La  Matyr,  Steven 
son,  Ladd  and  Wright  with  the  Demo 
crats. 

President  Hayes,  in  his  veto  of  the  Army 
Appropriation  Bill,  baid : 

"  I  have  maturely  considered  the  im 
portant  questions  presented  by  the  bill  en 
titled  'An  Act  making  appropriations  for 
the  support  of  the  Army  for  the  fiscal  year 
ending  June  30,  1880,  and  for  other  pur 
poses,'  and  I  now  return  it  to  the  House  of 
Representatives,  in  which  it  originated, 
with  my  objections  to  its  approval. 

"  The  bill  provides,  in  the  usual  form,  for 
the  appropriations  required  for  the  support 
of  the  Army  during  the  next  fiscal  year. 
If  it  contained  no  other  provisions,  it  would 
receive  my  prompt  approval.  It  includes, 
however,  'further  legislation,  which,  at 
tached  as  it  is  to  appropriations  which  are 
requisite  for  the  efficient  performance  of 
some  of  the  most  necessary  duties  of  the 
Government,  involves  questions  of  the 
gravest  character.  The  sixth  section  of  the 
bill  is  amendatory  of  the  statute  now  in 
force  in  regard  to  the  authority  of  persons 
in  the  civil,  military  and  naval  service  of 
the  United  States  '  at  the  place  where  any 
general  or  special  election  is  held  in  any 
State.'  This  statute  was  adopted  February 
25,  1865,  after  a  protracted  debate  in  the 
Senate,  and  almost  without  opposition  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  by  the  con 
current  votes  of  both  of  the  leading  political 
parties  of  the  country,  and  became  a  law 
by  the  approval  of  President  Lincoln.  It 
was  re-enacted  in  1874  in  the  Revised  Sta 
tutes  of  the  United  States,  sections  2002 

and  5528. 

******* 

"  Upon  the  assembling  of  this  Congress, 
in  pursuance  of  a  call  for  an  extra  session, 
which  was  made  necessary  by  the  failure 
of  the  Forty-fifth  Congress  to  make  the 


THE    HAYES    ADMINISTRATION. 


239 


needful  appropriations  for  the  support  of 
the  Government,  the  question  was  presented 
whether  the  attempt  made  in  the  last  Con 
gress  to  engraft,  by  construction,  a  new 
principle  upon  the  Constitution  should  be 
persisted  in  or  not.  This  Congress  has 
ample  opportunity  and  time  to  pass  the 
appropriation  bills,  and  also  to  enact  any 
political  measures  which  may  be  deter 
mined  upon  in  separate  bills  by  the  usual 
and  orderly  methods  of  proceeding.  But 
the  majority  of  both  Houses  have  deemed 
it  wise  to  adhere  to  the  principles  asserted 
and  maintained  in  the  last  Congress  by  the 
majority  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
That  principle  is  that  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  has  the  sole  right  to  originate 
bills  for  raising  revenue,  and  therefore  has 
the  right  to  withhold  appropriations  upon 
which  the  existence  of  the  Government  may 
depend,  unless  the  Senate  and  the  Presi 
dent  shall  give  their  assent  to  any  legisla 
tion  which  the  House  may  see  fit  to  attach 
to  appropriation  bills.  To  establish  this 
principle  is  to  make  a  radical,  dangerous, 
and  unconstitutional  change  in  the  charac 
ter  of  our  institutions.  The  various  De 
partments  of  the  Government,  and  the 
Army  and  Navy,  are  established  by  the 
Constitution,  or  by  laws  passed  in  pursuance 
thereof.  Their  duties  are  clearly  defined, 
and  their  support  is  carefully  provided  for 
by  law.  The  money  required  for  this  pur 
pose  has  been  collected  from  the  people, 
and  is  now  in  the  Treasury,  ready  to  be 
paid  out  as  soon  as  the  appropriation  bills 
are  passed.  Whether  appropriations  are 
made  or  not,  the  collection  of  the  taxes 
will  go  on.  The  public  money  will  accu 
mulate  in  the  Treasury.  It  was  not  the  in 
tention  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution 
that  any  single  branch  of  the  Government 
should  have  the  power  to  dictate  conditions 
upon  which  this  treasure  should  be  applied 
to  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  collected. 
Any  such  intention,  if  it  had  been  enter 
tained,  would  have  been  plainly  expressed 
in  the  Constitution." 

The  vote  in  the  House  on  this  Bill,  not 
withstanding  the  veto,  was  148  for  to  122 
against — a  party  vote,  save  the  division  of 
the  Nationals,  previously  given.  Not  re 
ceiving  a  two-thirds  vote,  the  Bill  failed. 

The  other  appropriation  bills  with  po 
litical  riders  shared  the  same  fate,  as  did 
the  bill  to  prohibit  military  interference  at 
elections,  the  modification  of  the  law  touch 
ing  supervisors  and  marshals  at  congres 
sional  elections,  etc.  The  debates  on  these 
measures  were  bitterly  partisan  in  their 
character,  as  a  few  quotations  from  the 
Congressional  Record  will  show : 

The  Republican  view  was  succinctly  and 
very  eloquently  stated  by. General  Garfield, 
when,  in  his  speech  of  the  29th  of  March, 
1879,  he  said  to  the  revolutionary  Demo 
cratic  House : 


"  The  last  act  of  Democratic  domination 
in  this  Capitol,  eighteen  years  ago,  was 
striking  and  dramatic,  perhaps  heroic. 
Then  the  Democratic  party  said  to  the  Re 
publicans,  *  If  you  elect  the  man  of  your 
choice  as  President  of  the  United  States 
we  will  shoot  your  Government  to  death ; ' 
and  the  people  of  this  country,  refusing  to 
be  coerced  by  threats  or  violence,  voted  as 
they  pleased,  and  lawfully  elected  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  President  of  the  United 
States. 

"Then  your  leaders,  though  holding  a 
majority  in  the  other  branch  of  Congress, 
were  heroic  enough  to  withdraw  from  their 
seats  and  fling  down  the  gage  of  mortal 
battle.  We  called  it  rebellion ;  but  we 
recognized  it  as  courageous  and  manly  to 
avow  your  purpose,  take  all  the  risks,  'and 
fight  it  out  on  the  open  field.  Notwith 
standing  your  utmost  efforts  to  destroy  it, 
the  Government  was  saved.  Year  by  year 
since  the  war  ended,  those  who  resisted  you 
have  come  to  believe  that  you  have  finally 
renounced  your  purpose  to  destroy,  and  are 
willing  to  maintain  the  Government.  In 
that  belief  you  have  been  permitted  to  re 
turn  to  power  in  the  two  Houses. 

"  To-day,  after  eighteen  years  of  defeat, 
the  book  of  your  domination  is  again 
opened,  and  your  first  act  awakens  every 
unhappy  memory  and  threatens  to  destroy 
the  confidence  which  your  professions  of 
patriotism  inspired.  You  turned  down  a  leaf 
of  the  history  that  recorded  your  last  act  of 
power  in  1861,  and  you  have  now  signal 
ized  your  return  to  power  by  beginning  a 
second  chapter  at  the  same  page ;  not  this 
time  by  a  heroic  act  that  declares  war  on 
the  battle-field,  but  you  say  if  all  the  legis 
lative  powers  of  the  Government  do  not 
consent  to  let  you  tear  certain  laws  out  of 
the  statute-book,  you  will  not  shoot  our 
Government  to  death  as  you  tried  to  do  in 
the  first  chapter ;  but  you  declare  that  if 
we  do  not  consent  against  our  will,  if  you 
cannot  coerce  an  independent  branch  of 
this  Government  against  its  will,  to  allow 
you  to  tear  from  the  statute-books  some  laws 
put  there  by  the  will  of  the  people,  you 
will  starve  the  Government  to  death.  [Great 
applause  on  the  Republican  side.] 

"  Between  death  on  the  field  and  death 
by'  starvation,  I  do  not  know  that  the 
American  people  will  see  any  great  differ 
ence.  The  end,  if  successfully  reached, 
would  be  death  in  either  case.  Gentlemen, 
you  have  it  in  your  power  to  kill  this  Gov 
ernment  ;  you  have  it  in  your  power,  by 
withholding  these  two  bills,  to  smite  the 
nerve-centres  of  our  Constitution  with  the 
paralysis  of  death ;  and  you  have  declared 
your  purpose  to  do  this,  if  you  cannot  break 
down  that  fundamental  element  of  free 
consent  which  up  to  this  hour  has  always 
ruled  in  the  legislation  of  this  Govern 
ment" 


240 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


The  Democratic  view  was  ably  given  by 
Representative  Tucker  of  Virginia,  April 
3,  1879:  "I  tell  you,  gentlemen  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  the  Army  dies 
on  the  30th  day  of  June,  unless  we  resuscitate 
it  by  legislation.  And  what  is  the  question 
here  on  this  bill?  Will  you  resuscitate  the 
Army  after  the  30th  of  June,  with  the 
power  to  use  it  as  keepers  of  the  polls  ? 
That  is  the  question.  It  is  not  a  question 
iof  repeal.  It  is  a  question  of  re-enact 
ment.  If  you  do  not  appropriate  this 
money,  there  will  be  no  Army  after  the 
30th  of  June  to  be  used  at  the  polls.  The 
only  way  to  secure  an  Army  at  the  polls  is 
to  appropriate  the  money.  Will  you  ap 
propriate  the  money  for  the  Army  in  order 
that  they  may  be  used  at  the  polls  f  We  say 
no,  a  thousand  times  no.  *  *  *  The 
gentlemen  on  the  other  side  say  there  must 
be  no  coercion.  Of  whom  ?  Of  the  Presi 
dent  ?  But  what  right  has  the  President 
to  coerce  us  ?  There  may  be  coercion  one 
way  or  the  other.  He  demands  an  uncon 
ditional  supply.  We  say  we  will  give  him 
no  supply  but  upon  conditions.  *  *  * 
When,  therefore,  vicious  laws  have  fas 
tened  themselves  upon  the  statute-book 
which  imperil  the  liberty  of  the  people, 
this  House  is  bound  to  say  it  will  appro 
priate  no  money  to  give  effect  to  such  laws 
until  and  except  upon  condition  that  they 
are  repealed.  [Applause  on  the  Demo 
cratic  side.]  *  *  We  will  give  him  the 
Army  on  a  single  condition  that  it  shall 
never  be  used  or  be  present  at  the  polls 
when  an  election  is  held  for  members  of 
this  House,  or  in  any  presidential  election, 
or  in  any  State  or  municipal  election.  *  *  * 
Clothed  thus  with  unquestioned  power, 
bound  by  clear  duty,  to  expunge  these  vi 
cious  laws  from  the  statute-book,  following 
a  constitutional  method  sanctioned  by 
venerable  precedents  in  English  history, 
we  feel  that  we  have  the  undoubted  right, 
and  are  beyond  cavil  in  the  right,  in  de 
claring  that  with  our  grant  of  supply  there 
must  be  a  cessation  of  these  grievances, 
and  we  make  these  appropriations  condi 
tioned  on  securing  a  free  ballot  and  fair 
juries  for  our  citizens." 

The  Senate,  July  1,  passed  the  House 
bill  placing  quinine  on  tne  free  list. 

The  extra  session  finally  passed  the  Ap 
propriation  bills  without  riders,  and  ad 
journed  July  1st,  1879,  with  the  Republi 
can  party  far  more  firmly  united  than  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Hayes  administra 
tion.  The  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Demo 
crats  to  pass  these  political  riders,  and  their 
threat,  in  the  words  of  Garfield,  who  had 
then  succeeded  Stevens  and  Blaine  as  the 
Republican  Commoner  of  the  House,  re 
awakened  all  the  partisan  animosities 
which  the  administration  of  President 
Hayes  had  up  to  that  time  allayed.  Even 
the  President  caught  its  spirit,  and  plainly 


manifested  it  in  his  veto  messages.  It  was 
a  losing  battle  to  the  Democrats,  for  they 
had,  with  the  view  not  to  "  starve  the  gov 
ernment,"  to  abandon  their  position,  and 
the  temporary  demoralization  which  fol 
lowed  bridged  over  the  questions  pertain 
ing  to  the  title  of  President  Hayes,  over 
shadowed  the  claims  of  Tilden,  and  caused 
the  North  to  again  look  with  grave  con 
cern  on  the  establishment  of  Democratic 
power.  If  it  had  not  been  lor  this  extra 
session,  it  is  asserted  and  believed  by 
many,  the  Republicans  could  not  have  so 
soon  gained  control  of  the  lower  House, 
which  they  did  in  the  year  following ;  and 
that  the  plan  to  nominate  General  Han 
cock  for  the  Presidency,  which  originated 
with  Senator  Wallace  of  Pennsylvania, 
could  not  have  otherwise  succeeded  if  Til- 
den's  cause  had  not  been  kept  before  his 
party,  unclouded  by  an  extra  session  which 
was  freighted  with  disaster  to  the  Demo 
cratic  party. 

Tlie  Negro  Exodus. 

During  this  summer  political  comment, 
long  after  adjournment,  was  kept  active  by 
a  great  negro  exodus  from  the  South  to  the 
Northwest,  most  of  the  emigrants  going  to 
Kansas.  The  Republicans  ascribed  this  to 
ill  treatment,  the  Democrats  to  the  opera 
tions  of  railroad  agents.  The  people  of 
Kansas  welcomed  them,  but  other  States, 
save  Indiana,  were  slow  in  their  manifes 
tations  of  hospitality,  and  the  exodus  soon 
ceased  for  a  time.  It  was  renewed  in  South 
Carolina  in  the  winter  of  1881-82,  the  de 
sign  being  to  remove  to  Arkansas,  but  at 
this  writing  it  attracts  comparatively  little 
notice.  The  Southern  journals  generally 
advise  more  liberal  treatment  of  the  blacks 
in  matters  of  education,  labor  contracts, 
etc.,  while  none  of  the  Northern  or  West 
ern  States  any  longer  make  efforts  to  get 
the  benefit  of  their  labor,  if  indeed  they 
ever  did. 


Closing  Hours  of  the  Hayes    Administra 
tion. 

At  the  regular  session  of  Congress,  which 
met  December  1st,  1879,  President  Hayes 
advised  Congress  against  any  further  legis 
lation  in  reference  to  coinage,  and  favored 
the  retirement  of  the  legal  tenders. 

The  most  important  political  action  ta 
ken  at  this  session  was  the  passage,  for 
Congress  was  still  Democratic,  of  a  law  to 
prevent  the  use  of  the  army  to  keep  the 
peace  at  the  polls.  To  this  was  added  the 
Garfield  proviso,  that  it  should  not  be  con 
strued  to  prevent  the  Constitutional  use  of 
the  army  to  suppress  domestic  violence  in 
a  State — a  proviso  which  in  the  view  of 
the  Republicans  rid  the  bill  of  material 
partisan  objections,  and  it  was  therefore 


CLOSING  HOURS  OF  HAYES'  ADMINISTRATION.        241 


passed  and  approved.  The  "  political  ri 
ders  "  were  again  added  to  the  Appropria 
tion  and  Deficiency  bills,  but  were  again 
vetoed  and  failed  in  this  form  to  become 
laws.  Upon  these  questions  President 
Hayes  showed  much  firmness.  During  the 
session  the  Democratic  opposition  to  the 
General  Election  Law  was  greatly  tem 
pered,  the  Supreme  Court  having  made  an 
important  decision,  which  upheld  its  con 
stitutionality.  Like  all  sessions  under  the 
administration  of  President  Hayes  and 
since,  nothing  was  done  to  provide  perma 
nent  and  safe  methods  for  completing  the 
electoral  count.  On  this  question  each 
party  seemed  to  be  afraid  of  the  other. 
The  session  adjourned  June  16th,  1880. 

The  second  session  of  the  46th  Congress 
began  December  1st,  1880.  The  last  an 
nual  message  of  President  Hayes  recom 
mended  the  earliest  practicable  retirement 
of  the  legal -tender  notes,  and  the  mainte 
nance  of  the  present  laws  for  the  accumula 
tion  of  a  sinking  fund  sufficient  to  extin 
guish  the  public  debt  within  a  limited  peri 
od.  The  laws  against  polygamy,  he  said, 
should  be  firmly  and  effectively  executed. 
In  the  course  of  a  lengthy  discussion  of 
the  civil  service  the  President  declared 
that  in  his  opinion  "  every  citizen  has  an 
equal  right  to  the  honor  and  profit  of  en 
tering  the  public  service  of  his  country. 
The  only  just  ground  of  discrimination  is 
the  measure  of  character  and  capacity  he 
has  to  make  that  service  most  useful  to  the 
people.  Except  in  cases  where,  upon  just 
and  recognized  principles,  as  upon  the 
theory  of  pensions,  offices  and  promotions 
are  bestowed  as  rewards  for  past  services, 
their  bestowal  upon  any  theory  which  dis 
regards  personal  merit  is  an  act  of  injus 
tice  to  the  citizen,  as  well  as  a  breach  of 
that  trust  subject  to  which  the  appointing 
power  is  held.  Considerable  space  was 
given  in  the  Message  to  the  condition  of 
the  Indians,  the  President  recommending 
the  passage  of  a  law  enabling  the  govern 
ment  to  give  Indians  a  title-fee,  inaliena 
ble  for  twenty-five  years,  to  the  farm  lands 
assigned  to  them  by  allotment.  He  also 
repeats  the  recommendation  made  in  a 
former  message  that  a  law  be  passed  admit 
ting  the  Indians  who  can  give  satisfactory 
proof  of  having  by  their  own  labor  sup 
ported  their  families  for  a  number  of  years, 
and  who  are  willing  to  detach  themselves 
from  their  tribal  relations,  to  the  benefit  of 
the  Homestead  Act,  and  authorizing  the 
government  to  grant  them  patents  contain 
ing  the  same  provision  of  inalienability 
for  a  certain  period. 

The  Senate,  on  the  19th,  appointed  a 
committee  of  five  to  investigate  the  causes 
of  the  recent  negro  exodus  from  the  South. 
On  the  same  day  a  committee  was  appoint 
ed  by  the  House  to  examine  into  the  sub 
ject  of  an  inter-oceanic  ship-canal. 

16 


The  payment  of  the  award  of  the  Hali 
fax  Fisheries  Commission — $5,500,000 — to 
the  British  government  was  made  by  the 
American  minister  in  London,  November 
23,  1879,  accompanied  by  a  communica 
tion  protesting  against  the  payment  being 
understood  as  an  acquiescence  in  the  re 
sult  of  the  Commission  "  as  furnishing  any 
just  measure  of  the  value  of  a  participa 
tion  by  our  citizens  in  the  inshore  fisheries 
of  the  British  Provinces." 

On  the  17th  of  December  1879,  gold  was 
sold  in  New  York  at  par.     It  was  first  sold ; 
at  a  premium  January  13, 1862.  Itreachedi 
its  highest  rate,  $2.85,  July  11, 1864. 

The  electoral  vote  was  counted  without; 
any  partisan  excitement  or  disagreement. 
Georgia's  electoral  college  had  met  on  the  - 
second  instead  of  the  first  Wednesday  of 
December,  as  required  by  the  Federal  law.' 
She  actually  voted  under  her  old  Confed*- 
erate  law,  but  as  it  could  not  change  the 
result,  both  parties  agreed  to  the  count  of 
the  vote  of  Georgia  "  in  the  alternative," 
i.  e. — "if  the  votes  of  Georgia  were  counted 
the  number  of  votes  for  A  and  B.  for  Presi 
dent  and  Vice-President  would  be  so 
many,  and  if  the  votes  of  Georgia  were  no1>\ 
counted,  the  number  of  votes  for  A  and  B.» 
for  President  and  Vice-President  would  be 
so  many,  and  that  in  either  case  A  and  B 
are  elected." 

Among  the  bills  not  disposed  of  by  this 
session  were  the  electoral  count  joint  rule ; 
the  funding  bill ;  the  Irish  relief  bill ;  .the 
Chinese  indemnity  bill;  to  restrict  Chinese, 
immigration ;  to  amend  the  Constitution 
as  to  the  election  of  President ;  to  regulate 
the  pay  and  number  of  supervisors  of  elec? 
tion  and  special  deputy-marshals-;  to  abro- 


pervisors  of  elections ;  for  the  appointment 
of  a  tariff  commission;  the  political  assess 
ment  bill ;  the  Kellogg-Spofford  case  ;  and 
the  Fitz-John  Porter  bill. 

The  regular  appropriation  bills  were  all 
completed.  The  total  amount  appropria 
ted  was  about  $186,000^000.  Among  the 
special  sums  voted  were  $30,000  for  the  cen 
tennial  celebration  of  the  Yorktown  vic 
tory,  and  $100,000  for  a  monument  to  com 
memorate  the  same. 

Congress  adjourned  March  3d,  1881,  and 
President  Hayes  on  the  following  day  re 
tired  from  office.  The  effect  of  his  admin 
istration  was,  in  a  political  sense,  to 
strengthen  a  growing  independent  senti 
ment  in  the  ranks  of  the  Republicans — an 
element  more  conservative  generally  in  its 
views  than  those  represented  by  Conkling 
and  Blaine.  This  sentiment  began  with 
Bristow,  who  while  in  the  cabinet  made  a 
show  of  seeking  out  and  punishing  all  cor 
ruptions  in  government  office  or  service. 
On  this  platform  and  record  he  had  con- 


242 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


tested  with  Hayes  the  honors  of  the  Presi 
dential  nominations,  and  while  the  latter 
was  at  the  time  believed  to  well  represent 
the  same  views,  they  were  not  urgently 
pressed  during  his  administration.  Indeed, 
without  the  knowledge  of  Hayes,  what  is 
believed  to  be  a  most  gigantic  "steal," 
and  which  is  noAV  being  prosecuted  under 
the  name  of  the  Star  Route  cases,  had  its 
birth,  and  thrived  so  well  that  no  import 
ant  discovery  was  made  until  the  incoming 
of  the  Garneld  administration.  The  Hayes 
administration,  it  is  now  fashionable  to 
say,  made  little  impress  for  good  or  evil 
upon  the  country,  but  impartial  historians 
will  give  it  the  credit  of  softening  party  as 
perities  and  aiding  very  materially  in  the 
restoration  of  better  feeling  between  the 
North  and  South.  Its  conservatism,  al 
ways  manifested  save  on  extraordinary  oc 
casions,  did  that  much  good  at  least. 


The  Campaign  of  1880. 

The  Republican  National  Convention 
met  June  5th,  1880,  at  Chicago,  in  the  Ex 
position  building,  capable  of  seating  20,000 
people.  The  excitement  in  the  ranks  of 
the  Republicans  was  very  high,  because  of 
the  candidacy  of  General  Grant  for  what 
was  popularly  called  a  "third  term," 
though  not  a  third  consecutive  term.  His 
three  powerful  Senatorial  friends,  in  the 
face  of  bitter  protests,  had  secured  the  in 
structions  of  their  respective  State  Conven 
tions  for  Grant.  Conkling  had  done  this 
in  New  York,  Cameron  in  Pennsylvania, 
Logan  in  Illinois,  but  in  each  of  the  three 
States  the  opposition  was  so  impressive  that 
no  serious  attempts  were  made  to  substi 
tute  other  delegates  for  those  which  had 
previously  been  selected  by  their  Congres 
sional  districts.  As  a  result  there  was  a 
large  minority  in  the  delegations  of  these 
States  opposed  to  the  nomination  of  Gene 
ral  Grant,  and  the  votes  of  them  could  only 
be  controlled  by  the  enforcement  of  the 
unit  rule.  Senator  Hoar  of  Massachusetts, 
the  President  of  the  Convention,  decided 
against  its  enforcement,  and  as  a  result  all 
of  the  delegates  were  free  to  vote  upon  ei 
ther  State  or.District  instructions,  or  as  they 
chose.  The  Convention  was  in  session  three 
days.  We  present  herewith  the 

;  BALLOTS. 

Ballots.        ,1        2        3        4 

Grant,         304    805    305    305    305    305 
Elaine,        284    282    282    281     281    281 

95 
31 

31 
10 


Sherman,      93  94  93  95  95 

Edmunds,     34  32  32  82  32 

Washburne,30  32  31  31  31 

Windom,      1-0  -10  10  10  10 


Garneld, 
Parrison, 


7 

305 
281 

94 


Ballots. 
jrrant, 
Blaine, 
Sherman, 
Edmunds,  32 
Washburne,  31 
Windom,  10 
Garneld,  1 
Hayes, 


8        9       10 

306    308    305 

284    282     282 


91 
31 


90 
31 


32      32 
10      10 


91 
30 
22 
10 
2 


11  12 

305  304 

281  283 

62  93 

31  31 

32  33 
10  10 

2  1 


Ballots, 

jfant, 

Blaine, 

Sherman, 

Edmunds, 


13 
305 

285 
89 
31 


14      15      16 
305    309    306 

285    281     283 


Washburne,  33 


Windom, 
Garneld, 
Hayes, 

Davis, 
VlcCrary, 


10 
1 
1 

1 


89 
31 
35 
10 


31 
36 
10 


88 
31 
36 
10 


17  18 

303  305 

284  283 

90  92 

31  31 

34  35 

10  10 


Ballots,  19  20  21  22  23  24 
Grant,  305  308  305  305  304  305 
Blaine,  279  276  276  275  274  279 


Sherman,      95      93      96 
Edmunds,     31      31      31 


Washburne,  31  35  35  35 
Windom,  10  10  10  10 
Garneld,  1111 
Hartranft,  1111 


95  98 
31  31 
36 
10 
2 


93 
31 
35 
10 
2 


Ballots,        25  26  27 

Grant,         302  303  306 

Blaine,        281  280  277 

Sherman,      94  93  93                             j 

Edmunds,    31  31  31 

Washburne,  36  35  36 

Windom,      10  10  10 

Garneld,         222 

There  was  little  change  from  the  27th 
ballot  until  the  36th  and  final  one,  which 
resulted  as  follows : 

Whole  number  of  votes 755 

Necessary  to  a  choice 378 

Grant 306 

Blaine 42 

Sherman 3 

Washburne 5 

Garneld V399 

As  shown,  General  James  A.  Garneld, 
of  Ohio,  was  nominated  on  the  36th  ballot, 
the  forces  of  General  Grant  alone  remain 
ing  solid.  The  result  was  due  to  a  sudden 
union  of  the  forces  of  Blaine  and  Sherman, 
it  is  believed  with  the  full  consent  of  both, 
for  both  employed  the  same  wire  leading 
from  the  same  room  in  Washington  in 
telegraphing  to  their  friends  at  Chicago. 
The  object  was  to  defeat  Grant.  After 
Garfield's  nomination  there  was  a  tempo 
rary  adjournment,  during  which  the 
friends  of  the  nominee  consulted  Conkling 
and  his  leading  friends,  and  the  result  was 
the  selection  of  General  Chester  A.  Arthur 


THE    CAMPAIGN    OF    1880. 


243 


of  New  York,  for  Vice-President.  The 
object  of  this  selection  was  to  carry  New 
York,  the  great  State  which  was  then  al 
most  universally  believed  to  hold  the  key 
to  the  Presidential  position. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention 
met  at  Cincinnati,  June  22d.  Tilden  had 
up  to  the  holding  of  the  Pennsylvania 
State  Convention  been  one  of  the  most 
prominent  candidates.  In  this  Convention 
there  was  a  bitter  struggle  between  the 
Wallace  and  Randall  factions,  the  former 
favoring  Hancock,  the  latter  Tilden.  Wal 
lace,  after  a  contest  far  sharper  than  he 
expected,  won,  and  bound  the  delegation 
by  the  unit  rule.  When  the  National 
Convention  met,  John  Kelly,  the  Tam 
many  leader  of  New  York,  was  again 
there,  as  at  St.  Louis  four  years  before,  to 
oppose  Tilden,  but  the  latter  sent  a  letter 
disclaiming  that  he  was  a  candidate,  and 
yet  really  inviting  a  nomination  on  the  is- 
BUC  of  "the  fraudulent  counting  in  of 
Hayes."  There  were  but  two  ballots,  as 
follows : 

FIRST  BALLOT. 


Randall 6 

Loveland 5 

McDonald 3 

McClellan 3 

English 1 

Jewett 1 

Black 1 

Lothrop 1 

Parker 1 


Hancock 171 

Bayard 153* 

Payne 81 

Thurman 63J 

Field 66 

Morrison 62 

Hendricks 46} 

Tilden 38 

Ewing 10 

Seymour ....  8 


SECOND  BALLOT. 

Hancock 705 

Tilden 1 

Bayard 2 

Hendricks 30 

Thus  General  Winfield  S.  Hancock,  of 
New  York,  was  nominated  on  the  second 
ballot.  Wm.  H.  English,  of  Indiana,  was 
nominated  for  Vice-President. 
^  The  National  Greenback-Labor  Conven 
tion,  held  at  Chicago,  June  11,  nominated 
General  J.  B.  Weaver,  of  Iowa,  for  Presi 
dent,  and  General  E.  J.  Chambers,  of 
Texas,  for  Vice-Presiderit. 

In  the  canvass  which  followed,  the  Re 
publicans  were  aided  by  such  orators  as 
Conkling,  Blaine,  Grant,  Logan,  Curtis, 
Boutwell,  while  the  Camerons,  father  and 
son,  visited  the  October  States  of  Ohio  and 
Indiana,  as  it  was  believed  that  these 
would  determine  the  result,  Maine  having 
in  September  very  unexpectedly  defeated 
the  Republican  State  ticket  by  a  small  ma 
jority.  The  Democrats  were  aided  by 
Bayard,  Voorhees,  Randall,  Wallace,  Hill, 
Hampton,  Lamar,  and  hosts  of  their  best 
orators.  Every  issue  was  recalled,  but  for 
the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  Repub 
licans  of  the  West,  they  accepted  the  tariff 


issue,  and  made  open  war  on  Watterson's 
plank  in  the  Democratic  platform — "  a 
tariff  for  revenue  only."  Iowa,  Ohio,  and 
Indiana,  all  elected  the  Republican  State 
tickets  with  good  margins  ;  West  Virginia 
went  Democratic,  but  the  result  was,  not 
withstanding  this,  reasonably  assured  to 
the  Republicans.  The  Democrats,  how 
ever,  feeling  the  strong  personal  popularity 
of  their  leading  candidate,  persisted  with 
high  courage  to  the  end.  In  November 
all  of  the  Southern  States;  with  New  Jer 
sey,  California,*  and  Nevada  in  the  North, 
went  Democratic;  all  of  the  others  Re 
publican.  The  Greenbackers  held  only  a 
balance  of  power,  which  they  could  not 
exercise,  in  California,  Indiana,  and  New 
Jersey.  The  electoral  vote  of  Garfield  and 
Arthur  was  214,  that  of  Hancock  and  Eng 
lish  155.  The  popular  vote  was  Republi 
can,  4,442,950;  Democratic,  4,442,035; 
Greenback  or  National,  306,867  ;  scatter 
ing,  12,576.  The  Congressional  elections 
in  the  same  canvass  gave  the  Republicans 
147  members ;  the  Democrats,  136 ;  Green- 
backers,  9 ;  Independents,  1. 

Fifteen  States  elected  Governors,  nine 
of  them  Republicans  and  six  Democrats. 

General  Garfield,  November  10,  sent  to 
Governor  Foster,  of  Ohio,  his  resignation 
as  a  Senator,  and  John  Sherman,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was  in  the  win 
ter  following  elected  as  his  successor. 

The  third  session  of  the  Forty-sixth 
Congress  was  begun  December  6.  The 
President's  Message  was  read  in  both 
Houses.  Among  its  recommendations  to 
Congress  were  the  following :  To  create 
the  office  of  Captain-General  of  the  Army 
for  General  Grant ;  to  defend  the  inviola 
bility  of  the  constitutional  amendments; 
to  promote  free  popular  education  by 
grants  of  public  lands  and  appropriations 
from  the  United  States  Treasury ;  to  ap 
propriate  $25,000  annually  for  the  expen 
ses  of  a  Commission  to  be  appointed  by 
the  President  to  devise  a  just,  uniform, 
and  efficient  system  of  competitive  exami 
nations,  and  to  supervise  the  application 
of  the  same  throughout  the  entire  civil 
service  of  the  government ;  to  pass  a  law 
defining  the  relations  of  Congressmen  to 
appointments  to  office,  so  as  to  end  Con 
gressional  encroachment  upon  the  appoint 
ing  power ;  to  repeal  the  Tenure-of- office 
Act,  and  pass  a  law  protecting  office 
holders  in  resistance  to  political  assess 
ments ;  to  abolish  the  present  system  of 
executive  and  judicial  government  in 
Utah,  and  substitute  for  it  a  government 
by  a  commission  to  be  appointed  by  the 
President  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate,  or, 
in  case  the  present  government  is  con 
tinued,  to  withhold  from  all  who  practice 


*  One  Democratic  elector  waa  defeated,  being  cut  by 
over  600  voters  on  a  local  issue. 


244 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


polygamy  the  right  to  vote,  hold  office,  and 
Bit  on  juries  ;  to  repeal  the  act  authorizing 
the  coinage  of  the  silver  dollar  of  41 2  £ 
grains,  and  to  authorize  the  coinage  of  a 
new  silver  dollar  equal  in  value  as  bullion 
with  the  gold  dollar;  to  take  favorable  ac 
tion  on  the  bill  providing  for  the  allotment 
of  lands  on  the  different  reservations. 

Two  treaties  between  this  country  and 
China  were  signed  at  Pekin,  November  17, 
1881,  one  of  commerce,  and  the  other  se 
curing  to  the  United  States  the  control  and 
regulation  of  the  Chinese  immigration. 

President  Hayes,  February  1,  1881,  sent 
a  message  to  Congress  sustaining  in  the 
main  the  findings  of  the  Ponca  Indian 
Commission,  and  approving  its  recom 
mendation  that  they  remain  on  their  reser 
vation  in  Indian  Territory.  The  Presi 
dent  suggested  that  the  general  Indian 
policy  for  the  future  should  embrace  the 
following  ideas:  First,  the  Indians  should 
be  prepared  for  citizenship  by  giving  to 
their  young  of  both  sexes  that  industrial 
and  general  education  which  is  requisite 
to  enable  them  to  be  self-supporting  and 
capable  of  self-protection  in  civilized  com 
munities;  second,  lands  should  be  allot 
ted  to  the  Indians  in  severalty,  inalienable 
for  a  certain  period;  third,  the  Indians 
should  have  a  fair  compensation  for  their 
lands  not  required  for  individual  allot 
ments,  the  amount  to  be  invested,  with 
suitable  safeguards,  for  their  benefit; 
fourth,  with  these  prerequisites  secured, 
the  Indians  should  be  made  citizens,  and 
invested  with  the  rights  and  charged  with 
the  responsibilities  of  citizenship. 

The  Senate,  February  4,  passed  Mr. 
Morgan's  concurrent  resolution  declaring 
that  the  President  of  the  Senate  is  not  in 
vested  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  with  the  right  to  count  the  votes  of 
electors  for  President  and  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States,  so  as  to  determine 
what  votes  shall  be  received  and  counted, 
or  what  votes  shall  be  rejected.  An 
amendment  was  added  declaring  in  effect 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  pass  a 
law  at  once  providing  for  the  orderly 
counting  of  the  electoral  vote.  The  House 
concurred  February  5,  but  no  action  by 
bill  or  otherwise  has  since  been  taken. 

Senator  Pendleton,  of  Ohio,  December 
15^1881,  introduced  a  bill  to  regulate  the 
civil  service  and  to  promote  the  efficiency 
thereof,  and  also  a  bill  to  prohibit  Federal 
officers,  claimants,  and  contractors  from 
making  or  receiving  assessments  or  contri 
butions  for  political  purposes. 

The  Burnside  Educational  Bill  passed 
the  Senate  December  17,  1881.  It  pro 
vides  that  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  pub 
lic  land  and  the  earnings  of  the  Patent 
Office  shall  be  funded  at  four  per  cent., 
and  the  interest  divided  among  the  States 
in  proportion  to  their  illiteracy.  An 


amendment  by  Senator  Morgan  provides 
for  the  instruction  of  women  in  the  State 
agricultural  colleges  in  such  branches  of 
technical  and  industrial  education  as  are 
suited  to  their  sex.  No  action  has  yet 
been  taken  by  the  House. 

On  the  9th  of  February  the  electoral 
votes  were  counted  by  the  Vice-President 
in  the  presence  of  both  Houses,  and  Gar- 
field  and  Arthur  were  declared  elected 
President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States.  There  was  no  trouble  as  to  the 
count,  and  the  result  previously  stated  was 
formally  announced. 


Tbe  Three  Per  Cent.  Funding  Bill. 

The  3  per  cent.  Funding  Bill  passed  the 
House  March  2,  and  was  on  the  following 
day  vetoed  by  President  Hayes  on  the 
ground  that  it  dealt  unjustly  with  the  Na 
tional  Banks  in  compelling  them  to  accept 
and  employ  this  security  for  their  circu 
lation  in  lieu  of  the  old  bonds.  This  fea 
ture  of  the  bill  caused  several  of  the  Banks 
to  surrender  their  circulation,  conduct 
which  for  a  time  excited  strong  political 
prejudices.  The  Republicans  in  Congress 
as  a  rule  contended  that  the  debt  could 
not  be  surely  funded  at  3  per  cent. ;  that 
3£  was  a  safer  figure,  and  to  go  below  this 
might  render  the  bill  of  no  effect.  The 
same  views  were  entertained  by  President 
Hayes  and  Secretary  Sherman.  The  Dem 
ocrats  insisted  on  3  per  cent.,  until  the 
veto,  when  the  general  desire  to  fund  at 
more  favorable  rates  broke  party  lines,  and 
a  3£  per  cent,  funding  bill  was  passed,  with 
the  feature  objectionable  to  the  National 
Banks  omitted. 

The  Republicans  were  mistaken  in  their 
view,  as  the  result  proved.  The  loan  was 
floated  so  easily,  that  in  the  session  of  1882 
Secretary  Sherman,  now  a  Senator,  him 
self  introduced  a  3  per  cent,  bill,  which 
passed  the  Senate  Feb.  2d,  1882,  in  this 
shape : — 

Be  it  enacted,  &c.  That  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  is  hereby  authorized  to 
receive  at  the  Treasury  and  at  the  office  of 
any  Assistant  Treasurer  of  the  United 
States  and  at  any  postal  money  order  of 
fice,  lawful  money  of  the  United  States  to 
the  amount  of  fifty  dollars  or  any  multiple 
of  that  sum  or  any  bonds  of  the  United 
States,  bearing  three  and  a-half  per  cent, 
interest,  which  are  hereby  declared  valid, 
and  to  issue  in  exchange  therefore  an 
equal  amount  of  registered  or  coupon 
bonds  of  the  United  States,  of  the  denom 
ination  of  fifty,  one  hundred,  five  hundred, 
one  thousand  and  ten  thousand  dollars,  of 
such  form  as  he  may  prescribe,  bearing  in 
terest  at  the  rate  three  per  centum  per 
annum,  payable  either  quarterly  or  semi- 
annually,  at  the  Treasury  of  the  United 


HISTORY    OP    THE    NATIONAL    LOANS. 


245 


States.  Such  bonds  shall  be  exempt  from 
all  taxation  by  or  under  state  authority, 
and  be  payable  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
United  States.  "  Provided,  That  the  bonds 
herein  authorized  shall  not  be  called  in  and 
pail  so  long  as  any  bonds  of  the  United 
States  heretofore  issued  bearing  a  higher 
rate  of  interest  than  three  per  centum,  and 
wilich  shall  be  redeemable  at  the  pleasure 
of  ths  United  States,  shall  be  outstanding 
and  uncalled.  The  last  of  the  said  bonds 
originally  issued  and  their  substitutes 
under  this  act  shall  be  first  called  in  and 
this  order  of  payment  ehall  be  followed 
until  all  shall  have  been  paid." 

The  money  deposited  under  this  act 
shall  be  promptly  applied  solely  to  the  re 
demption  of  the  bonds  of  the  United  States 
bearing  three  and  a-half  per  centum  in 
terest,  and  the  aggregate  amount  of  de 
posits  made  and  bond?  issued  under  this 
act  shall  not  exceed  the  sum  of  two  hun 
dred  million  dollars.  Ths  amount  of  law 
ful  money  so  received  on  deposit,  as  afore 
said,  shall  not  exceed,  at  any  time,  the 
sum  of  twenty-five  million  dollars  Be 
fore  any  deposits  are  received  at  any  pos 
tal  money  office  under  this  act,  the  post 
master  at  such  office  shall  file  with  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  his  bond,  with 
satisfactory  security,  conditioned  that  he 
will  promptly  transmit  to  the  Treasury  of 
tha  Unite!  States  the  money  received  by 
him  in  conformity  with  regulations  to  be 
prescribed  by  such  secretary ;  and  the  de 
posit  with  any  postmaster  shall  not  at  any 
time,  excesd  the  amount  of  his  bond. 

SECTION  2.  Any  national  banking  asso 
ciation  now  organized  cr  hereafter  or 
ganized  desiring  to  withdraw  its  circulat 
ing  notes  upon  a  deposit  of  lawful  money 
with  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  as 
provided  in  section  4  of  the  Act  of  Juno 
20,  1874,  entitled  "  An  act  fixing  the 
amount  of  Unite!  States  notes  providing 
for  a  re  distribution  of  National  bank  cur 
rency  and  for  othsr  purposes,"  shall  be  re 
quired  to  give  thirty  days'  notice  to  the 
Controller  of  the  Currency  of  its  intention 
to  deposit  lawful  money  and  withdraw  its 
circulating  notss;  provided  that  not  more 
than  five  million  of  dollars  of  lawful 
money  shall  be  deposited  during  any  cal 
ender  month  for  this  purpose;  and  pro 
vided  further,  that  the  provisions  of  this 
section  shall  not  apoly  to  bonds  called  for 
redemption  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Trea 
sury. 

SECTION"  3.  That  nothing  in  this  act 
shall  be  so  construed  as  to  authorize  an  in 
crease  of  the  public  debt. 

In  th3  past  few  years  opinions  on  the 
rates  of  interest  have  undergone  wonderful 
changes.  Many  supposed — indeed  it  was 
a  "standard"  argument — that  rates  must 
ever  be  higher  in  new  than  old  countries, 
that  these  higher  rates  comported  with  and 


aided  the  higher  rates  paid  for  commodi 
ties  and  labor.  The  funding  operations 
since  the  war  have  dissipated  this  belief, 
and  so  shaken  political  theories  that  no 
party  can  now  claim  a  monopoly  of  sound 
financial  doctrine.  So  high  is  the  credit 
of  the  government,  and  so  abundant  are 
the  resources  of  our  people  after  a  com 
paratively  short  period  of  general  prosper 
ity,  that  they  seem  to  have  plenty  of  sur 
plus  funds  with  which  to  aid  any  funding 
operation,  however  low  the  rate  of  interest, 
if  the  government — State  or  National — 
shows  a  willingness  to  pay.  As  late  as 
February,  1882,  Pennsylvania  funded  seven 
millions  of  her  indebtedness  at  3,  3£  and  4 
per  cent.,  the  two  larger  sums  commanding 
premiums  sufficient  to  cause  the  entire 
debt  to  be  floated  at  a  little  more  than  3 
per  cent.,  and  thus  floating  commands  an 
additional  premium  in  the  money  ex 
changes. 


History  of  the  National  Loans. 

Iii  Book  VII  of  this  volume  devoted  to 
Tabulated  History,  we  try  to  give  the  read 
er  at  a  glance  some  idea  of  the  histoiy  of 
our  National  finances.  An  attempt  to  go 
into  details  would  of  itself  fill  volumes,  for 
no  class  of  legislation  has  taken  so  much 
time  or  caused  such  a  diversity  of  opinion. 
Yet  it  is  shown,  by  an  admirable  review  of 
the  loans  of  the  United  States,  by  Rafael 
A.  Bayley,  of  the  Treasury  Department 
published  in  the  February  (1882)  number 
of  the  International  Review,  that  the  "finan 
cial  system  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States  has  continued  the  same  from 
its  organization  to  the  present  time."  Mr. 
Bayley  has  completed  a  history  of  our  Na 
tional  Loans,  which  will  be  published  in 
the  Census  volume  on  "  Public  Debts." 
From  his  article  in  the  Review  we  con 
dense  the  leading  facts  bearing  on  the  his 
tory  of  our  national  loans. 

The  financial  system  of  the  United  States, 
in  all  its  main  features,  is  simple  and  well 
defined,  and  its  very  simplicity  may  proba 
bly  be  assigned  as  the  reason  why  it  ap 
pears  so  difficult  of  comprehension  by 
many  people  of  intelligence  and  education. 
It  is  based  upon  the  principles  laid  down 
by  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  the  practical 
adoption  of  the  fundamental  maxim  which 
he  regarded  as  the  true  secret  for  render 
ing  public  credit  immortal,  viz.,  "  that  the 
creation  of  the  debt  should  always  be  ac 
companied  with  the  means  of  extinguish 
ment."  A  faithful  adherence  'to  this  sys 
tem  by  his  successors  has  stood  the  test  of 
nearly  a  century,  with  the  nation  at  peace 
or  at  war,  in  prosperity  or  adversity :  so 
that,  with  all  the  change  that  progress  lifts 
entailed  upon  the  people  of  the  age,  no 
valid  ground5*  exist  for  any  change  here. 

"  During  the  colonial  period,  and  under 


246 


AMERICAN   POLITICS. 


the  confederation,  the  financial  operations 
of  the  Government  were  based  on  the  law 
of  necessity,  and  depended  for  success 
upon  the  patriotism  of  the  people,  the  co 
operation  of  the  several  States,  and  the 
assistance  of  foreign  powers  friendly  to  our 
cause. 

"It  was  the  willingness  of  the  people  to 
receive  the  various  kinds  of  paper  money 
hsued  under  authority  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  and  used  in  payment  for  services 
and  supplies,  together  with  the  issue  of 
similar  obligations  by  the  different  States, 
iOr  the  redemption  of  which  they  assumed 
the  responsibility  ;  aided  by  the  munificent 
gift  of  money  from  Louis  XVI.  of  France, 
lollowed  by  loans  for  a  large  amount  from 
both  France  and  Holland,  that  made  vic 
tory  possible,  and  laid  the  foundations  for 
the  republic  of  to-day,  with  its  credit  un 
impaired,  and  with  securities  command 
ing  a  ready  sale  at  a  high  premium  in  all 
the  principal  markets  of  the  world. 

"  Authorities  vary  as  to  the  amount  of 
paper  money  issued  and  the  cost  of  the  war 
for  independence.  On  the  1st  of  Septem 
ber,  1779,  Congress  resolved  that  it  would 
*  on  no  account  whatever  emit  more  bills 
of  credit  than  to  make  the  whole  amount 
of  such  bills  two  hundred  millions  of  dol- 
lais.'  Mr.  Jefferson  estimates  the  value 
of  this  sum  at  the  time  of  its  emission  at 
$36,367,719.83  in  specie,  and  savs  ;  '  If  we 
estimate  at  the  same  value  the  like  sum  of 
$200,000,000  supposed  to  have  been 
emitted  by  the  States,  and  reckon  the 
Federal  debt,  foreign  and  domestic,  at 
about  $43,000,000,  and  the  State  debt  at 
$25,000,000,  it  will  form  an  amount  of 
$140,000,000,  the  total  sum  which  the  war 
cost  the  United  States.  It  continued  eight 
years,  from  the  battle  of  Lexington  to  the 
cessation  of  hostilities  in  America.  The 
annual  expense  was,  therefore,  equal  to 
about  $17,500,000  in  specie/ 

"  The  first  substantial  aid  rendered  the 
colonies  by  any  foreign  power  was  a  free 
gift  of  money  and  military  supplies  from 
Louis  XVI.  of  France,  amounting  in  the 
aggregate  to  10,000,000  livres,  equivalent 
to  $1,815,000. 

"These  supplies  were  not  furnished 
epenly,  for  the  reason  that  France  was  not 
in  a  position  to  commence  a  war  with 
Great  Britain.  The  celebrated  Caron  de 
Beaumarchais  was  employed  as  a  secret 
agent,  between  whom  and  Silas  Deane,  as 
the  political  and  commercial  agent  of  the 
United  States,  a  contract  was  entered  into 
whereby  the  former  agreed  to  furnish  a 
large  amount  of  military  supplies  from  the 
arsenals  of  France,  and  to  receive  Ameri 
can  produce  in  payment  therefor. 

"  Under  this  arrangement  supplies  were 
famished  by  the  French  Government  to 
the  amount  of  2,000,000  livres.  An  addi 
tional  1,000,000  was  contributed  by  the 


Government  of  Spain  for  the  same  pur 
pose,  and  through  the  same  agency.  The 
balance  of  the  French  subsidy  was  paid 
through  Benjamin  Franklin.  In  1777  a 
loan  of  1,000,000  livres  was  obtained  from 
the  'Farmers  General  of  France'  under 
a  contract  for  its  repayment  in  American 
tobacco  at  a  stipulated  price.  From  1778 
to  1783,  additional  loans  were  obtained 
from  the  French  King,  amounting  to  34,- 
000,000  livres.  From  1782  to  1789,  loans 
to  the  amount  of  9,000,<  00  guilders  were 
negotiated  in  Holland,  through  the  agency 
of  John  Adams,  then  the  American  Minis 
ter  to  the  Hague. 

"  The  indebtedness  of  the  United  States 
at  the  organization  of  the  present  form  of 
government  (including  interest  to  Decem 
ber  31,  1790)  may  be  briefly  stated,  as  fol 
lows  : 

Foreign  debt $11,883,315.96 

Domestic  debt 40,256,802.45 

Debt  due  foreign  officers...         198,208.10 
Arrears  outstanding  (since 
discharged) 450,395.52 

Total $52,788,722.03 

To  this  should  be  added  the  individual 
debts  of  the  several  States,  the  precise 
amount  and  character  of  which  was  then 
unknown,  but  estimated  by  Hamilton  at 
that  time  to  aggregate  about  $25,000,000. 

"  The  payment  of  this  vast  indebtedness 
was  virtually  guarantied  by  the  provisions 
of  Article  VI.  of  the  Constitution,  which 
says :  '  All  debts  contracted,  and  engage 
ments  entered  into,  before  the  adoption  of 
this  Constitution  shall  be  as  valid  against 
the  United  States  under  this  Constitution 
as  under  the  confederation.'  On  the  21st 
of  September,  1789,  the  House  of  Kepre- 
sentatives  adopted  the  following  resolu 
tions  : 

Resolved,  That  this  House  consider  an 
adequate  provision  for  the  support  of  the 
public  credit  as  a  matter  of  high  import 
ance  to  the  national  honor  and  prosperity. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  be  directed  to  prepare  a  plan  for 
that  purpose,  and  to  report  the  same  to 
this  House  at  its  next  meeting. 

"  In  reply  thereto  Hamilton  submitted 
his  report  on  the  9th  of  January,  1790,  in 
which  he  gave  many  reasons  for  assuming 
the  debts  of  the  old  Government,  and  of 
the  several  States,  and  furnished  a  plan 
for  supporting  the  public  credit.  His  rec 
ommendations  were  adopted,  and  embodied 
in  the  act  making  provision  for  the  pay 
ment  of  the  debt  of  the  United  States, 
approved  August  4,  1790. 

"  This  act  authorized  a  loan  of  $12,000,- 
000,  to  be  applied  to  the  payment  of  the 
foreign  debt,  principal  and  interest ;  a  loan 
equal  to  the  full  amount  of  the  domestic 
debt,  payable  in  certificates  issued  for  its 


HISTORY    OF    THE    NATIONAL    LOANS. 


247 


amount  according  to  their  specie  value, 
and  computing  the  interest  to  December 
31, 1791,  upon  such  as  bore  interest;  and  a 
further  loan  of  $21,500,000,  payable  in  the 
principal  and  interest  of  the  certificates  or 
notes  which,  prior  to  January  1,  1790, 
were  issued  by  the  respective  States  as  evi 
dences  of  indebtedness  incurred  by  them 
for  the  expenses  of  the  late  war.  '  In  the 
case  of  the  debt  of  the  United  States,  in 
terest  upon  two-thirds  of  the  principal 
only,  at  6  per  cent.,  was  immediately  paid ; 
interest  upon  the  remaining  third  was  de 
ferred  for  ten  years,  and  only  three  per 
cent,  was  allowed  upon  the  arrears  of  in 
terest,  making  one-third  of  the  whole  debt. 
In  the  case  of  the  separate  debts  of  the 
States,  interest  upon  four-ninths  only  of 
the  entire  sum  was  immediately  paid ;  in 
terest  upon  two-ninths  was  deferred  for  ten 
years,  and  only  3  per  cent,  allowed  on  three- 
ninths.'  Under  this  authority  6  per  cent, 
stock  was  issued  to  the  amount  of  $30,060,- 
511,  and  deferred  8  per  cent,  stock,  bear 
ing  interest  from  January  1,  1800,  amount 
ing  to  $14,635,386.  This  stock  was  made 
Bubject  to  redemption  by  payments  not  ex 
ceeding,  in  one  year,  on  account  both  of 
principal  and  interest,  the  proportion  of 
eight  dollars  upon  a  hundred  of  the  sum 
mentioned  in  the  certificates ;  $19,719,237 
was  issued  in  3  per  cent,  stock,  subject  to 

4  redemption  whenever  provision  should  be 

'  made  by  law  for  that  purpose. 

"  The  money  needed  for  the  payment  of 
the  principal  and  interest  of  the  foreign 
debt  was  procured  by  new  loans  negotiated 
in  Holland  and  Antwerp  to  the  amount  of 
$9,400,000,  and  the  issue  of  new  stock  for 
the  balance  of  $2,024,900  due  on  the 
French  debt,  this  stock  bearing  a  rate  of 
interest  one-half  of  one  per  cent,  in  ad 
vance  of  the  rate  previously  paid,  and  re 
deemable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  Govern 
ment.  Subsequent  legislation  provided 
for  the  establishment  of  a  sinking  fund, 
under  the  management  of  a  board  of  com 
missioners,  consisting  of  the  President  of 
the  Senate,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  Secretary  of  State,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  and  Attorney  General,  for  the 
time  being,  who,  or  any  three  of  whom, 
were  authorized,  under  the  direction  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  to  make 
purchases  of  stock,  and  otherwise  provide 
for  the  gradual  liquidation  of  the  entire 
debt,  from  funds  set  apart  for  this  purpose. 
On  assuming  the  position  of  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  Hamilton  found  himself  en 
tirely  without  funds  to  meet  the  ordinary 
expenses  of  the  Government,  except  by 
borrowing,  until  such  time  as  the  revenues 
from  duties  on  imports  and  tonnage  began 
to  come  into  the  Treasury.  Under  these 
circumstances,  he  was  forced  to  make  ar 
rangements  with  the  Bank  of  New  York 
and  the  Bank  of  North  America  for  tem 


porary  loans,  and  it  was  from  the  moneys 
received  from  these  banks  that  he  paid  the 
fir^t  installment  of  salary  due  President 
Washington,  Senators,  Representatives  and 
officers  of  Congress,  during  the  first  ses 
sion  under  the  Constitution,  which  began 
at  the  city  of  New  York,  March  4,  1789. 

"  The  first '  Bank  of  the  United  States ' 
appears  to  have  been  proposed  by  Alex 
ander  Hamilton  in  December,  1790,  and  it 
was  incorporated  by  an  act  of  Congress, 
approved  February  25,  1791,  with  a  capi 
tal  stock  of  $10,000,000  divided  into  25,- 
000  shares  at  $400  each.  The  government 
subscription  of  $2,000,000,  under  authority 
of  the  act,  was  paid  by  giving  to  the  bank 
bills  of  exchange  on  Holland  equivalent 
to  gold,  and  borrowing  from  the  bank  a 
like  sum  for  ten  years  at  6  per  cent,  inter 
est.  The  bank  went  into  operation  very 
soon  after  its  charter  was  obtained,  and 
declared  its  first  dividend  in  July,  1792. 
It  was  evidently  well  managed,  and  was  of 
great  benefit  to  the  Government  and  the 
people  at  large,  assisting  the  Government 
by  loans  in  cases  of  emergency,  and  forc 
ing  the  'wildcat'  banks  of  the  country 
to  keep  their  issues  '  somewhere  within 
reasonable  bounds.'  More  than  $100,000,- 
000  of  Government  money  was  received 
and  disbursed  by  it  without  the  loss  of  a 
single  dollar.  It  made  semi-annual  divi 
dends,  averaging  about  8}  per  cent.,  and 
its  stock  rose  to  a  high  price.  The  stock 
belonging  to  the  United  States  was  sold 
out  at  different  times  at  a  profit,  2,220 
shares  sold  in  1802  bringing  an  advance  of 
45  per  cent.  The  government  subscription, 
with  ten  years'  interest  amounted  to  $3,200- 
000,  while  there  was  received  in  dividends 
and  for  stock  sold  $3,773,580,  a  profit  of 
nearly  28.7  per  cent.  In  1796  the  credit  of 
the  Government  was  very  low,  as  shown  by 
its  utter  failure  to  negotiate  a  loan  for  the 
purpose  of  paying  a  debt  to  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States  for  moneys  borrowed  and 
used,  partly  to  pay  the  expenses  of  sup 
pressing  the  whisky  insurrection  in  Penn 
sylvania  and  to  buy  a  treaty  with  the 
pirates  -of  Algiers.  On  a  loan  authorized 
for  $5,000,000,  only  $80,000  could  be  ob 
tained,  and  this  at  a  discount  of  12£  per 
cent.;  and,  there  being  no  other  immediate 
resource,  United  States  Bank  stock  to  the 
amount  of  $1,304,260  was  sold  at  a  pre 
mium  of  25  per  cent. 

"  Under  an  act  approved  June  30,  1798, 
the  President  was  authorized  to  accept 
such  vessels  as  were  suitable  to  be  armed 
for  the  public  service,  not  exceeding  twelve 
in  number,  and  to  issue  certificates,  or 
other  evidences  of  the  public  debt  of  the 
United  States,  in  pavment.  The  ships 
George  Washington,  Merrimack,  Maryland 
and  Patapsco,  brig  Richmond,  and  frigates 
Boston,  Philadelphia,  John  Adams,  Essex 
and  New  York,  were  purchased,  and  6  per 


248 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


cent,  stock,  redeemable  at  the  pleasure  of! 
Congress,  was  issued  in  payment  to  the ' 
amount  of  $711,700. 

"The  idea  of  creating  a  navy  by  the ' 
purchase  of  vessels  built  by  private  parties 
and  issuing  stock  in  payment   therefor, 
seems  to  have  originated 'with  Hamilton. ! 

"  In  the  years  1797  and  1798  the  United 
States,  though  nominally  at  peace  with  all  [ 
the  world,  was  actually  at  war  with  France . 
— a  war  not  formally  declared,  but  carried 
on  upon  the  ocean  with  very  great  viru 
lence.  John  Marshall,  Elbridge  Gerry  and 
Charles  C.  Pinckney  were  appointed  en 
voys  extraordinary  to^the  French  Repub 
lic,  with  power  for  terminating  all  differ 
ences  and  restoring  harmony,  good  under 
standing  and  commercial  and  friendly  in 
tercourse  between  the  two  nations ;  but 
their  efforts  were  in  vain,  and  extensive 
preparations  were  made  to  resist  a  French  i 
invasion.  It  was  evident  that  the  ordinary 
revenues  of  the  country  would  be  inade 
quate  for  the  increased  expenditure,  and  a 
loan  of  $5,000,000  was  authorized  by  an 
act  approved  July  16,  1798,  redeemable  at 
pleasure  after  fifteen  years.  The  rate  of 
interest  was  not  specified  in  the  act,  and 
the  market  rate  at  the  time  being  8  per 
cent,  this  rate  was  paid,  and  it  was  thought 
by  a  committee  of  Congress  that  the  loan 
was  negotiated  '  upon  the  best  terms  that 
could  be  procured,  and  with  a  laudable 
eye  to  the  public  interest. '  A  loan  of 
$3,500,000  was  authorized  by  an  act  ap 
proved  May  7,  1800,  for  the  purpose  of 
meeting  a  large  deficit  in  the  revenues  of 
the  preceding  year,  caused  by  increased 
expenditures  rendered  necessary  on  ac 
count  of  the  difficulties  with  France,  and 
stock  bearing  8  per  cent,  interest,  reim 
bursable  after  fifteen  years,  was  issued  to 
the  amount  of  $1,481,700,  on  which  a  pre 
mium  was  realized  of  nearly  5£  per  cent. 
These  are  the  only  two  instances  in  which 
the  Government  has  paid  8  per  cent,  in 
terest  on  its  bonds. 

"The  province  of  Louisiana  was  ceded 
to  the  United  States  by  a  treaty  with 
France,  April  30,  1803,  in  payment  for 
which  6  per  cent,  bonds,  payable  in  fifteen 
years,  were  issued  to  the  amount  of  $11,- 
250,000,  and  the  balance  which  the  Gov 
ernment  agreed  to  pay  for  the  province, 
amounting  to  $3,750,000,  was  devoted  to 
reimbursing  American  citizens  for  French 
depredations  on  their  commerce.  These 
claims  were  paid  in  money,  and  the  stock 
redeemed  by  purchases  made  under  the  di 
rection  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sink 
ing  Fund  within  twelve  years.  Under  an 
act  approved  February  11,  1807,  a  portion 
of  the  'old  6  per  cent.'  and  'deferred 
stocks"  was  refunded  into  new  stock,  bear 
ing  the  same  rate  of  interest,  but  redeema 
ble  at  the  pleasure  of  the  United  States. 
This  was  done  for  the  purpose  of  placing 


it  within  the  power  of  the  Government  to 
reimburse  the  amount  refunded  within  a 
short  time,  as  under  the  old  laws  these 
stocks  could  only  be  redeemed  at  the  rate 
of  2  per  cent,  annually.  Stock  was  issued 
amounting  to  $6,294,051,  nearly  all  of 
which  was  redeemed  within  four  years. 
Under  the  same  act  old  '  3  per  cent,  stock  ' 
to  the  amount  of  $2,861,309  was  converted 
into  6  per  cents.,  at  sixty-five  cents  on  the 
dollar,  but  this  was  not  reimbursable  with 
out  the  assent  of  the  holder  until  after  the 
whole  of  certain  other  stocks  named  in  the 
act  was  redeemed.  The  stock  issued  under 
this  authority  amounted  to  $1,859,871.  It 
would  appear  that  the  great  majority  of  the 
holders  of  the  *'  old  stock  "  preferred  it  to 
the  new.  A  loan  equal  to  the  amount  of 
the  principal  of  the  public  debt  zeimbursa- 
ble  during  the  current  year  was  authorized 
by  an  act  approved  May  1,  1810,  and  $2,- 
750,000  was  borrowed  at  6  per  cent,  interest 
from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
purpose  of  meeting  any  deficiency  arising 
from  increased  expenditures  on  account  of 
the  military  and  naval  establishments. 
This  was  merely  a  temporary  loan,  which 
was  repaid  the  following  year. 

"  The  ordinary  expenses  for  the  year  1812 
were  estimated  by  the  Committee  of  Ways 
and  Means  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
at  $1,200,000  more  than  the  estimated  re 
ceipts  for  the  same  period,  and  the  impend 
ing  war  with  Great  Britain  made  it  abso 
lutely  necessary  that  some  measures  should 
be  adopted  to  maintain  the  public  credit, 
and  provide  the  requisite  funds  for  carrying 
on  the  Government.  Additional  taxes  were 
imposed  upon  the  people,  but  as  these 
could  not  be  made  immediately  available 
there  was  no  other  resource  but  new  loans 
and  the  issue  of  Treasury  notes.  This  was 
the  first  time  since  the  formation  of  the  new 
Government  that  the  issue  of  such  notes 
had  been  proposed,  and  they  were  objected 
to  as  engrafting  on  our  system  of  finance  a 
new  and  untried  measure. 

"  Under  various  acts  of  Congress  ap 
proved  between  March  4,  1812,  and  Feb 
ruary  24,  1815,  6  per  cent,  bonds  were  is 
sued  to  the  amount  of  $50,792,674.  These 
bonds  were  negotiated  at  rates  varying  from 
20  per  cent,  discount  to  par,  the  net  cash 
realized  amounting  to  $44,530,123.  A  fur 
ther  sum  of  $4,025,000  was  obtained  by 
temporary  loans  at  par,  of  which  sum 
$225,000  was  for  the  purpose  of  repairing 
the  public  buildings  in  Washington,  dam 
aged  by  the  enemy  on  the  night  of  August 
24,  1814.  These  'war  loans'  were  all 
made  redeemable  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
Government  after  a  specified  date,  and  the 
faith  of  the  United  States  was  solemnly 
pledged  to  provide  sufficient  revenues  for 
this  purpose.  The  '  Treasury  note  system ' 
was  a  new  feature,  and  its  success  was  re 
garded  as  somewhat  doubtful. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    NATIONAL    LOANS. 


249 


"  Its  subsequent  popularity,  however, 
Was  owing  to  a  variety  of  causes.  The 
notes  were  made  receivable  everywhere  for 
dues  and  customs,  and  in  payment  for  pub 
lic  lands.  They  were  to  bear  interest  from 
the  day  of  issue,  at  the  rate  of  5  2-5  per 
cent,  per  annum,  and  their  payment  was 
guaranteed  by  the  United  States,  principal 
and  interest,  at  maturity.  They  thus  fur 
nished  a  circulating  medium  to  the  coun 
try,  superior  to  the  paper  of  the  suspend 
ed  and  doubtful  State  banks.  These 
issues  were  therefore  considered  more 
desirable  than  the  issue  of  additional 
stock,  which  could  be  realized  in  cash 
only  by  the  payment  of  a  ruinous  dis 
count.  The  whole  amount  of  Treasury 
notes  issued  during  the  war  period  was 
$36,680,794.  The  Commissioners  of  the 
Sinking  Fund  were  authorized  to  provide 
for  their  redemption  by  purchase,  in  the 
same  manner  as  for  other  evidences  of  the 
public  debt,  and  by  authority  of  law  $10,- 
575,738  was  redeemed  by  the  issue  of  cer 
tificates  of  funded  stock,  bearing  interest  at 
from  6  to  7  per  cent,  per  annum,  redeema 
ble  at  any  time  after  1824. 

"  During  the  years  1812-13  the  sum  of 
$2,984,747  of  the  old  6  per  cent,  and  de 
ferred  stocks  were  refunded  into  new  6  per 
cent,  stock  redeemable  in  twelve  years ;  and 
by  an  act  approved  March  31,  1814,  Con 
gress  having  authorized  a  settlement  of  the 
" Yazoo  claims '  by  an  issue  of  non-interest- 
bearing  stock,  payable  out  of  the  first  re 
ceipts  from  the  sale  of  public  lands  in  the 
Missisipi  territory,  $4,282,037  was  issued  for 
this  purpose.  On  the  24th  of  February, 
1815,  Secretary  Dallas  reported  to  Congress 
that  the  public  debt  had  been  increased,  in 
consequence  of  the  war  with  Great  Bri 
tain,  $68,783,122,  a  large  portion  of  which 
was  due  and  unpaid,  while  another  con- 
siderabli  proportion  was  fast  becoming 
due.  These  unpaid  or  accruing  demands 
were  in  part  for  temporary  loans,  and  the 
balance  for  Treasury  notes  either  due  or 
maturing  daily.  To  provide  for  their  pay 
ment  a  new  loan  for  the  full  amount 
needed  was  authorized  by  act  of  March  3, 
1815,  and  six  per.  cent  stock  redeemable  in 
fifteen  years,  was  issued  in  the  sum  of 
$12,238,148.  This  stock  was  sold  at  from 
95  per  cent,  to  par,  and  was  nearly  all  re 
deemed  in  1820  by  purchases  made  by  the 
Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund. 

"  The  Government  became  a  stockholder 
In  the  second  Bank  of  the  United  States,  to 
the  amount  of  70,000  shares,  under  the  act 
of  incorporation,  approved  April  10,  1816. 
The  capital  stock  was  limited  to  $35,000,000, 
divided  into  350,000  shares  of  $100  each. 
The  Government  subscription  was  paid  by 
the  issue  of  5  per  cent,  stock  to  the  amount 
of  $7,000,000,  redeemable  at  the  pleasure 
of  the  Government.  This  was  a  profitable 
investment  for  the  United  States,  as  in  ad 


dition  to  $1,500,000  which  the  bank  paid  a*  a 
bonus  for  its  charter,  the  net  receipts  over 
and  above  disbursements  amounted  to 
$4,993,167.  The  available  funds  in  the 
Treasury  on  the  1st  of  January,  1820,  were 
less  than  $250,000,  and  the  estimated  defi 
ciency  for  the  year  amounted  to  nearly 
$4,000,000.  This  state  of  affairs  was  owing 
partly  to  the  disastrous  effects  of  the  com 
mercial  crisis  of  1819,  heavy  payments  for 
the  redemption  of  the  public  debt,  contin 
ued  through  a  series  of  years,  and  large 
outstanding  claims,  amounting  to  over 
$30,000,000,  resulting  from  the  late  war 
with  Great  Britain.  To  meet  the  emer 
gency,  a  loan  was  authorized  by  act  of  May 
15.  1820.  and  $999,999. 13  was  borrowed  at  5 
per  cent.,  redeemable  in  twelve  years,  and 
$2,0000,000  at  6  t,er  cent,,  reimbursable  at 
pleasure,  this  latter  stock  realizing  a  pre 
mium  of  2  per  cent.  By  act  of  March  3, 
1821, 5  per  cent,  stock  amounting  to  $4,735,- 
270  was  issued  at  a  premium  of  over  5£  per 
cent.,  and  the  proceeds  used  in  payment  of 
the  principal  and  interest  of  the  public 
debt  falling  due  within  the  year. 

u  An  effort  was  made  in  1822  to  refund  a 
portion  of  the  6  per  cent,  war  loans  of 
1812-14  into  5  per  cents.,  but  only  $56,705 
could  be  obtained.  Two  years  later  the 
Government  was  more  successful,  and,  un 
der  the  act  of  May  26,  1824,  6  per  cent, 
stock  of  1813  to  the  amount  of  $4,454,728 
was  exchanged  for  new  stock  bearing  4J 
per  cent,  interest,  redeemable  in  1833-34. 
During  the  same  year  $5,000,000  was  bor 
rowed  at  4-}  per  cent,  to  provide  for  the 
payment  of  the  awards  made  by  the  Com 
missioners  under  the  treaty  with  Spain  of 
February  22,  1819,  and  a  like  amount,  at 
the  same  rate  of  interest,  to  be  applied  in 
paying  off  that  part  of  the  6  per  cent, 
stock  of  1812  redeemable  the  following 
year.  The  act  of  M'irch  3,  1825,  author 
ized  a  loan  of  $12,000,000,  at  4}  per  cent, 
interest,  the  money  borrowed  to  be  applied 
in  paying  off  prior  loans,  but  only  $1,539,- 
336  was  exchanged  for  an  equal  amount  of 
6  per  cent,  stock  of  1813. 

"  In  the  year  1836  the  United  States  was, 
for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  coun 
try,  practically  out  of  debt.  Secretary 
Woodbury,  in  his  report  of  December  8, 
1836,  estimated  the  amount  of  public  debt 
still  outstanding  at  about  $328,582,  and  this 
remained  unpaid  solely  because  payment 
had  not  been  demanded,  ample  funds  to 
meet  it  having  been  deposited  in  the 
United  States  Bank  and  loan  offices.  The 
debt  outstanding  consisted  mainly  of  un 
claimed  interest  and  dividends,  of  claims 
for  services  and  supplies  during  the  Revo 
lution,  and  of  old  Treasury  notes,  and  it  is 
supposed  that  payment  of  these  had  not 
been  asked  for  solely  because  the  evidences 
of  the  debt  had  been  lost  or  destroyed. 
The  estimates  showed  the  probability  of  a 


250 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


surplus  of  at  least  $14,000,000  in  the  Trea 
sury  at  the  close  of  the  year  1836,  and  this 
estimate  proved  to  be  far  below  the  truth. 
In  this  favorable  condition  of  the  public 
finances,  Congress  adopted  the  extraordi 
nary  resolution  of  depositing  the  surplus 
over  $5,000,000  with  the  several  States,  and 
under  the  act  of  June  23,  1836,  surplus 
revenue  amounting  to  $28,101,644.91  was 
so  deposited. 

"In  1837,  however,  the  state  of  the 
country  had  changed.  The  '  flush '  times 
of  1835  and  1836  had  been  succeeded  by 
extraordinary  depression,  which  ultimately 
produced  a  panic.  In  May  most  of  the 
banks  suspended  specie  payments.  The 
sales  of  public  lands,  and  the  duties  on  the 
importations  of  foreign  goods,  which  had 
helped  to  swell  the  balance  in  the  Treasury 
to  over  $42,000,000,  had  fallen  off  enor 
mously.  Even  on  the  goods  that  were  im 
ported  it  was  difficult  to  collect  the  duties, 
for  the  law  compelled  them  to  be  paid  in 
specie,  and  specie  was  hard  to  obtain.  It 
had  become  impossible  not  only  to  pay  the 
fourth  installment  of  the  surplus  at  the  end 
of  1836  to  the  several  States,  but  even  to 
meet  the  current  expenses  of  the  Govern 
ment  from  its  ordinary  revenues.  In  this 
emergency  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
suggested  that  contingent  authority  be 
given  the  President  to  cause  the  issue  of 
Treasury  notes.  This  measure  was  gener 
ally  supported  on  the  ground  of  absolute 
necessity,  as  there  was  a  large  deficit  al 
ready  existing,  and  this  was  likely  to  in 
crease  from  the  condition  of  the  country  at 
that  time.  The  measure  was  opposed, 
however,  by  some  who  thought  that  greater 
economy  in  expenditures  would  relieve 
the  Treasury,  while  others  denounced  it  as 
an  attempt  "  to  start  a  Treasury  bank." 

"However,  an  act  was  approved  October 
12,  1837,  authorizing  an  issue  of  $10,000,- 
000  in  Treasury  notes  in  denominations 
not  less  than  fifty  dollars,  redeemable  in 
one  year  from  date,  with  interest  at 
rates  fixed  by  the  Secretary,  not  exceed 
ing  6  per  cent.  These  notes,  as  usual, 
were  receivable  in  payment  of  all  duties 
and  taxes  levied  by  the  United  States,  and 
in  payment  for  public  lands.  Prior  to 
1846,  the  issue  of  notes  of  this  character 
amounted  to  $47,002,900,  bearing  interest 
at  rates  varying  from  one-tenth  of  one  per 
cent,  to  6  per  cent.  To  provide  in  part  for 
their  redemption,  authority  was  granted 
for  the  negotiation  of  several  loans,  and 
$21,021,094  was  borrowed  for  this  purpose, 
bonds  being  issued  for  a  like  sum,  bearing 
interest  at  from  5  to  6  per  cent.,  redeema 
ble  at  specified  dates.  These  bonds  were 
sold  at  from  2£  per  cent,  discount  to  3f  per 
cent,  premium,  and  redeemed  at  from  par 
to  19J-  per  cent,  advance. 

"  War  with  Mexico  was  declared  May  13, 
1846,  and  in  order  to  provide  against  a 


deficiency  a  further  issue  of  $10,000,000  in 
Treasury  notes  was  authorized  by  act  of 
July  22,  1846,  under  the  same  limitations 
and  restrictions  as  were  contained  in  the  act 
of  October,  1837,  except  that  the  authority 
given  was  to  expire  at  the  end  of  one  year 
from  the  passage  of  the  act.  The  sum  of 
$7,687,800  was  issued  in  Treasury  notes, 
and  six  per  cent,  bonds  having  ten  years  to 
run  were  issued  under  the  same  act  to  the 
amount  of  $4,999,149.  These  were  sold  at 
a  small  advance,  and  redeemed  at  various 
rates  from  par  to  eighteen  and  two-thirds 
per  cent,  premium. 

"  The  expen?es  incurred  on  account  of 
the  war  with  Mexico  were  much  greater 
than  the  original  estimates,  and  the  failure 
to  provide  additional  revenues  sufficient  to 
meet  the  increased  demands  made  a  new 
loan  necessary,  as  well  as  an  additional 
issue  of  notes,  wnich  had  now  become  a 
popular  method  of  obtaining  funds.  Under 
the  authority  granted  by  act  of  January 
28, 1847,  Treasury  notes  to  the  amount  of 
$26,122,100  were  issued  at  par,  redeemable 
one  and  two  years  from  date,  with  interest 
at  from  5  2-5  to  6  per  cent.  More  money 
still  being  needed,  a  6  per  cent,  loan,  hav 
ing  twenty  years  to  run,  was  placed  upon 
the  market,  under  the  authority  of  the 
same  act,  and  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $28,- 
230,350  were  sold  at  various  rates,  ranging 
from  par  to  2  per  cent,  premium.  Of  this 
stock  the  sum  of  $18,815,100  was  redeemed 
at  an  advance  of  from  1£  to  21^  per  cent., 
the  premium  paid  (exc^sive  of  commis 
sions)  amounting  to  $3,466,107.  Under 
the  act  of  March  31,  1848,  6  per  cent, 
bonds,  running  twenty  years,  were  issued 
to  the  amount  of  $16,000,000,  and  sold  at  a 
premium  ranging  from  3  to  4.05  per  cent. 
This  loan  was  made  for  the  same  purpose 
as  the  preceding  one,  and  $7,091,658  was 
redeemed  by  purchase  at  an  advance 
ranging  from  8  to  22.46  per  cent.,  the 
premium  paid  amounting  to  $1,251,258. 

"The  widespread  depression  of  trade 
and  commerce  which  occurred  in  1857  was 
severely  felt  by  the  Government,  as  well  as 
by  the  people,  and  BO  great  was  the  de 
crease  in  the  revenues  from  customs  that  it 
became  absolutely  necessary  to  provide 
the  Treasury  with  additional  means  for 
meeting  the  demands  upon  it.  Treasury 
notes  were  considered  as  preferable  to  a 
new  loan,  and  by  the  act  of  December  23, 
1857,  a  new  issue  was  authorized  for  such 
an  amount  as  the  exigencies  of  the  public 
service  might  require,  but  not  to  exceed  at 
any  one  time  $20,000,000.  These  notes 
were  receivable  in  payment  for  all  debts 
due  the  United  States,  including  customs, 
and  were  issued  at  various  rates  of  inter 
est,  ranging  from  3  to  6  per  cent.,  to  the 
amount  of  $52,778,900,  redeemable  one 
year  from  date,  the  interest  to  cease  at  the 
expiration  of  sixty  days'  notice  after 


HISTORY    OF    THE    NATIONAL    LOANS. 


251 


maturity.  In  May,  1858,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  informed  Congress  that, 
owing  to  the  appropriations  having  been 
increased  by  legislation  nearly  $10,000,000 
over  the  estimates,  while  the  customs 
revenue  had  fallen  off  to  a  like  amount,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  provide  some  means 
to  meet  the  deficit.  In  these  circumstances, 
a  new  loan  was  authorized  by  act  of  June 
14,  1858,  and  5  per  cent,  bonds  amounting 
to  $20,00<),000,  redeemable  in  fifteen  years, 
were  sold  at  an  average  premium  of  over 
3V  per  cent.  Uader  the  act  of  December 
17,  1873,  $13,957,000  in  bonds  of  the  loan 
of  1881,  and  $260,000  in  bonds  of  a  loan  of 
19)7,  were  issued  in  exchange  for  a  like 
amount  of  bonds  of  this  loan. 

"  The  act  of  June  22,  1860,  authorized 
the  President  to  borrow  $21,000,000  on  the 
credit  of  the  United  States,  the  money  to 
be  used  only  in  the  redemption  of  Trea 
sury  notes,  and  to  replace  any  amount  of 
such  notes  in  the  Treasury  which  should 
have  been  paid  in  for  public  dues.  Only 
$7,022,000  was  borrowed  at  5  per  cent,  in 
terest,  the  certificates  selling  at  from  par 
to  1.45  per  cent,  premium.  The  failure  to 
realize  the  whole  loan  was  caused  by  the 
political  troubles  which  culminated  in  the 
civil  war.  In  September,  bids  were  in 
vited  for  $10,000,000,  and  the  whole  amount 
offered  was  speedily  taken.  It  soon  be 
came  evident,  however,  that  war  was  inevi 
table,  and  a  commercial  crisis  ensued,  dur 
ing  which  a  portion  of  the  bidlers  forfeit 
ed  their  deposits,  and  the  balance  of  the 
loan  was  withdrawn  from  the  market.  Au 
thority  was  granted  by  the  act  of  Decem 
ber  17,  1850,  for  a  new  issue  of  Treasury 
notes,  redeemable  in  one  year  from  date, 
but  not  to  exceed  $10,000,030  at  any  one 
time,  with  interest  at  such  rates  as  might 
be  offered  by  the  lowest  responsible  bid 
ders  after  advertisement.  An  unsuccess 
ful  attempt  was  made  to  pledge  the  receipts 
from  the  sale  of  public  lands  specifically 
for  their  redemption.  The  whole  amount 
of  notes  issued  under  th»*  act  was  $10,010,- 
900,  of  which  $4,810,000  bore  interest  at 
12  per  cent.  Additional  offers  followed, 
ranging  from  15  to  33  per  cent.,  but  the 
Treasury  deslined  to  accept  them. 

"Up  to  this  period  of  our  national  exist 
ence  the  obtaining  of  the  money  necessary 
for  carrying  on  the  Government  and  the 
preservation  inviolate  of  the  public  credit 
had  been  comparatively  an  easy  task.  The 
people  of  the  several  States  had  contributed 
in  proportion  to  their  financial  resources  ; 
and  a  strict  adherence  to  the  fundamental 
maxim  laid  down  by  Hamilton  had  been 
maintained  by  a  judicious  system  of  taxa 
tion  to  an  extent  amply  sufficient  to  pro 
vide  for  the  redemption  of  all  our  national 
securities  as  they  became  due.  But  the 
time  had  come  when  we  were  no  longer  a 
united  people,  and  the  means  required  for 


defraying  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the 
Government  were  almost  immediately  cur 
tailed  and  jeopardized  by  the  attitude  of 
the  States  which  attempted  to  secede.  The 
confusion  which  followed  the  inauguration 
of  the  administration  of  President  Lincoln 
!  demonstrated  the  necessity  of  providing 
I  unusual  resources  without  delay.  A  sys- 
i  tern  of  internal  revenue  taxation  was  in- 
j  troduced,  and  the  tariff  adjusted  with  a 
view  to  increased  revenues  from  customs. 
As  the  Government  had  not  only  to  exist 
and  pay  its  way,  but  also  to  provide  for  an 
army  and  navy  constantly  increasing  in 
numbers  and  equipment,  new  and  extraor 
dinary  methods  were  resorted  to  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  the  money  which  must 
be  had  in  order  to  preserve  the  integrity 
of  the  nation.  Among  these  were  the  issue 
of  its  own  circulating  medium  in  the  form 
of  United  States  notes*  and  circulating 
notes,  f  for  the  redemption  of  which  the 
faith  of  the  nation  was  solemnly  pledged. 
New  loans  were  authorized  to  an  amount 
never  before  known  in  our  history,  and 
the  success  of  our  armies  was  assured  by 
the  determination  manifested  by  the  peo 
ple  themselves  to  sustain  the  Government 
at  all  hazards.  A  brief  review  of  the  loan 
transactions  during  the  period  covered  by 
the  war  is  all  that  can  be  attempted  within 
the  limited  space  afforded  this  article.  The 
first  war  loan  may  be  considered  as  having 
been  negotiated  under  the  authority  of  an 
act  approved  February  8,  1861.  The  cred 
it  of  the  Government  at  this  time  was  very 
low,  and  a  loan  of  $18,415,000,  having 
twenty  years  to  run,  with  6  per  cent,  inter 
est,  could  only  be  negotiated  at  a  discount 
of  $2,019,776.10,  or  at  an  average  rate  of 
$89.03  per  one  hundred  dollars.  From 
this  time  to  June  30, 1865,  Government  se 
curities  of  various  descriptions  were  issued 
under  authority  of  law  to  the  amount  of 
$3,888,686,575,  including  the  several  issues 
of  bonds,  Treasury  notes,  seven-thirties, 
legal  tenders  and  fractional  currency.  The 
whole  amount  issued  under  the  same  au 
thority  to  June  30, 1880,  was  $7,137,646,836, 
divided  as  follows : 

Six  per  cent,  bonds $1,130,279,000 

Five  per  cent,  bonds 196,118,300 

Temporary  loan  certificates..     969,992,250 

Seven-thirty  notes 716,099,247 

Treasury  notes  and  certifi 
cates  of  indebtedness 1,074,713,132 

Old  demand  notes,  legal  tend 
ers,  coin  certificates  and 
fractional  currency 3,050,444,907 

Total $7,137,646,836 

"  This  increase  may  be  readily  accounted 
for  by  the  continued  issue  of  legal  tenders, 

*  Commonly  salted  "  Greenbacks,"  or  "  Legal  Teapot 
notes  " 
f  Commonly  called  "  National  Bank  notes." 


252 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


compound  interest  notes,  fractional  cur 
rency  and  coin  certificates,  together  with  a 
large  amount  of  bond-  issued  in  order  to 
raise  the  money  necessary  to  pay  for  mili 
tary  supplies,  and  other  forms  of  indebted 
ness  growing  out  of  the  war.  The  rebel 
lion  was  practically  at  an  end  in  May, 
1865,  yet  the  large  amount  of  money  re 
quired  for  immediate  use  in  the  payment 
and  disbandment  of  our  enormous  armies 
necessitated  the  still  further  negotiation  of 
loans  under  the  several  acts  of  Congress 
then  in  force,  and  it  was  not  until  after  the 
31st  of  August,  1865,  that  our  national 
debt  began  to  decrease.  At  that  time  the 
total  indebtedness,  exclusive  of  the  "  old 
funded  and  unfunded  debt"  of  the  Revo 
lution,  and  of  cash  in  tbe  Treasury, 
amounted  to  $2,844,646,626.56.  The  course 
of  our  financial  legislation  since  that  date 
has  been  constantly  toward  a  reduction  of 
the  interest,  as  well  as  the  principal  of  the 
public  debt. 

"  By  an  act  approved  March  3,  1865,  a 
loan  of  $600,000,000  was  authorized  upon 
similar  terms  as  had  been  granted  for  pre 
vious  loans,  with  the  exception  that  no 
thing  authorized  by  this  act  should  be 
made  a  legal  tender,  or  be  issued  in  smaller 
denominations  than  fifty  dollars.  The  rate 
of  interest  was  limited  to  6  per  cent,  in 
coin,  or  7.3  per  cent,  in  currency,  the  bonds 
issued  to  be  redeemable  in  not  less  than 
five,  nor  more  than  forty,  years.  Authority 
was  also  given  for  the  conversion  of  Trea 
sury  notes  or  other  interest-bearing  obliga 
tions  into  bonds  of  this  loan.  An  amend 
ment  to  this  act  was  passed  April  12,  1866, 
authorizing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
at  his  discretion,  to  receive  any  Treasury 
notes  or  other  obligations  issued  under  any 
act  of  Congress,  whether  bearing  interest 
or  not,  in  exchange  for  any  description  of 
bonds  authorized  by  the  original  act;  and 
also  to  dispose  of  any  such  bonds,  either  in 
the  United  States  or  elsewhere,  to  such  an 
amount,  in  such  manner,  and  at  such  rates 
as  he  might  deem  advisable,  for  lawful 
money,  Treasury  notes,  certificates  of  in 
debtedness,  certificates  of  deposit,  or  other 
representatives  of  value,  which  had  been  or 
might  be  issued  under  any  act  of  Congress  ; 
the  proceeds  to  be  used  only  for  retiring 
Treasury  notes  or  other  national  obligations, 
provided  the  public  debt  was  not  increased 
thereby.  As  this  was  the  first  important 
measure  presented  to  Congress  since  the 
close  of  the  war  tending  to  place  our  secu 
rities  upon  a  firm  basis,  the  action  of  Con 
gress  in  relation  to  it  was  looked  forward 
to  with  a  great  deal  of  interest.  The  dis 
cussion  took  a  wide  range,  in  which  the 
whole  financial  administration  of  the  Go 
vernment  during  the  war  was  reviewed  at 
length.  After  a  long  and  exciting  debate 
the  bill  finally  passed,  and  was  approved  by 
the  President.  Under  the  authority  of 


these  two  acts,  6  per  cent,  bonds  to  the 
amount  of  $958,483,550  have  been  issued  to 
date.  These  bonds  were  disposed  of  at  an 
aggregate  premium  of  $21,522,074,  and  un 
der  the  acts  of  July  14,  1870,  and  January 
20,  1871,  the  same  bonds  to  the  amount  of 
$725,582,400  have  been  refunded  into  other 
bonds  bearing  a  lower  rate  of  interest.  The 
success  of  these  several  loans  was  remarka 
ble,  every  exertion  being  used  to  provide  for 
their  general  distribution  among  the  people. 

"  In  1867  the  first  issue  of  6  per  cent, 
bonds,  known  as  five-twenties,  authorized 
by  the  act  of  Feb.  25,  1862,  became  re 
deemable,  and  the  question  of  refunding 
them  and  other  issues  at  a  lower  rate  of  in 
terest  had  been  discussed  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  in  his  annual  reports,  but 
the  agitation  of  the  question  as  to  the  kinds 
of  money  in  which  the  various  obligations 
of  the  Government  should  be  paid,  had  FO 
excited  the  apprehension  of  investors  as  to 
prevent  the  execution  of  any  refunding 
scheme. 

"  The  act  to  strengthen  the  public  credit 
was  passed  March  18,  1869,  and  its  effect 
was  such  as  secured  to  the  public  the  strong 
est  assurances  that  the  interest  and  princi 
pal  of  the  public  debt  outstanding  at  that 
time  would  be  paid  in  coin,  according  to 
the  terms  of  the  bonds  issued,  without  any 
abatement. 

"On  the  12th  of  January,  1870,  a  bill 
authorizing  the  refunding  and  consolidation 
of  the  national  debt  was  introduced  in  the 
Senate,  and  extensively  debated  in  both 
Houses  for  several  months,  during  which 
the  financial  system  pursued  by  the  Go 
vernment  during  the  war  was  freely  re 
viewed.  The  adoption  of  the  proposed 
measure  resulted  in  an  entire  revolution  of 
the  refunding  system,  under  which  the 
public  debt  of  the  United  States  at  that 
time  was  provided  for,  by  the  transmission 
of  a  large  amount  of  debt  to  a  succeeding 
generation.  The  effect  of  this  attempt  at 
refunding  the  major  portion  of  the  public 
debt  was  far  more  successful  than  any  si 
milar  effort  on  the  part  of  any  Government, 
so  far  as  known. 

The  act  authorizing  refunding  certifi 
cates  convertible  into  4  per  cent,  bonds, 
approved  February  26,  1879,  was  merely 
intended  for  the  benefit  of  parties  of  limit 
ed  means,  and  was  simply  a  continuation 
of  the  refunding  scheme  authorized  by 
previous  legislation. 

"  The  period  covered  precludes  any  at 
tempt  toward  reviewing  the  operation  by 
which  the  immediate  predecessor  of  the 
present  Secretary  reduced  the  interest  on 
some  six  hundred  millions  of  5  and  6  per 
cent,  bonds  to  3 \  per  cent.  It  is  safe  to  say, 
however,  that  under  the  administration  of 
the  present  Secretary  there  will  be  no  de 
viation  from  the  original  law  laid  down  by 
Hamilton. 


REPUBLICAN    FACTIONS. 


253 


James  A.  Garfleld. 

James  A.  Garficld  and  Chester  A.  Ar 
thur  were  publicly  inaugurated  President 
and  Vice  President  of  the  United  States 
March  4,  1881. 

President  Garfield  in  his  inaugural  ad 
dress  promised  full  and  equal  protection  of 
the  Constitution  and  the  laws  for  the  negro, 
advocated  universal  education  as  a  safe 
guard  of  suffrage,  and  recommended  such 
an  adjustment  of  our  monetary  system 
"that  the  purchasing  power  of  every  coined 
dollar  will  be  exactly  equal  to  its  debt- 
paying  power  in  all  the  markets  of  the 
world."  The  national  debt  should  be  re 
funded  at  a  lower  rate  of  interest,  without 
compelling  the  withdrawal  of  the  National 
Bank  notes,  polygamy  should  be  prohibit 
ed,  and  civil  service  regulated  by  law. 

An  extra  S3ssion  of  the  Senate  was 
opened  March  4.  On  the  5th,  the  follow 
ing  cabinet  nominations  were  made  and 
confirmed:  Secretary  of  State,  James  G. 
Blame,  of  Maine ;  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury,  William  Windom,  of  Minnesota; 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  William  H.  Hunt, 
of  Louisiana ;  Secretary  of  War,  Robert 
T.  Lincoln,  of  Illinois;  Attorney  General, 
Wayne  MacVeagh,  of  Pennsylvania ;  Post 
master  General,  Thomas  L.  James,  of  New 
York ;  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Samuel 
J.  Kirkwood,  of  Iowa. 

In  this  extra  session  of  the  Senate  Vice 
President  Arthur  had  to  employ  the  cast 
ing  vote  on  all  questions  where  the  parties 
divided,  and  he  invariably  cast  it  on  the 
side  of  the  Republicans.  "The  evenness  of 
the  parties  caused  a  dead-lock  on  the  ques 
tion  of  organization,  for  when  David  Davis, 
of  Illinois,  voted  with  the  Democrats,  the 
Republicans  had  not  enough  even  with  the 
Vice  President,  and  he  was  not,  therefore, 
called  upon  to  decide  a  question  of  that 
kind.  The  Republicans  desired  new  and 
Republican  officers;  the  Democrats  de 
sired  to  retain  the  old  and  Democratic 


ones. 


Republican  Factions. 


President  Garfield,  March  23d,  sent  in  a 
large  number  of  nominations,  among  which 
was  that  of  William  H.  Robertson,  the 
leader  of  the  Blaine  wing  of  the  Republi 
can  party  in  New  York,  to  be  Collector  of 
Customs.  He  had  previously  sent  in  five 
names  for  prominent  places  in  New  York, 
at  the  suggestion  of  Senator  Conkling,  who 
had  been  invited  by  President  Garfield  to 
name  his  friends.  At  this  interview  it  was 
stated  that  Garfield  casually  intimated  that 
he  would  make  no  immediate  change  in 
the  New  York  Collectorship,  and  both  fac 
tions  seemed  satisfied  to  allow  Genl  Edwin 
A.  Merritt  to  retain  that  place  for  a  time 
at  least.  There  were  loud  protests,  however, 
at  the  first  and  early  selection  of  the  friends 


of  Senator  Conkling  to  five  important 
places,  and  these  protests  were  heeded  by 
the  President.  With  a  view  to  meet  them, 
and,  doubtless,  to  quiet  the  spirit  of  faction 
rapidly  developing  between  the  Grant  and 
anti-Grant  elements  of  the  party  in  New 
York,  the  name  of  Judge  Robertson  was 
sent  in  for  the  Collectorship.  He  had  bat 
tled  against  the  unit  rule  at  Chicago,  dis 
avowed  the  instructions  of  his  State  Con 
vention  to  vote  for  Grant,  and  led  the 
Blaine  delegates  from  that  State  while 
Blaine  was  in  the  field,  and  when  with 
drawn  went  to  Garfield.  Senator  Conkling 
now  sought  to  confirm  his  friends,  and  hold 
back  his  enemy  from  confirmation;  but 
these  tactics  induced  Garfield  to  withdraw 
the  nomination  of  Conkling's  friends,  and 
in  this  way  Judge  Robertson's  name  was 
alone  presented  for  a  time.  Against  this 
course  Vice-President  Arthur  and  Senators 
Conkling  and  Platt  remonstrated  in  a  let 
ter  to  the  President,  but  he  remained  firm. 
Senator  Conkling,  under  the  plea  of  "  the 
privilege  of  the  Senate," — a  courtesy  and 
custom  which  leaves  to  the  Senators  of  a 
State  the  right  to  say  who  shall  be  con 
firmed  or  rejected  from  their  respective 
States  if  of  the  same  party — now  sought  to 
defeat  Robertson.  In  this  battle  he  had 
arrayed  against  him  the  influence  of  his 
great  rival,  Mr.  Blaine,  and  it  is  presumed 
the  whole  power  of  the  administration. 
He  lost,  and  the  morning  following  the 
secret  vote,  May  17th,  1881,  his  own  and 
the  resignation  of  Senator  Platt  were  read. 
These  resignations  caused  great  excitement 
throughout  the  entire  country.  They  were 
prepared  without  consultation  with  any 
one — even  Vice-President  Arthur,  the  in 
timate  friend  of  both,  not  knowing  any 
thing  of  the  movement  until  the  letters 
were  opened  at  the  chair  where  he  pre 
sided.  Logan  and  Cameron — Conkling^ 
colleagues  in  the  great  Chicago  battle — 
were  equally  unadvised.  The  resignations 
were  forwarded  to  Gov.  Cornell,  of  New 
York,  who,  by  all  permissible  delays, 
sought  to  have  them  reconsidered  and 
withdrawn,  but  both  Senators  were  firm. 
The  Senate  confirmed  Judge  Robertson 
for  Collector,  and  General  Merritt  as  Con 
sul-General  at  London,  May  18th,  Presi 
dent  Garfield  having  wisely  renewed  the 
Conkling  list  of  appointees,  most  of  whom, 
declined  under  the  changed  condition  of 
affairs. 

These  events  more  widely  separated  the 
factions  in  New  York — one  wing  calling 
itself  "  Stalwart,"  the  other  "  Half-Breed," 
a  term  of  contempt  flung  at  the  Indepen 
dents  by  Conkling.  Elections  must  follow 
to  fill  the  vacancies,  the  New  York  Legis 
lature  being  in  session.  These  vacancies 
gave  the  Democrats  for  the  time  control  of 
the  United  States  Senate,  but  they  thought 
it  unwise  to  pursue  an  advantage  which 


254 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


would  compel  them  to  show  their  hands 
for  or  against  one  or  other  of  the  opposing 
Republican  factions.  The  extra  session  of 
the  Senate  adjourned  May  20th. 

The  New  York  Legislature  began  ballot 
ing  for  successors  to  Senators  Conkling  and 
Platt  on  the  31st  of  May.  The  majority  of 
the  Republicans  (Independents  or  "Half- 
breeds")  supported  Chauncey  M.  Depew 
as  the  successor  of  Platt  for  the  long  term, 
and  William  A.  Wheeler  as  the  successor 
of  Conkling  for  the  short  term,  a  few  sup 
porting  Cornell.  The  minority  (Stalwarts) 
renominated  Messrs.  Conkling  and  Platt. 
The  Democrats  nominated  Francis  Kernan 
for  the  long  term,  and  John  C.  Jacobs  for 
the  short  term  ;  and,  on  his  withdrawal, 
Clarkson  N.  Potter.  The  contest  lasted 
until  July  22,  and  resulted  in  a  compro 
mise  on  Warner  A.  Miller  as  Plata's  suc 
cessor,  and  Elbridge  G.  Lapham  as  Conk- 
ling's  successor.  In  Book  VII.,  our  Tabu 
lated  History  of  Politics,  we  give  a  correct 
table  of  the  ballots.  These  show  at  a  sin 
gle  glance  the  earnestness  and  length  of 
the  contest. 

The  factious  feelings  engendered  thereby 
were  carried  into  the  Fall  nominations  for 
the  Legislature,  and  as  a  result  the  Demo 
crats  obtained  control,  which  in  part  they 
subsequently  lost  by  the  refusal  of  the 
Tammany  Democrats  to  support  their 
nominees  for  presiding  officers.  This  De 
mocratic  division  caused  a  long  and  tire 
some  deadlock  in  the  Legislature  of  New 
York.  It  was  broken  in  the  House  by  a 
promise  on  the  part  of  the  Democratic 
candidate  for  Speaker  to  favor  the  Tam 
many  men  with  a  just  distribution  of  the 
committees  —  a  promise  which  was  not 
satisfactorily  carried  out,  and  as  a  result 
the  Tammany  forces  of  the  Senate  joined 
hands  with  the  Republicans.  The  Repub 
lican  State  ticket  would  also  have  been 
lost  in  the  Fall  of  1881,  but  for  the  inter 
position  of  President  Arthur,  who  quickly 
succeeded  in  uniting  the  warring  factions. 
This  work  was  so  well  done,  that  all  save 
one  name  on  the  ticket  (Gen'l  Husted) 
succeeded. 

The  same  factious  spirit  was  manifested 
in  Pennsylvania  in  the  election  of  U.  S. 
Senator  in  the  winter  of  1881,  the  two  wings 
taking  the  names  of  "  Regulars  "  and  "  In 
dependents."  The  division  occurred  be 
fore  the  New  York  battle,  and  it  is  trace 
able  not  alone  to  the  bitter  nominating 
contest  at  Chicago,  but  to  the  administra 
tion  of  President  Hayes  and  the  experi 
ment  of  civil  service  reform.  Administra 
tions  which  are  not  decided  and  firm  upon 
political  issues,  invariably  divide  their 
parties,  and  while  these  divisions  are  not 
always  to  be  deplored,  and  sometimes  lead 
to  good  results,  the  fact  that  undecided 
administrations  divide  the  parties  which 
they  represent,  ever  remains.  The  exam 


ples  are  plain :  Van  Buren's,  Tyler's,  Fill- 
more's,  Buchanan's,  and  Haves'.  The  lat- 
ter's  indecision  was  more  excusable  than 
that  of  any  of  his  predecessors.  The  in 
exorable  firmness  of  Grant  caused  the  most 
bitter  partisan  assaults,  and  despite  all  his 
efforts  to  sustain  the  "  carpet-bag  govern 
ments  "  of  the  South,  they  became  unpopu 
lar  and  were  rapidly  supplanted.  As  they 
disappeared,  Democratic  representation 
from  the  South  increased,  and  this  increase 
continued  during  the  administration  of 
Hayes — the  greatest  gains  being  at  times 
when  he  showed  the  greatest  desire  to  con 
ciliate  the  South.  Yet  his  administration 
did  the  party  good,  in  this,  that  while  at 
first  dividing,  it  finally  cemented  through 
the  conviction  that  experiments  of  that 
kind  with  a  proud  Southern  people  were 
as  a  rule  unavailing.  The  re -opening  of 
the  avenues  of  trade  and  other  natural 
causes,  apparently  uncultivated,  have  ac 
complished  in  this  direction  much  more 
than  any  political  effort. 

In  Pennsylvania  a  successor  to  U.  S. 
Senator  Wm.  A.  Wallace  was  to  be  chosen. 
Henry  W.  Oliver,  Jr.,  received  the  nomi 
nation  of  the  Republican  caucus,  the 
friends  of  Galusha  A.  Grow  refusing  to 
enter  after  a  count  had  been  made,  and 
declaring  in  a  written  paper  that  they 
would  not  participate  in  any  caucus,  and 
would  independently  manifest  their  choice 
in  the  Legislature.  The  following  is  the 
first  vote  in  joint  Convention  • 

OLIVER.  WALLACE. 

Senate 20     Senate 16 

House 75     House 77 

Total 95        Total 93 

GROW.  AGNEW. 

Senate 12     Senate 1 

House..... 44     House 

Total 56        Total 1 

BREWSTER.  BAIRD. 

Senate Senate 

House 1     House 1 


Total , 

M'VEAGH. 

Senate 

House... 


Total. 


Total. 


...   1 


Whole  number  of  votes  cast,  248 ;  ne 
cessary  to  a  choice,  125. 

On  the  17th  of  January  the  two  factions 
issued  opposing  addresses.  From  these 
we  quote  the  leading  ideas,  which  divided 
the  factions.  The  "Regulars  "  said  : 

"Henry  W.  Oliver,  jr.,  of  Allegheny 
county,  was  nominated  on  the  third  ballot, 
receiving  79  of  the  95  votes  present.  Un 
der  the  rules  of  all  parties  known  to  the 


REPUBLICAN    FACTIONS. 


255 


present  or  past  history  of  our  country,  a 
majority  of  those  participating  should  have 
been  sufficient;  but  such  was  the  desire  for 
party  harmony  and  for  absolute  fairness, 
that  a  majority  of  all  the  Republican  mem 
bers  of  the  Senate  and  House  was  required 
to  nominate.  The  effect  of  this  was  to 
give  those  remaining  out  a  negative  voice 
in  the  proceedings,  the  extent  of  any  priv 
ilege  given  them  in  regular  legislative  ses 
sions  by  the  Constitution.  In  no  other 
caucus  or  convention  has  the  minority  ever 
found  such  high  consideration,  and  we  be 
lieve  there  remains  no  just  cause  of  com 
plaint  against  the  result.  Even  captious 
faultfinding  can  find  no  place  upon  which 
to  hang  a  sensible  objection.  Mr.  Oliver 
was,  therefore,  fairly  nominated  by  the 
only  body  to  which  is  delegated  the  power 
of  nomination  and  by  methods  which  were 
more  than  just,  which,  from  every  stand 
point,  must  be  regarded  as  generous ;  and 
in  view  of  these  things,  how  can  we,  your 
Senators  and  Representatives,  in  fairness 
withhold  our  support  from  him  in  open 
sessions ;  rather  how  can  we  ever  abandon 
a  claim  established  by  the  rules  regulating 
the  government  of  all  parties,  accepted  by 
all  as  just,  and  which  are  in  exact  harmony 
with  that  fundamental  principle  of  our 
Government  which  proclaims  the  right  of 
the  majority  to  rule?  To  do  otherwise  is 
to  confess  the  injustice  and  the  failure  of 
that  principle — something  we  are  not  pre 
pared  to  do.  It  would  blot  the  titles  to 
our  own  positions.  There  is  not  a  Senator 
or  member  who  does  not  owe  his  nomina 
tion  and  election  to  the  same  great  prin 
ciple.  To  profit  by  its  acceptance  in  our 
own  cases  and  to  deny  it  to  Mr.  Oliver 
would  be  an  exhibition  of  selfishness  too 
flagrant  for  our  taste.  To  acknowledge 
the  right  to  revolt  when  no  unfairness  can 
be  truthfully  alleged  and  when  more  than 
a  majority  have  in  the  interest  of  harmony 
been  required  to  govern,  would  be  a  tra 
vesty  upon  every  American  notion  and 
upon  that  sense  of  manliness  which  yields 
when  fairly  beaten." 
The  "Independent"  address  said: 
"First.  We  recognize  a  public  senti 
ment  which  demands  that  in  the  selection 
of  a  United  States  Senator  we  have  regard 
to  that  dignity  of  the  office  to  be  filled,  its 
important  duties  and  functions,  and  the 
qualifications  of  the  individual  with  refer 
ence  thereto.  This  sentiment  is,  we  un 
derstand,  that  there  are  other  and  higher 
qualifications  for  this  distinguished  posi 
tion  than  business  experience  and  success, 
and  reckons  among  these  the  accomplish 
ments  of  the  scholar,  the  acquirements  of 
the  student,  the  mature  wisdom  of  experi 
ence  and  a  reasonable  familiarity  with 
public  affairs.  It  desires  that  Pennsylva 
nia  shall  be  distinguished  among  her  sister 
Commonwealths,  not  only  by  her  populous 


cities,  her  prosperous  communities,  her 
vast  material  wealth  and  diversified  indus 
tries  and  resources,  but  that  in  the  wis 
dom,  sagacity  and  statesmanship  of  her 
representative  she  shall  occupy  a  corres 
ponding  rank  and  influence.  To  meet 
this  public  expectation  and  demand  we  are 
and  have  at  all  times  been  willing  to  su 
bordinate  our  personal  preferences,  all 
local  considerations  and  factional  differ 
ences,  and  unite  with  our  colleagues  in  the 
selection  of  a  candidate  in  whom  are  com 
bined  at  least  some  of  these  important  and 
essential  qualifications.  It  was  only  when 
it  became  apparent  that  the  party  caucus 
was  to  be  used  to  defeat  this  popular  desire 
and  to  coerce  a  nomination  which  is  con 
spicuously  lacking  in  the  very  essentials 
which  were  demanded,  that  we  determined 
to  absent  ourselves  from  it.  *  *  *  * 

"  Second,  Having  declined  to  enter  the 
caucus,  we  adhere  to  our  determination  to 
defeat,  if  possible,  its  nominee,  but  only  by 
the  election  of  a  citizen  of  unquestioned 
fidelity  to  the  principles  of  the  Republi 
can  party.  In  declaring  our  independency 
from  the  caucus  domination  we  do  not 
forget  our  allegiance  to  the  party  whose 
chosen  representatives  we  are.  The  only 
result  of  our  policy  is  the  transfer  of  the 
contest  from  the  caucus  to  the  joint  con 
vention  of  the  two  houses.  There  will  be 
afforded  an  opportunity  for  the  expression 
of  individual  preferences  and  honorable 
rivalry  for  an  honorable  distinction.  If 
the  choice  shall  fall  upon  one  not  of  ap 
proved  loyalty  and  merit,  the  fault  will  not 
be  ours." 

After  a  long  contest  both  of  the  leading 
candidates  withdrew,  and  quickly  the  Reg 
ulars  substituted  General  James  A.  Beaver, 
the  Independent  Congressman,  Thomas 
M.  Bayne.  On  these  names  the  dead-lock 
remained  unbroken.  Without  material 
change  the  balloting  continued  till  Febru 
ary  17th,  when  both  Republican  factions 
agreed  to  appoint  conference  committees 
of  twelve  each,  with  a  view  to  selecting  by 
a  three-fourths  vote  a  compromise  candi 
date.  The  following  were  the  respective 
committees:  For  the  Independents:  Sena 
tors  Davis,  Bradford ;  Lee,  Venango ;  Stew 
art,  Franklin;  Lawrence,  Washington; 
Representatives  Wolfe,  Union;  Silver- 
thorne,  Erie;  Mapes,  Venango;  McKee, 
Philadelphia;  Slack,  Allegheny;  Stubs, 
Chester;  Niles,  Tioga;  and  Derickson, 
Crawford.  For  the  Regulars:  Senators 
Greer,  Butler;  Herr,  Dauphin;  Smith, 
Philadelphia;  Keefer,  Schuylkill;  Cooper, 
Delaware ;  Representatives  Pollock,  Phila 
delphia;  Moore,  Allegheny;  Marshall, 
Huntingdon;  Hill,  Indiana;  Eshleman, 
Lancaster ;  Thomson,  Armstrong ;  and 
Billingsley,  Washington. 

The  joint  convention  held  daily  sessions 
and  balloted  without  result  until  February 


256 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


22d,  when  John  I.  Mitchell,  of  Tioga, 
Congressman  from  the  16th  district,  was 
unanimously  agreed  upon  as  a  compro 
mise  candidate.  He  was  nominated  by  a 
full  Eepublican  caucus  on  the  morning  of 
February  23d,  and  elected  on  the  first  bal 
lot  in  joint  convention  on  that  day,  the 
vote  standing:  Mitchell,  150 ;  Wallace,  92; 
MacVeagh,  1 ;  Brewster,  1. 

The  spirit  of  this  contest  continued  until 
fall.  Senator  Davies,  a  friend  of  Mr.  Grow, 
was  a  prominent  candidate  for  the  Repub 
lican  nomination  for  State  Treasurer.  He 
was  beaten  by  General  Silas  M.  Baily, 
and  Davies  and  his  friends  cordially  made 
Baily's  nomination  unanimous.  Charles 
S.  Wolfe,  himself  the  winter  before  a  can 
didate  for  United  Stales  Senator,  was  dis 
satisfied.  He  suddenly  raised  the  Inde 
pendent  flag,  in  a  telegram  to  the  Phila 
delphia  Press,  and  as  he  announced  was 
"the  nominee  of  a  convention  of  one"  for 
State  Treasurer.  After  a  canvass  of  re 
markable  energy  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Wolfe, 
General  Baily  was  elected,  without  suffer 
ing  materially  from  the  division.  Mr. 
Wolfe  obtained  nearly  50,000  votes,  but  as 
almost  half  of  them  were  Democratic,  the 
result  was,  as  stated,  not  seriously  affected. 

The  Independents  in  Pennsylvania, 
however,  were  subdivided  into  two  wings, 
known  as  the  Continental  and  the  Wolfe 
men — the  former  having  met  since  the 
election  last  fall,  (State  Senator  John 
Stewart,  chairman)  and  proclaimed  them 
selves  willing  and  determined  to  abide  all 
Republican  nominations  fairly  made,  and 
to  advocate  "reform  within  the  party 
lines."  These  gentlemen  supported  Gen. 
Baily  and  largely  contributed  to  his  suc 
cess,  and  as  a  rule  they  regard  with  dis 
favor  equal  to  that  of  the  Regulars,  what 
is  known  as  the  Wolfe  movement.  These 
divisions  have  not  extended  to  other  States, 
nor  have  they  yet  assumed  the  shape  of 
third  parties  unless  Mr.  Wolfe's  individual 
canvass  can  be  thus  classed.  Up  to  this 
writing  (March  10,  1882,)  neither  wing 
has  taken  issue  with  President  Arthur  or 
his  appointments,  though  there  were  some 
temporary  indications  of  this  when  Attor 
ney  General  MacVeagh,  of  Pennsylvania, 
persisted  in  having  his  resignation  ac 
cepted.  President  Arthur  refused  to  ac 
cept,  on  the  ground  that  he  desired  Mac- 
Veagh's  services  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
Star  Route  cases,  and  Mr.  MacVeagh  with 
drew  for  personal  and  other  reasons  not 
yet  fully  explained.  In  this  game  of  po 
litical  fence  the  position  of  the  President 
was  greatly  strengthened. 

Singularly  enough,  in  the  only  two 
States  where  factious  divisions  have  been 
recently  manifested  in  the  Republican 
ranks,  they  effected  almost  if  not  quite  as 
seriously  the  Democratic  party.  There 
can  be  but  one  deduction  drawn  from  this 


to  wit: — That  a  number  in  both  of  the 
great  parties,  were  for  the  time  at  least, 
weary  of  their  allegiance.  It  is  possible 
that  nothing  short  of  some  great  issue  will 
restore  the  old  partisan  unity,  and  partisan 
unity  in  a  Republic,  where  there  are  but 
two  great  parties,  is  not  to  be  deplored  if 
relieved  of  other  than  mere  political  dif 
ferences.  The  existence  of  but  two  great 
parties,  comparatively  free  from  factions, 
denotes  government  health;  where  divi 
sions  are  numerous  and  manifest  increas- 
ng  growth  and  stubbornness,  there  is  grave 
danger  to  Republican  institutions.  We 
need  not,  however,  philosophize  when 
Mexico  and  the  South  American  Repub 
lics  are  so  near. 


The  Caucus. 

Both  the  "Independents"  of  Pennsyl 
vania  and  the  "  Half-Breeds  "  of  New  York 
at  first  proclaimed  their  opposition  to  the 
caucus  system  of  nominating  candidates 
for  U.  S.  Senators,  and  the  newspapers  in 
their  interest  wrote  as  warmly  for  a  time 
against  "  King  Caucus"  as  did  the  dissat- 
tisfied  Democratic  journals  in  the  days  of 
De  Witt  Clinton.  The  situation,  however, 
was  totally  different,  and  mere  declamation 
could  not  long  withstand  the  inevitable. 
In  Pennsylvania  almost  nightly  "  confer 
ences  "  were  held  by  the  Independents,  as 
indeed  they  were  in  New  York,  though  in 
both  States  a  show  of  hostility  was  kept  up 
to  nominating  in  party  caucus  men  who 
were  to  be  elected  by  representative,  more 
plainly  legislative  votes.  It  was  at  first 
claimed  that  in  the  Legislature  each  man 
ought  to  act  for  himself  or  his  constituents, 
but  very  shortly  it  was  found  that  the  cau 
cuses  of  the  separate  wings  were  as  binding 
upon  the  respective  wings  as  they  could 
have  been  upon  the  whole.  Dead-locks 
were  interminable  as  long  as  this  condition 
of  affairs  obtained,  and  hostility  to  the 
caucus  system  was  before  very  long  quietly 
discouraged  and  finally  flatly  abandoned, 
for  each  struggle  was  ended  by  the  ratifi 
cation  of  a  general  caucus,  and  none  of 
them  could  nave  been  ended  without  it. 
The  several  attempts  to  find  other  means 
to  reach  a  result,  only  led  the  participants 
farther  away  from  the  true  principle,  under 
republican  forms  at  least,  of  the  right  of 
the  majority  to  rule.  In  Pennsylvania, 
when  Mr.  Oliver  withdrew,  fifty  of  his 
friends  assembled  and  informally  named 
General  Beaver,  and  by  this  action  sought 
to  bind  the  original  95  friends  of  Oliver. 
Their  conduct  was  excused  by  the  plea  that 
they  represented  a  majority  of  their  fac 
tion.  It  failed  to  bind  all  of  the  original 
number,  though  some  of  the  Independents 
were  won.  The  Independents,  rather  the 
original  44,  bound  themselves  in  writing 
not  to  change  their  course  of  action  unless 


THE    CAUCUS. 


257 


there  was  secured  the  previous  concurrence 
of  two-thirds,  and  this  principle  was  ex 
tended  to  the  56  who  supported  Mr.  Bayne. 
Then  when  the  joint  committee  of  24  was 
agreed  upon,  it  was  bound  by  a  rule  re 
quiring  three-fourths  to  recommend  a  can 
didate.  All  of  these  were  plain  departures 
from  a  great  principle,  and  the  deeper  the 
contest  became,  the  greater  the  departure. 
True,  these  were  but  voluntary  forms,  but 
they  were  indefensible,  and  are  only  re 
ferred  to  now  to  show  the  danger  of  mad 
assaults  upon  great  principles  when  per 
sonal  and  factious  aims  are  at  stake.  Op 
position  to  the  early  Congressional  caucus 
was  plainly  right,  since  one  department  of 
the  Government  was  by  voluntary  agencies 
actually  controlling  another,  while  the  law 
gave  legal  forms  which  could  be  more  pro 
perly  initiated  through  voluntary  action. 
The  writer  believes,  and  past  contests  all 
confirm  the  view  that  the  voluntary  action 
can  only  be  safely  employed  by  the  power 
by  the  law  with  the  right  of  selection. 
Thus  the  people  elect  township,  county  and 
State  officers,  and  it  is  their  right  and  duty 
by  the  best  attainable  voluntary  action  to 
indicate  their  choice.  This  is  done  through 
the  caucus  or  convention,  the  latter  not 
differing  from  the  former  save  in  extent 
and  possibly  breadth  of  representation. 
The  same  rule  applies  to  all  offices  elective 
by  the  people.  It  cannot  properly  apply 
to  appointive  offices,  and  while  the  attempt 
to  apply  it  to  the  election  of  U.  S.  Senators 
shows  a  strong  desire  on  the  part,  frequently 
of  the  more  public-spirited  citizens,  to  ex 
ercise  a  greater  share  in  the  selection  of 
these  officers  than  the  law  directly  gives 
them,  yet  their  representatives  can  very 
properly  be  called  upon  to  act  as  they  would 
act  if  they  had  direct  power  in  the  pre 
mises,  and  such  action  leads  them  into  a 
party  caucus,  where  the  will  of  the  majority 
of  their  respective  parties  can  be  fairly 
ascertained,  and  when  ascertained  re 
spected.  The  State  Legislatures  appoint 
U.  S.  Senators,  and  the  Representatives 
and  Senators  of  the  States  are  bound  to 
consider  in  their  selection  the  good  of  the 
entire  State.  If  this  comports  with  the 
wish  of  their  respective  districts,  very 
well ;  if  it  does  not,  their  duty  is  not  less 
plain.  Probably  the  time  will  never  come 
when  the  people  will  elect  United  States 
Senators  ;  to  do  that  is  to  radically  change 
the  Federal  system,  and  to  practically  de 
stroy  one  of  the  most  important  branches 
of  the  Government ;  yet  he  is  not  a  careful 
observer  who  does  not  note  a  growing  dis 
position  on  the  part  of  the  people,  and 
largely  the  people  of  certain  localities,  and 
imaginary  political  sub-divisions,  to  control 
these  selections.  The  same  is  true  of 
Presidential  nominations,  where  masses  of 
people  deny  the  right  of  State  Conventions 
to  instruct  their  delegates-at-large.  In 


many  States  the  people  composing  either 
of  the  great  parties  now  select  their 
own  representative  delegates  to  National 
Conventions,  and  where  their  selections 
are  not  respected,  grave  party  danger  is 
sure  to  follow.  There  is  nothing  wrong  in 
this,  since  it  points  to,  and  is  but  paving 
the  way  for  a  more  popular  selection,  of 
Presidents  and  Vice  Presidents — to  an 
eventual  selection  of  Presidential  electors 
probably  by  Congressional  districts.  Yet 
those  to  be  selected  at  large  must  through 
practical  voluntary  forms  be  nominated  in 
that  way,  and  the  partisan  State  Conven 
tion  is  the  best  method  yet  devised  for  this 
work,  and  its  instructions  should  be  as 
binding  as  those  of  the  people  upon  their 
representatives.  In  this  government  of 
ours  there  is  voluntary  and  legal  work 
delegated  to  the  people  directly ;  there  is 
legal  work  delegated  to  appointing  powers, 
and  an  intelligent  discrimination  should 
ever  be  exercised  between  the  two.  "  Ren 
der  unto  Caesar  those  things  which  are 
Caesar's,"  unless  there  be  a  plain  desire, 
backed  by  a  good  reason,  to  promote  popiv- 
lar  reforms  as  enduring  as  the  practices  and 
principles  which  they  are  intended  to 
support. 

Fredrick  W.  Whitridge,  in  an  able  re 
view  of  the  caucus  system  published  *  in  La- 
lor's  Encyclopedia  of  Political  /Science,  says : 

"A  caucus,  in  the  political  vocabulary 
of  the  United  States,  is  primarily  a  private 
meeting  of  voters  holding  similar  views, 
held  prior  to  an  election  for  the  purpose  of 
furthering  such  views  at  the  election. 
With  the  development  of  parties,  and  the 
rule  of  majorities,  the  caucus  or  some 
equivalent  has  become  an  indispensable 
adjunct  to  party  government,  and  it  may 
now  be  defined  as  a  meeting  of  the  majority 
of  the  electors  belonging  to  the  same  party 
in  any  political  or  legislative  body  held 
preliminary  to  a  meeting  thereof,  for  the 
purpose  of  selecting  candidates  to  be 
voted  for,  or  for  the  purpose  of  der 
termining  the  course  of  the  party  at 
the  meeting  of  the  whole  body.  The. 
candidates  of  each  party  are  univer 
sally  selected  by  caucus,  either  directly  or 
indirectly  through  delegates  to  conven 
tions  chosen  in  caucuses.  In  legislative 
bodies  the  course  of  each  party  is  often 
predetermined  with  certainty  in  caucus, 
and  often  discussion  between  parties  has 
been,  in  consequence,  in  some  degree 
superseded.  The  caucus  system  is,  in 
short,  the  basis  of  a  complete  electoral 
system  which  has  grown  up  within  each 
party,  side  by  side  with  that  which  is  alone 
contemplated  by  the  laws.  This  condition 
has  in  recent  years  attracted  much  atten 
tion,  and  has  'been  bitterly  announced  as 
an  evil.  It  was,  however,  early  foreseen. 
John  Adams,  in  1814,  wrote  in  the  "  Tenth 

*  By  Band  &.McNally,  Chicago,  111.,  1882. 


258 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Letter  on  Government:"  "They  have  j  themselves  with  ballots,  including  the 
invented  a  balance  to  all  balance  in  their  ;  names  of  the  parties  fixed  upon,  which 
caucuses.  We  have  congressional  caucuses,  i  they  distributed  on  the  days  of  election, 
state  caucuses,  county  caucuses,  city  cau-  j  By  acting  in  concert,  together  with  a  care- 
cuses,  district  caucuses,  town  caucuses,  J  ful  and  extensive  distribution  of  ballots, 
parish  caucuses,  and  Sunday  caucuses  at  I  they  generally  carried  their  elections  to 
church  doors,  and  in  these  aristocrat; cal  their  own  mind.  In  like  manner  it  was 
caucuses  elections  have  been  decided."  The  ;  that  Mr.  Samuel  Adams  first  became  a 
caucus  is  a  necessary  consequence  of  j  representative  for  Boston."  (History  of 
majority  rule.  If  the  majority  is  to  define  j  the  American  Revolution,  vol.  i.,  p.  305.) 
the  policy  of  a  party,  there  must  be  some  j  February,  17G3,  Adams  writes  in  his 
method  within  each  party  of  ascertaining  j  diary  :  *"  This  day  I  learned  that  the  cau- 
the  mind  of  the  majority,  and  settling  the  j  cus  club  meets  at  certain  times  in  the  gar- 
party  programme,  before  it  meets  the  op-  :  ret  of  Tom  Da  was,  the  adjutant  of  the  Bos- 
posing  party  at  the  polls.  The  Carlton  !  ton  regiment.  He  has  a  large  house  and 
and  Reform  clubs  discharge  for  the  Tories  he  has  a  movable  partition  in  his  garret 
and  Liberals  many  of  the  functions  of  a 
congressional  caucus.  Meetings  of  the 
members  of  the  parties  in  the  reichstag, 


the  corps  legislatif  and  the  chamber  of 
deputies  are  not  unusual,  although  they 
have  generally  merely  been  for  consulta 
tion,  and  neither  in  England,  France, 
Germany  or  Italy,  has  any  such  authority 
been  conceded  to  the  wish  of  the  majority 
of  a  party  as  we  have  rested  in  the  deci 
sion  of  a  caucus.  What  has  been  called  a 
caucus  has  been  established  by  the 
Liberals  of  Birmingham,  England,  as  to 
which,  see  a  paper  by  W.  Fraser  Rae,  in 
the  "  International  Review  "  for  August, 
1880.  The  origin  of  the  term  caucus  is 
obscure.  It  has  been  derived  from  the 
Algonquin  word  Kaw-kaw-wus — to  con- 


which  he  takes  down  and  the  whole  club 
meets  in  his  room.  There  they  smoke 
tobacco  until  they  cannot  see  one  end  of 
the  room  from  another.  There  they  drink 
flip,  I  suppose,  and  there  they  choose  a 
moderator  who  puts  questions  to  the  vote 
regularly ;  and  selectmen,  assessors,  col 
lectors,  wardens,  fire  wards  and  representa 
tives  are  regularly  chosen  in  the  town. 
Uncle  Fairfield,  Story,  Ruddock,  Adams, 
Cooper,  and  a  rudis  indigcstaques  moles  ol 
others,  are  members.  They  send  commit 
tees  to  wait  on  the  merchants'  club,  and  to 
propose  in  the  choice  of  men  and  measures. 
Captain  Cunningham  says,  they  have  of 
ten  solicited  him  to  go  to  the  caucuses ; 
they  have  assured  him  their  benefit  in  his 
business,  etc."  (Adams'  Works,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
144.)  Under  the  title  caucus  should  be 


eult,  to    speak — but   the    more    probable 

derivation     makes    it    a     corruption    of 

caulkers.     In  the  early  politics  of  Boston,  |  caucus ;  the  caucuses  of  legislative  assem- 

and  particularly  during  the  early  difficul-  j  blies  ;  primary  elections,  still  known   out- 


considered  the   congressional  nominating 


ties  between  the  townsmen  and  the  British 
troops,  the  seafaring  men  and  those  em 
ployed  about  the  ship  yards  were  promi 
nent  among  the  town-people,  and  there 
were  numerous  gatherings  which  may 
have  very  easily  come  to  be  called  by 
way  of  reproach  a  meeting  of  caulkers, 
after  the  least  influential  class  who  at 
tended  them,  or  from  the  caulking  house 
or  caulk  house  in  which  they  were  held. 
What  was  at  first  a  derisive 'description, 


side  the  larger  cities  as  caucuses  ;  the  evils 
which  have  been  attributed  to  the  latter, 
and  the  remedies  which  have  been  pro 
posed.  These  will  accordingly  be  men 
tioned  in  the  order  given. 

"  The  democratic  system  is  the  result  of 
the  reorganization  of  the  various  anti- 
Tammany  democratic  factions,  brought 
about,  in  1881,  by  a  practically  self-ap 
pointed  committee  of  100.  Under  this  sys 
tem  primary  elections  are  to  be  held  aiinu 


came  to  be  an  appellation,  and  the  gather-  I  ally  in  each  of  678  election  districts,  at 
ings  of  so-called  caulkers  became  a  cau-  i  which  all  democratic  electors  resident  in 
cus.  John  Pickering,  in  a  vocabulary  of  the  respective  districts  may  participate,  pro- 
words  and  phrases  peculiar  to  the  United  j  vided  they  were  registered  at  the  last  gene- 
States  (Boston,  1816),  gives  this  derivation  !  ral  election.  The  persons  voting  at  any 


of  the  word,  and  says  several  gentlemen 
mentioned  to  him  that  they  had  heard 
this  derivation. '  Gordon,  writing  in  1774, 
says :  "  More  than  fifty  years  ago  Mr. 
Samuel  Adams'  father  and  twenty  others, 
one  or  two  from  the  north  end  of  the  town 
where  all  the  shin  business  is  carried  on, 
used  to  meet,  make  a  caucus  and  lay  their 


primary  shall  be  members  of  the  election 
district  association  for  the  ensuing  yea*, 
which  is  to  be  organized  in  January  of  each 
yenr.  The  associations  may  admit  demo 
cratic  residents  in  their  respective  districts, 
who  are  not  members,  to  membership,  and 
they  have  general  supervision  of  the  inte 
rests  of  the  party  within  their  districts. 


plan  for  introducing  certain  persons  into   Primaries  are  held  on  not  less  than  four 
places  of  trust  and  power.   When  they  had   days'  public  notice,  through  the  newspa- 


settled  it  they  separated,  and  each  used 
their  particular  influence  within  his  own 
circle.  He  and  hia  friends  would  furnish 


pers,  of  the  time  and  place,  and  at  the  ap 
pointed  time  the  meeting  is  called  to  order 
by  the  chairman  of  the  election  district  as- 


THE    CAUCUS. 


259 


sociation,  provided  twenty  persons  be  pre 
sent  ;  if  that  number  shall  not  be  present, 
the  meeting  may  be  called  to  order  with  a 
less  number,  at  the  end  of  fifteen  minutes. 
The  first  business  of  the  meeting  is  to  se 
lect  a  chairman,  and  all  elections  of  dele 
gates  or  committeemen  shall  take  place  in 
open  meeting.  Each  person,  as  he  offers  to 
vote,  states  his  name  and  residence,  which 
may  be  compared  with  the  registration  list 
at  the  last  election,  and  each  person  shall* 
state  for  whom  he  votes,  or  he  may  hand  to 
the  judges  an  open  ballot,  having  designated 
thereon  the  persons  for  whom  he  votes,  and 
for  what  positions.  Nominations  are  all 
made  by  conventions  of  delegates  from  the 
d;stricts  within  which  the  candidate  to  be 
cho  :en  is  to  be  voted  for.  There  is  an  as 
sembly  district  committee  in  each  assembly 
district,  composed  of  one  delegate  for  each 
100  votes  or  fraction  thereof,  from  each 
election  district  within  the  assembly  dis 
trict.  There  is  also  a  county  committee 
composed  of  delegates  from  each  of  the  as 
sembly  district  committees.  The  function 
of  these  committees  is  generally  to  look  af 
ter  the  interests  of  the  parties  within  their 
respective  spheres.  This  system  is  too  new 
for  its  workings  to  be  as  yet  fairly  criti 
cised.  It  may  prove  a  really  popular  sys 
tem,  or  it  may  prove  only  an  inchoate  form 
of  the  other  systems.  At  present  it  can 
only  be  said  that  the  first  primaries  under 
it  were  participated  in  by  27,000  electors. 

"The  evils  of  the  caucus  and  primary 
election  systems  lie  in  the  stringent  obliga 
tion  which  is  attached  to  the  will  of  a  for 
mal  majority ;  in  the  fact  that  the  process 
of  ascertaining  what  the  will  of  the  major 
ity  is,  has  been  surrounded  with  so  many 
restrictions  that  the  actual  majority  of  votes 
are  disfranchised,  and  take  no  part  in  that 
process,  so  that  the  formal  majority  is  in 
consequence  no  longer  the  majority  in  fact, 
although  it  continues  to  demand  recogni 
tion  of  its  decisions  as  such. 

"  The  separation  between  the  organiza 
tion  and  the  party,  between  those  who  no 
minate  and  those  who  elect,  is  the  sum  of 
the  evils  of  the  too  highly  organized  cau 
cus  system.  It  has  its  roots  in  the  notion 
that  the  majority  is  right,  because  it  is  the 
majority,  which  is  the  popular  view  thus 
expressed  by  Hammond:  'I  think  that 
wh?n  political  friends  consent  to  go  into 
caucus  for  the  nomination  of  officers,  every 
member  of  such  caucus  is  bound  in  honor 
to  support  and  carry  into  effect  its  deter 
mination.  If  you  suspect  that  determina 
tion  will  be  so  preposterous  that  you  can 
not  in  conscience  support  it,  then  you  ought 
on  no  account  to  become  one  of  its  mem 
bers.  To  try  your  chance  in  a  caucus,  and 
then,  because  your  wishes  are  not  gratified, 
to  attempt  to  defeat  the  result  of  the  deli- 
berat'on  of  your  friends,  strikes  me  as  a 
palpable  violation  of  honor  and  good  faith. 


You  caucus  for  no  other  possible  purpose 
than  under  the  implied  argument  that  the 
opinion  and  wishes  of  the  minority  shall  be 
yielded  to  the  opinions  of  the  majority,  and 
the  sole  object  of  caucusing  is  to  ascertain 
what  is  the  will  of  the  majority.  I  repeat 
that  unless  you  intend  to  carry  into  effect 
the  wishes  of  the  majority,  however  con 
trary  to  your  own,  you  have  no  business  at 
a  caucus.'  ( Political  History  of  New  York, 
vol.  i.,  p.  192). — In  accordance  with  this 
theory,  the  will  of  the  majority  become-) 
obligatory  as  soon  as  it  is  made  known,  and 
one  cannot  assist  at  a  caucus  in  order  to 
ascertain  the  will  of  the  majority,  without 
thereby  being  bound  to  follow  it;  and  the 
theory  is  so  deeply  rooted  that,  under  the 
caucus  and  primary  election  system,  it  has 
been  extended  to  cases  in  which  the  ma 
jorities  are  such  only  in  form. 

"  The  remedies  as  well  as  the  evils  of  the 
caucus  and  nominating  system  have  been 
made  the  subject  of  general  discussion  in 
connection  with  civil  service  reform.  It  is 
claimed  that  that  reform,  by  giving  to  pub 
lic  officers  the  same  tenure  of  their  positions 
which  is  enjoyed  by  the  employes  of  a  cor 
poration  or  a  private  business  house,  o* 
during  the  continuance  of  efficiency  or  good 
behaviour,  would  abolish  or  greatly  dimi 
nish  the  evils  of  the  caucus  system  by  de 
priving  public  officers  of  the  illegitimate 
incentive  to  maintain  it  under  which  they 
now  act.  Other  more  speculative  remedies 
have  been  suggested.  It  is  proposed,  on 
the  one  hand,  to  very  greatly  diminish  the 
number  of  elective  officers,  and,  in  order  to 
do  away  with  the  pre-determination  of  elec 
tions,  to  restrict  the  political  action  of  the 
people  in  their  own  persons  to  districts  so 
small  that  they  can  meet  together  and  act 
as  one  body,  and  that  in  all  other  affairs 
than  those  of  these  small  districts  the 
people  should  act  by  delegates.  The  the 
ory  here  seems  to  be  to  get  rid  of  the  ne^ 
cessity  for  election  and  nominating  ma 
chinery.  (See  'A  True  Republic?  by  Al 
bert  Strickney,  New  York,  1879;  and  a  se 
ries  of  articles  in  Scribncr's  Monthly  for 
1881,  by  the  same  writer).  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  proposed  to  greatly  increase  the 
number  of  elections,  by  taking  the  whole 
primary  system  under  the  protection  of  the 
law.*  *This  plan  propose-^ :  1.  The  direct 
nomination  of  candidates  by  the  members 
of  the  respective  political  parties  in  place 
of  nominations  by  delegates  in  conventions. 
2.  To  apply  the  election  laws  to  primary 
elections.  3.  To  provide  that  both  politi 
cal  parties  shall  participate  in  the  same 
primary  election  instead  of  having  a  differ 
ent  caucus  for  each  party.  4.  To  provide 
for  a  final  election  to  be  held  between  two 
c  n  lidates,  each  representative  of  n  party 

*  This  was  partially  done  by  the  Legislature  of 
Pennsylvauia  in  1881. 


260 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


who  have  been  selected  by  means  of  the 
primary  election.  This  plan  would  un 
doubtedly  do  away  with  the  evils  of  the 
present  caucus  system,  but  it  contains  no 
guarantee  that  a  new  caucus  system  would 
not  be  erected  for  the  purpose  of  influ 
encing  'the  primary  election'  in  the  same 
manner  in  which  the  present  primary  sys 
tem  now  influences  the  final  election.  (See 
however  '  The  Elective  Franchise  in  the 
United  States,'  New  York,  1880,  by  D.  C. 
McClellan.) — The  effective  remedy  for  the 
evils  of  the  caucus  system  will  probably  be 
found  in  the  sanction  of  primary  elections 
by  law.  *  *  *  Bills  for  this  purpose  were 
introduced  by  the  Hon.  Erastus  Brooks  in 
the  New  York  Legislature  in  1881,  which 
provided  substantially  for  the  system  pro 
posed  by  Mr.  McClellan,  but  they  were  left 
unacted  upon,  and  no  legislative  attempt 
to  regulate  primaries,  except  by  providing 
for  their  being  called,  and  for  their  pro- 
cedeure,  has  been  made  elsewhere.  In 
Ohio  what  is  known  as  the  Baber  law  pro 
vides  that  where  any  voluntary  political 
association  orders  a  primary,  it  must  be  by 
a  majority  vote  of  the  central  or  control 
ling  committee  of  such  party  or  association ; 
that  the  call  must  be  published  for  at  least 
five  days  in  the  newspapers,  and  state  the 
time  and  place  of  the  meeting,  the  autho 
rity  by  which  it  was  called,  and  the  name 
of  the  person  who  is  to  represent  that  au 
thority  at  each  poll.  The  law  also  provides 
for  challenging  voters,  for  punishment  of 
illegal  voting,  and  for  the  bribery  or  inter 
vention  of  electors  or  judges.  (Rev.  Stat. 
Ohio,  sees.  2916-2921.)  A  similar  law  in 
Missouri  is  made  applicable  to  counties 
only  of  over  100,000  inhabitants,  but  by 
this  law  it  is  made  optional  with  the  volun 
tary  political  association  whether  it  will  or 
not  hold  its  primaries  under  the  law,  and 
if  it  does,  it  is  provided  that  the  county 
shall  incur  no  expense  in  the  conduct  of 
such  elections.  (Laws  of  Missouri,  1815, 

S.  54.)  A  similar  law  also  exists  in  Cali- 
)rnia.  ( Laws  of  California,  1865-1866,  p. 
438.)  These  laws  comprise  all  the  existing 
legislation  on  the  subject,  except  what  is 
known  as  the  Landis  Bill  of  1881,  which 
requires  primary  officers  to  take  an  oath, 
and  which  punishes  fraud." 


Assassination  of  President  Garneld. 

At  9  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  Satur 
day,  July  2d,  1881,  President  Garfield,  ac 
companied  by  Secretary  Blaine,  left  the 
Executive  Mansion  to  take  a  special  train 
from  the  Baltimore  and  Potomac  depot 
for  New  England,  where  he  intended  to 
visit  the  college  from  which  he  had  gradu 
ated.  Arriving  at  the  depot,  he  was  walk 
ing  arm-in-arm  through  the  main  waiting- 
room,  when  Charles  J.  Guiteau,  a  persist 
ent  applicant  for  an  office,  who  had  some 


time  previously  entered  through  the  main 
door,  advanced  to  the  centre  of  the  room, 
and  having  reached  within  a  few  feet  of 
his  victim,  fired  two  shots,  one  of  which 
took  fatal  effect.  The  bullet  was  of  forty- 
four  calibre,  and  striking  the  President 
about  four  inches  to  the  right  of  the  spinal 
column,  struck  the  tenth  and  badly  shat 
tered  the  eleventh  rib.  The  President 
sank  to  the  floor,  and  was  conveyed  to  a 
room  where  temporary  conveniences  were 
attainable,  and  a  couch  was  improvised. 
Dr.  Bliss  made  an  unsuccessful  effort  to 
find  the  ball.  The  shock  to  the  President's 
system  was  very  severe,  and  at  first  appre 
hensions  were  felt  that  death  would  ensue 
speedily.  Two  hours  after  the  shooting, 
the  physicians  decided  to  remove  him  to 
the  Executive  Mansion.  An  army  ambu 
lance  was  procured,  and  the  removal  ef 
fected.  Soon  after,  vomiting  set  in,  and  the 
patient  exhibited  a  dangerous  degree  of 
prostration,  which  threatened  to  end  speed 
ily  in  dissolution.  This  hopeless  condition 
of  affairs  continued  until  past  midnight, 
when  more  favorable  symptoms  were  ex 
hibited.  Dr.  Bliss  was  on  this  Sunday 
morning  designated  to  take  charge  of  the 
case,  and  he  called  Surgeon  -  General 
Barnes,  Assistant  Surgeon-General  Wood 
ward,  and  Dr.  Keyburn  as  consulting  phy 
sician.  To  satisfy  the  demand  of  the 
country,  Drs.  Agnew,  of  Philadelphia,  and 
Hamilton,  of  New  York,  were  also  sum 
moned  by  telegraph,  and  arrived  on  a 
special  train  over  the  Pennsylvania  Bail- 
road,  Sunday  afternoon.  For  several  days 
immediately  succeeding  the  shooting,  the 
patient  suffered  great  inconvenience  and 
pain  in  the  lower  limbs.  This  created  an 
apprehension  that  the  spinal  nerves  had 
been  injured,  and  death  was  momentarily 
expected.  On  the  night  of  July  4th  a 
favorable  turn  was  observed,  and  the  morn 
ing  of  the  5th  brought  with  it  a  vague  but 
undefined  hope  that  a  favorable  issue 
might  ensue.  Under  this  comforting  con 
viction,  Drs.  Agnew  and  Hamilton,  after 
consultation  with  the  resident  medical  at 
tendants,  returned  to  their  homes;  first 
having  published  to  the  country  an  in 
dorsement  of  the  treatment  inaugurated. 
During  July  5th  and  6th  the  pat'ent  con 
tinued  to  improve,  the  pulse  and  respira 
tion  showing  a  marked  approach  to  the 
condition  of  healthfulness,  the  former 
being  reported  on  the  morning  of  the  6th 
at  98,  and  in  the  evening  it  only  increased 
to  104.  On  the  7th  Dr.  Bliss  became  very 
confident  of  ultimate  triumph  over  the 
malady.  In  previous  bulletins  meagre 
hope  was  given,  and  the  chances  for  reco 
very  estimated  at  one  in  a  hundred. 

From  July  7th  to  the  16th  there  was  a 
slight  but  uninterrupted  improvement,  and 
the  country  began  to  entertain  a  confident 
hope  that  the  patient  would  recover. 


"BOSS    RULE." 


261 


Hope  and  fear  alternated  from  day  to 
day,  amid  the  most  painful  excitement. 
On  the  8th  of  August  Drs.  Agnew  and 
Hamilton  had  to  perform  their  second 
operation  to  allow  a  free  flow  of  pus  from 
the  wound.  This  resulted  in  an  important 
discovery.  It  was  ascertained  that  the 
track  of  the  bullet  had  turned  from  its 
downward  deflection  to  a  forward  course. 
The  operation  lasted  an  hour,  and  ether 
was  administered,  the  effect  of  which  was 
very  unfortunate.  Nausea  succeeded,  and 
vomiting  followed  every  effort  to  adminis 
ter  nourishment  for  some  time.  However, 
he  soon  rallied,  and  the  operation  was  pro 
nounced  successful,  and,  on  the  following 
day,  the  President,  for  the  first  time,  wrote 
his  name.  On  the  10th  he  signed  an  im 
portant  extradition  paper,  and  on  the  llth 
wrote  a  letter  of  hopefulness  to  his  aged 
mother.  On  the  12th  Dr.  Hamilton  ex- 
pre#<ed  the  opinion  that  the  further  at 
tendance  of  himself  and  Dr.  Agnew  was 
unnecessary.  The  stomach  continued 
weak,  however,  and  on  the  15th  nausea  re 
turned,  and  the  most  menacing  physical 
prostration  followed  the  frequent  vomiting, 
and  the  evening  bulletin  announced  that 
"  the  President's  condition,  on  the  wholer 
is  less  satisfactory." 

Next  a  new  complication  forced  itself 
upon  the  attention  of  the  physicians.  This 
was  described  as  "  inflammation  of  the 
right  parotid  gland."  On  August  24th  it 
was  decided  to  make  an  incision  'below 
and  forward  of  the  right  ear,  in  order  to 
prevent  suppuration.  Though  this  opera 
tion  was  pronounced  satisfactory,  the  pa 
tient  gradually  sank,  until  August  25th, 
when  all  hope  seemed  to  have  left  those 
in  attendance. 

Two  days  of  a  dreary  watch  ensued  ;  on 
the  27th  *an  improvement  inspired  new 
hope.  This  continued  throughout  the 
week,  but  failed  to  build  up  the  system. 
Then  it  was  determined  to  remove  the  pa 
tient  to  a  more  favorable  atmosphere.  On 
the  6th  of  September  this  design  was  exe 
cuted,  he  having  been  conveyed  in  a  car 
arranged  for  the  purpose  to  Long  Branch, 
where,  in  a  cottage  at  Elberon,  it  was 
hoped  vigor  would  return.  At  first,  indi 
cations  justified  the  most  sanguine  expec 
tations.  On  the  9th,  however,  fever  re 
turned,  and  a  cough  came  to  harass  the 
wasted  sufferer.  It  was  attended  with 
purulent  expectoration,  and  became  so 
troublesome  as  to  entitle  it  to  be  regarded 
as  the  leading  feature  of  the  case.  The 
surgeons  attributed  it  to  the  septic  condi 
tion  of  the  blood.  The  trouble  increased 
until  Saturday,  September  10th,  when  it 
was  thought  the  end  was  reached.  He 
rallied,  however,  and  improved  rapidly, 
during  the  succeeding  few  days,  and  on 
Tuesday,  the  13th,  was  lifted  from  the  bed 
and  placed  in  a  chair  at  the  window.  The 


improvement  was  not  enduring,  however, 
and  on  Saturday,  September  17th,  the 
rigor  returned.  During  the  nights  and 
days  succeeding,  until  the  final  moment, 
hope  rose  and  fell  alternately,  and  though 
the  patient's  spirits  fluctuated  to  justify 
this  change  of  feeling,  the  improvement 
failed  to  bring  with  it  the  strength  neces 
sary  to  meet  the  strain. 

President  Garfielcl  died  at  10.35  on  the 
night  of  Sept.  19th,  1881,  and  our  nation 
mourned,  as  it  had  only  done  once  before, 
when  Abraham  Lincoln  also  fell  by  the 
hand  of  an  assassin.  The  assassin  Guiteau 
was  tried  and  convicted,  the  jury  rejecting 
his  plea  of  insanity. 


President  Arthur. 

Vice-President  Arthur,  during  the  long 
illness  of  the  President,  and  at  the  time  of 
his  death,  deported  himself  so  well  that  he 
won  the  good  opinion  of  nearly  all  classes 
of  the  people,  and  happily  for  weeks  and 
months  all  i'actious  or  partisan  spirit  was 
hushed  by  the  nation's  great  calamity. 
At  midnight  on  the  19th  of  September  the 
Cabinet  telegraphed  him  from  Long 
Branch  to  take  the  oath  of  office,  and  this 
he  very  properly  did  before  a  local  judge. 
The  Government  cannot  wisely  be  left 
without  a  head  for  a  single  day.  He  was 
soon  afterwards  again  sworn  in  at  Washing 
ton,  with  the  usual  ceremonies,  and  took 
occasion  to  make  a  speech  which  improved 
the  growing  better  feeling.  The  new 
President  requested  the  Cabinet  to  hold 
on  until  Congress  met,  and  it  would  have 
remained  intact  had  Secretary  Windom 
not  found  it  necessary  to  resume  his  place 
in  the  Senate.  The  vacancy  was  offered 
to  ex-Governor  Morgan,  of  New  York, 
who  was  actually  nominated  and  confirmed 
before  he  made  up  his  mind  to  decline  it. 
Judge  Folger  now  fills  the  place.  The 
several  changes  since  made  will  be  found 
in  the  Tabulated  History,  Book  VII. 

It  has  thus  far  been  the  effort  of  Presi 
dent  Arthur  to  allay  whatever  of  factious 
bitterness  remains  in  the  Republican  party. 
In  his  own  State  of  New  York  the  terms 
"Half-Breed "and  "Stalwart"  are  pass 
ing  into  comparative  disuse,  as  are  the 
terms  "  Regulars  "  and  "  Independents  " 
in  Pennsylvania. 


«  Boss  Rule." 

The  complaint  of  "  Boss  Rule  "  in  these 
States — by  which  is  meant  the  control  of 
certain  leaders — still  obtains  to  some  ex 
tent.  Wayne  Mac  Veagh  was  the  author  of 
this  very  telling  political  epithet,  and  he 
used  it  with  rare  force  in  his  street  speeches 
at  Chicago  when  opposing  the  nomination 
of  Grant.  It  was  still  further  cuiiivated 


2G2 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


by  Rufus  E.  Shapley,  Esq,,  of  Philadel 
phia,  the  author  of  "  Solid  for  Mulhooly," 
a  most  admirable  political  satire,  which 
had  an  immense  sale.  Ite  many  hits  were 
freely  quoted  by  the  Reformers  of  Phila 
delphia,  who  organized  under  the  Com 
mittee  of  One  Hundred,  a  body  of  mer 
chants  who  first  banded  themselves 
together  to  promote  reforms  in  the  munici 
pal  government.  This  organization,  aided 
by  the  Democrats,  defeated  Mayor  Win. 
S.  Stokley  for  his  third  term,  electing  Mr. 
Kins:,  theretofore  a  very  popular  Demo 
cratic  councilman.  In  return  for  this  sup 
port,  the  Democrats  accepted  John  Hun 
ter,  Committee's  nominee  for  Tax  Receiver, 
and  the  combination  succeeded.  In  the 
fall  of  1881  it  failed  on  the  city  ticket,  but 
in  the  spring  of  1882  secured  material  suc 
cesses  in  the  election  of  Councilmen,  who 
were  nominees  of  both  parties,  but  aided 
by  the  endorsement  of  the  Committee  of 
One  Hundred.  A  similar  combination 
failed  as  between  Brown  (Rep.)  and  Eisen- 
brown  (Dem.)  for  Magistrate.  On  this 
part  of  the  ticket  the  entire  city  voted,  and 
the  regular  Republicans  won  by  about  500 
majority. 

The  following  is  the  declaration  of  prin 
ciples  of  the  Citizens'  Republican  Associ 
ation  of  Philadelphia,  which,  under  the 
banner  of  Mr.  Wolfe,  extended  its  organi 
zation  to  several  counties : 

I.  We  adhere  to  the  platform  of  the 
National   Convention  of  the  Republican 
party,  adopted  at  Chicago,  June  2d,  1880, 
and  we  proclaim  our    unswerving    alle 
giance  to  the  great  principles  upon  which 
that  party  was  founded,  to  wit :    national 
supremacy,  universal  liberty,  and  govern 
mental  probity. 

II.  The  Republican  party,  during  its 
glorious    career,   having  virtually   estab 
lished  its  principles  of  national  supremacy 
and  universal  liberty  as  the  law  of  the 
land,  we  shall,  while  keeping  a  vigilant 
watch  over  the  maintenance  of  those  prin 
ciples,  regard  the  third  one,  viz. :  govern 
mental  probity,  as  the  living  issue  to  be 
struggled  for  in  the  future ;  and  as  the 
pure  administration  of  government  is  es 
sential  to  the  permanence  of  Republican 
institutions,  we  consider  this  issue  as  in  no 
way  inferior  in  importance  to  any  other. 

III.  The  only  practical  method  of  re 
storing  purity  to  administration  is  through 
the  adoption  of  a  system  of  civil  service, 
under  which  public  officials  shall  not  be 
the  tools  of  any  man  or  of  any  clique,  sub 
ject  to  dismissal  at  their  behest,  or  to  as 
sessment  in  their  service;    nor  appoint 
ment  to  office  be    "patronage"    at   the 
disposal  of  any  man  to   consolidate  his 
power  within  the  party. 

IV.  It  is  the  abuse  of  this  appointing 
power  which  has  led  to  the  formation  of 
the  "  machine,"  and  the  subjection  of  the 


party  to  "  bosses."  Our  chosen  leader,  the 
late  President  Garfield,  fell  a  martyr  in  his 
contest  with  the  "  bosses."  We  take  up 
the  struggle  where  he  left  it,  and  we  hereby 
declare  that  we  will  own  no  allegiance  to 
any  "boss,"  nor  be  subservient  to  any 
"  machine ;"  but  that  we  will  do  our  ut 
most  to  liberate  the  party  from  the  "  boss" 
domination  under  which  it  has  fallen. 

V.  Recognizing  that  political  parties 
are  simply  instrumentalities  for  the  en 
forcement  of  certain  recognized  principles, 
we  shall  endeavor  to  promote  the  principles 
of  the  Republican  party  by  means  of  that 
party,  disenthralled  and  released  from  the 
domination  of  its  "  bosses."  But  should 
we  fail  in  this,  we  shall  have  no  hesitation 
in  seeking  to  advance  the  principles  of  the 
party  through  movements  and  organiza 
tions  outside  of  the  party  lines. 

The  idea  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hun 
dred  is  to  war  against "  boss  rule"  in  muni 
cipal  affairs.  James  McManes  has  long 
enjoyed  the  leadership  of  the  Republican 
party  in  Philadelphia,  and  the  reform  ele 
ment  has  directed  its  force  against  his 
power  as  a  leader,  though  he  joined  at 
Chicago  in  the  MacVeagh  war  against  the 
form  of  "  boss  rule,"  which  was  then  di 
rected  against  Grant,  Conkling,  Logan  and 
Cameron.  This  episode  has  really  little, 
if  anything,  to  do  with  Federal  politics, 
but  the  facts  are  briefly  recited  with  a  view 
to  explain  to  the  reader  the  leading  force 
which  supported  Mr.  Wolfe  in  his  inde 
pendent  race  in  Pennsylvania.  Summed 
up,  it  is  simply  one  of  those  local  wars 
against  leadership  which  precede  and  fol 
low  factions. 

The  factious  battles  in  the  Republican 
party,  as  we  have  stated,  seem  to  have 
spent  their  force.  The  assassination  of 
President  Garfield  gave  them  a  most  seri 
ous  check,  for  men  were  then  compelled  to 
look  back  and  acknowledge  that  his  plain 
purpose  was  to  check  divisions  and  heal 
wounds.  Only  haste  and  anger  assailed, 
and  doubtless  as  quickly  regretted  the  as 
sault.  President  Arthur,  with  commend 
able  reticence  and  discretion,  is  believed 
to  be  seeking  the  same  end.  He  has  made 
few  changes,  and  these  reluctantly.  His 
nomination  of  ex-Senator  Conkling  to  a 
seat  in  the  Supreme  Bench,  which,  though 
declined,  is  generally  accepted  as  an  assu 
rance  to  New  Yorkers  that  the  leader 
hated  by  one  side  and  loved  by  the  other, 
should  be  removed  from  partisan  politics 
peculiar  to  his  own  State,  but  removed 
with  the  dignity  and  honor  becoming  his 
high  abilities.  It  has  ever  been  the  policy 
of  wise  administrations,  as  with  wise  gene 
rals,  to  care  for  the  wounded,  and  Conk- 
ling  was  surely  and  sorely  wounded  in  his 
battle  against  the  confirmation  of  Robert 
son  and  his  attempted  re-election  to  the 
Senate.  He  accepted  the  situation  with 


THE    READJUSTEES. 


263 


quiet  composure,  and  saw  his  friend  Ar 
thur  unite  the  ranks  which  his  resignation 
had  sundered.  After  this  there  remained 
little  if  any  cause  for  further  quarrel,  and 
while  in  writing  history  it  is  dangerous  to 
attempt  a  prophecy,  the  writer  believer 
that  President  Arthur  will  succeed  in 
keeping  his  party,  if  not  fully  united,  at 
least  as  compact  as  the  opposing  Democra 
tic  forces. 


The  Kt  adjusters. 

This  party  was  founded  in  1878  by  Gen'l 
William  Mahoiie,  a  noted  Brigadier  in 
the  rebel  army.  He  is  of  Scotch-Irish  de 
scent,  a  man  of  very  small  stature  but 
most  remarkable  energy,  and  acquired 
wealth  in  the  construction  and  develop 
ment  of  Southern  railroads.  He  sounded 
the  first  note  of  revolt  against  what  he 
styled  the  B.mrbon  rule  of  Virginia,  and 
being  classed  as  a  Democrat,  rapidly  di 
vided  that  party  on  the  question  of  the 
Virginia  debt.  'His  enemies  charge  that 
he  sought  the  repudiation  of  this  debt,  but 
in  return  he  not  only  denied  the  charge, 
but  said  the  Bourbons  were  actually  re 
pudiating  it  by  making  no  provision  for 
its  payment,  either  in  appropriations  or 
the  levying  of  taxes  needed  for  the  pur 
pose.  Doubtless  his  views  on  this  ques 
tion  have  unlergone  some  modification, 
and  that  earlier  in  the  struggle  the  uglier 
criticisms  were  partially  correct.  Certain 
it  is  that  he  and  his  friends  now  advocate 
full  payment  less  the  proportion  equitably 
assigned  to  West  Virginia,  which  sepa 
rated  from  the  parent  Stats  during  the 
war,  and  in  her  constitution  evaded  her 
responsibility  by  declaring  that  the  State 
should  never  contract  a  debt  except  one 
created  to  resist  invasion  or  in  a  war  for  the 
government.  This  fact  shows  how  keenly 
alive  the  West  Virginians  were  to  a  claim 
which  could  very  justly  be  pressed  ia  the 
event  of  Virginia  being  restored  to  the 
Union,  and  this  claim  Gen'l  Mahone  has 
persistently  pressed,  and  latterly  urged  a 
funding  of  the  debt  of  his  State  at  a  3  per 
cent,  rate,  on  the  ground  that  the  State  is 
unable  to  pay  more  and  that  this  ia  in  ac 
cord  with  proper  rates  of  interest  on  the 
bonds  of  State  governments — a  view  not 
altogether  fair  or  sound,  since  it  leaves  the 
creditors  po.verless  to  do  otherwise  than 
accept.  The  regular  or  Bourbon  Demo 
crats  proclaimed  in  favor  of  full  payment, 
and  in  this  respect  differed  from  their 
party  associates  as  to  ante-war  debts  in 
most  other  Southern  States. 

Gen.  Mali  one  rapidly  organized  his  re 
volt,  and  as  the  Republican  party  was  then 
in  a  hopeless  minority  in  Virginia,  public 
ly  invited  an  alliance  by  the  passage  of  a 
platform  which  advocated  free  schools  for 
the  blacks  and  a  full  enforcement  of  the 


National  laws  touching  their  civil  rights. 
The  Legislature  was  won,  and  on  the  16th 
of  December,  1880,  Gen'l  Mahone  was 
elected  to  the  U.  S.  Senate  to  succeed  Sen 
ator  Withers,  whose  term  expired  March 
•4,  1881. 

In  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1880, 
the  Readjusters  supported  Gen'l  Hancock, 
but  on  a  separate  electoral  ticket,  while 
the  Republicans  supported  Garfield  on  an 
electoral  ticket  of  their  own  selection. 
This  division  was  pursuant  to  an  under 
standing,  and  at  the  time  thought  advi 
sable  by  Mahone,  who,  if  his  electors  won, 
could  go  for  Hancock  or  not,  as  circum 
stances  might  suggest ;  while  if  he  failed 
the  Republicans  might  profit  by  the  sepa 
ration.  There  was,  however,  a  third  horn 
to  this  dilemma,  for  the  regular  Democratic 
electors  were  chosen,  but  the  political 
complexion  of  the  Legislature  was  not 
changed.  Prior  to  the  Presidential  nomi 
nations  Mahone's  Readjuster  Convention 
had  signified  their  willingness  to  support 
Gen'l  Grant  if  he  should  be  nominated  at 
Chicago,  and  this  fact  was  widely  quoted 
by  his  friends  in  their  advocacy  of  Grant's 
nomination,  and  in  descanting  upon  his 
ability  to  carry  Southern  States. 

The  Readjuster  movement  at  first  had 
no  other  than  local  designs,  but  about  the 
time  of  its  organization  there  was  a  great 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  leading  Republi 
cans  to  break  the  <k  Solid  South,"  and 
every  possible  expedient  to  that  end  was 
suggested.  It  was  solid  for  the  Democratic 
party,  and  standing  thus  could  with  the 
aid  of  New  York,  Indiana  and  New  Jersey 
(them  all  Democratic  States)  assure  the 
election  of  a  Democratic  President. 

One  of  the  favorite  objects  of  President 
Hayes  was  to  break  the  "  Solid  South." 
He  first  obtained  it  by  conciliatory  speech 
es,  which  were  so  conciliatory  in  fact  that 
they  angered  radical  Republicans,  and 
there  were  thus  threatened  division  in  un 
expected  quarters.  He  next  tried  it 
through  Gen'l  Key,  whom  he  made  Post 
master  General  in  the  hope  that  he  could 
resurrect  and  reorganize  the  old  Whig 
elements  of  the  South.  Key  was  to  attend 
to  Southern  postal  patronage  with  this  end 
in  view,  while  Mr.  Tener,  his  able  First  As 
sistant,  was  to  distribute  Northern  or  Re 
publican  patronage.  So  far  as  dividing 
the  South  was  concerned,  the  scheme  was 
a  flat  failure. 

The  next  and  most  quiet  and  effectual 
effort  was  made  by  Gen'l  Simon  Cameron, 
Ex-Senator  from  Pennsylvania.  He  started 
on  a  brief  Southern  tour,  ostensibly  for 
health  and  enjoyment,  but  really  to  meet 
Gen'l  Mahone,  his  leading  Readjuster 
friends,  and  the  leading  Republicans. 
Conferences  were  held,  and  the  union  of 
the  two  forces  was  made  to  embrace  Na 
tional  objects.  This  was  in  the  Fall  of  1879. 


264 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Not  long  thereafter  Gen'l  Mahone  consult 
ed  with  Senator  J.  Don.  Cameron,  who 
was  of  course  familiar  with  his  father's 
movements,  and  he  actively  devised  and 
carried  out  schemes  to  aid  the  new  combi 
nation  by  which  the  "  Solid  South  "  was 
to  be  broken.  In  the  great  State  campaign 
of  1881,  when  the  Bourbon  and  anti- Bour 
bon  candidates  for  Governor,  were  stump 
ing  the  State,  Gen'l  Mahone  found  that  a 
large  portion  of  his  colored  friends  were 
handicapped  by  their  inability  to  pay  the 
taxes  imposed  upon  them  by  the  laws  of 
Virginia,  and  this  threatened  defeat.  He 
sought  aid  from  the  National  administra 
tion.  President  Garfield  favored  the  com 
bination,  as  did  Secretary  Windom,  but 
Secretary  Blaine  withheld  his  support  for 
several  months,  finally,  however,  acceding 
to  the  wishes  of  the  President  and  most  of 
the  Cabinet.  Administration  influences 
caused  the  abandonment  of  a  straight-out 
Republican  movement  organized  by  Con 
gressman  Jorgensen  and  others,  and  a 
movement  which  at  one  time  threatened  a 
disastrous  division  was  overcome.  The 
tax  question  remained,  and  this  was  first 
met  by  Senator  J.  Don.  Cameron,  who 
while  summering  at  Manhattan  Island, 
was  really  daily  engaged  in  New  York 
City  raising  funds  for  Mahone,  with  which 
to  pay  their  taxes.  Still,  this  aid  was  insuf 
ficient,  and  in  the  heat  of  the  battle  the 
revenue  officers  throughout  the  United 
States,  were  asked  to  contribute.  Many  of 
them  did  so,  and  on  the  eve  of  election  all 
taxes  were  paid  and  the  result  was  the 
election  of  William  E.  Cameron  (Read- 
juster)  as  Governor  by  about  20,000  ma 
jority,  with  other  State  officers  divided  be 
tween  the  old  Readjusters  and  Republi 
cans.  The  combination  also  carried  the 
Legislature. 

In  that  great  struggle  the  Readjusters 
became  known  as  the  anti-Bourbon  move 
ment,  and  efforts  are  now  being  made  to 
extend  it  to  other  Southern  States.  It  has 
taken  root  in  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Tennessee,  Arkansas,  Mississippi,  and 
more  recently  in  Kentucky,  where  the 
Union  War  Democrats  in  State  Convention 
as  late  as  March  1,  1882,  separated  from 
the  Bourbon  wing  of  the  party.  For  a 
better  idea  of  these  two  elements  in  the 
South,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  recent 
speeches  of  Hill  and  Mahone  in  the  me 
morable  Senate  scene  directly  after  the 
latter  took  the  oath  of  office,  and  cast  his 
vote  with  the  Republicans.  These  speeches 
will  be  found  in  Book  III  of  this  volume. 


Suppressing  Mormonism. 

Polygamy,  iustly  denounced  as  "the 
true  relic  of  barbarism  "  while  slavery  ex 
isted,  has  ever  since  the  settlement  of  the 


Mormons  in  Utah,  been  one  of  the  vexed 
questions  in  American  politics.  Laws 
passed  for  its  suppression  have  proved,  thus 
far,  unavailing  ;  troops  could  not  crush  it 
out,  or  did  not  at  a  time  when  battles  were 
fought  and  won ;  United  States  Courts 
were  powerless  where  juries  could  not  be 
found  to  convict.  Latterly  a  new  and 
promising  effort  has  been  made  for  its  sup 
pression.  This  was  begun  in  the  Senate 
in  the  session  of  1882.  On  the  16th  of 
February  a  vote  was  taken  by  sections  on 
Senator  Edmunds'  bill,  which  like  the  law 
of  1862  is  penal  in  its  provisions,  but  di 
rectly  aimed  against  the  crime  of  poly 
gamy. 

President  Arthur  signed  the  Edmunds 
anti-polygamy  bill  on  the  23d  of  March, 
1882. 

Delegate  Cannon  of  Utah,  was  on  the 
floor  of  the  Senate  electioneering  against 
the  bill,  and  he  plead  with  some  success, 
for  several  Democratic  Senators  made 
speeches  against  it.  The  Republicans  were 
unanimously  for  the  bill,  and  the  Demo 
crats  were  not  solidly  against  it,  though  the 
general  tenor  of  the  debate  on  this  side 
was  against  it. 

Senator  Vest  (Democrat)  of  Missouri, 
said  that  never  in  the  darkest  days  of  the 
rule  of  the  Tudors  and  Stuarts  had  any 
measure  been  advocated  which  came  so 
near  a  bill  of  attainder  as  this  one.  It 
was  monstrous  to  contend  that  the  people 
of  the  United  States  were  at  the  mercy  of 
Congress  without  any  appeal.  If  this  bill 
passed  it  would  establish  a  precedent  that 
would  come  home  to  plague  us  for  all 
time  to  come.  The  pressure  against  poly 
gamy  to-day  might  exist  to-morrow  against 
any  church,  institution  or  class  in  this 
broad  land,  and  when  the  crested  waves  of 
prejudice  and  passion  mounted  high  they 
would  be  told  that  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  had  trampled  upon  the  Con 
stitution.  In  conclusion,  he  said:  "  lam 
prepared  for  the  abuse  and  calumny  that 
will  follow  any  man  who  dares  to  criticise 
any  bill  against  polygamy,  and  yet,  if  my 
official  life  had  to  terminate  to-morrow,  I 
would  not  give  my  vote  for  the  unconsti 
tutional  principles  contained  in  this  bill." 
Other  speeches  were  made  by  Messrs.  Mor 
gan,  Brown,  Jones,  of  Florida,  Saulsbury, 
Call,  Pendleton,  Sherman,  and  Lamar,  and 
the  debate  was  closed  by  Mr.  Edmunds  in 
an  eloquent  fifteen-minutes'  speech,  in 
which  he  carefully  reviewed  and  contro 
verted  the  objections  urged  against  the 
bill  of  the  committee. 

He  showed  great  anxiety  to  have  the 
measure  disposed  of  at  once  and  met  a  re 
quest  from  the  Democratic  side  for  a  post 
ponement  till  other  features  should  be  em 
bodied  in  the  bills  with  the  remark  that 
this  was  the  policy  that  had  hitherto  proven 
a  hindrance  to  legislation  on  this  subject 


SUPPRESSING    MORMONISM. 


265 


and  that  he  was  tired  of  it.  In  the  bill  as 
amended  the  following  section  provoked 
more  opposition  than  any  other,  although 
the  Senators  refrained  from  making  any 
particular  mention  of  it :  "  That  if  any 
male  person  in  a  Territory  or  other  place 
over  which  the  United  States  have  exclu 
sive  jurisdiction  hereafter  cohabits  with 
more  than  one  woman  he  shall  be  deemed 
guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  on  conviction 
thereof  he  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of 
not  more  than  $300  or  by  imprisonment 
for  not  more  than  six  months,  or  by  both 
said  punishments  in  the  discretion  of  the 
court."  The  bill  passed  viva  yoce  vote 
after  a  re-arrangemerit  of  its  sections,  one 
of  the  changes  being  that  not  more  than 
three  of  the  commissioners  shall  be  mem 
bers  of  the  same  party.  The  fact  that  the 
yeas  and  nays  were  not  called,  shows  that 
there  is  no  general  desire  on  either  side  to 
make  the  bill  a  partisan  measure. 

The  Edmunds  Bill  passed  the  House 
March  14,  1882,  without  material  amend 
ment,  the  Republican  majority,  refusing  to 
allov/  the  time  asked  by  the  Democrats  for 
discussion.  The  vote  was  193  for  to  only 
45  against,  all  of  the  negative  votes  being 
Democratic  save  one,  that  of  Jones,  Green- 
backer  from  Texas. 

The  only  question  was  whether  the  bill/ 
as  passed  by  the  Senate,  would  accomplish 
that  object,  and  whether  certain  provisions 
of  this  bill  did  not  provide  a  remedy  which 
was  worse  than  the  disease.  Many  Demo 
crats  thought  that  the  precedent  of  inter 
fering  with  the  right  of  suffrage  at  the 
polls,  when  the  voter  had  not  been  tried 
and  convicted  of  any  crime,  was  so  dan 
gerous  that  they  could  not  bring  them 
selves  to  vote  for  the  measure.  Among 
these  democrats  were  Belmont  and  Hew 
itt,  of  New  York,  and  a  number  of  others 
equally  prominent.  But  they  all  professed 
their  readiness  to  vote  for  any  measure 
which  would  affect  the  abolition  of  poly 
gamy  without  impairing  the  fundamental 
rights  of  citizens  in  other  parts  of  the  coun 
try. 

THE  TEXT  OF  THE  BILL. 

Be  it  enacted,  &c.,  That  section  5,352  of 
the  Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States 
be,  and  the  same  is  hereby  amended  so  as 
to  read  as  follows,  namely : 

"  Every  person  who  has  a  husband  or 
wife  living  who,  in  a  Territory  or  other 
place  over  which  the  United  States  have 
exclusive  jurisdiction,  hereafter  marries 
another,  whether  married  or  single,  and 
any  man  who  hereafter  simultaneously,  or 
on  the  same  day,  marries  more  than  one 
woman,  in  a  Territory  or  other  place  over 
which  the  United  States  has  exclusive 
jurisdiction,  is  guilty  of  polygamy,  and  shall 
be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than 
$500  and  by  imprisonment  for  a  term  of  not 


more  than  five  years ;  but  this  section  shall 
not  extend  to  any  person  by  reason  of  any 
former  marriage  whose  husband  or  wife  by 
such  marriage  shall  have  been  absent  for 
five  successive  years,  and  is  not  knowrn  to 
such  person  to  be  living,  and  is  believed  by 
such  person  to  be  dead,  nor  to  any  person 
by  reason  of  any  former  marriage  which 
shall  have  been  dissolved  by  a  valid  de 
cree  of  a  competent  court,  nor  to  any  per 
son  by  reason  of  any  former  marriage  which 
|  shall  have  been  pronounced  void  by  a  val- 
'  id  decree  of  a  competent  court,  on  the 
ground  of  nullity  of  the  marriage  con 
tract." 

SEC.  2.  That  the  foregoing  provisions 
shall  not  affect  the  prosecution  or  punish 
ment  of  any  offence  already  committed 
against  the  section  amended  by  the  first 
section  of  this  act. 

SEC.  3.  That  if  any  male  person,  in  a 
Territory  or  other  place  over  which  the 
United  States  have  exclusive  jurisdiction, 
hereafter  cohabits  with  more  than  one  wo 
man,  he  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  mis 
demeanor,  and  on  conviction  thereof  shall 
be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than 
$300,  or  by  imprisonment  for  not  more 
than  six  months,  or  by  both  said  punish 
ments  in  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

SEC.  4.  That  counts  for  any  or  all  of  the 
offences  named  in  sections  1  and  3  of  this 
act  may  be  joined  in  the  same  information 
or  indictment. 

SEC.  5.  That  in  any  prosecution  for  biga 
my,  polygamy  or  unlawful  cohabitation 
under  any  statute  of  the  United  States,  it 
shall  be  sufficient  cause  of  challenge  to  any 
person  drawn  or  summoned  as  a  juryman 
or  talesman,  first,  that  he  is  or  has  been 
living  in  the  practice  of  bigamy,  poly 
gamy,  or  unlawful  cohabitation  with  more 
than  one  woman,  or  that  he  is  or  has  been 
guilty  of  an  offence  punishable  by  either 
of  the  foregoing  sections  or  by  section  5352 
of  the  Revised  Statutes  of  the  United 
States  or  the  act  of  July  1,  1862,  entitled 
"  An  act  to  punish  and  prevent  the  prac 
tice  of  polygamy  in  the  Territories  of  the 
United  States  and  other  places,  and  disap 
proving  and  annulling  certain  acts  of  the 
Legislative  Assembly  of  the  Territory  of 
Utah ;"  or,  second,  that  he  believes  it  right 
for  a  man  to  have  more  than  one  living  and 
undivorced  wife  at  the  same  time,  or  to  live 
in  the  practice  of  cohabiting  with  more 
than  one  woman,  and  any  person  appear 
ing  or  offered  as  a  juror  or  talesman  and 
challenged  on  either  of  the  foregoing 
grounds  may  be  questioned  on  his  oath  as 
to  the  existence  of  any  such  cause  of  chal 
lenge,  and  other  evidence  may  be  intro 
duced  bearing  upon  the  question  raised  by 
such  challenge,  and  this  question  shall  be 
tried  bv  the  court.  But  as  to  the  first  ground 
of  challenge  before  mentioned  the  person 
challenged  shall  be  bound  to  answer  if  he 


266 


'AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


shall  say  upon  his  oath  that  he  declines  on 
the  ground  that  his  answer  may  tend  to 
criminate  himself,  and  if  he  shall  answer 
to  said  first  ground  his  answer  shall  not  be 
given  in  evidence  in  any  criminal  prose 
cution  against  him  for  any  o  flense  named 
in  sections  1  or  3  of  this  act,  but  if  he 
declines  to  answer  on  any  ground  he  shall 
be  rejected  as  incompetent. 

SEC.  6.  That  the  President  is  hereby  au 
thorized  to  grant  amnesty  to  such  classes 
of  offenders  guilty  before  the  passage  of 
this  act  of  bigamy,  polygamy,  or  unlawful 
cohabitation  before  the  passage  of  this  act, 
on  such  conditions  and  under  such  limita 
tions  as  he  shall  think  proper  ;  but  no  such 
amnesty  shall  have  effect  unless  the  condi 
tions  thereof  shall  be  complied  with. 

SEC.  7.  That  the  issue  of  bigamous  or 
polygamous  marriages  known  as  Mormon 
marriages,  in  cases  in  which  such  marriages 
have  been  solemnized  according  to  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Mormon  sect,  in  any 
Territory  of  the  United  States,  and  such 
issue  shall  have  been  born  before  the  1st 
day  of  January,  A.  D.  1883,  are  hereby 
legitimated. 

SEC.  8.  That  no  polygamist,  bigamist,  or 
any  person  cohabiting  with  more  than  one 
woman,  and  no  woman  cohabiting  with 
any  of  the  persons  described  as  aforesaid 
in  this  section,  in  any  Territory  or  other 
place  over  which  the  United  States  have  ex 
clusive  jurisdiction,  shall  be  entitled  to  vote 
at  any  election  held  in  any  such  Territory 
or  other  place,  or  be  eligible  for  election  or 
appointment  to  or  be  entitled  to  hold  any 
office  or  place  of  public  trust,  honor  or 
emolument  in,  under,  or  for  such  Territory 
or  place,  or  under  the  United  States. 

SEC.  9.  That  all  the  registration  and 
election  offices  of  every  description  in  the 
Territory  of  Utah  are  hereby  declared  va 
cant,  and  each  and  every  duty  relating  to 
the  registration  of  voters,  the  conduct  of 
elections,  the  receiving  or  rejection  of  votes, 
and  the  canvassing  and  returning  of  the 
same,  and  the  issuing  of  certificates  or 
other  evidence  of  election  in  said  Terri 
tory,  shall,  until  other  provision  be  made 
by  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  said  Terri 
tory  as  is  hereinafter  by  this  section  pro 
vided,  be  performed  under  the  existing 
laws  of  the  United  States  and  of  said  Ter 
ritory  by  proper  persons,  who  shall  be  ap 
pointed  to  execute  such  offices  and  perform 
such  duties  by  a  board  of  five  persons,  to 
be  appointed  by  the  President,  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  and 
not  more  than  three  of  whom  shall  be  mem 
bers  of  one  political  party,  and  a  majority 
of  whom  shall  constitute  a  quorum.  The 
members  of  snid  board  so  appointed  by  the 
President  shall  each  receive  a  salary  at  the 
rate  of  $3,000  per  annum,  and  shall  con 
tinue  in  office  until  the  Legislative  As 
sembly  of  said  Territory  shall  make  pro 


vision  for  filling  said  offices  as  herein  au 
thorized.  The  secretary  of  the  Territory 
shall  be  the  secretary  of  said  board,  and 
keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  and  at 
test  the  action  of  said  board  under  this 
section.  The  canvass  and  return  of  all 
the  votes  at  elections  in  said  Territory  for 
members  of  the  Legislative  Assembly 
thereof  shall  also  be  returned  to  said  board, 
which  shall  canvass  all  such  returns  and 
issue  certificates  of  election  to  those  per 
sons  who,  being  eligible  for  such  election, 
shall  appear  to  have  been  lawfully  elected, 
which  certificate  shall  be  the  only  evidence 
of  the  right  of  such  persons  to  sit  in  such 
Assembly :  Provided,  That  said  board  of 
five  persons  fchall  not  exclude  any  person 
otherwise  eligible  to  vote  from  the  polls  on 
account  of  any  opinion  such  person  may 
entertain  on  the  subject  of  bigamy  or  po 
lygamy,  nor  shall  they  refuse  to  count  any 
such  vote  on  account  of  the  opinion  of  the 
person  casting  it  on  the  subject  of  bigamy 
or  polygamy  ;  but  each  house  of  such  As 
sembly,  alter  its  organization,  shall  have 
power  to  decide  upon  the  elections  and 
qualifications  of  its  members.  And  at  or 
alter  the  first  meeting  of  said  Legislative 
Assembly  whose  members  shall  have  been 
elected  and  returned  according  to  the  pro 
visions  of  this  act,  said  Legislative  Assem 
bly  may  make  such  laws,  conformable  to 
the  organic  act  of  said  Territory  and  not 
inconsistent  with  other  laws  of  the  United 
States,  as  it  shall  deem  proper  concerning 
the  filling  of  the  offices  in  said  Territory 
declared  vacant  by  this  act. 

John  R.  McBride  writing  in  the  Febru 
ary  number  (1882)  of  The  International 
Review,  gives  an  interesting  and  correct 
vi'ew  of  the  obstacles  which  the  Mormons 
have  erected  against  the  enforcement  of 
United  States  laws  in  the  Territory.  It 
requires  acquaintance  with  these  facts  to 
fully  comprehend  the  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  what  seems  to. most  minds  a  very 
plain  and  easy  tatk.  Mr.  McBride  says: 
Their  first  care  on  arriving  in  Utah  was  to 
erect  a  "  free  and  Independent  State," 
called  the  "State  of  Deseret."  It  included 
in  its  nominal  limits,  not  only  all  of  Utah 
as  it  now  is,  but  one-half  of  California,  all 
of  Nevada,  part  of  Colorado,  and  a  krge 
portion  of  four  other  Territories  now  or 
ganized.  Brighrm  Young  was  elected 
Governor,  and  its  departments,  legislative 
and  judicial,  were  fully  organized  and  put 
into  operation.  Its  legislative  acts  were 
styled  "ordinances,"  and  when  Congress, 
disreprarfling  the  State  organization,  insti 
tuted  a  Territorial  Government  for  Utah, 
the  legislative  body  chosen  by  the  Mor 
mons  adopted  the  ordinances  of  the  "  State 
of  Deseret."  Many  of  these  are  yet  on 
the  statute  book  of  Utah.  They  show  con 
clusively  the  domination  of  the  ecclesiasti 
cal  idea,  and  how  utterly  insignificant  in 


SUPPRESSING    MORMONISM. 


267 


comparison  was  the  power  of  the  civil 
authority.  They  incorporated  the  Mormon 
Church  into  a  body  politic  and  corporate, 
and  by  the  third  section  of  the  act  gave  it 
supreme  authority  over  its  members  in 
everything  temporal  and  spiritual,  and  as 
signed  as  a  reason  for  so  doing  that  it  was 
because  the  powers  confirmed  were  in 
'  "  support  of  morality  and  virtue,  and  were 
founded  on  the  revelations  of  the  Lord." 
Under  this  power  to  make  laws  and  punish 
and  forgive  offenses,  to  hear  and  determine 
between  brethren,  the  civil  law  was  super 
seded.  The  decrees  of  the  courts  of  this 
church,  certified  under  seal,  have  been  ex 
amined  by  the  writer,  and  he  found  them 
exercising  a  jurisdiction  without  limit  ex 
cept  that  of  appeal  to  the  President  of  the 
church.  That  the  assassinations  of  apos 
tates,  the  massacres  of  the  Morrisites  at 
Morris  Fort  and  of  the  Arkansas  emigrants 
at  Mountain  Meadows,  were  all  in  pursu 
ance  of  church  decrees,  more  or  less  formal, 
no  one  acquaintad  with  the  system  doubts. 
This  act  of  incorporation  was  passed  Febru 
ary  8,  1851,  and  is  found  in  the  latest  com 
pilation  of  Utah  statutes.  It  is  proper  also 
to  observe  that,  for  many  years  after  the 
erection  of  the  Territorial  Government  by 
Congress,  the  "  State  of  Deseret"  organiza 
tion  vyas  maintained  by  the  Mormons,  and 
collision  was  only  prevented  because  Bri^- 
ham  was  Governor  of  both,  and  found  it 
unnecessary  for  his  purpose  to  antagonize 
either.  His  church  organization  made 
both  a  shadow,  while  that  was  the  sub 
stance  of  all  authority.  One  of  the  earli 
est  of  their  legislative  acts  was  to  organ 
ize  a  Surveyor  General's  Department,1  and 
title  to  land  was  declared  to  be  in  the  per 
sons  who  held  a  certificate  from  that  office.3 
Having  instituted  their  own  system  of 
government  and  taken  possession  of  the 
land,  and  assumed  to  distribute  that  in  a 
system  of  their  own,  the  next  step  was  to 
vest  certain  leading  men  with  the  control 
of  the  timbers  and  waters  of  the  country. 
By  a  series  of  acts  granting  lands,  waters 
and  timber  to  individuals,  the  twelve 
apostles  became  the  practical  proprietors  of 
the  better  and  more  desirable  portions  of 
the  country.  By  an  ordinance  dated  Octo 
ber  4,  1831,  there  was  granted  to  Brigham 
Young  the  "sole  control  of  City  Creek  and 
Canon  for  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars." 
By  an  ordinance  dated  January  9,  1850, 
the  "  waters  of  North  Mill  Creek  and  the 
waters  of  the  Canon  next  north"  were 
granted  to  Heber  C.  Kimball.  On  the 
same  day  was  granted  to  George  A.  Smith 
the  "  sole  control  of  the  canons  and  timber 
of  the  east  side  of  the  '  West  Mountains." 
On  the  18th  of  January,  1851,  the  North 
Cotton  wood  Canon  was  granted  exclusively 
to  Williard  Richards.  On  the  15th  of Janu- 

l  Act  of  March  2,  1850.  2Act  of  January  19,  1866. 


ary,  1851,  the  waters  of  the  "main  chan 
nel  "  of  Mill  Creek  were  donated  to  Brig- 
ham  Young.  On  the  9th  of  December, 
1850,  there  was  granted  to  Ezra  T.  Benson 
the  exclusive  control  of  the  waters  of  Twin 
Springs  and  Rock  Springs,  in  Tooelle  Val 
ley  ;  and  on  the  14th  of  January,  1851,  to 
the  same  person  was  granted  the  control  of 
all  the  canons  of  the  "  West  Mountain ;> 
and  the  timber  therein.  By  the  ordinance 
of  September  14,  1850,  a  "  general  con 
ference  of  the  Church  of  Latter  Day 
Saints "  was  authorized  to  elect  thirteen 
men  to  become  a  corporation,  to  be  called 
the  Emigration  Company ;  and  to  this  com 
pany,  elected  exclusively  by  the  church, 
was  secured  and  appropriated  the  two 
islands  in  Salt  Lake  known  as  Antelope 
and  Stansberry  Islands,  to  be  under  the 
exclusive  control  of  President  Brigham 
Young.  These  examples  are  given  to  show 
that  the  right  of  the  United  States  to  the 
lands  of  Utah  met  no  recognition  by  these 
people.  They  appropriated  them,  not  only 
in  a  way  to  make  the  people  slaves,  but 
indicated  their  claim  of  sovereignty  as 
superior  to  any.  Young,  Smith,  Benson 
and  Kimball  were  apostles.  Richards  was 
Brigham  Young's  counselor.  By  an  act  of 
December  28,  1855,  there  was  granted  to 
the  "  University  of  the  State  of  Deseret " 
a  tract  of  land  amounting  to  about  five 
hundred  acres,  inside  the  city  limits  of 
Salt  Lake  City,  without  any  reservation  to 
the  occupants  whatever ;  and  everywhere 
was  the  authority  of  the  United  States 
over  the  country  and  its  soil  and  people 
utterly  ignored. 

Not  satisfied  with  making  the  grants  re 
ferred  to,  the  Legislative  Assembly  entered 
upon  a  system  of  municipal  incorporations, 
by  which  the  fertile  lauds  of  the'Territory 
were  withdrawn  from  the  operation  of  the 
preemptive  laws  of  Congress;  and  thus 
while  they  occupied  these  without  title,  non- 
Mormons  were  unable  to  make  settlement 
on  them,  and  they  were  thus  engrossed 
to  Mormon  use.  From  a  report  made  by 
the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Of 
fice  to  the  United  States  Senate,1  it  appears 
that  the  municipal  corporations  covered 
over  400,000  acres  of  the  public  lands,  and 
over  600  square  miles  of  territory.  Theso 
lands3  are  not  subject  to  either  the  Home 
stead  or  Preemption  laws,  and  thus  the  non- 
Mormon  settler  was  prevented  from  attempt 
ing,  except  in  rare  instances,  to  secure  any 
lands  in  Utah.  The  spirit  which  prompted 
this  course  is  well  illustrated  by  an  instance 
which  was  the  subject  of  an  investigation 
in  the  Land  Department,  and  the  proofs 
are  found  in  the  document  just  referred  to. 
George  Q.  Cannon,  the  late  Mormon  dele 
gate  in  Congress,  was  called  10  exercise  his 


*  Senate  doc.  181,  46th  Congress. 
»Sec.  2,  258,  Rev.  Stat.  U.S. 


268 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


duties  as  an  apostle  to  the  Tooelle  "Stake" 
at  the  city  of  Grantville.  In  a  discourse 
on  Sunday,  the  20th  day  of  July,  1875,  Mr. 
Cannon  said :  *  "  God  has  given  us  (mean 
ing  the  Mormon  people)  this  land,  and,  if 
any  outsider  shall  come  in  to  take  land 
which  we  claim,  a  piece  six  feet  by  two  is 
all  they  are  entitled  to,  and  that  will  last 
them  to  all  eternity." 

By  measures  and  threats  like  these  have 
the  Mormons  unlawfully  controlled  the  ag 
ricultural  lands  of  the  Territory  and  ex 
cluded  therefrom  the  dissenting  settler. 
The  attempt  of  the  United  States  to  es 
tablish  a  Surveyor-General's  office  in  Utah 
in  1855,  and  to  survey  the  lands  in  view  of 
disposing  of  them  according  to  law,  was 
met  by  such  opposition  that  Mr.  Burr,  the 
Surveyor-General,  was  compelled  to  fly  for 
life.  The  monuments  of  surveys  made  by 
his  order  were  destroyed,  and  the  records 
were  supposed  to  have  met  a  like  fate,  but 
were  afterwards  restored  by  Brigham 
Young  to  the  Government.  The  report  of 
his  experience  by  Mr.  Burr  was  instru 
mental  in  causing  troops  to  be  sent  in  1857 
to  assert  the  authority  of  the  Government. 
When  this  army,  consisting  of  regular 
troops,  was  on  the  way  to  Utah,  Brigham 
Young,  as  Governor,  issued  a  proclamation, 
dated  September  15,  1857,  declaring  mar 
tial  law  and  ordering  the  people  of  the 
Territory  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness 
to  march  to  repel  the  invaders,  and  on  the 
29th  of  September  following  addressed  the 
commander  of  United  States  forces  an  or 
der  forbidding  him  to  enter  the  Territory, 
and  directing  him  to  retire  from  it  by  the 
same  route  he  had  come.  Further  evidence 
of  the  Mormon  claim  that  they  were  inde 
pendent  is  perhaps  unnecessary.  The  trea 
sonable  character  of  the  local  organization 
is  manifest.  It  is  this  organization  that 
controls,  not  only  the  people  who  belong  to 
it,  but  the  30,000  non-Mormons  who  now  re 
side  in  Utah. 

Every  member  of  the  territorial  Legisla 
ture  is  a  Mormon.  Every  county  officer  is 
a  Mormon.  Every  territorial  officer  is  a 
Mormon,  except  such  as  are  appointive. 
The  schools  provided  by  law  and  supported 
bv  taxation  are  Mormon.  The  teachers  are 
Mormon,  and  the  sectarian  catechism  af 
firming  the  revelations  of  Joseph  Smith  is 
regularly  taught  therein.  The  municipal 
corporations  are  under  the  control  of  Mor 
mons.  In  the  hands  of  this  bigoted  class 
all  the  material  interests  of  the  Territory 
are  left,  subject  only  to  such  checks  as  a 
Federal  Governor  and  a  Federal  judiciary 
can  impose.  From  beyond  the  sea  they  im 
port  some  thousands  of  ignorant  converts 
annually,  and,  while  the  non-Mormons  are 
increasing,  they  are  overwhelmed  by  the 
muddy  tide  of  fanaticism  shipped  in  upon 

1  According  to  the  affidavits  of  Samuel  Howard  and 
others,  page  14. 


them.  The  suffrage  has  been  bestowed 
upon  all  classes  by  a  statute  so  general  that 
the  ballot  box  is  filled  with  a  mass  of  votes 
which  repels  the  free  citizen  from  the  ex 
ercise  of  that  right.  If  a  Gentile  is  cho 
sen  to  the  Legislature  (two  or  three  such 
instances  have  occurred),  he  is  not  admit 
ted  to  the  seat,  although  the  act  of  Congress 
(June  23,  1874)  requires  the  Territory  to 
pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  enforcement  of 
the  laws  of  the  Territory,  and  of  the  care 
of  persons  convicted  of  offenses  against  the 
laws  of  the  Territory.  Provision  is  made 
for  jurors'  fees  in  criminal  cases  only,  and 
none  is  made  for  the  care  of  criminals.1 
While  Congress  pays  the  legislative  ex 
penses,  amounting  to  $20,000  per  session, 
the  Legislature  defiantly  refuses  to  comply 
with  the  laws  which  its  members  are  sworn 
to  support.  And  the  same  body,  though 
failing  to  protect  the  marriage  bond  by  any 
law  whatever  requiring  any  solemnities  for 
entering  it,  provided  a  divorce  act  which 
practically  allowed  marriages  to  be  annulled 
at  will.2  Neither  seduction,  adultery  nor 
incest  find  penalty  or  recognition  in  its  legal 
code.  The  purity  of  home  is  destroyed  by 
the  beastly  practice  of  plural  marriage,  and 
the  brows  of  innocent  children  are  branded 
with  the  stain  of  bastardy  to  gratify  the 
lust  which  cares  naught  for  its  victims. 
Twenty-eight  of  the  thirty-six  members  of 
the  present  Legislature  of  Utah  are  re 
ported  as  having  from  two  to  seven  wives 
each.  While  the  Government  of  the  Uni 
ted  States  is  paying  these  men  their  mile 
age  and  per  diem  as  law-makers  in  Utah, 
those  guilty  of  the  same  offense  outside  of 
Utah  are  leading  the  lives  of  felons  in  con 
vict  cells.  For  eight  years  a  Mormon  dele 
gate  has  sat  in  the  capitol  at  Washington 
having  four  living  wives  in  his  harem  in 
Utah,  and  at  the  same  time,  under  the 
shadow  of  that  capitol,  lingers  in  a  felon's 
prison  a  man  who  had  been  guilty  of  mar 
rying  a  woman  while  another  wife  was  still 
living. 

For  thirty  years  have  the  Mormons  been 
trusted  to  correct  these  evils  and  put  them 
selves  in  harmony  with  the  balance  of 
civilized  mankind.  This  they  have  refused 
to  do.  Planting  themselves  in  the  heart 
of  the  continent,  they  have  persistently 
defied  the  laws  of  the  land,  the  laws  of 
modern  society,  and  the  teachings  of  a 
common  humanity.  They  degrade  woman 
to  the  office  of  a  breeding  animal,  and, 
after  depriving  her  of  all  property  rights 
in  her  husband's  estate,3  all  control  of  her 
children,4  they,  with  ostentation,  bestow 
upon  her  the  ballot  in  a  way  that  makes 
it  a  nullity  if  contested,  and  compels  her 
to  use  it  to  perpetuate  her  own  degrada 
tion  if  she  avails  herself  of  it. 

1  See  Report  of  Attorney-General  United  States.  1SSO-81. 

2  Act  of  March  6.   l!B62.  :i  Act  of  February  10, 1872. 
*  Sees.  1  and  2,  act  of  February  o,  1852. 


THE    SOUTH    AMERICAN    QUESTION. 


269 


No  power  has  been  given  to  the  Mor 
mon  Hierarchy  that  has  not  been  abused. 
The  right  of  representation  in  the  legisla 
tive  councils  has  been  violated  in  the  ap 
portionment  of  members  so  as  to  disfran 
chise  the  non-Mormon  class.1  The  system 
of  revenue  and  taxation  was  for  twenty- 
five  years  a  system  of  confiscation  and  ex 
tortion.2  The  courts  were  so  organized  and 
controlled  that  they  were  but  the  organs  of 
the  church  oppressions  and  ministers  of 
its  vengeance.3  The  legal  profession  was 
abolished  by  a  statute  that  prohibited  a 
lawyer  from  recovering  on  any  contract 
for  service,  and  allowed  every  person  to 
appear  as  an  attorney  in  any  court.4  The 
attorney  was  compelled  to  present  "  all  the 
facts  in  the  case,"  whether  for  or  against 
his  client,  and  a  refusal  to  disclose  the 
confidential  communications  of  the  latter 
subjected  the  attorney  to  fine  and  imprison 
ment.5  No  law  book  except  the  statutes 
of  Utah  and  of  the  United  States,  "  when 
applicable,"  was  permitted  to  be  read  in 
any  court  by  an  attorney,  and  the  citation 
of  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  or  even  a  quotation  from 
the  Bible,  in  the  trial  of  any  cause,  sub 
jected  a  lawyer  to  fine  and  imprisonment.6 

The  practitioners  of  medicine  were 
equally  assailed  by  legislation.  The  use 
of  the  most  important  remedies  known  to 
modern  medical  science,  including  all  an 
aesthetics,  was  prohibited  except  under 
conditions  which  made  their  use  impossi 
ble,  "  and  if  death  followed  "  the  adminis 
tration  of  these  remedies,  the  person  ad- 
nvmistering  them  was  declared  guilty  of 
manslaughter  or  murder.7  The  Legislative 
Assembly  is  but  an  organized  conspiracy 
against  the  national  law,  and  an  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  the  advancement  of  its  own 
people.  For  sixteen  years  it  refused  to  lay 
its  enactments  before  Congress,  and  they 
were  only  obtained  by  a  joint  resolution 
demanding  them.  Once  in  armed  rebel 
lion  against  the  authority  of  the  nation, 
the  Mormons  have  always  secretly  strug 
gled  for,  as  they  have  openly  prophesied, 
its  entire  overthrow.  Standing  thus  in  the 
pathway  of  the  material  growth  and  devel 
opment  of  the  Territory,  a  disgrace  to  the 
balance  of  the  country,  with  no  redeeming 
virtue  to  plead  for  further  indulgence,  this 
travesty  of  a  local  government  demands 
radical  and  speedy  reform. 

The  Sontli  American  Question. 

If  it  was  not  shrewdly  surmised  before  it 
is  now  known  that  had  President  Garfield 

1  See  act  of  January  17  1862. 

2  Act  of  January  7,  1S54,  sec.  14. 

3  Acts  of   Jan  21,  18.  K{,  and  of  January,  1855.  sec.  29. 
*  Act  of  February  18,  1852. 

6  Act  of  February  18,  1852. 
6  Act  of  January  14,  1854. 
»  Sec.  106,  Act  March.  Q  1852L 


lived  he  intended  to  make  his  administra 
tion  brilliant  at  home  and  abroad — a  view 
confirmed  by  the  policy  conceived  by 
Secretary  Blaine  and  sanctioned,  it  must 
be  presumed,  by  President  Garfield.  This 
policy  looked  to  closer  commercial  and 
political  relations  with  all  of  the  Eepublics 
on  this  Hemisphere,  as  developed  in  the 
following  quotations  from  a  correspond 
ence,  the  publication  of  which  lacks  com 
pleteness  because  of  delays  in  transmitting 
all  of  it  to  Congress. 

Ex-Secretary  Blaine  on  the  3d  of  Janu 
ary  sent  the  following  letter  to  President 
Arthur: 

"  The  suggestion  of  a  congress  of  all  the 
American  nations  to  assemble  in  the  city 
of  Washington  for  the  purpose  of  agreeing 
on  such  a  basis  of  arbitration  for  interna 
tional  troubles  as  would  remove  all  possi 
bility  of  war  in  the  Western  hemisphere 
was  warmly  approved  by  your  predecessor. 
The  assassination  of  July  2  prevented  his 
issuing  the  invitations  to  the  American 
States.  After  your  accession  to  the  Pre 
sidency  I  acquainted  you  with  the  project 
and  submitted  to  you  a  draft  for  such  an 
invitation.  You  received  the  suggestion 
with  the  most  appreciative  consideration, 
and  after  carefully  examining  the  form  of 
the  invitation  directed  that  it  be  sent.  It 
was  accordingly  dispatched  in  November 
to  the  independent  governments  of  Ameri 
ca  North  and  South,  including  all,  from 
the  Empire  of  Brazil  to  the  smallest  re 
public.  In  a  communication  addressed  by 
the  present  Secretary  of  State  on  January 
9,  to  Mr.  Trescot  and  recently  sent  to  the 
Senate  I  was  greatly  surprised  to  find  a 
proposition  looking  to  the  annulment  of 
these  invitations,  and  I  was  still  more  sur 
prised  when  I  read  the  reasons  assigned. 
If  I  correctly  apprehend  the  meaning  of 
his  words  it  is  that  we  might  offend  some 
European  powers  if  we  should  hold  in  the 
United  States  a  congress  of  the  "  selected 
nationalities"  of  America. 

"  This  is  certainly  a  new  position  for  the 
United  States  to  assume,  and  one  which  I 
earnestly  beg  you  will  not  permit  this 
government  to  occupy.  The  European 
powers  assemble  in  congress  whenever  an 
object  seems  to  them  of  sufficient  import 
ance  to  justify  it.  I  have  never  heard  of 
their  consulting  the  government  of  the 
United  States  in  regard  to  the  propriety  of 
their  so  assembling,  nor  have  I  ever  known 
of  their  inviting  an  American  representa 
tive  to  be  present.  Nor  would  there,  in  my 
judgment,  be  any  good  reason  for  their  so 
doing.  Two  Presidents  of  the  United 
States  in  the  year  1881  adjudged  it  to  be 
expedient  that  the  American  powers  should 
meet  in  congress  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
agreeing  upon  some  basis  for  arbitration  of 
differences  that  may  arise  between  them 
and  for  the  prevention,  as  far  as  possible, 


270 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


of  war  in  the  future.  If  that  movement  is 
now  to  be  arrested  for  fear  that  it  may 
give  offense  in  Europe,  the  voluntary  hu 
miliation  of  this  government  could  not  be 
more  complete,  unless  we  should  press  the 
European  governments  for  the  privilege  of 
holding  the  congress.  I  cannot  conceive 
how  the  United  States  could  be  placed  in 
a  less  enviable  position  than  would  be  se 
cured  by  sending  in  November  a  cordial 
invitation  to  all  the  American  governments 
to  meet  in  Washington  for  the  sole  pur 
pose  of  concerting  measures  of  peace 
and  in  January  recalling  the  invitation 
for  fear  that  it  might  create  "jealousy  and 
ill  will "  on  the  part  of  monarchical  govern 
ments  in  Europe.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
devise  a  more  effective  mode  for  making 
enemies  of  the  American  Government  and 
it  would  certainly  not  add  to  our  prestige 
in  the  European  world.  Nor  can  I  see, 
Mr.  President,  how  European  governments 
should  feel  "  jealousy  and  ill  will "  towards 
the  United  States  because  of  an  effort  on 
our  own  part  to  assure  lasting  peace  be 
tween  the  nations  of  America,  unless,  in 
deed,  it  be  to  the  interest  of  European 
power  that  American  nations  should  at 
intervals  fall  into  war  and  bring  re 
proach  on  republican  government.  But 
from  that  very  circumstance  I  see  an  ad 
ditional  and  powerful  motive  for  the 
American  Governments  to  be  at  peace 
among  themselves. 

"The  United  States  is  indeed  at  peace 
with  all  the  world,  as  Mr.  Frelinghuysen 
well  says,  but  there  are  and  have  been 
serious  'troubles  between  other  American 
nations.  Peru,  Chili  and  Bolivia  have 
been  for  more  than  two  years  engaged  in 
a  desperate  conflict.  It  was  the  fortunate 
intervention  of  the  United  States  last 
spring  that  averted  war  between  Chili  and 
the  Argentine  Republic.  Guatemala  is  at 
this  moment  asking  the  United  States  to 
interpose  its  good  offices  with  Mexico  to 
keep  off  war.  These  important  facts  were 
all  communicated  in  your  late  message  to 
Congress.  It  is  the  existence  or  the  men 
ace  of  these  wars  that  influenced  President 
Garfield,  and  as  I  supposed  influenced 
yourself,  to  desire  a  friendly  conference  of 
all  the  nations  of  America  to  devise 
methods  of  permanent  pence  and  conse 
quent  prosperity  for  all.  Shall  the  United 
States  now  turn  back,  hold  aloof  and  re 
fuse  to  exert  its  great  moral  power  for  the 
advantage  of  its  weaker  neighbors? 

If  you  have  no*  formally  and  finally  re 
called  the  invitations  to  the  Peace  Con 
gress,  Mr.  President,  I  beg  you  to  consider 
well  the  effect  of  so  doing.  The  invitation 
was  not  mine.  It  was  yours.  I  performed 
only  the  part  of  the  Secretary — to  advise 
and  to  draft.  You  spoke  in  the  name  of 
the  United  States  to  each  of  the  indepen 
dent  nations  of  America.  To  revoke  that 


invitation  for  any  cause  would  be  embar 
rassing  ;  to  revoke  it  for  the  avowed  fear  of 
"jealousy  and  ill  will "  on  the  part  of 
European  powers  would  appeal  as  little  to 
American  pride  as  to  American  hospitality. 
Those  you  have  invited  may  decline,  and 
having  now  cause  to  doubt  their  welcome 
will,  perhaps,  do  so.  This  would  break  up 
the  congress,  but  it  would  not  touch  our 
dignity. 

"  Beyond  the  philanthropic  and  Christian 
ends  to  be  obtained  by  an  American  con 
ference  devoted  to  peace  and  good-will 
among  men,  we  might  well  hope  for 
material  advantages,  as  the  result  of  a  bet 
ter  understanding  and  closer  friendship 
with  the  nation  of  America.  At  present 
the  condition  of  trade  between  the  United 
States  and  its  American  neighbors  is  un 
satisfactory  to  us,  and  even  deplorable. 
According  to  the  official  statistics  of  our 
own  Treasury  Department,  the  balance 
against  us  in  that  trade  last  year  was 
$120,000,000— a  sum  greater  than  the 
yearly  product  of  all  the  gold  and  silver 
mines  m  the  United  States.  This  vast 
balance  was  paid  by  us  in  foreign  exchange, 
and  a  very  large  proportion  of  it  went  to 
England,  where  shipments  of  cotton,  pro 
visions  and  breaastuffs  supplied  the 
money.  If  anything  should  change  or 
check  the  balance  in  our  favor  in  Euro 
pean  trade  our  commercial  exchanges  with 
Spanish  America  would  drain  us  of  our 
reserve  of  gold  at  a  rate  exceeding  $100,- 
000,000  per  annum,  and  would  probably- 
precipitate  a  suspension  of  specie  payment 
in  this  country.  Such  a  result  at  home 
might  be  wors*e  than  a  little  jealousy  and 
ill-will  abroad.  I  do  not  say,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  that  the  holding  of  a  peace  congress 
will  necessarily  change  the  currents  of 
trade,  but  it  will  bring  us  into  kindly  re 
lations  with  all  the  American  nations;  it 
will  promote  the  reign  of  peace  and  law 
and  order ;  it  will  increase  production  and 
consumption  and  will  stimulate  the  de 
mand  for  articles  which  American  manu 
facturers  can  furnish  with  profit.  It  will 
at  all  events  be  a  friendly  and  auspicious 
beginning  in  the  direction  of  American 
influence  and  American  trade  in  a  large 
field  which  we  have  hitherto  greatly  ne 
glected  and  which  has  been  practically 
monopolized  by  our  commercial  rivals  in 
Europe. 

As  Mr.  Frelinghuysen's  dispatch,  fore 
shadowing  the  abandonment  of  the  peace 
congress,  has  been  made  public,  I  deem  it 
a  matter  of  propriety  and  justice  to  give 
this  letter  to  the  press.  JAS.  G.  ELAINE. 

The  above  well  presents  the  Blaine  view 
of  the  proposition  to  have  a  Con- 
press  of  the  Republics  of  America  at 
Washington,  and  under  the  patronage  of 
this  government,  with  a  view  to  settle  all 


THE    SOUTH    AMERICAN    QUESTION. 


271 


difficulties  by  arbitration,  to  promote  trade, 
and  it  is  presumed  to  form  alliances  ready 
to  suit  a  new  and  advanced  application  of 
the  Monroe  doctrine. 

The  following  is  the  letter  proposing  a 
conference  of  North  and  South  American 
Republics  sent  to  the  U.  S.  Ministers  in 
Central  and  South  America : 

SIR:  The  attitude  of  the  United  States 
with  respect  to  the  question  of  general 
peace  on  the  American  Continent  is  well 
known  through  its  persistent  efforts  for 
years  past  to  avert  the  evils  of  warfare,  or, 
these  efforts  failing,  to  bring  positive  con 
flicts  to  an  end  through  pacific  counsels  or 
the  advocacy  of  impartial  arbitration. 
This  attitude  has  been  consistently  main 
tained,  and  always  with  such  fairness  as  to 
leave  no  room  for  imputing  to  our  Govern 
ment  any  motive  except  the  humane  and 
disinterested  one  of  saving  the  kindred 
States  of  the  American  Continent  from  the 
burdens  of  war.  The  position  of  the 
United  States,  as  the  leading  power  of  the 
new  world,  might  well  give  to  its  Govern 
ment  a  claim  to  authoritative  utterance  for 
the  purpose  of  quieting  discord  among  its 
neighbors,  with  all  of  whom  the  most 
friendly  relations  exist.  Nevertheless  the 
good  offices  of  this  Government  are  not, 
and  have  not  at  any  time,  been  tendered 
with  a  show  of  dictation  or  compulsion, 
but  only  as  exhibiting  the  solicitous 
good  will  of  a  common  friend. 

THE     CENTRAL     AND     SOUTH     AMERICAN 
STATES. 

For  some  years  past  a  growing  disposi 
tion  has  been  manifested  by  certain  States 
of  Central  and  South  America  to  refer  dis 
putes  affecting  grave  questions  of  inter 
national  relationship  and  boundaries  to 
arbitration  rather  than  to  the  sword.  It 
has  been  on  several  occasions  a  source  of 
profound  satisfaction  to  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  to  see  that  this 
country  is  in  a  large  measure  looked  to  by 
all  the  American  powers  as  their  friend 
and  mediator.  The  just  and  impartial 
counsel  of  the  President  in  such  cases,  has 
never  been  withheld,  and  his  efforts  have 
been  rewarded  by  the  prevention  of 
sanguinary  strife  or  angry  contentions  be 
tween  peoples  whom  we  regard  as  brethren. 
The  existence  of  this  growing  tendency 
convinces  the  President  that  the  time  is 
ripe  for  a  proposal  that  shall  enlist  the 
good  will  and  active  co-operation  of  all  the 
States  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  both 
North  and  South,  in  the  interest  of  hu 
manity  and  for  the  common  weal  of  na 
tions. 

He  conceives  that  none  of  the  Govern 
ment?  of  America  can  be  less  alive  than 
our  own  to  the  dangers  and  horrors  of  a 
state  of  war,  and  especially  of  war  between 
kinsmen.  He  is  sure  that  none  of  the 


chiefs  of  Government  on  the  Continent  can 
be  less  sensitive  than  he  is  to  the  sacred 
duty  of  making  every  endeavor  to  do  away 
with  the  chances  of  fratricidal  strife,  and 
he  looks  with  hopeful  confidence  to  such 
active  assistance  from  them  as  will  serve 
to  show  the  broadness  of  our  common  hu 
manity,  the  strength  of  the  ties  which 
bind  us  all  together  as  a  great  and  har 
monious  system  of  American  Common 
wealths. 

A  GENERAL  CONGRESS  PROPOSED. 

Impressed  by  these  views,  the  President 
extends  to  all  the  independent  countries  of 
North  and  South  America  an  earnest  in 
vitation  to  participate  in  a  general  Con 
gress,  to  be  held  in  the  city  of  Washing 
ton,  on  the  22d  of  November,  1882,  for  the 
purpose  of  considering  and  discussing  the 
methods  of  preventing  war  between  the 
nations  of  America.  He  desires  that  the 
attention  of  the  Congress  shall  be  strictly 
confined  to  this  one  great  object;  and  its 
sole  aim  shall  be  to  seek  a  way  of  per 
manently  averting  the  horrors  of  a  cruel 
and  bloody  contest  between  countries 
oftenest  of  one  blood  and  speech,  or  the 
even  worse  calamity  of  internal  commotion 
and  civil  strife;  that  it  shall  regard  the 
burdensome  and  far-reaching  consequences 
of  such  a  struggle,  the  legacies  of  exhausted 
finances,  of  oppressive  debt,  of  onerous 
taxation,  of  ruined  cities,  of  paralyzed  in 
dustries,  of  devastated  fields,  of  ruthless 
conscriptions,  of  the  slaughter  of  men,  of 
the  grief  of  the  widow  and  orphan,  of  em 
bittered  resentments  that  long  survive 
those  who  provoked  them  and  heavily 
afflict  the  innocent  generations  that  come 
after. 

THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CONGRESS. 

The  President  is  especially  desirous  to 
have  it  understood  that  in  putting  forth  this 
invitation  the  United  States  does  not  as 
sume  the  position  of  counseling  or  attempt 
ing,  through  the  voice  of  the  Congress,  to 
counsel  any  determinate  solution  of  exist 
ing  questions  which  may  now  divide  any 
of  the  countries.  Such  questions  cannot 
properly  come  before  the  Congress.  Its 
mission  is  higher.  It  is  to  provide  for  the 
interests  of  all  in  the  future,  not  to  settle 
the  individual  differences  of  the  present. 
For  this  reason  especially  the  President 
has  indicated  a  day  for  the  assembling  of 
the  Congress  so  far  in  the  future  as  to 
leave  good  ground  for  the  hope  that  by  the 
time  named  the  present  situation  on  the 
South  Pacific  coast  will  be  happily  termi 
nated,  and  that  those  engaged  in  the  con 
test  may  take  peaceable  part  in  the  discus 
sion  and  solution  of  the  general  question 
affecting  in  an  equal  degree  the  well-being 
of  all. 

It  seems  also  desirable  to  disclaim  in  ad- 


272 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


ranee  any  purpose  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  ta  prejudge  the  issues  to  be 
presented  to  the  Congress.  It  is  far  from 
the  intent  of  this  Government  to  appear 
before  the  Congress  as  in  any  sense  the 
protector  of  its  neighbors  or  the  predestined 
and  necessary  arbitrator  of  their  disputes. 
The  United  States  will  enter  into  the  deliber 
ations  of  the  Congress  on  the  same  footing 
as  other  powers  represented,  and  with  the 
I  loyal  determination  to  approach  any  pro 
posed  solution,  not  merely  in  its  own  inter 
est,  or  with  a  view  to  asserting  its  own 
power,  but  as  a  single  member  among 
many  co-ordinate  and  co-equal  States.  So 
far  as  the  influence  of  this  Government 
may  be  potential,  it  will  be  exerted  in  the 
direction  of  conciliating  whatever  con-, 
flicting  interests  of  blood,  or  government, 
or  historical  tradition  that  may  necessarily 
come  together  in  response  to  a  call 
embracing  such  vast  and  diverse  ele 
ments. 

INSTRUCTIONS  TO  THE  MINISTERS. 

You  will  present  these  views  to  the 
Minister  of  I<  oreign  Affairs  of  Costa  Ilk  a, 
enlarging,  if  need  be,  in  such  terms  as 
will  readily  occur  to  you  upon  the  great 
mission  which  it  is  within  the  power  of  the 
proposed  Congress  to  accomplish  in  the  in 
terest  of  humanity,  and  the  firm  purpose 
of  the  United  States  of  America  to  main 
tain  a  position  of  the  most  absolute  and 
impartial  friendship  toward  all.  You  will, 
therefore,  in  the  name  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  tender  to  his  Excel 
lency,  the  President  of ,  a  formal 

invitation  to  send  two  commissioners  to 
the  Congress,  provided  with  such  powers 
and  instructions  on  behalf  of  their  Govern 
ment  as  will  enable  them  to  consider  the 
questions  brought  before  that  body  within 
the  limit  of  submission  contemplated  by 
this  invitation. 

The  United  States,  as  well  as  the  other 
powers,  will  in  like  manner  be  represented 
by  two  commissioners,  so  that  equality  and 
impartiality  will  be  amply  secured  in  the 
proceedings  of  the  Congress. 

In  delivering  this  invitation  through  the 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  you  will  read 
this  despatch  to  him  and  leave  with  him  a 
copy,  intimating  that  an  answer  is  desired 
ls>y  this  Government  as  promptly  as  the 
just  consideration  of  so  important  a  propo 
sition  will  permit. 

I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

JAMES  G.  ELAINE. 


Minister  Logan's  Reply. 

The  following  is  an  abstract  of  the  re 
ply  of  Minister  Logan  to  the  .above. 

11  From  a  full  review  of  the  situation,  as 
heretofore  detailed  to  you,  I  am  not  clear 
as  to  being  able  to  obtain  the  genuine  co 


operation  of  all  the  States  of  Central 
America  in  the  proposed  congress. — Each, 
I  have  no  doubt,  will  ultimately  agree  to 
send  the  specified  number  of  commission 
ers  and  assume,  outwardly,  an  appearance 
of  sincere  co-operation,  but,  as  you  will 
perceive  from  your  knowledge  of  the  pos 
ture  of  affairs,  all  hope  of  effecting  a  union 
of  these  States  except  upon  a  basis  the 
leaders  will  never  permit — that  of  a  free 
choice  of  the  whole  people — will  be  at  an 
end.  The  obligation  to  keep  the  peace, 
imposed  by  the  congress,  will  bind  the 
United  States  as  well  as  all  others,  and 
thus  prevent  any  efforts  to  bring  about  the 
desired  union  other  than  those  based  upon 
a  simple  tender  of  good  offices — this  means 
until  the  years  shall  bring  about  a  radical 
change — must  be  as  inefficient  in  the  future 
as  in  the  past.  The  situation,  as  it  ap 
pears  to  me,  is  a  difficult  one.  As  a  means 
of  restraining  the  aggressive  tendency  of 
Mexico  in  the  direction  of  Central  Ameri 
ca,  the  congress  would  be  attended  by  the 
happiest  results,  should  a  full  agreement 
be  reached.  But  as  the  Central  American 
States  are  now  in  a  chaotic  condition,  politi 
cally  considered,  with  their  future  status 
wholly  undefined,  and  as  a  final  settlement 
can  only  be  reached,  as  it  now  appears, 
through  the  operation  of  military  forces, 
the  hope  of  a  Federal  union  in  Central 
America  would  be  crushed,  at  least  in  the 
immediate  present.  Wiser  heads  than  my 
own  may  devise  a  method  to  harmonize 
these  difficulties  when  the  congress  is  ac 
tually  in  session,  but  it  must  be  constantly 
remembered  that  so  far  as  the  Central 
American  commissioners  are  concerned 
they  will  represent  the  interests  and  posi 
tive  mandates  of  their  respective  govern 
ment  chiefs  in  the  strictest  and  most  abso 
lute  sense.  While  all  will  probably  send 
commissioners,  through  motives  of  expedi 
ency,  they  may  possibly  be  instructed  to 
secretly  defeat  the  ends  of  the  convention. 
I  make  these  suggestions  that  you  may 
have  the  whole  field  under  view. 

"I  may  mention  in  this  connection  that 
I  have  received  information  that  up  to  the 
tenth  of  the  present  month  only  two  mem 
bers  of  the  proposed  convention  at  Pana 
ma  had  arrived  and  that  it  was  considered 
as  having  failed." 

Contemporaneous  with  these  movements 
or  suggestions  was  another  on  the  part  of 
Mr.  Elaine  to  secure  from  England  a  mod 
ification  or  abrogation  of  the  Clayton- 
Bulwer  treaty,  with  the  object  of  giving  to 
the  United  States,  rather  to  the  Eepublics 
of  North  and  South  America,  full  super 
vision  of  the  Isthmus  and  Panama  Canal 
when  constructed.  This  branch  of  the 
correspondence  was  sent  to  the  Senate  on 
the  17th  of  February.  Lord  Granville,  in 
his  despatch  of  January  7th  to  Minister 
West  in  reference  to  the  Clayton-Bulwer 


THE    SOUTH    AMERICAN    QUESTION. 


273 


Treaty  controversy,  denies  any  analogy 
between  the  cases  of  the  Panama  and 
Suez  Canals.  He  cordially  concurs  in  Mr. 
Elaine's  statement  in  regard  to  the  unex 
ampled  development  of  the  Pacific  Coast, 
but  denies  that  it  was  unexpected. 

He  says  the  declaration  of  President 
Monfoe  anterior  to  the  treaty  show  that 
he  and  his  Cabinet  had  a  clear  prevision  of 
the  great  future  of  that  region.  The  de 
velopment  of  the  interests  of  the  British 
possessions  also  continued,  though  possibly 
less  rapidly.  The  Government  are  of  the 
opinion  that  the  canal,  as  a  water  way  be 
tween  the  two  great  oceans  and  Europe  and 
Eastern  Asia,  is  a  work  which  concerns  not 
only  the  American  Continent,  but  the 
whole  civilized  world.  With  all  deference 
to  the  considerations  which  prompted  Mr. 
Elaine  he  cannot  believe  that  his  propo 
sals  will  be  even  beneficial  in  themselves. 
He  can  conceive  a  no  more  melancholy 
spectacle  than  competition  between  nations 
in  the  construction  of  fortifications  to  com 
mand  the  canal.  He  cannot  believe  that 
any  South  American  States  would  like  to 
admit  a  foreign  power  to  erect  fortifications 
on  its  territory,  when  the  claim  to  do  so  is 
accompanied  by  the  declaration  that  the 
canal  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  part  of  the 
American  coast  line.  It  is  difficult  to  be 
lieve,  he  says,  that  the  territory  between  it 
and  the  United  States  could  retain  its  pres 
ent  independence.  Lord  Granville  believes 
that  an  invitation  to  all  the  maritime 
states  to  participate  in  an  agreement  based 
on  the  stipulations  of  the  Convention  of 
1850,  would  make  the  Convention  adequate 
for  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  designed. 
Her  Majesty's  Government  would  gladly 
see  the  United  States  take  the  initiative 
towards  such  a  convention,  and  will  be 
prepared  to  endorse  and  support  such  action 
in  any  way.  provided  it  does  not  conflict 
with  the  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty. 

Lord  Granville,  in  a  subsequent  despatch, 
draws  attention  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Elaine, 
in  using  the  argument  that  the  treaty  has 
been  a  source  of  continual  difficulties, 
omits  to  state  that  the  questions  in  dispute 
which  related  to  points  occupied  by  the 
British  in  Central  America  were  removed 
in  1860  by  the  voluntary  action  of  Great 
Britain  in  certain  treaties  concluded  with 
Honduras  and  Nicaragua,  the  settlement 
being  recognized  as  perfectly  satisfactory 
by  President  Buchanan.  Lord  Granville 
says,  further,  that  during  this  controversy 
America  disclaimed  any  desire  to  have 
the  exclusive  control  of  the  canal. 

The  Earl  contends  that  in  cases  where 
the  details  of  an  international  agreement 
have  given  rise  to  difficulties  and  discus 
sions  to  such  an  extent  as  to  cause  the 
contracting  parties  at  one  time  to  contem 
plate  its  abrogation  or  modification  as  one 
of  several  possible  alternatives,  and  where 
18 


'  it  has  yet  been  found  preferable  to  arrive 
at  a  solution  as  to  those  details  rather  than 
to  sacrifice  the  general  bases  of  the  en 
gagement,  it  must  surely  be  allowed  that 
such  a  fact,  far  from  being  an  argument 
against  that  engagement,  is  an  argument 
distinctly  in  its  favor.  It  is  equally  plain 
that  either  of  the  contracting  parties  which 
had  abandoned  its  own  contention  for  the 
purpose  of  preserving  the  agreement  in  its 
entirety  would  have  reason  to  complain  if 
the  differences  which  had  been  settled  by 
its  concessions  were  afterwards  urged  as  a 
reason  for  essentially  modifying  those  other 
provisions  which  it  had  made  this  sacrifice 
to  maintain.  In  order  to  strengthen  these 
arguments,  the  Earl  reviews  the  corres 
pondence,  quotes  the  historical  points  made 
by  Mr.  Blaine  and  in  many  instances  in 
troduces  additional  data  as  contradicting 
the  inferences .  drawn  by  Mr.  Blaine  and 
supporting  his  own  position. 

The  point  on  which  Mr.  Blaine  laid 
particular  stress  in  his  despatch  to  Earl 
Granville,  is  the  objection  made  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States  to  any 
concerted  action  of  the  European  powers 
for  the  purpose  of  guarantying  the  neu 
trality  of  the  Isthmus  canal  or  determin 
ing  the  conditions  of  its  use. 

CHILI  AND  PERU. 

The  entire  question  is  complicated  by 
the  war  between  Chili  and  Peru,  the  latter 
owning  immense  guano  deposits  in  which 
American  citizens  have  become  financially 
interested.  These  sought  the  friendly  in 
tervention  of  our  government  to  prevent 
Chili,  the  conquering  Republic,  from  ap 
propriating  these  deposits  as  part  of  her 
war  indemnity.  The  Landreau,  an  original 
French  claim,  is  said  to  represent  $125,- 
000,000,  and  the  holders  were  prior  to  and 
during  the  war  pressing  it  upon  Calderon, 
the  Peruvian  President,  for  settlement; 
the  Cochet  claim,  another  of  the  same 
class,  represented  $1,000,000,000.  Doubt 
less  these  claims  are  speculative  and  largely 
fraudulent,  and  shrewd  agents  are  inter 
ested  in  their  collection  and  preservation. 
A  still  more  preposterous  and  speculative 
movement  was  fathered  by  one  Shipherd, 
who  opened  a  correspondence  with  Minis 
ter  Hurlburt,  and  with  other  parties  for 
the  establishment  of  the  Credit  Industrie!, 
which  was  to  pay  the  $20,000,000  money 
indemnity  demanded  of  Peru  by  Chili,  and 
to  be  reimbursed  by  the  Peruvian  nitrates 
and  guano  deposits. 

THE  SCANDAL. 

All  of  these  things  surround  the  ques 
tion  with  scandals  which  probably  fail  to 
truthfully  reach  any  prominent  officer  of 
our  government,  but  which  have  neverthe 
less  attracted  the  attention  of  Congress  to 


274 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


such  an  extent  that  the  following  action 
has  been  already  taken : 

On  February  24th  Mr.  Bayard  offered  in 
the  Senate  a  resolution  reciting  that  where 
as  publication  has  been  widely  made  by 
the  public  press  of  certain  alleged  public 
commercial  contracts  between  ceitain  com 
panies  and  copartnerships  of  individuals 
relative  to  the  exports  of  guano  and  nitrates 
from  Peru,  in  which  the  mediation  by  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  between 
the  Governments  of  Peru,  Bolivia  and 
Chili  is  declared  to  be  a  condition  for  the 
effectuation  and  continuance  of  the  said 
contracts ;  therefore  be  it  resolved,  that 
the  Committee  on  Foreign  Eelations  be 
instructed  to  inquire  whether  any  promise 
or  stipulation  by  which  the  intervention  by 
the  United  States  in  the  controversies  ex 
isting  between  Chili  and  Peru  or  Chili  and 
Bolivia  has  been  expressly  or  impliedly 
given  by  any  person  or  persons  officially 
connected  with  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  or  whether  the  influence  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  has 
been  in  any  way  exerted,  promised  or  inti 
mated  in  connection  with,  or  in  relation  to 
the  said  contracts  by  any  one  officially  con 
nected  with  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  and  whether  any  one  officially  con 
nected  with  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  is  interested,  directly  or  indirectly, 
with  any  such  alleged  contracts  in  which 
the  mediation  as  aforesaid  of  the  United 
States  is  recited  to  be  a  condition,  and  that 
the  said  committee  have  power. to  send  for 
persons  and  reaper  and  make  report  of  their 
proceedings  in  the  premises  to  the  Senate 
at  the  earliest  possible  day. 

Mr.  Edmunds  said  he  had  drafted  a 
resolution  covering  all  the  branches  of 
"that  most  unfortunate  affair"  to  which 
reference  was  now  made,  and  in  view  of 
the  ill  policy  of  any  action  which  would 
commit  the  Senate  to  inquiries  about  de 
claring  foreign  matters  in  advance  of  a 
careful  investigation  by  a  committee,  he 
now  made  the  suggestion  that  he  would 
have  made  as  to  his  own  resolution,  if  he 
had  offered  it,  namely,  that  the  subject  be 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Re 
lations.  He  intimated  that  the  proposition 
prepared  by  himself  would  be  considered 
by  the  committee  as  a  suggestion  bearing 
upon  the  pending  resolution. 

Mr.  Bayard  acquiesced  in  the  reference 
with  the  remark  that  anything  that  tended 
to  bring  the  matter  more  fully  before  the 
country  was  satisfactory  to  him. 

The  resolution  accordingly  went  to  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Relations. 

In  the  House  Mr.  Kasson,  of  Iowa, 
offered  a  resolution  reciting  that  whereas, 
it  is  alleged,  in  connection  with  the  Chili 
Peruvian  correspondence  recently  and 
officially  published  oa  the  call  of  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress,  that  one  or  more 


Ministers  Plenipotentiary  of  the  United 
States  were  either  personally  interested  or 
improperly  connected  with  a  business 
transaction  in  which  the  intervention  of 
this  Government  was  requested  or  expected 
and  whereas,  it  is  alleged  that  certain  pa 
pers  in  relation  to  the  same  subject  have 
been  improperly  lost  or  removed  from  the 
files  of  the  State  Department,  that  there-, 
fore  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  be 
instructed  to  inquire  into  said  allegations 
and  ascertain  the  facts  relating  thereto. 
and  report  the  same  with  such  recommen 
dations  as  they  may  deem  proper,  and  they 
shall  have  power  to  send  for  persons  and 
papers.  The  resolution  was  adopted. 

THE  CLAIMS. 

The  inner  history  of  what  is  known  as 
the  Peruvian  Company  reads  more  like  a 
tale  from  the  Arabian  Nights  than  a  plain 
statement  of  facts.  The  following  is 
gleaned  from  the  prospectus  of  the  compa 
ny,  of  which  only  a  limited  number  of  cop 
ies  was  printed.  According  to  a  note  on 
the  cover  of  these  "  they  are  for  the  strictly 
private  use  of  the  gentlemen  into  whose 
hands  they  are  immediately  placed." 

The  prospects  of  the  corporation  are 
based  entirely  upon  the  claims  of  Cochet 
and  Landreau,  two  French  chemists,  resi 
dents  of  Peru.  In  the  year  1833,  the  Pe 
ruvian  government,  by  published  decree, 
promised  to  every  discoverer  of  valuable 
deposits  upon  the  public  domain  a  premium 
of  one-third  of  the  discovery  as  an  incen 
tive  to  the  development  of  great  natural 
resources  vaguely  known  to  exist.  In  the 
beginning  of  1830,  Alexandre  Cochet,  who 
was  a  man  of  superior  information,  occu 
pied  himself  in  the  laborious  work  of  manu 
facturing  nitrate  of  soda  in  a  small  oficina 
in  Peru,  and  being  possessed  with  quick 
intelligence  and  a  careful  observer  he  soon 
came  to  understand  that  the  valuable  pro 
perties  contained  in  the  guano — an  article 
only  known  to  native  cultivators  of  the  soil 
— would  be  eminently  useful  as  a  restora 
tive  to  the  exhausted  lands  of  the  old  con 
tinent.  With  this  idea  he  made  himself" 
completely  master  of  the  mode  of  applica 
tion  adopted  by  the  Indians  and  small 
farmers  in  the  province  where  he  resided, 
and  after  a  careful  investigation  of  the 
chemical  effects  produced  on  the  land  by 
the  proper  application  of  the  regenerating 
agent,  he  proceeded  in  the  year  1840  to  the 
capital  (Lima)  in  order  to  interest  some  of 
his  friends  in  this  new  enterprise.  Not 
without  great  persuasion  and  much  hesita 
tion,  he  induced  his  countryman,  Mr.  Achil 
les  Allier,  to  take  up  the  hazardous  specu 
lation  and  join  with  him  in  his  discovery. 
He  succeeded,  however,  and  toward  the 
end  of  the  same  year  the  firm  of  Quiroz  & 
Allier  obtained  a  concession  for  six  years 
from  the  government  of  Peru  for  the  ex- 


THE    SOUTH    AMERICAN    QUESTION. 


275 


portation  of  all  the  guano  existing  in  the 
afterwards  famous  islands  of  Chinchi  for 
the  sum  of  sixty  thousand  dollars.  In 
consequence  of  the  refusal  of  that  firm  to 
admit  Cochet,  the  discoverer,  to  a  partici 
pation  in  the  profits  growing  out  of  this 
contract  a  series  of  lawsuits  resulted  and  a 
paper  war  ensued  in  which  Cochet  was 
baffled.  In  vain  he  called  the  attention  of 
the  government  to  the  nature  and  value  of 
this  discovery  ;  he  was  told  that  he  was  a 
"  visionary."  In  vain  he  demonstrated 
that  the  nation  possessed  hundreds  of  mil 
lions  of  dollars  in  the  grand  deposits:  this 
only  confirmed  the  opinion  of  the  Council 
of  State  that  he  was  a  madman.  In  vain 
he  attempted  to  prove  that  one  cargo  of 
guano  was  equal  to  fourteen  cargoes  of 
grain ;  the  Council  of  State  cooly  told  him 
that  guano  was  an  article  known  to  the 
Spaniards,  and  of  no  value :  that  Commis 
sioner  Humbolt  had  referred  to  it,  and  that 
they  could  not  accept  his  theory  respecting 
its  .superior  properties,  its  value  and  its 
probable  use  in  foreign  agriculture  at  a  pe 
riod  when  no  new  discovery  could  be  made 
relative  to  an  article  so  long  and  of  so  evi 
dent  small  value. 

At  length  a  new  light  began  to  dawn  on 
the  lethargic  understanding  of  the  officials 
in  power,  and  as  rumors  continued  to  ar 
rive  from  Europe  confirming  the  assevera 
tions  of  Cochet,  and  announcing  the  sale 
of  guano  at  from  $90  to  $120  per  ton,  a  de 
gree  of  haste  was  suddenly  evinced  to  se 
cure  once  more  to  the  public  treasury  this 
new  and  unexpected  source  of  wealth  ;  and 
at  one  blow  the  contract  with  Quiroz  & 
Allier,  which  had  previously  been  extend 
ed,  was  reduced  to  one  year.  Their  claims 
were  cancelled  by  the  payment  of  ten  thou 
sand  tons  of  guano  which  Congress  de 
creed  them.  There  still  remained  to  be 
settled  the  just  and  acknowledged  indebt 
edness  for  benefits  conferred  on  the  coun 
try  by  Cochet,  benefits  which  could  not  be 
denied  as  wealth  and  prosperity  rolled  in 
on  the  government  and  on  the  people.  But 
few,  if  any,  troubled  themselves  about  the 
question  to  whom  they  were  indebted  for 
so  much  good  fortune,  nor  had  time  to  pay 
particular  attention  to  Cochet's  claims. 
Finally,  however,  Congress  was  led  to  de 
clare  Cochet  the  true  discoverer  of  the  value, 
uses  and  application  of  guano  for  European 
agriculture,  and  a  grant  of  5,000  tons  was 
made  in  his  favor  September  30th,  1849, 
but  was  never  paid  him.  After  passing  a 
period  of  years  in  hopeless  expectancy — 
from  1840  to  1851— his  impoverished  cir 
cumstances  made  it  necessary  for  him  to 
endeavor  to  procure,  through  the  influence 
of  his  own  government,  that  measure  of 
support  in  favor  of  his  claims  which  would 
insure  him  a  competency  in  his  old  age. 

He  resolved  upon  returning  to  France, 
after  having  spent  the  best  part  of  his  life 


in  the  service  of  a  country  whose  cities  had 
risen  from  desolation  to  splendor  tinder  the 
sole  magic  of  his  touch — a  touch  that  had 
in  it  for  Peru  all  the  fabled  power  of  the 
long-sought  "  philosopher's  stone."  In  1853 
Cochet  returned  to  France,  but  he  was  then 
already  exhausted  by  enthusiastic  explora 
tions  in  a  deadly  climate  and  never  rallied. 
He  lingered  in  poverty  for  eleven  painful 
years  and  died  in  Paris  in  an  almshouse  in 
1864,  entitled  to  an  estate  worth  $500,000,- 
000 — the  richest  man  in  the  history  of  the 
world — and  was  buried  by  the  city  in  the 
Potters'  Field ;  his  wonderful  history  well  il 
lustrating  that  truth  is  stranger  than  fiction. 

THE  LANDREAU    CLAIM. 

About  the  year  1844  Jean  Theophile 
Landreau,  also  a  French  citizen,  in  part 
nership  with  his  brother,  John  C.  Landreau, 
a  naturalized  American  citizen,  upon  the 
faith  of  the  promised  premium  of  33£  per 
cent,  entered  upon  a  series  of  extended  sys 
tematic  and  scientific  explorations  with  a 
view  to  ascertaining  whether  the  deposits 
of  guano  particularly  pointed  out  by  Co 
chet  constituted  the  entire  guano  deposit  of 
Peru,  and  with  money  furnished  by  his  part 
ner,  John,  Theophile  prosecuted  his  search 
es  with  remarkable  energy  and  with  great 
success  for  twelve  years,  identifying  beds 
not  before  known  to  the  value  of  not  less 
than  $400,000,000.  Well  aware,  however, 
of  the  manner  in  which  his  fellow-country 
man  had  been  neglected  by  an  unprinci 
pled  people,  he  had  the  discretion  to  keep 
his  own  counsel  and  to  extort  from  the  Pe 
ruvian  authorities  an  absolute  agreement 
in  advance  before  he  revealed  his  treasure. 
This  agreement  was,  indeed,  for  a  royalty 
of  less  than  one-sixth  the  amount  promised, 
but  the  most  solemn  assurances  were  given 
that  the  lessened  amount  would  be  prompt 
ly  and  cheerfully  paid,  its  total  would  give 
the  brothers  each  a  large  fortune,  and  pay 
ments  were  to  begin  at  once.  The  solemn 
agreement  having  been  concluded  and  duly 
certified,  the  precious  deposits  having  been 
pointed  out  and  taken  possession  of  by  the 
profligate  government,  the  brothers  were  at 
first  put  off  with  plausible  pretexts  of  de 
lay,  and  when  these  grew  monotonous  the 
government  calmly  issued  a  decree  recog 
nizing  the  discoveries,  accepting  the  trea 
sure,  and  annulling  the  contract,  with  a  sug 
gestion  that  a  more  suitable  agreement 
might  be  arranged  in  the  future. 

It  will  be  seen  that  these  two  men,  Co 
chet  and  Landreau,  have  been  acknow 
ledged  by  the  Peruvian  government  as 
claimants.  No  attempt  has  ever  been  made 
to  deny  the  indebtedness.  The  very  de- 
cree  of  repudiation  reaffirmed  the  obliga 
tion,  and  all  the  courts  refused  to  pronounce 
against  the  plaintiffs.  Both  of  these  claims 
came  into  the  possession  of  Mr.  Peter  W. 
Hevenor,  of  Philadelphia.  Cochet  left  one 


276 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


son  whom  Mr.  Hevenor  found  in  poverty  in 
Lima  and  advanced  money  to  push  his 
father's  claim  of  $500,000,000  against  the 
government.  After  $50,000  were  spent 
young  Cochet's  backer  was  surprised  to 
learn  of  the  Laudreaus  and  their  claim. 
Not  wishing  to  antagonize  them,  he  ad 
vanced  them  money,  and  in  a  short  time 
owned  nearly  all  the  fifteen  interests  in  the 
Landreau  claim  of  $125,000,000. 

To  the  Peruvian  Company  Mr.  Hevenor 
has  transferred  his  titles,  and  on  the  basis 
of  these  that  corporation  maintains  that 
eventually  it  will  realize  not  less  than  $1,- 
200,000,000,  computed  as  follows  : 

The  amount  of  guano  already  taken  out 
of  the  Cochet  Islands — including  the  Chin- 
chas — will  be  shown  by  the  Peruvian  Cus 
tom  House  records,  and  will  aggregate,  it  is 
said,  not  far  from  $1,200,000,000  worth.  The 
discoverer's  one-third  of  this  would  be 
$400,000,000,  and  interest  upon  this  amount 
at  six  per  cent.  -  say  for  an  equalized  aver 
age  of  twenty  years— would  be  $480,000,000 
more.  The  amount  remaining  in  these 
islands  is  not  positively  known,  and  is  pro 
bably  not  more  than  $200,000,000  worth  ; 
and  in  the  Landreau  deposits  say  $300,000,- 
000  more.  The  Chilian  plenipotentiary  re 
cently  announced  that  his  government  are 
about  opening  very  rich  deposits  on  the  Lo- 
boa  Islands — which  are  included  in  this 
group.  It  is  probably  within  safe  limits, 
says  the  Peruvian  Company's  prospectus,  to 
say  that,  including  interest  to  accrue  before 
the  claim  can  be  fully  liquidated,  its  owners 
will  realize  no  less  than  $1,200,000,000. 

THE  COUNTRIES  INVOLVED. 

In  South  America  there  are  ten  inde 
pendent  governments ;  and  the  three  Gui- 
anas  which  are  dependencies  on  European 
powers.  Of  the  independent  governments 
Brazil  is  an  empire,  having  an  area  of 
3,609,160  square  miles  and  11,058,000  in 
habitants.  The  other  nine  are  republics. 
In  giving  area  and  population  we  use  the 
most  complete  statistics  at  our  command, 
but  they  are  not  strictly  reliable,  nor  as 
late  as  we  could  have  wished.  The  area 
and  the  population  of  the  republics  are: 
Venzuela,  426,712  square  miles  and  2,200,- 
000  inhabitants ;  United  States  of  Colom 
bia,  475,000  square  miles  and  2,900,000  in 
habitants  ;  Peru,  580,000  square  miles  and 
2,500,000  ^inhabitants ;  Ecuador,  208,000 
square  miles  and  1,300,000  inhabitants; 
Bolivia,  842,730  square  miles  and  1,987,352 
inhabitants;  Chili,  200,000  square  miles 
and  2,084,960  inhabitants  ;  Argentine  Re 
public,  1,323,560  square  miles  and  1,887,- 
000  inhabitants;  Paraguay,  73,000  square 
miles  and  1,337,439  inhabitants ;  Uruguay, 
66,716  square  miles  and  240,000  inhabi 
tants,  or  a  total  in  the  nine  republics  of 
3,789,220  square  miles  and  16,436,751  in 
habitants.  The  aggregate  area  of  the  nine 


republics  exceeds  that  of  Brazil  180,060 
square  miles,  and  the  total  population  ex 
ceeds  that  of  Brazil  5,069,552.  Brazil,  be 
ing  an  empire,  is  not  comprehended  in  the 
Blaine  proposal — she  rather  stands  as  a 
strong  barrier  against  it.  Mexico  and 
Guatamala  are  included,  but  are  on  this 
continent,  and  their  character  and  re 
sources  better  understood  by  our  people. 
In  the  South  American  countries  generally 
the  Spanish  language  is  spoken.  The  edu 
cated  classes  are  of  nearly  pure  Spanish  ex 
traction.  The  laboring  classes  are  of  mixed 
Spanish  and  aboriginal  blood,  or  of  pure 
aboriginal  ancestry.  The  characteristics 
of  the  Continent  are  emphatically  Spanish. 
The  area  and  population  we  have  already 
given.  The  territory  is  nearly  equally  di 
vided  between  the  republics  and  the  em 
pire,  the  former  having  a  greater  area  of 
only  180,060  square  miles ;  but  the  nine 
republics  have  an  aggregate  population  of 
5,059,522  more  than  Brazil.  The  United 
States  has  an  area  of  3,634,797  square 
miles,  including  Alaska;  but  excluding 
Alaska,  it  has  3,056,797  square  miles.  The 
area  of  Brazil  is  greater  than  that  of  the 
United  States,  excluding  Alaska,  by  552,- 
363  square  miles,  and  the  aggregate  area 
of  the  nine  republics  is  greater  by  732,423 
square  miles.  This  comparison  of  the  area 
of  the  nine  republics  and  of  Brazil  with 
that  of  this  nation  gives  a  definite  idea  of 
their  magnitude.  Geographically,  these 
republics  occupy  the  northern,  western  and 
southern  portions  of  South  America,  and 
are  contiguous.  The  aggregate  exports  and 
imports  of  South  America,  according  to  the 
last  available  data,  were  $529,300,000; 
those  of  Brazil,  $168,930,000 ;  of  the  nine 
republics,  $360,360,000. 

These  resolutions  will  bring  out  volumi 
nous  correspondence,  but  we  have  given  the 
reader  sufficient  to  reach  a  fair  understand 
ing  of  the  subject.  Whatever  of  scandal 
may  be  connected  with  it,  like  the  Star 
Route  cases,  it  should  await  official  in 
vestigation  and  condemnation.  Last  of  all 
should  history  condemn  any  one  in  adv. 
vance  of  official  inquiry.  None  of  the 
governments  invited  to  the  Congress  had 
accepted  formally,  and  in  view  of  obstacles 
thrown  in  the  way  by  the  present  adminis 
tration,  it  is  not  probable  they  will. 

Accepting  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Blaine 
as  stated  in  his  letter  to  President  Arthur, 
as  conveying  his  true  desire  and  meaning, 
it  is  due*  to  the  truth  to  say  that  it  compre 
hends  more  than  the  Monroe  doctrine,  the 
text  of  which  is  given  in  President  Mon 
roe's  own  words  in  this  volume.  While  he 
contended  against  foreign  intervention  with 
the  Republics  on  this  Hemisphere,  he  ne 
ver  asserted  the  right  of  our  government  to 
participate  in  or  seek  the  control  either  of 
the  internal,  commercial  or  foreign  policy 
of  any  of  the  Republics  of  America,  by  ar- 


THE    STAR    ROUTE    SCANDAL. 


277 


bitration  or  otherwise.  So  that  Mr.  Elaine 
is  the  author  of  an  advance  upon  the  Mon 
roe  doctrine,  and  what  seems  at  this  time 
a  radical  advance.  What  it  may  be  when 
the  United  States  seeks  to  "spread  itself" 
by  an  aggressive  foreign  policy,  and  by 
aggrandizement  of  new  avenues  of  trade, 
possibly  new  acquisitions  of  territory,  is 
another  question.  It  is  a  policy  brilliant 
beyond  any  examples  in  our  history,  and 
a  new  departure  from  the  teachings  of 
Washington,  who  advised  absolute  non-in 
tervention  in  foreign  aifairs.  The  new 
doctrine  might  thrive  and  acquire  great 
popularity  under  an  administration  friendly 
to  it ;  but  President  Arthur  has  already 
intimated  his  hostility,  and  it  is  now  be 
yond  enforcement  during  his  administra 
tion.  The  views  of  Congress  also  seem  to 
be  adverse  as  far  as  the  debates  have  gone 
into  the  question,  though  it  has  some  warm 
friends  who  may  revive  it  under  more  favo 
rable  auspices. 


The  Star  Route  Scandal. 

Directly  after  Mr.  James  assumed  the 
position  of  Postmaster-General  in  the 
Cabinet  of  President  Garfield,  he  disco 
vered  a  great  amount  of  extravagance  and 
probably  fraud  in  the  conduct  of  the  mail 
service  known  as  the  Star  Routes,  author 
ized  by  act  of  Congress  to  further  extend 
the  mail  facilities  and  promote  the  more 
rapid  carriage  of  the  mails.  These  routes 
proved  to  be  very  popular  in  the  West  and 
South-west,  and  the  growing  demand  for 
mail  facilities  in  these  sections  would  even 
in  a  legitimate  way,  if  not  closely  watched, 
lead  to  unusual  cost  and  extravagance ;  but 
it  is  alleged  that  a  ring  was  formed  headed 
by  General  Brady,  one  of  the  Assistant 
Postmaster-Generals  under  General  Key, 
by  which  routes  were  established  with  the 
sole  view  of  defrauding  the  Government — 
that  false  bonds  were  given  and  enormous 
and  fraudulent  sums  paid  for  little  or  no 
service.  This  scandal  was  at  its  height  at 
the  time  of  the  assassination  of  President 
Garfield,  at  which  time  Postmaster- General 
James,  Attorney-General  MacVeagh  and 
other  officials  were  rapidly  preparing  for 
the  prosecution  of  all  charged  with  the 
fraud.  Upon  the  succession  of  President 
Arthur  he  openly  insisted  upon  the  fullest 
prosecution,  and  declined  to  receive  the 
resignation  of  Mr.  MacVeagh  from  the 
Cabinet  because  of  a  stated  fear  that  the 
prosecution  would  suffer  by  his  withdrawal. 
Mr.  MacVeagh,  however,  withdrew  from 
the  Cabinet,  believing  that  the  new  Presi 
dent  should  not  by  any  circumstance  be 
prevented  from  the  official  association  of 
friends  of  his  own  selection ;  and  at  this 
writing  Attorney-General  Brewster  is  push 
ing  the  prosecutions. 

On  the  24th  of  March,  1882,  the  Grand 


Jury  sitting  at  Washington  presented  in 
dictments  lor  conspiracy  in  connection  with 
the  Star  Route  mail  service  against  the  fol 
lowing  named  persons:  Thomas  J.  Brady, 
J.  W.  Dorsey,  Henry  M.  Vail,  John  W. 
Dorsey,  John  R.  Miner,  John  M.  Peck,  M. 
C.  Refdell,  J.  L.  Sanderson,  Wm.  H.  Tur 
ner.  Also  against  Alvin  O.  Buck,  Wm.  S. 
Barringer  and  Albert  E.  Boon*1,  and  against 
Kate  M.  Armstrong  for  perjury.  The  in 
dictment  against  Brady,  Dorsey  and  others, 
which  is  very  voluminous,  recites  the  ex 
istence,  on  March  10, 1879,  of  the  Post  Of- 
fice  Department,  Postmaster-General  and 
three  assistants,  and  a  Sixth  Auditor's  office 
and  Contract  office  and  division. 

"  To  the  latter  was  subject,"  the  indict 
ment  continues,  "  the  arrangement  of  the 
mail  service  of  the  United  States  and  the 
letting  out  of  the  same  on  contract."  It 
then  describes  the  duties  of  the  inspecting 
division.  On  March  10,  1879,  the  grand 
jurors  represent,  Thomas  J.  Brady  was  the 
lawful  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-Gene 
ral  engaged  in  the  performance  of  the  du 
ties  of  that  office.  William  H.  Turner  was 
a  clerk  in  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster- 
General's  office,  and  attended  to  the  busi 
ness  of  the  contract  division  relating  to  tfye 
mail  service  over  several  post  routes  in  Ca 
lifornia,  Colorado,  Oregon,  Nebraska,  and 
the  Territories.  On  the  16th  of  March, 
1879,  the  indictment  represents  Thomas  J. 
Brady  as  having  made  eight  contracts  with 
John  W.  Dorsey  to  carry  the  mails  from 
July  1,  1878,  to  June  30,  1882,  from  Ver- 
million,  in  Dakota  Territory,  to  Sioux  Falls 
and  back,  on  a  fourteen  hour  time  schedule, 
far  $398  each  year ;  on  route  from  White 
River  to  Rawlins,  Colorado,  once  a  week 
of  108  hours'  time,  for  $1,700  a  year;  on 
route  from  Garland,  Colorado,  to  Parrott 
City,  once  a  week,  on  a  schedule  of  168 
hours'  time,  for  $2,745 ;  ow  route  from  Ou- 
ray,  Colorado,  to  Los  Pinos,  once  a  week,  in 
12  hours'  time,  for  $348;  on  route  from  Sil- 
verton,  Colorado,  to  Parrott  City,  twice  a 
week,  on  36  hours'  time,  for  $1,488;  on 
route  from  Mineral  Park,  in  Arizona  Ter 
ritory,  to  Pioche  and  back,  once  a  week,  in 
84  hours'  time,  $2,982 ;  on  route  from  Trea 
Almos  to  Clifton  and  back,  once  a  week,  of 
84  hours'  time,  for  $1,568. 

It  further  sets  forth  that  the  Second  As* 
sistant  Postmaster-General  entered  into 
five  contracts  with  John  R.  Miner  on  June 
13, 1878,  on  routes  in  Dakota  Territory  and 
Colorado,  and  on  March  15, 1879,  with  John 
M.  Peck,  over  eight  post  routes.  In  the 
space  of  sixty  days  after  the  making  of 
these  contracts  they  were  in  full  force.  On 
March  10,  1879,  John  W.  Dorsey,  John  R. 
Miner,  and  John  M.  Peck,  with  Stephen 
W.  Dorsey  and  Henry  M.  Vaile,  M.  C. 
Rerdell  and  J.  L.  Sanderson,  mutually  in 
terested  in  these  contracts  and  money,  to 
be  paid  by  the  United  States  to  the  three 


278 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


parties  above  named,  did  unlawfully  and 
maliciously  combine  and  conspire  to  fraud 
ulently  write,  sign,  and  cause  to  be  written 
and  signed,  a  large  number  of  fraudulent 
letters  and  communications  and  false  and 
fraudulent  petitions  and  applications  to  the 
Postmaster- General  for  additional  service 
and  increase  of  expenditure  on  the  routes, 
which  were  purported  to  be  signed  by  the 
people  and  inhabitants  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  routes,  which  were  filed  with  the 
papers  in  the  office  of  the  Second  Assistant 
Postmaster-General.  Further  that  these 
parties  swore  falsely  in  describing  the  num 
ber  of  men  and  animals  required  to  perform 
the  mail  service  over  the  routes  and  States 
as  greater  than  was  necessary. 

These  false  oaths  were  placed  on  file  in 
the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General's 
office;  and  by  means  of  Wm.  H.  Turner 
falsely  making  and  writing  and  endorsing 
these  papers,  with  brief  and  untrue  state 
ments  as  to  their  contents,  and  by  Turner 
preparing  fraudulent  written  orders  for  al 
lowances  to  be  made  to  these  contractors 
and  signed  by  Thomas  J.  Brady  fraudu 
lently,  and  for  the  benefit  and  gain  of  all 
the  parties  named  in  this  bill,  the  service 
was  increased  over  these  routes ;  and  that 
Brady  knew  it  was  not  lawfully  needed  and 
required.  That  he  caused  the  order  for  in 
creasing  to  be  certified  to  and  filed  in  the 
Sixth  Auditor's  office  for  fraudulent  addi 
tional  compensation.  That  Mr.  Brady  gave 
orders  to  extend  the  service  so  as  to  include 
other  and  different  stations  than  those  men 
tioned  in  the  contract,  that  he  and  others 
might  have  the  benefits  and  profits  of  it : 
that  he  refused  to  impose  fines  on  these 
contracts  for  failures  and  delinquencies,  but 
allowed  them  additional  pay  for  the  ser 
vice  over  these  routes.  During  the  conti 
nuance  of  these  contracts  the  parties  ac 
quired  unto  themselves  several  large  and 
excessive  sums  of  money,  the  property  of 
the  United  States,  fraudulently  and  un 
lawfully  ordered  to  be  paid  them  by  Mr. 
Brady. 

These  are  certainly  formidable  indict 
ments.  Others  are  pending  against  persons 
in  Philadelphia  and  other  cities,  who  are 
charged  with  complicity  in  these  Star  Eoute 
frauds,  in  giving  straw  bonds,  &c.  The 
Star  Route  service  still  continues,  the  Post 
Office  Department  under  the  law  having 
sent  out  several  thousand  notifications  this 
year  to  contractors,  informing  them  of  the 
official  acceptance  of  their  proposals,  and 
some  of  these  contractors  are  the  same 
named  above  as  under  indictment.  This 
well  exemplifies  the  maxim  of  the  law  re 
lative  to  innocence  until  guilt  be  shown. 


The  Coming  States. 

Bills  are  pending  before  Congress  for  the 
admission    of    Dakota,    Wyoming,    New 


Mexico  and  Washington  Territories.  The 
Bill  for  the  admission  of  Dakota  divides 
the  old  Territory,  and  provides  that  the 
new  State  shall  consist  of  the  territory  in 
cluded  within  the  following  boundaries : 
Commencing  at  a  point  on  the  west  line 
of  the  State  of  Minnesota  where  the  forty- 
sixth  degree  of  north  latitude  intersects  the 
same ;  thence  south  along  the  west  boun 
dary  lines  of  the  States  of  Minnesota  and 
Iowa  to  the  point  of  intersection  with  the 
northern  boundary  line  of  the  State  of 
Nebraska;  thence  westwardly  along  the 
northern  boundaiy  line  of  the  State  of 
Nebraska  to  the  twenty-seventh  meridian 
of  longitude  west  from  Washington  ;  thence 
north  along  the  said  twenty -seventh  degree 
of  longitude  to  the  forty-sixth  degree  of 
north  latitude  ;  to  the  place  of  beginning. 
The  bill  provides  for  a  convention  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  delegates,  to  be  chosen 
by  the  legal  voters,  who  shall  adopt  the 
United  States  Constitution  and  then  pro 
ceed  to  form  a  State  Constitution  and  gov 
ernment.  Until  the  next  census  the  State 
shall  be  entitled  to  one  representative,  who, 
with  the  Governor  and  other  officials,  shall 
be  elected  upon  a  day  named  by  the  Con 
stitutional  Convention.  The  report  sets 
apart  lands  for  school  purposes,  and  gives 
the  State  five  per  centum  of  the  proceeds 
of  all  sales  of  public  lands  within  its  limits 
subsequent  to  its  admission  as  a  State,  ex 
cluding  all  mineral  lands  from  being  thus 
set  apart  for  school  purposes-.  It  provides 
that  portion  of  the  the  Territory  not  in 
cluded  in  the  proposed  new  State  thall 
continue  as  a  Territory  under  the  name  of 
the  Territory  of  North  Dakota. 

The  proposition  to  divide  comes  from 
Senator  McMillan,  and  if  Congress  sus 
tains  the  division,  the  portion  admitted 
would  contain  100,000  inhabitants,  the  en 
tire  estimated  population  being  175,000 — a 
number  in  excess  of  twenty  of  the  present 
States  when  admitted,  exclusive  of  the 
original  thirteen  ;  while  the  division,  which 
shows  100,000  inhabitants,  is  still  in  excess 
of  sixteen  States  when  admitted. 

Nevada,  with  less  than  65,000  popula 
tion,  was  admitted  before  the  close  Presi 
dential  election  of  1876,  and  it  may  be  said 
that  her  majority  of  1,075,  in  a  total  poll 
of  19,691  votes,  decided  the  Presidential 
result  in  favor  of  Hayes,  and  these  votes 
counteracted  the  plurality  of  nearly  300,000 
received  by  Mr.  Tilden  elsewhere.  This 
fact  well  illustrates  the  power  of  States,  as 
States,  and  however  small,  in  controlling 
the  affairs  of  the  country.  It  also  accounts 
for  the  jealousy  with  which  closely  balanced 
political  parties  watch  the  incoming  States. 

Population  is  but  one  of  the  considera 
tions  entering  into  the  question  of  admit 
ting  territories,  State  sovereignty  does  not 
rest  upon  population,  as  in  the  make-up 
of  the  U.  S.  Senate  neither  population, 


THE    STAR    ROUTE    SCANDAL. 


279 


size,  nor  resources  are  taken  into  account. 
Rhode  Island,  the  smallest  of  all  the 
States,  and  New  York,  the  great  Empire 
State,  with  over  5,000,000  of  inhabitants, 
stand  upon  an  equality  in  the  conservative 
branch  of  the  Government.  It  is  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  that  the  popula 
tion  is  considered.  Such  is  the  jealousy 
of  the  larger  States  of  their  representation 
in  the  U.  S.  Senate,  that  few  new  ones 
would  be  admitted  without  long  and  con 
tinuous  knocking  if  it  were  not  for  partisan 
interests,  and  yet  where  a  fair  number  of 
people  demand  State  Government  there  is 
no  just  cause  for  denial.  Yet  all  questions 
of  population,  natural  division,  area  and 
resources  should  be  given  their  proper 
weight. 

The  area  of  the  combined  territories — 
Utah,  Washington,  New  Mexico,  Dakota, 
Arizona,  Montana,  Idaho,  Wyoming  and 
Indian  is  about  900,000  square  miles.  We 
exclude  Alaska,  which  has  not  been  sur 
veyed. 

Indian  Territory  and  Utah  are  for  some 
years  to  come  excluded  from  admission — 
the  one  being  reserved  to  the  occupancy 
of  the  Indians,  while  the  other  is  by  her 
peculiar  institution  of  polygamy,  generally 
thrown  out  of  all  calculation.  And  yet  it 
may  be  found  that  polygamy  can  best  be 
made  amenable  to  the  laws  by  the  compul 
sory  admission  of  Utah  as  a  State — an  idea 
entertained  by  not  a  few  who  have  given 
consideration  to  the  question.  Alaska  may 
also  be  counted  out  for  many  years  to  come. 
There  are  but  30,000  inhabitants,  few  of 
these  permanent,  and  Congress  is  now  con 
sidering  a  petition  for  the  establishment  of 
a  territorial  government  there. 

Next  to  Dakota,  New  Mexico  justly 
claims  admission.  The  lands  comprised 
within  its  original  area  were  acquired  from 
Mexico,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war  with 
that  country,  by  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe 
Hidalgo  in  1848,  and  by  act  of  September 
9,  1850,  a  Territorial  government  was  or 
ganized.  By  treaty  of  December  30, 1853, 
the  region  south  of  the  Gila  river — the 
Gadsden  purchase,  so  called — was  ceded  by 
Mexico,  and  by  act  of  August  4,  1854, 
added  to  the  Territory,  which  at  that  time 
included  within  its  limits  the  present  Ter 
ritory  of  Arizona.  Its  prayer  for  admis 
sion  was  brought  to  the  serious  attention 
of  Congress  in  1874.  The  bill  was  pre 
sented  in  an  able  speech  by  Mr.  Elkins, 
then  delegate  from  the  Territory,  and  had 
the  warm  support  of  many  members.  A 
bill  to  admit  was  also  introduced  in  the 
Senate,  and  passed  that  body  February  25, 
1875,  by  a  vote  of  thirty-two  to  eleven,  two 
of  the  present  members  of  that  body, 
Messrs.  Ingalls  and  Windom,  being  among 
its  supporters.  The  matter  of  admission 
came  up  for  final  action  in  the  House  at 
the  same  session,  just  prior  to  adjournment, 


and  a  motion  to  suspend  the  rules,  in  order 
to  put  it  upon  its  final  passage,  was  lost  by 
a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  to 
eighty -seven,  and  the  earnest  efforts  to  se 
cure  the  admission  of  New  Mexico  were 
thus  defeated.  A  bill  for  its  admission  is 
now  again  before  Congress,  and  it  is  a  mat 
ter  of  interest  to  note  the  representations 
as  to  the  condition  of  the  Territory  then 
made,  and  the  facts  as  they  now  exist.  It 
has,  according  to  the  census  of  1880,  a 
population  of  119,565.  It  had  in  1870  a 
population  of  91,874.  It  was  claimed  by 
the  more  moderate  advocates  of  the  bill 
that  its  population  then  numbered  135,000 
(15,435  more  than  at  present),  while  others 
placed  it  as  high  as  145,000.  Of  this  pop 
ulation,  45,000  were  said  to  be  of  American 
and  European  descent.  It  was  stated  by 
Senator  Hoar,  one  of  the  opponents  of  the 
bill,  that,  out  of  an  illiterate  population  of 
52,220,  by  far  the  larger  part  were  native 
inhabitants  of  Mexican  or  Spanish  origin, 
who  could  not  speak  the  English  language. 
This  statement  seems  to  be  in  large  degree 
confirmed  by  the  census  of  1880,  which 
shows  a  total  native  white  population  of 
108,721,  of  whom,  as  nearly  as  can  be  as 
certained,  upward  of  80  per  cent,  are  not 
only  illiterates  of  Mexican  and  Spanish 
extraction,  but  as  in  1870,  speaking  a  for 
eign  language.  The  vote  for  Mr.  Elkins, 
Territorial  Delegate  in  1875,  was  reported 
as  being  about  17,000.  The  total  vote  in 
1878  was  18,806,  and  in  1880, 20,397,  show 
ing  a  comparatively  insignificant  increase 
from  1875  to  1880. 

The  Territory  of  Washington  was  con 
stituted  out  of  Oregon,  and  organized  as  a 
Territory  by  act  of  March  2,  1853.  Its 
population  by  the  census  of  1880  was  75,- 
116,  an  increase  from  23,955  in  1870.  Of 
this  total,  59,313  are  of  native  and  15,803 
of  foreign  nativity.  Its  total  white  popu 
lation  in  the  census  year  was  67,119;  Chi 
nese,  3,186;  Indian,  4,105;  colored,  326, 
and  its  total  present  population  is  probably 
not  far  from  95,000.  Its  yield  of  precious 
metals  in  1880,  and  for  the  entire  period 
since  its  development,  while  showing  re 
sources  full  of  promise,  has  been  much  less 
than  that  of  any  other  of  the  organized  Ter 
ritories.  Its  total  vote  for  Territorial  Dele 
gate  in  1880,  while  exceeding  that  of  the 
Territories  of  Arizona,  Idaho,  and  Wyo 
ming,  was  but  15,823. 

The  Territory  of  Arizona,  organized  out 
of  a  portion  of  New  Mexico,  and  provided 
with  a  territorial  government  in  1863,  con 
tains  about  5,000,000  acres  less  than  the 
Territory  of  New  Mexico,  or  an  acreage 
exceeded  by  that  of  only  five  States  and 
Territories.  Its  total  population  in  1870 
was  9,658,  and  in  1880,  40,440,  351,60  of 
whom  were  whites.  Of  its  total  population 
in  the  census  year,  24,391  were  of  native 
and  16,049  of  foreign  birth,  the  number  of 


280 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Indians,  Chinese,  and  colored  being 
6,000. 

Idaho  was  originally  a  part  of  Oregon, 
from  which  it  was  separated  and  provided 
with  a  territorial  government  by  the  act  of 
March  3,  1863.  It  embraces  in  its  area  a 
little  more  than  55,000,000  acres,  and  had 
in  1880  a  total  population  of  32,610,  being 
an  increase  from  14,999  in  1870.  Of  this 
population,  22,636  are  of  native  and  9,974 
of  foreign  birth ;  29,013  of  the  total  inhabi 
tants  are  white,  3,379  Chinese  and  218  In 
dians  and  colored. 

The  Territory  of  Montana,  organized  by 
act  of  May  26,  1864,  contains  an  acreage 
larger  than  that  of  any  other  Territory  save 
Dakota.  While  it  seems  to  be  inferior  in 
cereal  producing  capacity,  in  its  area  of 
valuable  grazing  lands  it  equals,  if  it  does 
not  excel,  Idaho.  The  chief  prosperity  of 
the  Territory,  and  that  which  promises  for 
it  a  future  of  growing  importance,  lies  in 
its  extraordinary  mineral  wealth,  the  pro 
ductions  of  its  mines  in  the  year  1880  hav 
ing  been  nearly  twice  that  of  any  other 
Territory,  with  a  corresponding  excess  in 
its  total  production,  which  had  reached, 
on  June  30,  1880,  the  enormous  total  of 
over  $53,000,000.  Its  mining  industries 
represent  in  the  aggregate  very  large  in 
vested  capital,  and  the  increasing  products, 
with  the  development  of  new  mines,  are 
attracting  constant  additions  to  its  popula 
tion,  which  in  1880  showed  an  increase,  as 
compared  with  1870,  of  over  90  per  cent. 
For  particulars  see  census  tables  in  tabu 
lated  history. 

Wyoming  was  constituted  out  of  the 
Territory  of  Dakota,  and  provided  with 
territorial  government  July  25, 1868.  Ly 
ing  between  Colorado  ana  Montana,  and 
adjoining  Dakota  and  Nebraska  on  the 
east,  it  partakes  of  the  natural  characteris 
tics  of  these  States  and  Territories,  having 
a  fair  portion  of  land  suitable  for  cultiva 
tion,  a  large  area  suitable  for  grazing  pur 
poses,  and  a  wealth  in  mineral  resources 
whose  development,  although  of  recent  be 
ginning,  has  already  resulted  in  an  en 
couraging  yield  in  precious  metals.  It  is 
the  fifth  in  area. 

Henry  Randall  Waite,  in  an  able  article 
in  the  March  number  of  the  International 
Review  (1882,)  closes  with  these  interest 
ing  paragraphs : 

-  It  will  be  thus  seen  that  eleven  States 
organized  from  Territories,  when  author 
ized  to  form  State  governments,  and  the 
game  number  when  admitted  to  the  Union, 
had  free  populations  of  less  than  60,000, 
and  that  of  the  slave  States  included  in 
this  number,  seven  in  all,  not  one  had  the 
required  number  of  free  inhabitants,  either 
when  authorized  to  take  the  first  steps  to 
ward  admission  or  when  finally  admitted  ; 
and  that  both  of  these  steps  were  taken  by 
two  of  the  latter  States  with  a  total  popu 


lation,  free  and  slave,  below  the  required 
number.  Why  so  many  States  have  been 
authorized  to  form  State  governments,  and 
have  been  subsequently  admitted  to  the 
Union  with  populations  so  far  below  the 
requirements  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  and 
the  accepted  rules  for  subsequent  ac 
tion  may  be  briefly  explained  as  follows : 
1st,  by  the  ground  for  the  use  of  a  wide 
discretion  afforded  in  the  provisions  of  the 
ordinance  of  1787,  for  the  admission  of 
States,  when  deemed  expedient,  before 
their  population  should  equal  the  required 
number;  and  2d,  by  the  equally  wide  dis 
cretion  given  by  the  Constitution  in  the 
words,  'New  States  may  be  admitted  by 
Congress  into  this  Union,'  the  only  provi 
sion  of  the  Constitution  bearing  specifical 
ly  upon  this  subject.  Efforts  have  been 
made  at  various  times  to  secure  the  strict 
enforcement  of  the  original  rules,  with  the 
modification  resulting  from  the  increase 
in  the  population  of  the  Union,  which  pro 
vided  that  the  number  of  free  inhabitants 
in  a  Territory  seeking  admission  should 
equal  the  number  established  as  the  basis 
of  representation  in  the  apportionment  of 
Representatives  in  Congress,  as  determined 
by  the  preceding  census.  How  little  suc 
cess  the  efforts  made  in  this  direction  have 
met,  may  be  seen  by  a  comparison  of  the 
number  of  inhabitants  forming  the  basis  of 
representation,  as  established  by  the  dif 
ferent  censuses,  and  the  free  population  of 
the  Territories  admitted  at  corresponding 
periods. 

"At  this  late  date,  it  is  hardly  to  be  ex 
pected  that  rules  so  long  disregarded  will  be 
made  applicable  to  the  admission  of  the 
States  to  be  organized  from  the  existing 
Territories.  There  is,  nevertheless,  a 
growing  disposition  on  the  part  of  Con 
gress  to  look  with  disfavor  upon  the  forma 
tion  of  States  whose  population,  and  the 
development  of  whose  resources,  render 
the  expediency  of  their  admission  ques 
tionable;  and  an  increasing  doubt  as  to 
the  propriety  of  so  dividing  the  existing 
Territories  as  to  multiply  to  an  unneces 
sary  extent  the  number  of  States,  with  the 
attendant  increase  in  the  number  of  Repre 
sentatives  in  the  National  Legislature. 

"  To  recapitulate  the  facts  as  to  the  pre 
sent  condition  of  the  Territories  with  re 
ference  to  their  admission  as  States,  it  may 
be  said  that  only  Dakota,  Utah,  New 
Mexico  and  Washington  are  in  possession 
of  the  necessary  population  according  to 
the  rule  requiring  60,000 ;  that  only  the 
three  first  named  conform  to  the  rule  de 
manding  a  population  equal  to  the  present 
basis  of  representation  ;  that  only  Dakota, 
Utah  and  Washington  give  evidence  of 
that  intelligence  on  the  part  of  their  in 
habitants  which  is  essential  to  the  proper 
exercise,  under  favorable  conditions,  of  the 
extended  rights  of  citizenship,  and  of  that 


THE    CHINESE    QUESTION. 


281 


progress  in  the  development  of  their  re 
sources  which  makes  self-government  es 
sential,  safe,  or  in  any  way  desirable;  and 
that  only  Dakota  can  be  said,  unquestion 
ably,  to  possess  all  of  the  requirements 
which,  by  the  dictates  of  a  sound  policy, 
should  be  demanded  of  a  Territory  at  this 
time  seeking  admission  to  the  Union. 

"  Whatever  the  response  to  the  Terri 
torial  messengers  now  waiting  at  the  doors 
of  Congress,  a  few  years,  at  most,  will 
bring  an  answer  to  their  prayers.  The 
stars  of  a  dozen  proud  and  prosperous 
States  will  soon  be  added  to  those  already 
blazoned  upon  the  blue  field  of  the  Union, 
and  the  term  Territory,  save  as  applied  to 
the  frozen  regions  of  Alaska,  will  disappear 
from  the  map  of  the  United  States." 


The  Chinese  Question. 

Since  1877  the  agitation  of  the  prohibi 
tion  of  Chinese  immigration  in  California 
and  other  States  and  Territories  on  the 
Pacific  slope  has  been  very  great.  This  led 
to  many  scenes  of  violence  and  in  some 
instances  bloodshed,  when  one  Dennis 
Kearney  led  the  Workingmen's  party  in  San 
Francisco.  On  this  issue  an  agitator  and 
preacher  named  Kalloch  was  elected 
Mayor.  The  issue  was  carried  to  the  Leg 
islature,  and  in  the  vote  on  a  constitu 
tional  amendment  it  was  found  that  not 
only  the  labor  but  nearly  all  classes  in 
California  were  opposed  to  the  Chinese. 
The  constitutional  amendment  did  not 
meet  the  sanction  of  the  higher  courts.  A 
bill  was  introduced  into  Congress  restrict 
ing  Chinese  immigrants  to  fifteen  on  each 
vessel.  This  passed  both  branches,  but  was 
vetoed  by  President  Hayes  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  in  violation  of  the  spirit  of 
treaty  stipulations.  At  the  sessions  of 
1881-82  a  new  and  more  radical  measure 
was  introduced.  This  prohibits  immigra 
tion  to  Chinese  or  Coolie  laborers  for  twen 
ty  years.  The  discussion  in  the  U.  S. 
Senate  began  on  the  28th  of  February, 
1882,  in  a  speech  of  unusual  strength  by 
Senator  John  F.  Miller,  the  author  of  the 
Bill.  From  this  we  freely  quote,  not  alone 
to  show  the  later  views  entertained  by  the 
people  of  the  Pacific  slope,  but  to  give 
from  the  lips  of  one  who  knows  the  lead 
ing  facts  in  the  history  of  the  agitation. 


Abstracts  from  the  Text  of  Senator 
Miller's  Speech. 

On  his  Bill  to  Prohibit  Chinese  Immigration. 

In  the  Senate,  Feb.  28th,  1882,  Mr. 
Miller  said : 

"  This  measure  is  not  a  surprise  to  the 
Senate,  nor  a  new  revelation  to  the 
country.  It  has  been  before  Congress 
more  than  once,  if  not  in  the  precise  ibrin 


in  which  it  is  now  presented,  in  substance 
the  same,  and  it  has  passed  the  ordeal  of 
analytical  debate  and  received  the  affirma 
tive  vote  of  both  Houses.  Except  for  the 
Executive  veto  it  would  have  been  long 
ago  the  law  of  the  land.  It  is  again  pre 
sented,  not  only  under  circumstances  as 
imperative  in  their  demands  for  its  enact 
ment,  but  with  every  objection  of  the  veto 
removed  and  every  argument  made  against 
its  approval  swept  away.  It  is  an  interest 
ing  fact  in  the  history  of  this  measure,  that 
the  action  which  has  cleared  its  way  of  the 
impediments  which  were  made  the  reasons 
for  the  veto,  was  inaugurated  and  consum 
mated  with  splendid  persistance  and  en 
ergy  by  the  same  administration  whose  ex 
ecutive  interposed  the  veto  against  it. 
Without  stopping  to  inquire  into  the  mo 
tive  of  the  Hayes  administration  in  this 
proceeding,  whether  its  action  was  in  obe 
dience  to  a  conviction  that  the  measure 
was  in  itself  right  and  expedient,  or  to  a 
public  sentiment,  so  strong  and  universal 
as  to  demand  the  utmost  vigor  in  the  di 
plomacy  necessary  for  the  removal  of  all 
impediments  to  its  progress,  it  must  be  ap 
parent  that  the  result  of  this  diplomatic 
action  has  been  to  add  a  new  phase  to  the 
question  in  respect  of  the  adoption  of  the 
measure  itself. 

"  In  order  to  fully  appreciate  this  fact  it 
may  be  proper  to  indulge  in  historical 
reminiscence  for  a  moment.  For  many 
years  complaints  had  been  made  against 
the  introduction  into  the  United  States  of 
the  peculiar  people  who  come  from  China, 
and  the  Congress,  after  careful  considera 
tion  of  the  subject,  so  far  appreciated  the 
evil  complained  of  as  to  pass  a  bill  to  in 
terdict  it. 

"  The  Executive  Department  had,  prior 
to  that  action,  with  diplomatic  finesse,  ap 
proached  the  imperial  throne  of  China, 
with  intent,  as  was  said,  to  ascertain 
whether  such  an  interdiction  of  coolie  im 
portation,  or  immigration  so  called,  into 
the  United  States  would  be  regarded  as  a 
breach  of  friendly  relations  with  China, 
and  had  been  informed  by  the  diplomat,  to 
whom  the  delicate  task  had  been  com 
mitted,  that  such  interdiction  would  not  be 
favorably  regarded  by  the  Chinese  Govern 
ment.  Hence,  when  Congress,  with  sur 
prising  audacity,  passed  the  bill  of  inter 
diction  the  Executive,  believing  in  the 
truth  of  the  information  given  him,  thought 
it  prudent  and  expedient  to  veto  the  bill, 
but  immediately,  in  pursuance  of  authority 
granted  by  Congress,  he  appointed  three 
commissioners  to  negotiate  a  treaty  by 
which  the  consent  of  China  should  be 
given  to  the  interdiction  proposed  by 
Congress.  These  commissioners  appeared 
before  the  Government  of  China  upon  this 
special  mission,  and  presented  the  request 
of  the  Government  of  the  United  States 


282 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


affirmatively,  positively,  and  authorita 
tively  made,  and  after  the  usual  diplomatic 
ceremonies,  representations,  misrepresenta 
tions,  avowals,  and  concealments,  the 
treaty  was  made,  the  concession  granted, 
and  the  interdiction  agreed  upon.  This 
treaty  was  presented  here  and  ratified  by 
the  Senate,  with  what  unanimity  Senators 
know,  and  which  the  rules  of  the  Senate 
forbid  me  to  describe. 

"The  new  phase  of  this  question,  which 
we  may  as  well  consider  in  the  outset,  sug 
gests  the  spectacle  which  this  nation  should 
present  if  Congress  were  to  vote  this  or  a 
similar  measure  down.  A  great  nation 
cannot  afford  inconsistency  in  action,  nor 
betray  a  vacillating,  staggering,  incon 
stant  policy  in  its  intercourse  with  other 
nations.  No  really  great  people  will  pre 
sent  themselves  before  the  world  through 
their  government  as  a  nation  irresolute, 
fickle,  feeble,  or  petulant ;  one  day  eagerly 
demanding  of  its  neighbor  an  agreement 
or  concession,  which  on  the  next  it  ner 
vously  repudiates  or  casts  aside.  Can  we 
make  a  solemn  request  of  China,  through 
the  pomp  of  an  extraordinary  embassy  and 
the  ceremony  of  diplomatic  negotiation, 
and  with  prudent  dispatch  exchange  ratifi 
cations  of  the  treaty  granting  our  request, 
and  within  less  than  half  a  year  after  t?uch 
exchange  is  made  cast  aside'the  concession 
and,  with  childish  irresolution,  ignore  the 
whole  proceeding?  Can  we  afford  to  make 
such  a  confession  of  American  imbecility 
to  any  oriental  power?  The  adoption  of 
this  or  some  such  measure  becomes  neces 
sary,  it  seems  to  me,  to  the  intelligent  and 
consistent  execution  of  a  policy  adopted  by 
this  Government  under  the  sanction  of  a 
treaty  with  another  great  nation. 

"  If  the  Executive  department,  the  Sen 
ate,  and  the  House  of  Keprcsentatives 
have  all  understood  and  appreciated  their 
own  action  in  respect  of  this  measure ;  if 
in  the  negotiation  and  ratification  of  the 
new  treaty  with  China,  the  Executive  and 
the  Senate  did  not  act  without  thought,  in 
blind,  inconsiderate  recklessness — and  we 
know  they  did  not — if  the  Congress  of  the 
United  Siate?  in  the  passage  of  the  fifteen 
passenger  bill  had  the  faintest  conception 
of  what  it  was  doing — and  we  know  it  had 
— then  the  policy  of  this  Government  in 
respect  of  so-called  Chinese  immigration 
has  been  authoritatively  settled. 

"This  proposition  is  submitted  with  the 
greater  confidence  because  the  action  I 
have  described  was  in  obedience  to,  and  in 
harmony  with,  a  public  sentiment  which 
seems  to  have  permeated  the  whole  coun 
try.  For  the  evidence  of  the  existence  of 
such  a  sentiment,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
produce  the  declarations  upon  this  subject 
of  the  two  great  historical  parties  of  the 
country,  deliberately  made  by  their  na 
tional  conventions  of  1880.  One  of  these 


(the  Democratic  convention)  declared  that 
there  shall  be— 

"  '  No  more  Chinese  immigration  except 
for  travel,  education,  and  foreign  com 
merce,  and  therein  carefully  guarded.' 

"The  other  (the  Republican)  convention 
declared  that— - 

"  '  Since  the  authority  to  regulate  immi 
gration  and  intercourse  between  the  United 
States  and  foreign  nations  rests  with  Con 
gress,  or  with  the  United  States  and  its 
treaty-making  power,  the  Republican 
party,  regarding  the  unrestricted  immi 
gration  of  the  Chinese  as  an  evil  of  great 
magnitude,  invokes  the  exercise  of  these 
powers  to  restrain  and  limit  the  immigra 
tion  by  the  enactment  of  such  just,  hu 
mane,  and  reasonable  provisions  as  will 
produce  that  result.' 

"  These  are  the  declarations  of  the  two 
great  political  parties,  in  whose  ranks  are 
enrolled  nearly  all  the  voters  of  the  United 
States;  and  whoever  voted  at  the  last 
Presidential  election  voted  for  the  adop 
tion  of  the  principles  and  policy  expressed 
by  those  declarations,  whether  he  voted 
with  the  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  great 
parties.  Both  candidates  for  the  Presidency 
were  pledged  to  the  adoption  and  execu 
tion  of  the  policy  of  restriction  thus  de 
clared  by  their  respective  parties,  and  the 
candidate  who  was  successful  at  the  polls, 
in  his  letter  of  acceptance,  not  only  gave 
expression  to  the  sentiment  of  his  party 
and  the  country,  but  with  a  clearness  and 
conciseness  which  distinguished  all  his  ut 
terances  upon  great  public  questions,  gave 
the  reasons  for  that  public  sentiment."  He 
said: 

"  'The  recent  movement  of  the  Chinese 
to  our  Pacific  Coast  partakes  but  little  of 
the  qualities  of  an  immigration,  either  in 
its  purposes  or  results.  It  is  too  much 
like  an  importation  to  be  welcomed  with 
out  restriction ;  too  much  like  an  invasion 
to  be  looked  upon  without  solicitude.  We 
cannot  consent  to  allow  any  form  of  servile 
labor  to  be  introduced  among  us  under  the 
guise  of  immigration.' 

"  In  this  connection  it  is  proper  also  to 
consider  the  probable  effect  of  a  failure  or 
refusal  of  Congress  to  pass  this  bill,  upon  the 
introduction  of  Chinese  coolies  into  the 
United  States  in  the  future.  An  adverse 
vote  upon  such  a  measure,  is  an  invitation 
to  the  Chinese  to  corne,  It  would  be  in- 
i  terpreted  to  mean  that  the  Government  of 
I  the  United  States  had  reversed  its  policy, 
!  and  is  now  in  favor  of  the  unrestricted  im 
portation  of  Chinese;  that  it  looks  with 
favor  upon  the  Chinese  invasion  now  in 
progress.  It  is  a  fact  well  known  that  the 
hostility  to  the  influx  of  Chinese  upon  the 
Pacific  coast  displayed  by  the  people  of 
California  has  operated  as  a  restriction, 
and  has  discouraged  the  importation  of 


THE    CHINESE    QUESTION. 


283 


Chinese  to  such  a  degree  that  it  is  probable 
that  there  are  not  a  tenth  part  the  number 
of  Chinese  in  the  country  there  would 
have  been  had  this  determined  hostility 
never  been  shown.  Despite  the  inhospi- 
tality,  not  to  say  resistance,  of  the  Cali 
fornia  people  to  the  Chinese,  sometimes 
while  waiting  for  the  action  of  the  General 
Government  difficult  to  restrain  within  the 
bounds  of  peaceable  assertion,  they  have 
poured  through  the  Golden  Gate  in  con 
stantly  increased  numbers  during  the  past 
year,  the  total  number  of  arrivals  at  San 
Francisco  alone  during  1881  being  18,561. 
Nearly  two  months  have  elapsed  since  the 
1st  of  January,  and  there  have  arrived,  as 
the  newspapers  show,  about  four  thousand 
more. 

"  The  defeat  of  this  measure  now  is  a 
shout  of  welcome  across  the  Pacific  Ocean 
to  a  myriad  host  of  these  strange  people  to 
come  and  occupy  the  land,  and  it  is  a  re 
buke  to  the  American  citizens,  who  have 
so  long  stood  guard  upon  the  western  shore 
of  this  continent,  and  who,  seeing  the  dan 
ger,  have  with  a  fortitude  and  forbearance 
most  admirable,  raised  and  maintained  the 
only  barrier  against  a  stealthy,  strategic, 
but  peaceful  i  ivasion  as  destructive  in  its 
results  and  more  potent  for  evil,  than  an 
invasion  by  an  army  with  banners.  An 
adverse  vote  now,  is  to  commission  under 
the  broad  seal  of  the  United  States,  all  the 
speculators  in  human  labor,  all  the  im 
porters  of  human  muscle,  all  the  traffickers 
in  human  flesh,  to  ply  their  infamous  trade 
without  impediment  under  the  protection 
of  the  American  flag,  and  empty  the  teem 
ing,  seething  slave  pens  of  China  upon  the 
soil  of  California !  I  forbear  further  spec 
ulation  upon  the  results  likely  to  flow  from 
such  a  vote,  for  it  presents  pictures  to  the 
mind  which  one  would  not  willingly  con 
template. 

"  These  considerations  which  I  have 
presented  ought  to  be,  it  seems  to  me,  de 
cisive  of  the  action  of  the  Senate  upon  this 
measure ;  and  I  should  regard  the  argu 
ment  as  closed  did  I  not  know,  that  there 
sfcill  remain  those  who  do  not  consider  the 
question  as  settled,  and  who  insist  upon 
further  inquiry  into  the  reasons  fora  policy 
of  restriction,  as  applied  to  the  Chinese.  I 
am  not  one  of  those  who  would  place  the 
consideration  of  consistency  or  mere  ap 
pearances  above  consideration  of  right  or 
justice ;  but  since  no  change  has  taken 
place  in  our  relations  with  China,  nor  in 
our  domestic  concerns  which  renders  a  re 
versal  of  the  action  of  the  government 
proper  or  necessary,  I  insist  that  if  the 
measure  of  re  friction  was  right  and  good 
policy  whei  Congress  passed  the  fifteenth 
passenger  bill,  and  when  the  late  treaty 
with  China  was  negotiated  and  ratified,  it 
is  right  and  expedient  now. 

"This   measure  had  its  origin  in  Cali- 


fornia.  It  has  been  pressed  with  great 
vigor  by  the  Representatives  of  the  Pacific 
coast  in  Congress,  for  many  years.  It  has 
not  been  urged  with  wild  vehement  decla 
mation  by  thoughtless  men,  at  the  behest 
of  an  ignorant  unthinking,  prej  udiced  con 
stituency.  It  has  been  supported  by  in 
controvertible  fact  and  passionless  reason 
ing  and  enforced  by  the  logic  of  events. 
Behind  these  Representatives  was  an  in 
telligent,  conscientious  public  sentiment — 
universal  in  a  constituency  as  honest,  gen 
erous,  intelligent,  courageous,  and  humane 
as  any  in  the  Republic. 

"  It  had  been  said  that  the  advocates  of 
Chinese  restriction  were  to  be  found  only 
among  the  vicious,  unlettered  foreign  ele 
ment  of  California  society.  To  show  the 
fact  in  respect  of  this  contention,  the  Leg 
islature  of  California  in  1878  provided  for 
a  vote  of  the  people  upon  the  que3tion  of 
Chinese  immigration  (so  called)  to  be  had 
at  the  general  election  of  1879.  The  vote 
was  legally  taken,  without  excitement,  and 
the  response  was  general.  When  the  bal 
lots  were  counted,  there  were  found  to  be 
883  votes  for  Chinese  immigration  and 
154,638  against  it.  A  similar  vote  was  tak 
en  in  Nevada  and  resulted  as  follows :  183 
votes  for  Chinese  immigration  and  17,259 
votes  against.  It  has  been  said  that  a 
count  of  noses  is  an  ineffectual  and  illusory 
method  of  settling  great  questions,  but  this 
vote  of  these  two  States  settled  the  conten 
tion  intended  to  be  settled;  and  demon 
strated  that  the  people  of  all  others  in  the 
United  States  who  know  most  of  the 
Chinese  evil,  and  who  are  most  competent 
to  judge  of  the  necessity  for  restriction  are 
practically  unanimous  in  the  support  of 
this  measure. 

"  It  is  to  be  supposed  that  this  vote  of 
California  was  the  effect  of  an  hysterical 
spasm,  which  had  suddenly  seized  the 
minds  of  154,000  voters,  representing  the 
sentiment  of  800,000  people.  For  nearly 
thirty  years  this  people  had  witnessed  the 
effect  of  coolie  importation.  For  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century  these  voters  had 
met  face  to  face,  considered,  weighed,  and 
discussed  the  great  question  upon  which 
they  were  at  last  called  upon,  in  the  most 
solemn  and  deliberate  manner,  to  express 
an  opinion.  1  do  not  cite  this  extraordinary 
vote  as  a  conclusive  argument  in  favor  of 
Chinese  restriction  ;  but  I  present  it  as  an 
important  fact  suggestive  of  argument.  It 
may  be  that  the  people  who  have  been 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  Chinese  in 
vasion  are  all  wrong,  and  that  those  who 
have  seen  nothing  of  it,  who  have  but 
heard  something  of  it,  are  more  competent 
(being  disinterested)  to  judge  of  its  pos 
sible,  probable,  and  actual  effects,  than 
those  who  have  had  twenty  or  thirty  years 
of  actual  continuous  experience  and  con 
tact  with  the  Chinese  colony  in  America ; 


284 


AMERICAN  POLITICS. 


and  it  may  be  that  the  Chinese  question  is 
to  be  settled  upon  considerations  other 
than  those  practical  common  sense  reasons 
and  principles  which  form  the  basis  of  po 
litical  science. 

"  It  has  sometimes  happened  in  dealing 
with  great  questions  of  governmental 
policy  that  sentiment,  or  a  sort  of  emotional 
inspiration,  has  seized  the  minds  of  those 
engaged  in  the  solution  of  great  problems, 
by  which  they  have  been  lilted  up  into  the 
ethereal  heights  of  moral  abstraction.  I 
trust  that  while  we  attempt  the  path  of  in- 
quiry  in  this  instance  we  shall  keep  our 
feet  firmly  upon  the  earth.  This  question 
relates  to  this  planet  and  the  temporal 
government  of  some  of  its  inhabitants ;  it 
is  of  the  earth  earthly ;  it  involves  prin 
ciples  of  economic,  social,  and  political 
science,  rather  than  a  question  of  morals ; 
it  is  a  question  of  national  policy,  and 
should  be  subjected  to  philosophical  analy 
sis.  Moreover,  the  question  is  of  to-day. 
The  conditions  of  the  world  of  mankind  at 
the  present  moment  are  those  with  which 
we  have  to  deal.  If  mankind  existed  now 
in  one  grand  co-operative  society,  in  one 
universal  union,  under  one  system  of  laws, 
in  a  vast  homogeneous  brotherhood, 
serenely  beatified,  innocent  of  all  selfish 
aims  and  unholy  desires,  with  one  visible 
temporal  ruler,  whose  judgments  should 
be  justice  and  whose  sway  should  be  eter 
nal,  then  there  would  be  no  propriety  in 
this  measure. 

"  But  the  millennium  has  not  yet  begun, 
and  man  exists  now,  as  he  has  existed 
always — in  the  economy  of  Providence — 
in  societies  called  nations,  separated  by 
the  peculiarities  if  not  the  antipathies  of 
race.  In  truth  the  history  of  mankind  is 
for  the  most  part  descriptive  of  racial  con 
flicts  and  the  struggles  between  nations  for 
existence.  By  a  perfectly  natural  process 
these  nations  have  evolved  distinct  civ 
ilizations,  as  diverse  in  their  characteristics 
as  the  races  of  men  from  which  they  have 
sprung.  These  may  be  properly  grouped 
into  two  grand  divisions,  the  civilization 
of  the  East  and  the  civilization  of  the 
West.  These  two  great  and  diverse  civiliza 
tions  have  finally  met  on  the  American 
shore  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

u  During  the  late  depression  in  busi 
ness  affairs,  which  existed  for  three  or  four 
years  in  California,  while  thousands  of 
white  men  and  women  were  walking  the 
streets,  begging  and  pleading  for  an  oppor 
tunity  to  give  their  honest  labor  for  any 
wages,  the  great  steamers  made  their  regu 
lar  arrivals  from  China,  and  discharged 
at  the  wharves  of  San  Francisco  their  ac 
customed  cargoes  of  Chinese  who  were 
conveyed  through  the  city  to  the  distribu 
ting  dens  of  the  Six  Companies,  and  with 
in  three  or  four  days  after  arrival  every 
Chinaman  was  in  his  place  at  work,  and 


the  white  people  unemployed  still  went 
bout  the  streets.  This  continued  until 
:he  white  laboring  men  rose  in  their  des- 
jeration  and  threatened  the  existence  of 
ihe  Chinese  colony  when  the  influx  was 
;emporarily  checked  ;  but  now  since  busi 
ness  has  revived,  and  the  pressure  is  re 
moved,  the  Chinese  come  in  vastly  in 
creased  numbers,  the  excess  of  arrivals  over 
departures  averaging  about  one  thousand 
per  month  at  San  Francisco  alone.  The 
mporters  of  Chinese  had  no  difficulty  in 
securing  openings  for  their  cargoes  now, 
and  when  transportation  from  California 
to  the  Eastern  States  is  cheapened,  as  it 
soon  will  be,  they  will  extend  their  opera 
tions  into  the  Middle  and  Eastern  States, 
unless  prevented  by  law,  for  wherever 
there  is  a  white  man  or  woman  at  work 
for  wages,  whether  at  the  shoe  bench,  in 
the  factory,  or  on  the  farm,  there  is  an 
opening  for  a  Chinaman.  No  matter  how 
low  the  wages  may  be,  the  Chinaman  can 
afford  to  work  for  still  lower  wages,  and  if 
the  competition  is  free,  he  will  take  the 
white  man's  place. 

"  At  this  point  we  are  met  by  the  query 
from  a  certain  class  of  political  econo 
mists,  'What  of  it?  Suppose  the  Chinese 
work  for  lower  wages  than  white  men,  is 
it  not  advantageous  to  the  country  to  em 
ploy  them  ? '  The  first  answer  to  such 
question  is,  that  by  this  process  white  men 
are  supplanted  by  Chinese.  It  is  a  sub 
stitution  of  Chinese  and  their  civilization 
for  white  men  and  Anglo-Saxon  civiliza 
tion.  This  involves  considerations  higher 
than  mere  economic  theories.  If  the  Chi 
nese  are  as  desirable  as  citizens,  if  they 
are  in  all  the  essential  elements  of  man 
hood  the  peers  or  the  superiors  of  the  Cau 
casian  ;  if  they  will  protect  American  in 
terests,  foster  American  .institutions,  and 
become  the  patriotic  defenders  of  republi 
can  government ;  if  their  civilization  does 
not  antagonize  ours  nor  contaminate  it ;  if 
they  are  free,  independent  men,  fit  for 
liberty  and  self-government  as  European 
immigrants  generally  are,  then  we  may 
begin  argument  upon  the  question  whether 
it  is  better  or  worse,  wise  or  unwise,  to 
permit  white  men,  American  citizens,  or 
men  of  kindred  races  to  be  supplanted 
and  the  Chinese  to  be  substituted  in  their 
places.  Until  all  this  and  more  can  be 
shown  (he  advocates  of  Chinese  importa 
tion  or  immigration  have  no  base  upon 
which  to  even  begin  to  build  argument. 

"The  statistics  of  the  manufacture  of 
cigars  in  San  Fiancisco  are  still  more  sug 
gestive.  This  business  was  formerly  car 
ried  on  exclusively  by  white  people,  many 
hundreds  finding  steady  and  lucrative'em- 
ployment  in  that  trade.  I  have  here  the 
certified  statement  from  the  office  of  the 
collector  of  internal  revenue  at  San  Fran 
cisco,  showing  the  number  of  white  people 


THE    CHINESE    QUESTION. 


285 


and  Chinese,  relatively,  employed  on  the 
1st  of  November  last  in  the  manufacture 
of  cigars.  The  statement  is  as  follows : 

Number  of  white  men  employed 493 

Number  ot  white  women  employed.      170 

Total  whites 663 

Number  of  Chinese  employed 5  182 

"  The  facts  of  this  statement  were  care 
fully  ascertained  by  three  deputy  collec 
tors.  The  San  Francisco  Assembly  of 
Trades  certify  that  there  are  8,265  Chinese 
employed  in  laundries.  It  is  a  well-known 
fact  that  white  women  who  formerly  did 
this  work  have  been  quite  driven  out  of 
that  employment.  The  same  authority 
certifies  that  the  number  of  Chinese  now 
employed  in  the  manufacture  of  clothing 
in  San  Francisco,  is  7,510,  and  the  num 
ber  of  whites  so  employed  is  1,000.  In 
many  industries  the  Chinese  have  entirely 
supplanted  the  white  laborers,  and  thou 
sands  of  our  white  people  have  quit  Cali 
fornia  and  sought  immunity  from  this 
grinding  competition  in  other  and  better- 
favored  regions." 
****##•** 

"If  you  would  'secure  the  blessings  of 
liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity/ 
there  must  be  some  place  reserved  *in 
which,  and  upon  which,  posterity  can  exist. 
What  will  the  blessings  of  liberty  be  worth 
to  posterity  if  you  give  up  the  country  to 
the  Chinese?  If  China  is  to  be  the  breed 
ing-ground  for  peopling  this  country,  what 
chanct  of  American  posterity?  We  of 
this  age  hold  this  land  in  trust  for  our  race 
and  kindred.  We  hold  republican  govern 
ment  and  free  institutions  in  trust  for 
American  posterity.  That  trust  ought  not 
to  be  betrayed.  If  the  Chinese  should  in 
vade  the  Pacific  coast  with  arms  in  their 
hands,  what  a  magnificent  spectacle  of 
martial  resistance  would  be  presented  to  a 
startled  world!  The  mere  intimation  of 
an  attempt  to  make  conquest  of  our  west 
ern  shore  by  force  would  rouse  the  nation 
to  a  frenzy  of  enthusiasm  in  its  defense. 
For  years  a  peaceful,  sly,  strategic  con 
quest  has  been  in  progress,  and  American 
statesmanship  has  been  almost  silent,  until 
the  people  have  demanded  action. 

"The  land  which  is  being  overrun  by 
the  oriental  invader  is  the  fairest  portion 
of  our  heritage.  It  is  the  land  of  the  vine 
and  the  fig  tree ;  the  home  of  the  orange, 
the  olive,  and  the  pomegranate.  Its  winter 
is  a  perpetual  spring,  and  its  summer  is  a 
golden  harvest.  There  the  northern  pine 
peacefully  swavs  against  the  southern  palm ; 
the  tender  azalea  and  the  hardy  rose  min 
gle  their  sweet  perfume,  and  the  tropic 
vine  encircles  the  sturdy  oak.  Its  valleys 
are  rich  and  glorious  with  luscious  fruits 
and  waving  grain,,  and  its  lofty 


Mountains  like  giants  stand, 
To  sentinel  the  enchanted  land. 

"  I  would  see  its  fertile  plains,  its  se 
questered  vales,  its  vine-clad  hills,  its  deep 
blue  canons,  its  furrowed  mountain-sides, 
dotted  all  over  with  American  homes — • 
the  homes  of  a  free,  happy  people,  reso 
nant  with  the  sweet  voices  of  flaxen-haired 
children,  and  ringing  with  the  joyous 
laughter  of  maiden  fair — 

Soft  as  her  clime,  and  sunny  as  her  skies — 

like  the  homes  of  New  England;  yet 
brighter  and  better  far  shall  be  the  homes 
which  are  to  be  builded  in  that  wonder 
land  by  the  sunset  sea,  the  homes  of  a  race 
from  which  shall  spring 

The  flower  of  men, 

To  serve  as  model  for  the  mighty  world, 
And  be  the  fair  beginning  of  a  timo." 


Reply  of  Senator  Geo.  F".  Hoar. 

Senator  Hoar,  of  Massachusetts,  replied 
to  Senator  Miller,  and  presented  the  sup 
posed  view  of  the  Eastern  States  in  a  mas 
terly  manner.  The  speech  covered  twenty- 
eight  pamphlet  pages,  and  was  referred  to 
by  the  newspaper  as  an  effort  equal  to 
some  of  the  best  by  Charles  Sumner.  We 
make  liberal  extracts  from  the  text,  as  fol 
lows  : 

"Mr.  PRESIDENT:  A  hundred  years 
ago  the  American  people  founded  a  nation 
upon  the  moral  law.  They  overthrew  by 
force  the  authority  of  their  sovereign,  and 
separated  themselves  from  the  country 
which  had  planted  them,  alleging  as  their 
justification  to  mankind  certain  proposi 
tions  which  they  held  to  be  self-evident. 

"  They  declared — and  that  declaration 
is  the  one  foremost  action  of  human  his 
tory — that  all  men  equally  derive  from 
their  Creator  the  right  to  the  pursuit  of 
happiness ;  that  equality  in  the  right  to 
that  pursuit  is  the  fundamental  rule  of  the 
divine  justice  in  its  application  to  man 
kind  ;  that  its  security  is  the  end  for  which 
governments  are  formed,  and  its  destruc 
tion  good  cause  why  governments  should 
be  overthrown.  For  a  hundred  years  this 
principle  has  been  held  in  honor.  Under 
its  beneficent  operation  we-  have  grown  al 
most  twenty-fold  Thirteen  States  have 
become  thirty  -eight ;  three  million  have 
become  fifty  million  ;  wealth  and  comfort 
and  education  and  art  have  flourished 
in  still  larger  proportion.  Every  twenty 
years  there  is  added1  to  the  valuation  of 
this  country  a  wealth  enough  to  buy  the 
whole  German  Empire,  with  its  buildings 
and  its  ships  and  its  invested  property. 
This  has  been  the  magnet  that  has  drawn 
immigration  hither.  The  human  stream, 
hemmed  in  by  banks  invisible  but  impassa 
ble,  does  not  turn  towaid  Mexico,  which 
can  feed  and  clothe  a  world,  or  South 
America,  which  can  feed  and  clothe  a  hun- 


286 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


dred  worlds,  but  seeks  only  that  belt  of 
States  where  it  finds  this  law  in  operation. 
The  marvels  of  comfort  and  happiness  it 
has  wrought  for  us  scarcely  surpass  what 
it  has  done  for  other  countries.  The  im 
migrant  sends  back  the  message  to  those 
he  has  left  behind.  There  is  scarcely  a 
nation  in  Europe  west  of  Russia  which  has 
not  felt  the  force  of  our  example  and  whose 
institutions  are  not  more  or  less  slowly  ap 
proximating  to  our  own. 

"  Every  new  State  as  it  takes  its  place  in 
the  great  family  binds  this  declaration  as  a 
frontlet  upon  its  forehead.  Twenty-four  of 
the  States,  including  California  herself, 
declare  it  in  the  very  opening  sentence  of 
their  constitutions.  The  insertion  of  the 
phrase  l  the  pursuit  of  happiness/  in  the 
enumeration  of  the  natural  rights  for  secur 
ing  which  government  is  ordained,  and  the 
denial  of  which  constitutes  just  cause  for 
its  overthrow,  was  intended  as  an  explicit 
affirmation  that  the  right  of  every  human 
being  who  obeys  the  equal  laws  to  go 
everywhere  on  the  surface  of  the  earth 
that  "his  welfare  may  require  is  beyond  the 
rightful  control  of  government.  It  is  a 
birthright  derived  immediately  from  him 
who  '  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of 
men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  hath  determined  the  times  be 
fore  appointed  and  the  bounds  of  their  habi 
tation.'  He  made,  so  our  fathers  held,  of 
one  blood  all  the  nations  of  men.  He  gave 
them  the  whole  face  of  the  earth  whereon 
to  dwell.  He  reserved  for  himself  by  his 
agents  heat  and  cold,  and  climate,  and 
soil,  and  water,  and  land  to  determine  the 
bounds  of  their  habitation.  It  has  long 
been  the  fashion  in  some  quarters,  when 
honor,  justice,  good  faith,  human  rights 
are  appealed  to,  and  especially  when  the 
truths  declared  in  the  opening  sentences  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  are  in 
voked  as  guides  in  legislation  to  stigmatize 
those  who  make  the  appeal  as  sentimenta 
lists,  incapable  of  dealing  with  practical 
affairs.  It  would  be  easy  to  demonstrate 
the  falsehood  of  this  notion.  The  men  who 
erected  the  structure  of  this  Government 
were  good,  practical  builders  and  knew, 
well  the  quality  of  the  corner-stone  when 
they  laid  it.  When  they  put  forth  for 
the  consideration  of  their  contemporaries 
and  of  posterity  the  declaration  which  they 
thought  a  decent  respect  for  the  opinions 
of  mankind  required  of  them,  they  weighed 
carefully  the  fundamental  proposition  on 
which  their  immortal  argument  rested. 
Lord  Chatham's  famous  sentence  will  bear 
repeating  again : 

When  your  '  lordships  look  at  the 
papers  transmitted  to  us  from  America, 
when  you  consider  their  decency,  firmness, 
and  wisdom,  you  cannot  but  respect  their 
cause  and  wish  to  make  it  your  own.  For 
myself  I  must  declare  and  avow  that  in  all 


my  reading  and  observation — and  it  has 
been  my  favorite  study,  I  have  read 
Thucydides,  and  have  studied  and  admired 
the  master  states  of  the  world — that  for 
solidity  of  reasoning,  force  of  sagacity,  and 
wisdom  of  conclusion,  under  such  a  com 
plication  of  difficult  circumstances,  no  na 
tion  or  body  of  men  can  stand  in  preference 
to  the  general  Congress  assembled  at 
Philadelphia. 

The  doctrine  that  the  pursuit  of  happi 
ness  is  an  inalienable  right  with  which  men 
are  endowed  by  their  Creator,  asserted  by 
as  religious  a  people  as  ever  lived  at  the 
most  religious  period  of  their  history,  pro 
pounded  by  as  wise,  practical,  and  far- 
sighted  statesmen  as  ever  lived  as  the  vin 
dication  for  the  most  momentous  public 
act  of  their  generation,  was  intended  to 
commit  the  American  people  in  the  most 
solemn  manner  to  the  assertion  that  the 
right  to  change  their  homes  at  their  plea 
sure  is  a  natural  right  of  all  men.  The  doc 
trine  that  free  institutions  are  a  monopoly 
of  the  favored  races,  the  doctrine  that  op 
pressed  people  may  sever  their  old  alle 
giance  at  will,  but  have  no  right  to  find  a 
new  one,  that  the  bird  may  fly  but  may 
never  light,  is  of  quite  recent  origin. 

California  herself  owing  her  place  in  our 
Union  to  the  first  victory  of  freedom  in  the 
great  contest  with  African  slavery,  is 
pledged  to  repudiate  this  modern  heresy, 
not  only  by  her  baptismal  vows,  but  by 
her  share  in  the  enactment  of  the  statute 
of  1868.  Her  constitution  read  thus  until 
she  took  Dennis  Kearney  for  her  law 
giver  : 

We,  the  people  of  California,  grateful  to 
Almighty  God  for  our  freedom,  in  order  to 
secure  its  blessings,  do  establish  this  con 
stitution. 

DECLARATION  OF  RIGHTS. 

SECTION  1.  All  men  are  by  nature  free 
and  independent,  and  have  certain  inalien 
able  rights,  among  which  are  those  of  enjoy 
ing  and  defending  life  and  liberty,  acquir 
ing,  possessing,  and  defending  property, 
and  pursuing  and  obtaining  safety  and 

happiness. 

******* 

SEC.  17.  Foreigners  who  are  or  who 
may  hereafter  become  bona  fide  residents 
of  this  State,  shall  enjoy  the  same  rights  in 
respect  to  the  possession,  enjoyment,  and 
inheritance  of  property,  as  native  born 
citizens. 

In  the  Revised  Statutes,  section  1999, 
Congress  in  the  most  solemn  manner  de 
clare  that  the  right  of  expatriation  is  be 
yond  the  lawful  control  of  government: 

SEC.  1999.  Whereas  the  right  of  expa 
triation  is  a  natural  and  inherent  right  of 
all  people,  indispensable  to  the  enjoyment 
of  the  rights  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pur 
suit  of  happiness;  and 


THE    CHINESE    QUESTION. 


287 


Whereas  in  the  recognition  of  this  prin 
ciple  this  Government  has  freely  received 
emigrants  from  all  nations,  and  invested 
them  with  the  rights  of  citizenship. 

This  is  a  re-enactment,  in  part,  of  the 
statute  of  1868,  of  which  Mr.  Conness, 
then  a  California  Senator,  of  Irish  birth, 
was,  if  not  the  author,  the  chief  advocate. 

The  California  Senator  called  up  the 
bill  day  after  day.  The  bill  originally 
provided  that  the  President  might  order 
the  arrest  and  detention  in  custody  of 
"  any  subject  or  citizen  of  such  foreign 
government "  as  should  arrest  and  detain 
any  naturalized  citizen  of  the  United 
States  under  the  claim  that  he  still  re 
mained  subject  to  his  allegiance  to  his  na 
tive  sovereign.  This  gave  rise  to  debate. 

But  there  was  no  controversy  about  the 
part  of  the  bill  which  I  have  read.  The 
preamble  is  as  follows : 

Whereas  the  right  of  expatriation  is  a 
natur.il  and  inherent  right  of  all  people, 
indispensable  to  the  enjoyment  of  the 
rights  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness,  for  the  protection  of  which  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  was  es 
tablished;  and  whereas  in  the  recogni 
tion  of  this  principle  this  Government  has 
freely  received  emigrants  from  all  nations 
and  vested  them  with  the  rights  of  citizen 
ship,  &c. 

Mr.  Howard  declares  that — 

The  absolute  right  of  expatriation  is  the 
great  leading  American  principle. 

Mr.  Morton  says: 

That  a  man's  right  to  withdraw  from  his 
native  country  and  make  his  home  in  an 
other,  and  thus  cut  himself  oft  from  all 
connection  with  his  native  country,  is  a 
part  of  his  natural  liberty,  and  without 
that  his  liberty  is  defective.  We  claim 
that  the  right  to  liberty  is  a  natural,  in 
herent,  God-given  right,  and  his  liberty  is 
imperfect  unless  it  carries  with  it  the  right 
of  expatriation. 

The  bill  containing  the  preamble  above 
recited  passed  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  39 
to  5. 

The  United  States  of  America  and  the 
Emperor  of  China  cordially  recognize  the 
inherent  and  inalienable  right  of  man  to 
change  his  home  and  allegiance,  and  also 
the  mutual  advantage  of  the  free  migra 
tion  and  emigration  of  their  citizens  and 
subjects  respectively  from  the  one  country 
to  the  other  for  purposes  of  curiosity,  of 
trade,  or  as  permanent  residents. 

"  The  bill  which  passed  Congress  two 
years  ago  and  was  vetoed  by  President 
Hayes,  the  treaty  of  1881,  and  the  bill  now 
before  the  Senate,  have  the  same  origin 
and  are  parts  of  the  same  measure.  Two 
years  ago  it  was  proposed  to  exclude  Chi 
nese  laborers  from  our  borders,  in  express 
disregard  of  our  solemn  treaty  obligations. 
This  measure  was  arrested  by  President 


Hayes.  The  treaty  of  1881  extorted  from 
unwilling  China  her  consent  that  we  might 
regulate,  limit,  or  suspend  the  coming  of 
Chinese  laborers  into  this  country—  a  con 
sent  of  which  it  is  proposed  by  this  bill  to 
take  advantage.  This  is  entitled  "  A  bill 
to  enforce  treaty  stipulations  with  Chi 
na." 

**  It  seems  necessary  in  discussing  the 
statute  briefly  to  review  the  history  of  the 
treaty.  First  let  me  say  that  the  title  of 
this  bill  is  deceptive.  There  is  no  stipu 
lation  of  the  treaty  which  the  bill  enforces. 
The  bill  where  it  is  not  inconsistent  with 
the  compact  only  avails  itself  of  a  privi 
lege  which  that  concedes.  China  only  re 
laxed  the  Burlingame  treaty  so  far  as  to 
permit  us  to  '  regulate,  limit,  or  suspend 
the  coming  or  residence '  of  Chinese  la 
borers,  '  but  not  absolutely  to  prohibit  it.' 
The  treaty  expressly  declares  '  such  limi 
tation  or  suspension  shall  be  reasonable.' 
But  here  is  proposed  a  statute  which  for 
twenty  years,  under  the  severest  penalties, 
absolutely  inhibits  the  coming  of  Chinese 
laborers  to  this  country.  The  treaty  pledges 
us  not  absolutely  to  prohibit  it.  The  bill 
is  intended  absolutely  to  prohibit  it. 

"  The  second  article  of  the  treaty  is  this : 

"  Chinese  subjects,  whether  proceeding  to 
the  United  States  as  traders,  students,  or 
merchants,  or  from  curiosity,  together  with 
their  body  and  household  servants,  and 
Chinese  laborers,  who  are  now  in  the  Uni 
ted  States,  shall  be  allowed  to  go  and  come 
of  their  own  free  will  and  accord,  and 
shall  be  accorded  all  the  rights,  privileges, 
immunities,  and  exemptions  which  are  ac 
corded  to  the  citizens  and  subjects  of  the 
most  favored  nations. 

"  Yet  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the  com 
plex  and  cumbrous  passport  system  pro 
vided  in  the  last  twelve  sections  of  the  bill 
was  not  intended  as  an  evasion  of  this 
agreement.  Upon  what  other  nation,  fa 
vored  or  not,  is  such  a  burden  imposed? 
This  is  the  execution  of  a  promise  that 
they  may  come  and  go  '  of  their  own  free 
will' 

"  What  has  happened  within  thirteen 
years  that  the  great  Republic  should  strike 
its  flag?  What  change  has  come  over  us 
that  we  should  eat  the  bravest  and  the  tru 
est  words  we  ever  spoke  ?  From  1 858  to 
1880  there  was  added  to  the  population  of 
the  country  42,000  Chinese. 

"  I  give  a  table  from  the  census  of  1880 
showing  the  Chinese  population  of  each 
State : 

Statement  showing  the  Chinese  population 
in  each  State  and  Territory,  according  to 
the  United  States  censuses  of  1870  and  of 

1880. 


Alabama.. 
Alaska.... 
Arizona... 


20        1,630 


288 


AMERICAN   POLITICS. 


Arkansas 98 

California 49,310 

Colorado 7 

Connecticut 2 

Dakota 

Delaware 

District  of  Columbia 3 

Florida 

Georgia 1 


134 
75,025 
610 
124 
238 
1 

13 
18 
17 

Idaho 4,274        3,378 

Illinois 1  210 

Indiana 33 

Iowa 3  47 

Kansas 19 

Kentucky 1  10 

Louisiana 71         481 

Maine 1  9 

Maryland 2  5 

Massachusetts 97         237 

Michigan 2  27 

Minnesota 53 

Misssissippi 16  52 

Missouri 3  94 

Montana 1,949      1,764 

Nebraska 18 

Nevada 3,152      5,420 

New  Hampshire 14 

New  Jersey 15         176 

New  Mexico.. 55 

New  York 29         924 

North  Carolina 

Ohio 1         114 

Oregon 3,330      9,513 

Pennsylvania 14         160 

Khode  Island.. 27 

South  Carolina 1  9 

Tennessee 26 

Texas 25         141 

Utah 445         501 

Vermont 

Virginia 4  6 

Washington 234      3,182 

West  Virginia 14 

Wisconsin 16 

Wyoming 143         914 

Total 63,254  105,463 

"  By  the  census  of  1880  the  number  of 
Chinese  in  this  country  was  105,000 — one 
five-hundredth  part  of  the  whole  popula 
tion.  The  Chinese  are  the  most  easily 
governed  race  in  the  world.  Yet  every 
Chinaman  in  America  has  four  hundred 
and  ninety-nine  Americana  to  control  him. 

The  immigration  was  also  constantly  de 
creasing  for  the  last  half  of  the  decade. 
The  Bureau  of  Statistics  gives  the  num 
bers  as  follows,  (for  the  first  eight  years  the 
figures  are  those  of  the-  entire  Asiatic  im 
migration:) 

The  number  of  immigrants  from  Asia, 
as  reported  by  the  United  States  Bureau 
of  Statistics  is  as  follows,  namely : 

1871 7.236 

1872 7,825 


1874 13,857 

1875 16,498 

1S76 22,943 

1877 10,640 

1878 9,014 

Total 108,339 

And    from    China    for  the  year  ended 
June  30— 

1879 9,604 

Ib80 5,802 


Total 15,406 

Grand  Total 123,745 

"  See  also,  Mr.  President,  how  this  class 
of  immigrants,  diminishing  in  itself,  di 
minishes  still  more  in  its  proportion  to  the 
rapidly  increasing  numbers  who  come 
from  other  lands.  Against  22,943  Asiatic 
immigrants  in  1876,  there  are  but  5,802  in 
1880.  In  1878  there  were  9,014  from  Asia, 
in  a  total  of  153,207,  or  one  in  seventeen 
of  the  entire  immigration ;  and  this  in 
cludes  all  persons  who  entered  the  port  of 
San  Francisco  to  go  to  any  South  American 
country.  In  1879  there  were  9,604  from 
China  in  a  total  of  250,565,  or  one  in 
twenty -six.  In  1880  there  were  5,802  from 
China  in  a  total  immigration  of  593,359,  or 
one  in  one  hundred  and  two.  The  whole 
Chinese  population,  then,  when  the  cen 
sus  of  1880  was  taken,  was  but  one  in  five 
hundred  of  our  people.  The  whole  Chinese 
immigration  was  but  one  in  one  hundred 
and  two  of  the  total  immigration  ;  while 
the  total  annual  immigraticn  quadrupled 
from  1878  to  1880,  the  Chinese  was  in 
1880  little  more  than  one-half  what  it  was 
in  1878,  and  one-fourth  what  it  was  in  1876. 
"  The  number  of  immigrants  of  all 
nations  was  720,045  in  1881.  Of  these 
20,711  were  Chinese.  There  is  no  record 
in  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the  number 
who  departed  within  the  year.  But  a  very 
high  anti-Chinese  authority  places  it  above 
10,000.  Perhaps  the  expection  that  the 
hostile  legislation  under  the  treaty  would 
not  affect  persons  who  entered  before  it 
took  effect  stimulated  somewhat  their 
coming.  Bait  the  addition  to  the  Chinese 
population  was  less  than  one  seventy- 
seconxl  of  tiie  whole  immigration.  All 
Chinese  in  the  country  do  not  exceed 
ihe  population  of  its  sixteenth  cily.  All 
;he  Chinese  in  California  hardly  surpass 
the  number  which  is  easily  governed  in 

hanghai  by  a  police  of  one  hundred  men. 
There  are  as  many  pure  blooded  Gypsies 
wandering  about  the  country  as  there  are 
Chinese  m  California.  What  an  insult  to 
American  intelligence  to  ask  leave  of 

hina  to  keep  out  her  people,  because 
this  little  handful  of  almond-eyed  Asiatics 
tkreaten  to  destroy  our  boasted  civiliza- 


THE    CHINESE    QUESTION. 


289 


tion.  We  go  boasting  of  our  democracy, 
and  our  superiority,  and  our  strength.  The 
flag  bears  the  stars  of  hope  to  all  nations. 
A  hundred  thousand  Chinese  land  in 
California  and  everything  is  changed.  God 
has  not  made  of  one  blood  all  the  nations 
any  longer.  The  self-evident  truth  be 
comes  a  self-evident  lie.  The  golden  rule 
does  not  apply  to  the  natives  of  the  con 
tinent  where  it  was  first  uttered.  The 
United  St  ites  surrender  to  China,  the  Ee- 
public  to  the  despot,  America  to  Asia,  Jesus 
to  Joss. 

"  There  is  another  most  remarkable  ex 
ample  of  this  prejudice  of  race  which  has 
happily  almost  died  out  here,  which  has 
come  down  from  the  dark  ages  and  which 
survives  with  unabated  ferocity  in  Eastern 
Europe.  I  mean  the  hatred  of  the  Jew. 
The  persecution  of  the  Hebrew  has  never, 
so  far  as  I  know,  taken  the  form  of  an 
affront  to  labor.  In  every  other  particular 
the  reproaches  which  for  ten  centuries 
have  been  leveled  at  him  are  reproduced 
to  do  service  against  the  Chinese.  The 
Hebrew,  so  it  was  said,  was  not  a  Chris 
tian.  He  did  not  affiliate  or  assimilate 
into  the  nations  where  he  dwelt.  He  was 
an  unclean  thing,  a  dog,  to  whom  the 
crime  of  the  crucifixion  of  his  Saviour  was 
never  to  be  forgiven.  The  Chinese  quar 
ter  of  San  Francisco  had  its  type  in  every 
city  of  Europe.  If  the  Jew  ventured  from 
his  hiding-place  he  was  stoned.  His 
wealth  made  him  the  prey  of  the  rapacity 
of  the  noble,  and  his  poverty  and  weakness 
the  victim  of  the  rabble.  Yet  how  has  this 
Oriental  conquered  Christendom  by  the 
sublimity  of  his  patience?  The  great  poet 
of  New  England,  who  sits  by  every  Ameri 
can  fireside  a  beloved  and  perpetual  guest, 
in  that  masterpiece  of  his  art,  the  Jewish 
Cemetery  at  Newport,  ha's  described  the 
degradation  and  the  triumph  of  these  per 
secuted  children  of  God. 

How  came  they  here  ?    What  burst  of  Christian  hate, 

What  persecution,  merciless  and  blind, 
Drove  o'er  the  sea — that  desert  desolate  — 

These  Ishmaels  and  Hagars  of  mankind  ? 
They  lived  in  narrow  streets  and  lanes  obscure, 

Ghetto  and  Judenstrass,  in  mirk  and  mire ; 
Taught  in  the  school  of  patience  to  endure 

The  life  of  anguish  and  the  death  of  fire. 

******* 

Anathema,  maranatha !  was  the  cry 

That  rang  from  town  to  town,  from  street  to  street; 
At  every  gate  the  accursed  Mordecai 

Was  mocked  and  jeered,  and  spurned  by  Christian  feet. 

Pride  and  humiliation  hand  in  hand 

Walked  with  them  through   the  world  where'er  they 

went; 
Trampled  and  beaten  vrere  they  as  the  sand, 

And  yet  unshaken  as  the  continent. 

Forty  years  ago — 

Says  Lord  Beaconsfield,  that  great  Jew 
who  held  England  in  the  hollow  of  his 
hand,  and  who  played  on  her  aristocracy 
as  on  an  organ,  who  made  himself  the 
master  of  an  alien  nation,  its  ruler,  its 

19 


oracle,  and  through  it,  and  in  despite  of  it, 
for  a  time  the  master  of  Europe — 

Forty  years  ago — not  a  longer  period 
than  the  children  of  Israel  were  wandering 
in  the  desert — the  two  most  dishonored 
races  in  Europe  were  the  Attic  and  the  He 
brew.  The  world  has  probably  by  this, 
discovered  that  it  is  impossible  to  destroy 
the  Jews.  The  attempt  to  extirpate  them 
has  been  made  under  the  most  favorable 
auspices  and  on  the  largest  scale ;  the  most 
considerable  means  that  man  could  com 
mand  have  been  pertinaciously  applied  to 
this  object  for  the  longest  period  of  re 
corded  time.  Egyptian  Pharaohs,  Assyrian, 
kings,  Roman  emperors,  Scandinavian- 
crusaders,  Gothic  princes,  and  holy  inqui 
sitors,  have  alike  devoted  their  energies  tc* 
the  fulfillment  of  this  common  purpose. 
Expatriation,  exile,  captivity,  confiscation, 
torture  on  the  most  ingenious  and  massa 
cre  on  the  most  extensive  scale,  a  curious. 
system  of  degrading  customs  and  debasing: 
laws  which  would  have  broken  the  heart 
of  any  other  people,  have  been  tried,  and 
in  vain. 

"Lord  Beaconsfield  admits  that  the  Jew* 
contribute  more  than  their  proportion  to 
the  aggregate  of  the  vile ;  that  the  lowest 
class  of  Jews  are  obdurate,  malignant, 
odious,  and  revolting.  And  yet  this  race- 
of  dogs,  as  it  has  been  often  termed  in. 
scorn,  furnishes  Europe  to-day  its  masters- 
in  finance  and  oratory  and  statesmanship- 
and  art  and  music.  Kachel,  Mozart,  Men 
delssohn,  Disraeli,  Eothschild,  Benjamin, 
Heine,  are  but  samples  of  the  intellectual 
power  of  a  race  which  to-day  controls  th& 
finance  and  the  press  of  Europe. 

"  I  do  not  controvert  the  evidence  which 
is  relied  upon  to  show  that  there  are  great 
abuses,  great  dangers,  great  offenses,  which: 
have  grown  out  of  the  coming  of  this  peo 
ple.  Much  of  the  evil  I  believe  might  be- 
cured  by  State  and  municipal  authority. 
Congress  may  rightfully  be  called  upon  to 
go  to  the  limit  of  the  just  exercise  of  the 
powers  of  government  in  rendering  its  aid. 

"  We  should  have  capable  and  vigilant 
consular  officers  in  the  Asiatic  ports  from 
which  these  immigrants  come,  without 
whose  certificate  they  should  not  be  re 
ceived  on  board  ship,  and  who  should  see 
to  it  that  no  person  except  those  of  good 
character  and  no  person  whose  labor  is  not 
his  own  property  oe  allowed  to  come  over. 
Especially  should  the  trade  in  human 
labor  under  all  disguises  be  suppressed. 
Filthy  habits  of  living  must  surely  be  with 
in  the  control  of  municipal  regulation. 
Every  State  may  by  legislation  or  by  muni 
cipal  ordinance  in  its  towns  and  cities  pre 
scribe  the  dimension  of  dwellings  and  limit 
the  number  who  may  occupy  the  same 
tenement. 

"But  it  is  urged— and  this  in  my  judg 
ment  is  the  greatest  argument  for  the  bill— 


290 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


that  the  introduction  of  the  labor  of  the 
Chinese  reduces  the  wages  of  the  American 
laborer.  '  We  are  ruined  by  Chinese  cheap 
labor  "  is  a  cry  not  limited  to  the  class  to 
whose  representative  the  brilliant  humor 
ist  of  California  first  ascribed  it.  I  am  not 
in  favor  of  lowering  any  where  the  wages 
of  any  American  labor,  skilled  or  unskilled. 
On  the  contrary,  I  believe  the  maintenance 
and  the  increase  of  the  purchasing  power 
of  the  wages  of  the  American  working  man 
should  be  the  one  principal  object  of  our 
legislation.  The  share  in  the  product  of 
agriculture  or  manufacture  which  goes  to 
labor  should,  and  I  believe  will,  steadily 
increase.  For  that,  and  for  that  only,  ex 
ists  our  protective  system.  The  acquisition 
of  wealth,  national  or  individual,  is  to  be 
desired  only  for  that.  The  statement  of 
the  accomplished  Senator  from  California 
on  this  point  meets  my  heartiest  concur 
rence.  I  have  no  sympathy  with  any  men, 
if  such  there  be,  who  favor  high  protection 
and  cheap  labor. 

"  But  I  believe  that  the  Chinese,  to  whom 
the  terms  of  the  California  Senator  attri 
bute  skill  enough  to  displace  the  American 
in  every  field  requiring  intellectual  vigor, 
will  learn  very  soon  to  insist  on  his  lull 
share  of  the  product  of  his  work.  But  whe 
ther  that  be  true  or  not,  the  wealth  he  cre 
ates  will  make  better  and  not  worse  the  con 
dition  of  every  higher  class  of  labor.  There 
may  be  trouble  or  failure  in  adjusting  new 
relations.  But  sooner  or  later  every  new 
class  of  industrious  and  productive  labor 
ers  elevates  the  class  it  displaces.  The 
dread  of  an  injury  to  our  labor  from  the 
Chinese  rests  on  the  same  fallacy  that  op 
posed  the  introduction  of  labor-saving  ma 
chinery,  and  which  opposed  the  coming  of 
the  Irishman  and  the  German  and  the 
Swede.  Within  my  memory  in  New  Eng 
land  all  the  lower  places  in  factories,  all 
places  of  domestic  service,  were  filled  by 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  American  farm 
ers.  The  Irishmen  came  over  to  take  their 
places ;  but  the  American  farmer's  son  and 
daughter  did  not  suffer;  they  were  only 
elevated  to  a  higher  plane.  In  the  in 
creased  wealth  of  the  community  their 
share  is  much  greater.  The  Irishman  rose 
from  the  bog  or  the  hovel  of  his  native  land 
to  the  comfort  of  a  New  England  home, 
and  placed  his  children  in  a  New  England 
school.  The  Yankee  rises  from  the  loom 
and  the  spinning-jenny  to  be  the  teacher, 
the  skilled  laborer  in  the  machine  shop,  the 
inventor,  the  merchant,  or  the  opulent 
landholder  and  farmer  of  the  West. 


A  letter  from  F.  A.  Bee,  Chinese  Con 
sul,  approving  the  management  of  the  es 
tate,  accompanied  the  report  of  the  re 
feree  : 

"Mr.  President,  I  will  not  detain  the 


Senate  by  reading  the  abundant  testimony, 
of  which  this  is  but  the  sample,  of  the  pos 
session  by  the  people  of  this  race  of  the 
possibility  of  a  development  of  every  qua 
lity  of  intellect,  art,  character,  which  fits 
them  for  citizenship,  for  republicanism,  for 
Christianity. 

"  Humanity,  capable  of  infinite  depths 
of  degradation,  is  capable  also  of  infinite 
heights  of  excellence.  The  Chinese,  like 
all  other  races,  has  given  us  its  examples 
of  both.  To  rescue  humanity  from  this 
degradation  is,  we  are  taught  to  believe,  the 
great  object  of  God's  moral  government  on 
earth.  It  is  not  by  injustice,  exclusion, 
caste,  but  by  reverence  for  the  individual 
soul  that  we  can  aid  in  this  consummation. 
It  is  not  by  Chinese  policies  that  China  is 
to  be  civilized.  I  believe  that  the  immor 
tal  truths  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence  came  from  the  same  source  with  the 
Golden  Rule  and  the  Sermon  on  tha 
Mount.  We  can  trust  Him  who  promul 
gated  these  laws  to  keep  the  country  safe 
that  obeys  them.  The  laws  of  the  universe 
have  their  own  sanction.  They  will  not 
fail.  The  power  that  causes  the  compass 
to  point  to  the  north,  that  dismisses  the 
star  on  its  pathway  through  the  skies,  pro 
mising  that  in  a  thousand  years  it  shall  re 
turn  again  true  to  its  hour  and  keep  His 
word,  will  vindicate  His  own  moral  law. 
As  surely  as  the  path  on  which  our  fathers 
entered  a  hundred  years  ago  led  to  safety, 
to  strength,  to  glory,  so  surely  will  the 
path  on  which  we  now  propose  to  enter 
bring  us  to  shame,  to  weakness,  and  to 
peril." 

On  the  3d  of  March  the  debate  was  re 
newed.  Senator  Farley  protested  that  un 
less  Chinese  immigration  is  prohibited  it 
will  be  impossible  to  protect  the  Chinese 
on  the  Pacific  coast.  The  feeling  against 
them  now  is  such  that  restraint  is  difficult, 
as  the  people,  forced  cut  of  employment  by 
them,  and  irritated  by  their  constantly  in 
creasing  numbers,  are  not  in  a  condition  to 
submit  to  the  deprivations  they  suffer  by 
the  presence  of  a  Chinese  population  im 
ported  as  slaves  and  absorbing  to  their  own 
benefit  the  labor  of  the  country.  A  remark 
of  Mr.  Farley  about  the  Chinese  led  Mr. 
Hoar  to  ask  if  they  were  not  the  inventors 
of  the  printing  press  and  of  gunpowder. 
To  this  question  Mr.  Jones,  of  Nevada, 
made  a  brief  speech,  which  was  considered 
remarkable,  principally  because  it  was  one 
of  the  very  few  speeches  of  any  length  that 
he  has  made  since  he  became  a  Senator. 
Instead  of  agreeing  with  Mr.  Hoar  that  the 
Chinese  had  invented  the  printing  press 
and  gunpowder,  he  said  that  information 
he  had  received  led  him  to  believe  that  the 
Chinese  were  not  entitled  to  the  credit  of 
either  of  these  inventions.  On  the  con 
trary,  they  had  stolen  them  from  Aryans  or 
Caucasians  who  wandered  into  the  king- 


THE    CHINESE    QUESTION. 


291 


dom.  Mr.  Hoar  smiled  incredulously  and 
made  a  remark  to  the  effect  that  he  had 
never  heard  of  those  Aryans  or  Caucasians 
before. 

Continuing  his  remarks,  Mr.  Farley  ex 
pressed  his  belief  that  should  the  Mongo 
lian  population  increase  and  the  Chinese 
come  in  contact  with  the  Africans,  the  con 
tact  would  result  in  demoralization  and 
bloodshed  which  the  laws  could  not  pre 
vent.  Pig-tailed  Chinamen  would  take  the 
place  everywhere  of  the  working  girl  unless 
Congress  extended  its  protection  to  Califor 
nia  and  her  white  people,  who  had  by  their 
votes  demanded  a  prohibition  of  Chinese 
immigration.  Mr.  Maxey,  interpreting  the 
Constitution  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  out 
of  it  an  argument  against  Chinese  immi 
gration,  said  he  found  nothing  in  it  to  jus 
tify  the  conclusion  that  the  framers  of  it 
intended  to  bring  into  this  country  all  na 
tions  and  races.  The  only  people  the 
fathers  had  in  view  as  citizens  were  those 
of  the  Caucasian  race,  and  they  contempla 
ted  naturalization  only  for  such,  for  they 
had  distinctly  set  forth  that  the  heritage  of 
freedom  was  to  be  for  their  posterity.  No 
body  would  pretend  to  express  the  opinion 
that  it  was'expected  that  the  American  peo 
ple  should  become  mixed  up  with  all  sorts 
of  races  and  call  the  result  "  our  posterity." 
While  the  American  people  had,  in  conse 
quence  of  their  Anglo-Saxon  origin,  been 
able  to  withstand  the  contact  with  the  Af 
rican,  the  Africans  would  never  stand  be 
fore  the  Chinese.  Mr.  Maxey  opposed  tho 
Chinese  because  they  do  not  come  here  to 
be  citizens,  because  the  lower  classes  of 
Chinese  alone  are  immigrants,  and  because 
by  contact  they  poison  the  minds  of  the  less 
intelligent. 

Mr.  Saulsbury  had  something  to  say  in 
favor  of  the  bill,  and  Mr.  Garland,  who  vo 
ted  against  the  last  bill  because  the  treaty 
had  not  been  modified,  expressed  his  belief 
that  the  Government  could  exercise  proper 
ly  all  the  powers  proposed  to  be  bestowed 
by  this  bill.  Some  time  was  consumed  by 
Mr.  Ingalls  in  advocacy  of  an  amendment 
offered  by  him,  proposing  to  limit  the  sus 
pension  of  immigration  to  10  instead  of 
20  years.  Mr.  Miller  and  Mr.  Bayard  op 
posed  the  amendment,  Mr.  Bayard  taking 
the  ground  that  Congress  ought  not  to  dis 
regard  the  substantially  unanimous  wish  of 
the  people  of  California,  as  expressed  at 
the  polls,  for  absolute  prohibition.  The 
debate  was  interrupted  by  a  motion  for  an 
executive  session,  and  the  bill  went  over  un 
til  Monday,  to  be  taken  up  then  as  the  un 
finished  business. 

On  March  6th  a  vote  was  ordered  on 
Senator  Ingalls'  amendment.  It  was  de 
feated  on  a  tie  vote — yeas  23,  nays  23. 

The  vote  in  detail  is  as  follows : 

Yeas — Messrs.  Aldrich,  Allison,  Blair, 
Brown,  Cockrell,  Conger,  Davis  of  Illinois, 


Dawes,  Edmunds,  Frye,  Harris,  Hoar,  In 
galls,  Jackson,  Lapham,  McDill,  McMil 
lan,  Mitchell,  Morrell,  Saunders,  Sewell, 
Sherman  and  Teller— 23. 

Nays— Messrs.  Bayard,  Beck,  Call,  Came 
ron  of  Wisconsin,  Coke,  Fair,  Farley,  Gar 
land,  George,  Hale,  Hampton,  Hill  of 
Colorado,  Jonas,  Jones  of  Nevada,  Mc- 
Pherson,  Marcy,  Miller  of  California,  Mil 
ler  of  New  York,  Morgan,  Ransom,  Slater, 
Vest  and  Walker— 23. 

Pairs  were  announced  between  Davis,  of 
West  Virginia,  Saulsbury,  Butler,  John 
son,  Kellogg,  Jones,  of  Florida,  and  Grover, 
against  the  amendment,  and  Messrs.  Win- 
dom,  Ferry,  Hawley,  Platt,  Pugh,  Rollins 
and  Van  Wyck  in  the  affirmative.  Mr? 
Camden  was  also  paired. 

Mr.  Edmunds,  partially  in  reply  to  Mr. 
Hoar  argued  that  the  right  to  decide  what 
constitutes  the  moral  law  was  one  inherent 
in  the  Government,  and  by  analogy  the 
right  to  regulate  the  character  of  the  peo 
ple  who  shall  come  into  it  belonged  to  a 
Government.  This  depended  upon  national 
polity  and  the  fact  as  to  most  of  the  ancient 
republics  that  they  did  not  possess  homo 
geneity  was  the  cause  of  their  fall.  As  to 
the  Swiss  Republic,  it  was  untrue  that  it 
was  not  homogeneous.  The  difference 
there  was  not  one  of  race  but  of  different 
varieties  of  the  same  race,  all  of  which  are 
analogous  and  consistent  with  each  other. 
]t  would  not  be  contended  that  it  is  an 
advantage  to  a  republic  that  its  citizens 
should  be  made  of  diverse  races,  with  di 
verse  views  and  diverse  obligations  as  to 
what  the  common  prosperity  of  all  required. 
Therefore  there  was  no  foundation  for  the 
charge  of  a  violation  of  moral  and  public 
law  in  our  making  a  distinction  as  to  the 
foreigners  we  admit.  He  challenged  Mr. 
Hoar  to  produce  an  authority  on  national 
law  which  denied  the  right  of  one  nation 
to  declare  what  people  of  other  nations 
should  come  among  them.  John  Hancock 
and  Samuel  Adams,  not  unworthy  citizens 
of  Massachusetts,  joined  in  asserting  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  the  right  of 
the  colonies  to  establish  for  themselves, 
not  for  other  peoples,  a  Government  of 
their  own,  not  the  Government  of  some 
body  else.  The  declaration  asserted  the 
family  or  consolidated  right  of  a  people 
within  any  Territory  to  determine  the  coi> 
ditions  upon  which  they  would  go  on,  ari 
this  included  the  matter  of  receiving  tfefc 
people  from  other  shores  into  their  family. 
This  idea  was  followed  in  the  Constitution 
by  requiring  naturalization.  The  China 
man  may  be  with  us,  but  he  is  not  of  us. 
One  of  the  conditions  of  his  naturalization 
is  that  he  must  be  friendly  to  the  institu 
tions  and  intrinsic  polity  of  our  Govern 
ment.  Upon  the  theory  of  the  Massachu* 
setts  Senators,  that  there  is  a  universal 
oneness  of  one  human  being  with  every 


292 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


other  human  "being  on  the  globe,  this  tra 
ditional  and  fundamental  principle  was 
entirely  ignored.  Such  a  theory  as  applied 
to  Government  was  contrary  to  all  human 
experience,  to  all  discussion,  and  to  every 
step  of  the  founders  of  our  Government. 
lie  said  that  Mr.  Sumner,  the  predecessor 
of  Mr.  Hoar,  was  the  author  of  the  law  on 
the  coolie  traffic,  which  imposes  fines  and 
penalties  more  severe  than  those  in  this 
till  upon  any  master  of  an  American  ves- 
'sel  carrying  a  Chinaman  who  is  a  servant. 
The  present  bill  followed  that  legislation. 
Mr.  Edmunds  added  that  he  would  vote 
against  the  bill  if  the  twenty-year  clause 
was  retained,  but  would  maintain  the 
soundness  of  principle  he  had  enunciated. 
Mr.  Hoar  argued  in  reply  that  the  right 
of  expatriation  carried  with  it  the  right  to 
a  home  for  the  citizen  in  the  country  to 
which  he  comes,  and  that  the  bill  violated 
not  only  this  but  the  principles  of  the 
Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Amendments 
which  made  citizenship  the  birthright  of 
every  one  born  on  our  soil,  and  prohibited 
an  abridgement  of  the  suffrage  because  of 
race,  color,  etc. 

Mr.  Ingalls  moved  an  amendment  post 
poning  the  time  at  which  the  act  shall  take 
effect  until   sixty  days  after  information 
of  its  passage  has  been  communicated  to 
China. 

After  remarks  by  Messrs.  Dawes,  Teller 
and  Bayard,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Brown 
Mr.  Ingalls  modified  his  amendment  by 
providing  that  the  act  shall  not  go  into 
effect  until  ninety  days  after  its  passage, 
and  the  amendment  was  adopted. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Bayard,  amendments 
were  adopted  making  the  second  section 
read  as  follows :  "  That  any  master  of  any 
vessel  of  whatever  nationality,  who  shall 
knowingly  on  such  vessel  bring  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  and  per 
mit  to  be  landed  any  Chinese  laborer, "  &c. 
Mr.  Hoar  moved  to  amend  by  add 
ing  the  following:  "Provided,  that  this 
bill  shall  not  apply  to  any  skilled  laborer 
who  shall  establish  that  he  comes  to  this 
country  without  any  contract  beyond  which 
his  labor  is  the  property  of  any  person  be 
sides  himself. " 

Mr.  Farley  suggested  that  all  the  Chinese 
would  claim  to  be  skilled  laborers. 

Mr.  Hoar  replied  that  it  would  tesi 
whether  the  bill  struck  at  coolies  or  at 
skilled  labor. 

The  amendment  was  rejected — Yeas,  17 
nays,  27. 

Mr.  Call  moved  to  strike  out  the  section 
which  forfeits  the  vessel  for  the  offense  o 
the  master.  Lost. 

Mr.  Hoar  moved  to  amend  by  inserting 
"  Provided  that  any  laborer  who  shall  re 
ceive  a  certificate  from  the  U.  S.  Consul  at 
the  port  where  he  shall  embark  that  he  is 
an  artisan  coming  to  this  country  at  his 


wn  expense  and  of  his  own  will,  shall  not 
e  affected  by  this  bill."     Lost — yeas  19, 
nays  24. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Miller,  of  California, 
;he  provision  directing  the  removal  of  any 
Chinese  unlawfully  found  in  a  Customs 
Collection  district  by  the  Collector,  was 
amended  to  direct  that  he  shall  be  removed 
;o  the  place  from  whence  he  came. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Brown  an  amendment 
was  adopted  providing  that  the  mark  of  a 
Chinese  immigrant,  duly  attested  by  a 
witness,  may  be  taken  as  his  signature 
upon  the  certificate  of  resignation  or  regis 
tration  issued  to  him. 

The  question  then  recurred  on  the 
amendment  offered  by  Mr.  Farley  that 
hereafter  no  State  Court  or  United  States 
Court  shall  admit  Chinese  to  citizenship. 

Mr.  Hawley,  of  Conn.,  on  the  following 
day  spoke  against  what  he  denounced  as 
"  a  bill  of  iniquities." 

On  the  9th  of  March  what  proved  a  long 
and  interesting  debate  was  closed,  the 
leading  speech  being  made  by  Senator 
Jones  (Rep.)  of  Nevada,  in  favor  of  the 
bil!.  After  showing  the  disastrous  effects 
of  the  influx  of  the  Chinese  upon  the  Pa 
cific  coast  and  answering  some  of  the  argu 
ments  of  the  opponents  of  restriction,  Mr. 
Jones  said  that  he  had  noticed  that  most 
of  those  favoring  Chinese  immigration 
were  advocates  of  a  high  tariff  to  protect 
American  labor.  But,  judging  from  indi 
cations,  it  is  not  the  American  laborer,  but 
the  lordly  manufacturing  capitalist  who  is 
to  be  protected  as  against  the  European 
capitalist,  and  who  is  to  sell  everything  he 
has  to  sell  in  an  American  market,  one  in 
which  other  capitalists  cannot  compete 
with  him,  while  he  buys  that  which  he  has 
to  buy — the  labor  of  men — in  the  most 
open  market.  He  demands  for  the  latter 
free  trade  in  its  broadest  sense,  and  would 
have  not  only  free  trade  in  bringing  in  la 
borers  of  our  own  race,  but  the  Chinese, 
the  most  skilful  and  cunning  laborers  of 
the  world.  The  laborer,  however,  is  to 
buy  from  his  capitalist  master  in  a  protec 
tive  market,  but  that  which  he  himself  has 
to  sell,  his  labor,  and  which  he  must  sell 
every  day  (for  he  cannot  wait,  like  the 
capitalist,  for  better  times  or  travel  here 
and  there  to  dispose  of  it),  he  must  sell  in 
the  openest  market  of  the  world.  When 
the  artisans  of  this  country  shall  be  made 
to  understand  that  the  market  in  which 
they  sell  the  only  thing  they  have  to  sell 
is  an  open  one  they  will  demand,  as  one  of 
the  conditions  of  their  existence,  that  they 
shall  have  an  open  market  in  which  to  buy 
what  they  want.  As  the  Senator  from 
Massachusetts  (Mr.  Dawes)  said  he  wanted 
the  people  to  know  that  the  bill  was  a  blow 
struck  at  labor,  Mr.  Jones  said  he  reitera 
ted  the  assertion  with  the  qualification 
that  it  was  not  a  blow  at  our  own,  but  at 


THE    CHINESE    QUESTION. 


293 


underpaid  pauper  labor.  That  cheap  labor 
produces  national  wealth  is  a  fallacy,  as 
shown  by  the  home  condition  of  the  350,- 
000,000  of  Chinamen. 

"  Was  the  bringing  of  the  little  brown 
man  a  sort  of  counter  balance  to  the  trades 
unions  of  this  country?  If  he  may  be 
brought  here,  why  may  not  the  products 
of  his  toil  come  in  ?  Now,  when  the  la 
borer  is  allowed  to  get  that  share  from  his 
labor  that  civilization  has  decided  he  shall 
have,  the  little  brown  man  is  introduced. 
He  (Mr.  Jones)  believed  in  protection, 
and  had  no  prejudice  against  the  capital 
ist,  but  he  would  have  capital  and  labor 
equally  protected.  Enlarging  upon  the 
consideration  that  the  intelligence  or  crea 
tive  genius  of  a  country  in  overcoming  ob 
stacles,  not  'its  material  resources,  consti 
tutes  its  wealth,  and  that  the  low  wages  of 
the  Chinese,  while  benefiting  individual 
employers,  'would  ultimately  impoverish 
the  country  by  removing  the  stimulant  to 
create  labor-saving  machinery  and  like  in 
ventions.  Mr.  Jones  spoke  of  what  he 
called  the  dearth  of  intellectual  activity  in 
the  South  in  every  department  but  one, 
that  of  politics. 

"  This  was  because  of  the  presence  of  a 
servile  race  there.  The  absence  of  South 
ern  names  in  the  Patent  Office  is  an  illus 
tration.  We  would  not  welcome  the 
Africans  here.  Their  presence  was  not  a 
blessing  to  us,  but  an  impediment  in  our 
way.  The  relations  of  the  white  and 
colored  races  of  the  South  were  now  no 
nearer  adjustment  than  they  were  years 
ago.  He  would  prophesy  that  the  African 
race  would  never  be  permitted  to  dominate 
any  State  of  the  South.  The  experiment 
to  that  end  had  been  a  dismal  failure,  and 
a  failure  not  because  we  have  not  tried  to 
make  it  succeed,  but  because  laws  away 
above  human  laws  have  placed  the  one 
race  superior  to  and  far  above  the  other. 
The  votes  of  the  ignorant  class  might  pre 
ponderate,  but  intellect,  not  'numbers,  is 
the  superior  force  in  this  world.  We 
clothed  the  African  in  the  Union  blue  and 
the  belief  that  he  was  one  day  to  be  free 
was  the  candle-light  in  his  soul,  but  it  is 
one  thing  to  aspire  to  be  free  and  another 
thing  to  have  the  intelligence  and  sterling 
qualities  of  character  that  can  maintain 
tree  government.  Mr.  Jones  here  ex 
pressed  his  belief  that,  if  left  alone  to  main 
tain  a  government,  the  negro  would  gradu 
ally  retrograde  and  go  back  to  the  methods 
of  his  ancestors.  This,  he  added,  may  be 
hereby,  but  I  believe  it  to  be  the  truth.  If, 
when  the  first  shipload  of  African  slaves 
came  to  this  country  the  belief  had  spread 
that  they  would  be  the  came  of  political 
agitation,  a  civil  war,  and  the  future  had 
been  foreseen,  would  they  have  been  al 
lowed  to  land? 

How  much  of  this  country  would  now 


1  be  worth  preserving  if  the  North  had  been 
I  covered  by  Africans  as  is  South  Carolina 
to-day,  in  view  of  their  non-assimilative 
character?  The  wisest  policy  would  have 
been  to  exclude  them  at  the  outset.  So 
we  say  of  the  Chinese  to-day,  he  exclaim 
ed,  and  for  greater  reason,  because  their 
skill  makes  them  more  formidable  compe 
titors  than  the  negro.  Subtle  and  adept 
in  manipulation,  the  Chinaman  can  be 
put  into  almost  any  kind  of  a  factory.  His 
race  is  as  obnoxious  to  us  and  as  impossi 
ble  for  us  to  assimilate  with  as  was  the 
negro  race.  His  race  has  outlived  every 
other  because  it  is  homogeneous,  and  for 
that  reason  alone.  It  has  imposed  its  re 
ligion  and  peculiarities  upon  its  conquer 
ors  and  still  lived.  If  the  immigration  is 
not  checked  now,  when  it  is  within  man 
ageable  limits,  it  will  be  too  late  to  check 
it.  What  do  we  find  in  the  condition  of 
the  Indian  or  the  African  to  induce  us  to 
admit  another  race  into  our  midst  ?  It  is 
because  the  Pacific  coast  favor  our  own 
civilization,  not  that  of  another  race,  that 
they  discourage  the  coming  of  these  peo 
ple.  They  believe  in  the  homogeneity  of 
our  race,  and  that  upon  this  depends  the 
progress  of  our  institutions  and  everything 
on  which  we  build  our  hopes. 

Mr.  MORRILL,  (Rep.)  of  Vt.,  said  he  ap 
preciated  the  necessity  of  restricting  Chi 
nese  immigration,  but  desired  that  the  bill 
should  strictly  conform  to  treaty  require 
ments  and  be  so  perfected  that  questions 
arising  under  it  might  enable  it  to  pass 
the  ordeal  of  judicial  scrutiny. 

Mr.  SHERMAN,  (Rep.)  of  Ohio,  referring 
to  the  passport  system,  said  the  bill  adopt 
ed  some  of  the  most  offensive  features  of 
European  despotism.  He  was  averse  to 
hot  haste  in  applying  a  policy  foreign  to 
the  habits  of  our  people,  and  regarded  the 
measure  as  too  sweeping  in  many  of  its 
provisions  and  as  reversing  our  immigra 
tion  policy. 

After  remarks  by  Messrs.  Ingalls,  Far 
ley,  Maxey,  Brown  and  Teller,  the  amend 
ment  of  Mr.  Farley,  which  provides  that 
hereafter  no  court  shall  admit  Chinese  to 
citizenship,  was  adopted — yeas  25,  nays  22. 

The  following  is  the  vote : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Bayard,  Beck,  Call,  Cam 
eron  of  Wisconsin,  Cockrell,  Coke,  Fair, 
Farley,  Garland,  George,  Gorman,  Harris,  I 
Jackson,  Jonas,  Jones  of  Nevada,  Maxey, 
Morgan,  Pugh,  Ransom,  Slater,  Teller, 
Vance,  Vest,  Voorhees  and  Walker— 25. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Aldrich,  Allison,  Blair, 
Brown,  Conger,  Davis  of  Illinois,  Dawes, 
Edmunds,  Frye,  Hale,  Hill  of  Colorado, 
Hoar,  Ingalls,  Lapham,  McDill,  McMil 
lan,  Miller  of  New  York,  Mitchell,  Mor- 
rill,  Plumb,  Saunders  and  Sawyer — 22. 

Mr.  Grover's  amendment  construing  the 
words  "  Chinese  laborers,"  wherever  used 
in  the  act,  to  mean  both  skilled  and  un- 


294 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


skilled  laborers  and  Chinese  employed  in 
mining  prevailed  by  the  same  vote— yeas 
25,  nays  22. 

Mr.  BROWN,  (Dein.)  of  Ga.,  moved  to 
strike  out  the  requirement  for  the  produc 
tion  of  passports  by  the  permitted  classes 
whenever  demanded  by  the  United  States 
authorities.  Carried  on  a  viva  voce  vote, 
the  Chair  (Mr.  Davis,  of  Illinois)  creating 
no  little  merriment  by  announcing,  "  The 
nays  are  loud  but  there  are  not  many  of 
them." 

MR.   INGALLS'   AMENDMENT. 

Upon  the  bill  being  reported  to  the  Sen 
ate  from  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  Mr. 
INGALLS  again  moved  to  limit  the  suspen 
sion  of  the  coming  of  Chinese  laborers  to 
ten  years. 

Mr.  JONES,  of  Nevada,  said  this  limit 
would  hardly  have  the  effect  of  allaying 
agitation  on 'the  subject  as  the  discussion 
would  be  resumed  in  two  or  three  years, 
and  ten  years,  he  feared,  would  not  even 
be  a  long  enough  period  to  enable  Congress 
intelligently  to  base  upon  it  any  future 
policy. 

Mr.  MILLER,  of  California,  also  urged 
that  the  shorter  period  would  not  measura 
bly  relieve  the  business  interest  of  the 
Pacific  slope,  inasmuch  as  the  white  immi 
grants,  who  were  so  much  desired,  would 
not  come  there  if  they  believed  the  Chi 
nese  were  to  be  again  admitted  in  ten 
years.  Being  interrupted  by  Mr.  Hoar, 
he  asserted  that  that  Senator  and  other 
republican  leaders,  as  also  the  last  repub 
lican  nominee  for  President,  had  hereto 
fore  given  the  people  of  the  Pacific  slope 
good  reason  to  believe  that  they  would  se 
cure  to  them  the  relief  they  sought  by  the 
bill. 

Mr.  HOAR,  (Kep.)  of  Mass.,  briefly  re 
plied. 

The  amendment  was  lost — yeas  20 
nays  21. 

The  vote  is  as  follows : 
YEAS— Messrs.  Aldrich,  Allison,  Blair 
Brown,  Conger,  Davis  of  Illinois,  Dawes 
Edmunds,  Frye,  Hale,  Hoar,  Ingalls,  Lap 
ham,  McDill,  McMillan,  Mahone,  Morrill 
Plumb,  Sawyer  and  Teller— 20. 

NAYS— Messrs.  Bayard,  Beck,  Call, Cam 
eron  of  Wisconsin,  Coke,  Fair,  Farley 
Garland,  George,  Gorman,  Jackson,  Jonas 
Jones  of  Nevada,  Miller  of  California 
Miller  of  New  York,  Morgan,  Ransom 
Slater,  Vance,  Voorhees  and  Walker — 21 
Messrs.  Butler,  Camden,  McPherson 
Johnston,  Davis  of  West  Virginia,  Pendle 
ton  and  Ransom  were  paired  with  Messrs 
Hawley,  Anthony,  Sewell,  Platt,  Va 
Wyck,  Windom  and  Sherman. 

Messrs.  Hampton,  Pugh,  Vest,  Rollin 
and  Jones  of  Florida  were  paired  wit 
absentees. 


PASSAGE  OF  THE   BILL. 

The  question  recurred  on  the  final  pas- 
age  of  the  bill,  and  Mr.  EDMUNDS  closed 
le  debate.  He  would  vote  against  the 
ill  as  it  now  stood,  because  he  believed  it 
)  be  an  infraction  of  good  faith  as  pledged 
y  the  last  treaty  ;  because  he  believed  it 
njurious  to  the  welfare  of  the  people  of 
10  United  States,  and  particularly  the 
eople  on  the  Pacific  coast,  by  preventing 
be  development  of  our  great  trade  with 


The  vote  was  then  taken  and  the  bill 
ras  passed — yeas  29,  nays  15. 

The  following  is  the  vote  in  detail : — 

YEAS— Messrs.  Bayard,  Beck,  Call,  Cam- 
ron  of  Wisconsin,  Cockrell,  Coke,  Fair, 
Barley,  Garland,  George,  Gorman,  Hale, 
Harris,  Hill  of  Colorado,  Jackson,  Jonas, 
'ones  of  Nevada,  Miller  of  California, 
liller  of  New  York,  Morgan,  Pugh,  Ran- 
om,  Sawyer,  Teller,  Vance,  Vest,  Voor- 
hees  and  Walker— 29. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Aldrich,  Allison,  Blair, 
Brown,  Conger,  Davis  of  Illinois,  Dawes, 
Edmunds,  Frye,  Hoar,  Ingalls,  Lapham, 
McDill,  McMillan  and  Morrill— 15. 

Pairs  were  announced  of  Messrs.  Cam- 
den,  Davis  of  West  Virginia,  Grover, 
lampton,  Butler,  McPherson,  Johnston, 
Jones  of  Florida  and  Pendleton  in  favor 
f  the  bill,  with  Messrs.  Anthony,  Win 
dom,  Van  Wyck,  Mitchell,  Hawley,  Sewell, 
Platt,  Rollins  and  Sherman  against  it. 

Mr.  FRYE,  (Rep.)  of  Me.,  in  casting  his 
vote,  stated  that  he  was  paired  with  Mr. 
Hill,  of  Georgia,  on  all  political  questions, 
but  that  he  did  not  consider  this  a  politi 
cal  question,  and  besides,  had  express  per 
mission  from  Senator  Hill  to  vote  upon  it. 

Mr.  MITCHELL,  (Rep.)  of  Pa.,  in  an 
nouncing  his  pair  with  Mr.  Hampton 
stated  that  had  it  not  been  for  that  fact  he 
would  vote  against  the  bill,  regarding  it  as 
un-American  and  inconsistent  with  the 
principles  which  had  obtained  in  the  gov 
ernment. 

The  title  of  the  bill  was  amended  so  as 
to  read,  "  An  act  to  execute  certain  treaty 
stipulations  relating  to  Chinese,"  though 
Mr.  Hoar  suggested  that  "  execute  "  ought 
to  be  stricken  out  and  "  violate  "  inserted. 

The  Senate  then,  at  twenty  minutes  to 
six,  adjourned  until  to-morrow. 

PROVISIONS  OF    THE   BILL. 

The  Chinese  Immigration  bill  as  passed 
provides  that  from  and  after  the  expiration 
of  ninety  days  after  the  passage  of  this  act 
and  until  the  expiration  of  twenty  years 
after  its  passage  the  coming  of  Chinese  la 
borers  to  the  United  States  shall  be  sus 
pended,  and  prescribes  a  penalty  of  im 
prisonment  not  exceeding  one  year  and  a 
fine  of  not  more  than  $500  against  the 
master  of  any  vessel  who  brings  any  Chi 
nese  laborer  to  this  country  during  that 


THE    CHINESE    QUESTION. 


295 


period.  It  further  provides  that  the  classes 
of  Chinese  excepted  by  the  treaty  from 
such  prohibition— such  as  merchants,  teach 
ers,  students,  travelers,  diplomatic  agents 
and  Chinese  laborers  who  were  in  the  Uni 
ted  States  on  the  17th  of  November,  1880 
— shall  be  required,  as  a  condition  for  their 
admission,  to  procure  passports  from  the 
government  of  China  personally  identify 
ing  them  and  showing  that  they  individ 
ually  belong  to  one  of  the  permitted  classes, 
which  passports  must  have  been  indorsed 
by  the  diplomatic  representative  of  the 
United  States  in  China  or  by  the  United 
States  Consul  at  the  port  of  departure.  It 
also  provides  elaborate  machinery  for  car 
rying  out  the  purposes  of  the  act,  and  ad 
ditional  sections  prohibit  the  admission  of 
Chinese  to  citizenship  by  any  United  States 
or  State  court  and  construes  the  words 
"  Chinese  laborers "  to  mean  both  skilled 
and  unskilled  laborers  and  Chinese  em 
ployed  in  mining. 

The  sentiment  in  favor  of  the  passage  of 
this  bill  has  certainly  greatly  increased 
since  the  control  of  the  issue  has  passed  to 
abler  hands  than  those  of  Kearney  and 
Kalloch,  whose  conduct  intensified  the 
opposition  of  the  East  to  the  measure, 
which  in  1879  was  denounced  as  "  violat 
ing  the  conscience  of  the  nation.*'  Mr. 
Elaine's  advocacy  of  the  first  bill  limiting 
emigrants  to  fifteen  on  each  vessel,  at  the 
time  excited  much  criticism  in  the  Eastern 
states,  and  was  there  a  potent  weapon 
against  him  in  the  nominating  struggle  for 
the  Presidency  in  1880  ;  but  on  the  other 
hand  it  is  believed  that  it  gave  him 
strength  in  the  Pacific  States. 

Chinese  immigration  and  the  attempt  to 
restrict  it  presents  a  question  of  the  gra 
vest  importance,  and  was  treated  as  such 
in  the  Senate  debate.  The  friends  of  the 
bill,  under  the  leadership  of  Senators  Mil 
ler  and  Jones,  certainly  stood  in  a  better 
and  stronger  attitude  than  ever  before. 

The  anti-Chinese  bill  passed  the  House 
just  as  it  came  from  the  Senate,  after  a 
somewhat  exended  debate,  on  the  23d  of 
March,  1882.  Yeas  167,  nays  65,  (party 
lines  not  being  drawn)  as  follows : 

Yeas— Messrs.  Aikin,  Aldrich,  Armfield, 
Atkins,  Bayne,  Belford,  Belmont,  Berry, 
Bhigham,  Blackburn,  Blanchard,  Bliss, 
Blount,  Brewer,  Brumm,  Buckner,  Burrows, 
of  Missouri;  Butter  worth,  Cabell,  Cald- 
well,  Calkins,  Campbell,  Cannon,  Casser- 
ley,  Caswell,  Chalmers,  Chapman,  Clark, 
Clements,  Cobb,  Converse,  Cook,  Cornell, 
Cox,  of  New  York ;  Cox,  of  North  Caro 
lina  ;  Covington,  Cravens,  Culbertson,  Cur- 
tin,  Darrell,  Davidson;  Davis,  of  Illinois; 
Davis,  of  Missouri ;  Demotte,  Deuster, 
Dezendorf,  Dibble,  Dibrell,  Dowd,  Dugro, 
Ermentrout,  Errett,  Farwell,  of  Illinois; 
Finley,  Flowers,  Ford,  Forney,  Fulkerson, 
Garrison,  Geddes,  George,  Gibson,  Guen- 


ther,  Gunter,  Hammond,  of  Georgia ;  Har 
dy,  Harmer,  Harris,  of  New  Jersey ;  Hasel- 
tine,  Hatch,  Hazelton,  Heilman,  Herndon, 
Hewitt,  of  New  York;  Hill,  Hiscock, 
Hoblitzell,  Hoge,  Hollman,  Horr,  Houk, 
House,  Hubbell,  Hubbs,  Hutchins,  Jones, 
of  Texas ;  Jones,  of  Arkansas ;  Jorgenson, 
Kenna,  King,  Klotz,  Knott,  Ladd,  Lee- 
dom,  Lewis,  Marsh,  Martin,  Matson,  Mc- 
Clure,  McCook,  MeKenzie,  McKinley,  Mc- 
Lane,  McMillan,  Miller,  Mills,  of  Texas ; 
Money,  Morey,  Moulton,  Murch,  Mutchler, 
O'Neill,  Pacheco,  Page,  Paul,  Payson, 
Pealse,  Phelps,  Phister,  Pound,  Randall, 
Reagan,  Rice  of  Missouri,  Richardson, 
Robertson,  Robinson,  Rosecrans,  Scran- 
ton,  Shallenberger,  Sherwin,  Simonton, 
Singleton,  of  Mississippi,  Smith  of  Penn 
sylvania,  Smith  of  Illinois,  Smith  of  New 
York,  Sparks,  Spaulding,  Spear,  Springer, 
Stockslager,  Strait,  Talbott,  Thomas, 
Thompson  of  Kentucky,  Tillman,  Town- 
send  of  Ohio,  Townsend  of  Illinois,  Tucker, 
Turner  of  Georgia,  Turner  of  Kentucky, 
Updegraff,  of  Ohio,  Upson,  Valentine, 
Vance,  Van  Horn,  Warner,  Washburne, 
Webber,  Welborn,  Whitthorne,  Williams 
of  Alabama,  Willis,  Willetts,  Wilson,  Wise 
of  Pennsylvania,  Wise  of  Virginia,  and  W. 
A.  Wood  of  New  York— 167. 

The  nays  were  Messrs.  Anderson,  Barr, 
Bragg,  Briggs,  Brown,  Buck,  Camp,  Cand- 
ler,  Carpenter,  Chase,  Crapo,Cullen,  Dawes, 
Deering,  Dingley,  Dunn  ell,  D  wight,  Far- 
well  of  Iowa,  Grant,  Hall,  Hammond,  of 
New  York,  Hardenburgh,  Harris,  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  Haskell,  Hawk,  Henderson, 
Hepburn,  Hooker,  Humphrey,  Jacobs, 
Jones  of  New  Jersey,  Joyce,  Kasson, 
Ketchum,  Lord,  McCoid,  Morse,  Norcross, 
Orth,  Parker,  Ramsey,  Rice  of  Ohio,  Rice 
of  Massachusetts,  Rich,  Richardson  of  New 
York,  Ritchie,  Robinson  of  Massachusetts, 
Russel,  Ryan,  Shultz,  Skinner,  Scooner, 
Stone,  Taylor,  Thompson  of  Iowa,  Tyler, 
Updegraff  of  Iowa,  Urner,  Wadsworth, 
Wait,  Walker,  Ward,  Watson,  White  and 
Williams  of  Wisconsin — 65. 

In  the  House  the  debate  was  partici 
pated  in  by  Messrs.  Richardson,  of  South 
Carolina ;  Wise  and  Brumm,  of  Pennsylva 
nia;  Joyce,  of  Vermont;  Dunnell,  of  Min 
nesota  ;  Orth,  of  Indiana ;  Sherwin,  of  Illi 
nois  ;  Hazelton,  of  Wisconsin;  Pacheco,  of 
California,  and  Townsend,  of  Illinois,  and 
others.  An  amendment  offered  by  Mr. 
Butterworth,  of  Ohio,  reducing  the  period 
of  suspension  to  fifteen  years,  was  rejected. 
Messrs.  Robinson,  of  Massachusetts ;  Cur- 
tin,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Cannon,  of  Illi 
nois,  spoke  upon  the  bill,  the  tAvo  latter  sup 
porting  it.  The  speech  of  Ex-Governor 
Curtin  was  strong  and  attracted  much  at 
tention.  Mr.  Page  closed  the  debate  in 
favor  of  the  measure.  An  amendment  of 
fered  by  Mr.  Kasson,  of  Iowa,  reducing  the 
time  of  suspension  to  ten  years,  was  re- 


296 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


jected — yeas  100,  nays  131 — and  the  bill 
was  passed  exactly  as  it  came  from  the 
Senate  by  a  vote  o:  167  to  65.  The  House 
then  adjourned. 


Our  Merchant  Marine. 

An  important  current  issue  is  the  increase 
of  the  Navy  and  the  improvement  of  the 
Merchant  Marine,  and  to  these  questions 
the  National  Administration  has  latterly 
given  attention.  The  New  York  Herald 
has  given  much  editorial  ability  and  re 
search  to  the  advocacy  of  an  immediate 
change  for  the  better  in  these  respects,  and 
in  its  issue  of  March  10th,  1882,  gave  the 
proceedings  of  an  important  meeting  of  the 
members  of  the  United  States  Naval  Insti 
tute  held  at  Annapolis  the  day  before,  on 
which  occasion  a  prize  essay  on  the  subject 
— "  Our  Merchant  Marine ;  the  Cause  of  its 
Decline  and  the  Means  to  be  Taken  for  its 
Revival,"  was  read.  The  subject  was  cho 
sen  nearly  a  year  ago,  because  it  was  the 
belief  of  the  members  of  the  institute  that 
a  navy  cannot  exist  without  a  merchant 
marine.  The  naval  institute  was  organized 
in  1873  for  the  advancement  of  profession 
al  and  scientific  knowledge  in  the  navy.  It 
has  on  its  roll  500  members,  principally 
naval  officers,  and  its  proceedings  are  pub 
lished  quarterly.  Bear  Admiral  C.  R.  P. 
Rodgers  is  president ;  Captain  J.  M.  Ram- 
gay,  vice  president ;  Lieutenant  Command 
er  C.  M.  Thomas,  secretary;  Lieutenant 
Murdock,  corresponding  secretary,  and 
Paymaster  R.  W.  Allen,  treasurer.  There 
were  eleven  competitors  for  the  prize,  Avhich 
is  of  $100,  and  a  gold  medal  valued  at  $50. 
The  judges  were  Messrs.  Hamilton  Fish, 
A.  A.  Low  and  J.  D.  Jones.  They  awarded 
the  prize  to  Lieutenant  J.  D.  J.  Kelley,  U. 
S.  N.,  whose  motto  was  "Nil  Clarius 
^Equore,"  and  designated  Master  C.  T.  Cal 
kins,  U.  S.  N.,  whose  motto  was  "  Mais  il 
faut  cultiver  notre  jardin  "  as  next  in  the 
order  of  merit,  and  further  mentioned  the 
essays  of  Lieutenant  R.  Wainwright,  Uni 
ted  States  Navy,  whose  motto  was  "  Causa 
latet,  vis  est  notissima,"  and  Lieutenant 
Commander  J.  E.  Chadwick,  United  States 
Navy,  whose  motto  was  "  Spes  Meliora," 
as  worthy  of  honorable  mention,  without 
being  entirely  agreed  as  to  their  compara 
tive  merits. 

STRIKING     PASSAGES     FROM     THE     PRIZE 

ESSAY. 

From  Lieut.  Kelley's  prize  essay  many 
valuable  facts  can  be  gathered,  and  such  of 
these  as  contain  information  of  permanent 
value  we  quote : 

"  So  far  as  commerce  influences  this 
country  has  a  vital  interest  in  the  carrying 
trade,  let  theorists  befog  the  cool  air  as  they 
may.  Every  dollar  paid  for  freight  im 
ported  or  exported  in  American  vessels  ac 


crues  to  American  labor  and  capital,  and 
the  enterprise  is  as  much  a  productive  in 
dustry  as  the  raising  of  wheat,  the  spinning 
of  fibre  or  the  smelting  of  ore.  Had  the 
acquired,  the  'full'  trade  of  1860  been 
maintained  without  increase  $80,000,000 
would  have  been  added  last  year  to  the  na 
tional  wealth,  and  the  loss  from  diverted 
shipbuilding  would  have  swelled  the  sum 
to  a  total  of  $100,000,000. 

"  Our  surplus  products  must  find  foreign 
markets,  and  to  retain  them  ships  controlled 
by  and  employed  in  exclusively  American 
interests  are  essential  instrumentalities. 
Whatever  tends  to  stimulate  competition 
and  to  prevent  combination  benefits  the 
producer,  and  as  the  prices  abroad  estab 
lish  values  here,  the  barter  we  obtain  for 
the  despised  one-tenth  of  exports — $665,- 
000,0t)0  in  1880 — determines  the  profit  or 
loss  of  the  remainder  in  the  home  market. 
During  the  last  fiscal  year  11,500,000  gross 
tons  of  grain,  oil,  cotton,  tobacco,  precious 
metals,  &c.,  were  exported  from  the  United 
States,  and  this  exportation  increases  at  the 
rate  of  1,500,000  tons  annually;  3,800,000 
tons  of  goods  are  imported,  or  in  all  about 
15,000,000  tons  constitute  the  existing  com 
merce  of  this  country. 

"  If  only  one-half  of  the  business  of  car 
rying  our  enormous  wealth  of  surplus  pro 
ducts  could  be  secured  for  American  ships, 
our  tonnage  would  be  instantly  doubled, 
and  we  would  have  a  greater  fleet  engaged 
in  a  foreign  trade,  legitimately  our  own, 
than  Great  Britain  has  to-day.  The  United 
States  makes  to  the  ocean  carrying-trade 
its  most  valuable  contribution,  no  other 
nation  giving  to  commerce  so  many  bulky 
tons  of  commodities  to  be  transported  those 
long  voyages  which  in  every  age  have 
been  so  eagerly  coveted  by  marine  peoples. 
Of  the  17,000  ships  which  enter  and  clear 
at  American  ports  every  year,  4,600  seek  a 
cargo  empty  and  but  2,000  sail  without  ob 
taining  it. 

"  Ships  are  profitable  abroad  and  can  be 
made  profitable  here,  and  in  truth  during 
the  last  thirty  years  no  other  branch  of 
industry  has  made  such  progress  as  the 
carrying  trade.  To  establish  this  there  are 
four  points  of  comparison — commerce,  rail 
ways,  shipping  tonnage  and  carrying  power 
of  the  world,  limited  to  the  years  between 
1850  and  1880:— 

Increase 

Per 

Cent. 

1850.  1880. 
Commmerce  of  all  na 
tions $4.280,000,000   814,405,000,000    240 

Railways  (miles  open)  44,400  222,«>0    308 

Shipping  tonnage 6,9(t5,000  18,720,000    171 

Carrying  tonnage 8,464,000  34,280.000    304 

"  In  1850,  therefore,  for  every  $5,000,000 
of  international  commerce  there  were  fifty- 
four  miles  of  railway  and  a  maritime  car 
rying  power  of  9,900  tons  ;  and  in  1880  the 
respective  ratios  had  risen  to  seventy -seven 


OUR    MERCHANT    MARINE. 


297 


miles  and  12,000  tons";  this  has  saved  one- 
fourth  freight  and  brought  producer  and 
consumers  into  such  contact  that  we  no 
longer  hear  "  of  the  earth's  products  being 
wasted,  of  wheat  rotting  in  La  Mancha, 
wool  being  used  to  mend  wads  and  sheep 
being  burned  for  fuel  in  the  Argentine 
Republic."  England  has  mainly  profited  by 
this  enormous  development,  the  shipping 
of  the  United  Kingdom  earning  $300,000,- 
000  yearly,  and  employing  200,000  seamen, 
whose  industry  is  therefore  equivalent  to 
£300  per  man,  as  compared  with  £190  for 
each  of  the  factory  operatives.  The 
freight  earned  by  all  flags  for  sea-borne 
merchandise  is  $500,000,00,  or  about  8  per 
cent,  of  the  value  transported.  Hence  the 
toll  which  all  nations  pay  to  England  for 
the  carrying  trade  is  equal  to  4  per  cent 
(nearly)  ot  the  exported  values  of  the 
earth's  products  and  manufactures;  and 
pessimists  who  declare  that  ship  owners 
are  losing  money  or  making  small  profits 
must  be  wrong,  for  the  merchant  marine  is 
expanding  every  year. 

"  The  maximum  tonnage  of  this  country 
at  any  time  registered  in  the  foreign  trade 
was  in  1861,  and  then  amounted  to  5,539,- 
813  tons ;  Great  Britain  in  the  same  year 
owning  5,895,369  tons,  and  all  the  other 
nations  5,800,767  tons.  Between  1855  and 
1860  over  1,300,000  American  tons  in  ex 
cess  of  the  country's  needs  were  employed 
by  foreigners  in  trades  with  which  we  had 
no  legitimate  connection  save  as  carriers. 
In  1851  our  registered  steamships  had 
grown  from  the  16,000  tons  of  1848  to  63,- 
920  tons— almost  equal  to  the  65,920  tons 
of  England,  and  in  1855  this  had  increased 
to  115,000  tons  and  reached  a  maximum, 
for  in  1862  we  had  1,000  tons  less.  In 
1855  we  built  388  vessels,  in  1856  306  ves 
sels  and  in  1880  26  vessels — all  for  the 
foreign  trade.  The  total  tonnage  which 
entered  our  ports  in  1856  from  abroad 
amounted  to  4,464,038,  of  which  American 
built  ships  constituted  3,194,375  tons,  and 
all  others  but  1,259,762  tons.  In  1880 
there  entered  from  abroad  15,240,534  tons, 
of  which  3,128,374  tons  were  American  and 
12,112,000  were  foreign — that  is,  in  a  ratio 
of  seventy-five  to  twenty-five,  or  actually 
65,901  tons  less  than  when  we  were  twenty- 
four  years  younger  as  a  nation.  The  grain 
fleet  sailing  last  year  from  the  port  of  New 
York  numbered  2,897  vessels,  of  which 
1,822  were  sailing  vessels  carrying  59,822,- 
033  bushels,  and  1,075  were  steamers  laden 
with  42,426,533  bushels,  and  among  all 
these  there  were  but  seventy-four  Ameri 
can  sailing  vessels  and  not  one  American 
steamer. 

"  While  this  poison  of  decay  has  been 
eating  into  our  vitals  the  possibilities  of 
the  country  in  nearly  every  other  industry 
have  reached  a  plane  of  development  be 
yond  the  dreams  of  the  most  enthusiastic 


theorizers.  We  have  spread  out  in  every 
direction  and  the  promise  of  the  future 
beggars  imaginations  attuned  even  to  the 
key  of  our  present  and  past  development. 
We  have  a  timber  area  of  560,000,000  acres, 
and  across  our  Canadian  border  there  are 
900,000,000  more  acres ;  in  coal  and  iron 
production  we  are  approaching  the  Old 
World. 

1842.  1879. 

Coal —  Tons.  Tons. 

Great  Britain...  35,000,000    135,000,000 
United  States...    2,000,000      60,000,000 

Iron — 

Great  Britain...    2,250,000        6,300,000 
United  States...       564,000        2,742,000 

During  these  thirty-seven  years  the 
relative  increase  has  been  in  coal  300 
to  2,900  per  cent.,  in  iron  200  to  400  per 
cent.,  and  all  in  our  favor.  But  this  is 
not  enough,  for  England,  with  a  coal  area 
less  than  either  Pennsylvania  or  Kentucky, 
has  coaling  stations  in  every  part  of  the 
world  and  our  steamers  cannot  reach  our 
California  ports  without  the  consent  of  the 
English  producers.  Even  if  electricity 
takes  the  place  of  steam  it  must  be  many 
years  before  the  coal  demand  will  cease, 
and  to-day,  of  the  36,000,000  tons  of  coal 
required  by  the  steamers  of  the  world, 
three-fourths  of  it  is  obtained  from  Great 
Britain. 

"  It  is  unnecessary  to  wire-draw  statis 
tics,  but  it  may,  as  a  last  word,  be  interest 
ing  to  show,  with  all  our  development,  the 
nationality  and  increase  of  tonnage  enter 
ing  our  ports  since  1856 : — 

Country.  Increase.   Decrease. 

England 6,977,163 

Germany 922,903  — 

Norway  and  Sweden.. .1,214,008 

Italy 596,907  — 

France 208,412 

Spain 164,683 

Austria 226,277  -— 

Belgium 204,872 

Russia 104,009  — 

United  States —       65,901 

"  This,"  writes  Lindsay,  "  is  surely  not 
decadence,  but  defeat  in  a  far  nobler  con 
flict  than  the  wars  for  maritime  supremacy 
between  Rome  and  Carthage,  consisting  as 
it  did  in  the  struggle  between  the  skill  and 
industry  of  the  people  of  two  great  na 
tions." 

We  have  thus  quoted  the  facts  gathered 
from  a  source  which  has  been  endorsed  by 
the  higher  naval  authorities.  Some  reader 
will  probably  ask,  "What  relation  have 
these  facts  to  American  politics?"  We 
answer  that  the  remedies  proposed  consti 
tute  political  questions  on  which  the  great 
parties  are  very  apt  to  divide.  They  have 
thus  divided  in  the  past,  and  parties  have 
turned  "  about  face  "  on  similar  questions. 


298 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Just  now  the  Democratic  party  inclines  to 
"free  ships"  and  hostility  to  subsidies — 
while  the  Republican  party  as  a  rule  favors 
subsidies.  Lieutenant  Kelley  summarized 
his  proposed  remedies  in  the  two  words: 
"  free  ships." 

Mr.  Elaine  would  solve  the  problem  by 
bounties,  for  this  purpose  enacting  a  gene 
ral  law  that  should  ignore  individuals  and 
enforce  a  policy.  His  scheme  provides 
that  any  man  or  company  of  men  who  will 
build  in  an  American  yard,  with  American 
material,  by  American  mechanics,  a  steam 
ship  of  3,000  tons  and  sail  her  from  any 
port  of  the  United  States  to  any  foreign 
port,  he  or  they  shall  receive  for  a  monthly 
line  a  mail  allowance  of  $25  per  mile  per 
annum  for  the  sailing  distance  between  the 
two  ports ;  for  a  semi-monthly  line  $45  per 
mile,  and  for  a  weekly  line  $75  per  mile. 
Should  the  steamer  exceed  three  thousand 
tons,  a  small  advance  on  these  rates  might 
be  allowed ;  if  less,  a  corresponding  reduc 
tion,  keeping  three  thousand  as  the  average 
and  standard.  Other  reformers  propose  a 
bounty  to  be  given  by  the  Government  to 
the  shipbuilder,  so  as  to  make  the  price  of 
an  American  vessel  the  same  as  that  of  a 
foreign  bought,  equal,  but  presumably 
cheaper,  ship. 

Mr.  Elaine  represents  the  growing  Re 
publican  view,  but  the  actual  party  views 
can  only  be  ascertained  when  bills  cover 
ing  the  subject  come  up  for  considera 
tion. 


Current  Politics. 

We  shall  close  this  written  history  of  the 
political  parties  of  the  United  States  by  a 
brief  statement  of  the  present  condition  of 
affairs,  as  generally  remarked  by  our  own 
people,  and  by  quoting  the  views  of  an  in 
teresting  cotemporaneous  English  writer. 

President  Arthur's  administration  has 
had  many  difficulties  to  contend  with.  The 
President  himself  is  the  legal  successor  of 
a  beloved  man,  cruelly  assassinated,  whose 
well-rounded  character  and  high  abilities 
had  won  the  respect  even  of  those  who  de 
famed  him  in  the  heat  of  controversy,  while 
they  excited  the  highest  admiration  of  those 
who  shared  his  political  views  and  thoughts. 
Stricken  down  before  he  had  time  to  for 
mulate  a  policy,  if  it  was  ever  his  intention 
to  do  so,  he  yet  showed  a  proper  apprecia 
tion  of  his  high  responsibilities,  and  had 
from  the  start  won  the  kindly  attention  of 
the  country.  Gifted  with  the  power  of  say 
ing  just  the  right  thing  at  the  right  mo 
ment,  and  saying  it  with  all  the  grace  and 
beauty  of  oratory,  no  President  was  better 
calculated  to  make  friends  as  he  moved 
along,  than  Garfield.  The  manifestations 
of  factional  feeling  which  immediately 
preceded  his  assassination,  but  which  can 
not  for  a  moment  be  intelligently  traced  to 


that  cause,  made  the  path  of  his  successor 
tar  more  difficult  than  if  he  had  been  called 
to  the  succession  by  the  operation  of  natu 
ral  causes.  That  he  has  met  these  difficul 
ties  with  rare  discretion,  all  admit,  and 
at  this  writing  partisan  interest  and  dislike 
are  content  to  "abide  a'  wee"  before  be 
ginning  an  assault.  He  has  sought  no 
changes  in  the  Cabinet,  and  thus  through 
personal  and  political  considerations  seems 
for  the  time  to  have  surrendered  a  Presi 
dential  prerogative  freely  admitted  by  all 
who  understand  the  wisdom  of  permitting 
an  executive  officer  to  seek  the  advice  of 
friends  of  his  own  selection.  Mr.  Elaine 
and  Mr.  MacVeagh,  among  the  ablest  of 
the  late  President's  Cabinet,  were  among 
the  most  emphatic  in  insisting  upon  the 
earliest  possible  exercise  of  this  preroga 
tive — the  latter  upon  its  immediate  exer 
cise.  Yet  it  has  been  withheld  in  several 
particulars,  and  the  Arthur  administration 
has  sought  to  unite,  wherever  divided  (and 
now  divisions  are  rare),  the  party  which 
called  it  into  existence,  while  at  the  same 
time  it  has  by  careful  management  sought 
to  check  party  strife  at  least  for  a  time,  and 
devoted  its  attention  to  the  advancement 
of  the  material  interests  of  the  country. 
Appointments  are  fairly  distributed  among 
party  friends,  not  divided  as  between  fac 
tions;  for  such  a  division  systematically 
made  would  disrupt  any  party.  It  would 
prove  but  an  incentive  to  faction  for  the 
sake  of  a  division  of  the  spoils.  No  force 
of  politics  is  or  ought  to  be  better  under 
stood  in  America  than  manufactured  disa 
greements  with  the  view  to  profitable  com 
promises.  Fitness,  recognized  ability,  and 
adequate  political  service  seem  to  consti 
tute  the  reasons  for  Executive  appointments 
at  this  time. 

The  Democratic  party,  better  equipped 
in  the  National  Legisture  than  it  has  been 
for  years — with  men  like  Hill,  Bayard,  Pen- 
dleton,  Brown,  Voorhees,  Lamar  and  Gar 
land  in  the  Senate — Stephens,  Randall, 
Hewitt,  Cox,  Johnson  in  tne  House — with 
Tilden,  Thurman,  Wallace  and  Hancock 
in  the  background — is  led  with  rare  abi 
lity,  and  has  the  advantage  of  escaping  re 
sponsibilities  incident  to  a  majority  party. 
It  has  been  observed  that  this  party  is  pur 
suing  the  traditional  strategy  of  minorities 
in  our  Republic.  It  has  partially  refused 
a  further  test  on  the  tariff  issue,  and  is 
seeking  a  place  in  advance  of  the  Republi 
cans  on  refunding  questions — both  popular 
measures,  as  shown  in  all  recent  elections. 
It  claims  the  virtue  of  sympathy  with  the 
Mormons  by  questioning  the  propriety  of 
legal  assaults  upon  the  liberty  of  con 
science,  while  not  openly  recording  itself  as 
a  defender  of  the  crime  of  polygamy.  As 
a  solid  minority  it  has  at  least  in  the  Se 
nate  yielded  to  the  appeal  of  the  States  on 
the  Pacific  slope,  and  favored  the  abridg- 


CURRENT    POLITICS. 


299 


ment  of  Chinese  immigration.  On  this 
question,  however,  the  Western  Republi 
can  Senators  as  a  rule  were  equally  active 
in  support  of  the  Miller  Bill,  so  that  what 
ever  the  result,  the  issue  can  no  longer  be 
a  political  one  in  the  Pacific  States.  The 
respectable  support  which  the  measure  has 
latterly  received  has  cast  out  of  the  strug 
gle  the  Kearneys  and  Kallochs,  and  if 
Uhere  be  demagoguery  on  either  side,  it 
comes  in  better  dress  than  ever  before. 

Doubtless  the  parties  will  contest  their 
claims  to  public  support  on  their  respective 
histories  yet  a  while  longer.  Party  history 
has  served  partisan  purposes  an  average 
of  twenty  years,  when  with  that  history 
recollections  of  wars  are  interwoven,  and 
the  last  war  having  been  the  greatest  in 
our  history,  the  presumption  is  allowable 
that  it  will  be  freely  quoted  so  long  as  sec 
tional  or  other  forms  of  distrust  are  ob 
servable  any  where.  When  these  recollec 
tions  fail,  new  issues  will  have  to  be  sought 
or  accepted.  In  the  mere  search  for  issues 
the  minority  ought  always  to  be  the  most 
active ;  but  their  wise  appropriation,  after 
all,  depends  upon  the  wisdom  and  ability 
of  leadership.  It  has  ever  been  thus,  and 
ever  will  be.  This  is  about  the  only  poli 
tical  prophecy  the  writer  is  willing  to  risk 
— and  in  risking  this  he  but  presents  a 
view  common  to  all  Americans  who  claim 
to  be  "  posted "  in  the  politics  of  their 
country. 

What  politicians  abroad  think  of  our 
"situation"  is  well  told,  though  not  always 
accurately,  by  a  distinguished  writer  in  the 
January  (1882)  number  of  "  The  London 
Quarterly  Review."  From  this  we  quote 
some  very  attractive  paragraphs,  and  at 
the  same  time  escape  the  necessity  of  de 
scriptions  and  predictions  generallv  be 
lieved  to  be  essential  in  rounding  off  a  po 
litical  volume,  but  which  are  always  dan 
gerous  in  treating  of  current  affairs.  Speak 
ing  of  the  conduct  of  both  parties  on  the 
question  of  Civil  Service  Reform,  the  writer 
says: 

"  What  have  they  done  to  overthrow  the 
celebrated  Jacksonian  precept;  *  to  the 
victors  belongs  the  spoils  ? '  What,  in  fact, 
is  it  possible  for  them  to  do  under  the 
present  system?  The  political  laborer 
hold?  that  he  is  worthy  of  his  hire,  and  if 
nothing  is  given  to  him,  nothing  will  he 
give  in  return.  There  are  tens  of  thou 
sands  of  offices  at  the  bestowal  of  every 
administration,  and  the  persons  who  have 
helped  to  bring  that  administration  into 
power  expect  to  receive  them.  '  In  Great 
Britain,"  once  remarked  the  American 
paper  which  enjoys  the  largest  circulation 
in  the  country,  '  the  ruling  classes  have  it 
all  to  themselves,  and  the  poor  man  rarely 
or  never  gets  a  nibble  at  the  public  crib. 
Here  we  take  our  turn.  We  know  that, 
if  our  political  rivals  have  the  opportunity 


to-day,  we  shall  have  it  to-morrow.  This 
is  the  philosophy  of  the  whole  thing  com 
pressed  into  a  nutshell.'  If  President 
Arthur  were  to  begin  to-day  to  distribute 
offices  to  men  who  were  most  worthy  to 
receive  them,  without  reference  to  politi 
cal  services,  his  own  party  would  rebel, 
and  assuredly  his  path  would  not  be 
strewn  with  roses.  He  was  himself  a  vic 
tim  of  a  gross  injustice  perpetrated  under 
the  name  of  reform.  He  filled  the  impor 
tant  post  of  Collector  of  the  Port  of  New 
York,  and  filled  it  to  the  entire  satisfaction 
of  the  mercantile  community.  President 
Hayes  did  not  consider  General  Arthur 
sufficiently  devoted  to  his  interests,  and  he 
removed  him  in  favor  of  a  confirmed  wire 
puller  and  caucus-monger,  and  the  admin 
istration  papers  had  the  address  to  repre 
sent  this  as  the  outcome  of  an  honest  effort 
to  reform  the  Civil  Service.  No  one 
really  supposed  that  the  New  York  Cus 
tom  House  was  less  a  political  engine  than 
it  had  been  before.  The  rule  of  General 
Arthur  had  been,  in  point  of  fact,  singu 
larly  free  from  jobbery  and  corruption,  and 
not  a  breath  of  suspicion  was  ever  attached 
to  his  personal  character.  If  he  had  been 
less  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his  difficult 
duties,  he  would  have  made  fewer  enemies. 
He  discovered  several  gross  cases  of  fraud 
upon  the  revenue,  and  brought  the  perpe 
trators  to  justice ;  but  the  culprits  were  not 
without  influence  in  the  press,  and  they 
contrived  to  make  the  worse  appear  the 
better  cause.  Their  view  was  taken  at 
second-hand  by  many  of  the  English  jour 
nals,  and  even  recently  the  public  here 
were  gravely  assured  that  General  Arthur 
represented  all  that  was  base  in  American 
politics,  and  moreover  that  he  was  an 
enemy  of  England,  for  he  had  been  elected 
by  the  Irish  vote.  The  authors  of  these 
foolish  calumnies  did  not  perceive  that,  if 
their  statements  had  been  correct,  General 
Garfield,  whom  they  so  much  honored, 
must  also  have  been  elected  by  the  Irish 
vote ;  for  he  came  to  power  on  the  very 
same  '  ticket/  In  reality,  the  Irish  vote 
may  be  able  to  accomplish  many  things  in 
America,  but  we  may  safely  predict  that  it 
will  never  elect  a  President.  General 
Arthur  had  not  been  many  weeks  in  power, 
before  he  was  enabled  to  give  a  remarkable 
proof  of  the  injustice  that  had  been  done 
to  him  in  this  particular  respect.  The 
salute  of  the  English  flag  at  Yorktown  is 
one  of  the  most  graceful  incidents  recorded 
in  American  history,  and  the  order  origi 
nated  solely  with  the  President.  A  man 
with  higher  character  or,  it  may  be  added, 
of  greater  accomplishments  and  fitness  for 
his  office,  never  sat  in  the  Presidential 
chair.  His  first  appointments  are  now  ad 
mitted  to  be  better  than  those  which  were 
made  by  his  predecessor  for  the  same  posts. 
Senator  Frelinghuysen,  the  new  Secretary 


300 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


of  State,  or  Foreign  Secretary,  is  a  man  of 
great  ability,  of  most  excellent  judgment, 
and  of  the  highest  personal  character.  He 
stands  far  beyond  the  reach  of  all  un 
worthy  influences.  Mr.  Folger,  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  possesses  the  confi 
dence  of  the  entire  country,  and  the 
nomination  of  the  new  Attorney-General 
was  received  with  universal  satisfaction. 
All  this  little  accords  with  the  dark  and 
forbidding  descriptions  of  President  Arthur 
which  were  placed  before  the  public  here 
on  his  accession  to  office.  It  is  surely  time 
that  English  writers  became  alive  to  the 
danger  of  accepting  without  question  the 
distorted  views  which  they  find  ready  to 
their  hands  in  the  most  bigoted  or  most 
malicious  of  American  journals. 

"Democrats  and  Republicans,  then,  alike 
profess  to  be  in  favor  of  a  thorough  reform 
in  the  Civil  Service,  and  at  the  present 
moment  there  is  no  other  very  prominent 
question  which  could  be  used  as  a  test  for 
the  admission  of  members  into  either 
party.  The  old  issue,  which  no  one  could 
possibly  mistake,  is  gone.  How  much  the 
public  really  care  for  the  new  one,  it  would 
be  a  difficult  point  to  decide.  A  Civil  Ser 
vice  system,  such  as  that  which  we  have  in 
England,  would  scarcely  be  suited  to  the 
"  poor  man,"  who,  as  the  New  York  paper 
says,  thinks  he  has  a  right  occasionally  to 
'  get  a  nibble  at  the  public  crib.'  If  a  man 
has  worked  hard  to  bring  his  party  into 
power,  he  is  apt,  in  the  United  States,  to 
think  that  he  is  entitled  to  some  '  recogni 
tion/  and  neither  he  nor  his  friends  would 
be  well  pleased  if  they  were  told  that,  be 
fore  anything  could  be  done  for  him,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  examine  him  in 
modern  languages  and  mathematics.  More 
over,  a  service  such  as  that  which  exists  in 
England  requires  to  be  worked  with  a  sys 
tem  of  pensions ;  and  pensions,  it  is  held 
in  America,  are  opposed  to  the  Republican 
idea.*  If  it  were  not  for  this  objection,  it 
may  be  presumed  that  some  provision 
would  have  been  made  for  more  than  one 
of  the  ex-Presidents,  whose  circumstances 
placed  them  or  their  families  much  in 
need  of  it.  President  Monroe  spent  his 
last  years  in  wretched  circumstances,  and 
died  bankrupt.  Mrs.  Madison  'knew 
what  it  was  to  want  bread/  A  negro  ser 
vant,  who  had  once  been  a  slave  in  the 
family,  used  furtively  to  give  her  '  small 
sums' — they  must  have  been  very  small 
— out  of  his  own  pocket.  Mr.  Pierce  was, 
we  believe,  not  far  removed  from  in- 


*  Enormous  sums  are,  however,  given  to  soldiers  who 
were  wounded  during  the  war,  or  who  pretend  that  they 
were— for  jobbery  on  an  unheard  of  scale  is  practised  in 
connection  with  these  pensions.  It  is  estimated  tbat 
*120,< -00,000  (24  000,0001.)  will  have  to  be  paid  during  the 
present  fiscal  year,  for  arrears  of  pension,  ami  the  num 
ber  of  claimants  is  constantly  increasing,  [The  writer 
evidently  got  these  "facts"  from  sensational  sources.] 
— Am.  Pol 


digence  ;  and  it  has  been  stated  that  after 
Andrew  Johnson  lei't  the  White  House, 
he  was  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  follow 
ing  his  old  trade.  General  Grant  was 
much  more  fortunate;  and  we  have  re 
cently  seen  that  the  American  people  have 
subscribed  for  Mrs.  Garfield  a  sum  nearly 
equal  to  £70,000.  But  a  pension  system 
for  Civil  Servants  is  not  likely  to  be 
adopted.  Permanence  in  office  is  another 
principle  which  has  found  no  favor  with 
the  rank  and  file  of  either  party  in 
America,  although  it  has  sometimes  been 
introduced  into  party  platforms  for  the 
saku  of  producing  a  good  effect.  The 
plan  of  '  quick  rotation '  is  far  more  at 
tractive  to  the  popular  sense.  Divide  the 
spoils,  and  divide  them  often.  It  is  true 
that  the  public  indignation  is  sometimes 
aroused,  when  too  eager  and  rapacious  a 
spirit  is  exhibited.  Such  a  feeling  was  dis 
played  in  1873,  in  consequence  of  an  Act 
passed  by  Congress  increasing  the  pay  of 
its  own  members  and  certain  officers  of  the 
Government.  Each  member  of  Congress 
was  to  receive  $7,500  a  year,  or  £1,500. 
The  sum  paid  before  that  date,  down  to 
1865,  was  $5000  a  year,  or  £1000,  and 
'mileage'  free  added  —  that  is  to  say, 
members  were  entitled  to  be  paid  twenty 
cents  a  mile  for  traveling  expenses  to  and 
from  Washington.  This  Bill  soon  became 
known  as  the  'Salary  Grab'  Act,  and 
popular  feeling  against  it  was  so  great  that 
it  \vas  repealed  in  the  following  Session, 
and  the  former  pay  was  restored.  As  a 
general  rule,  however,  the  '  spoils '  system 
has  not  been  heartily  condemned  by  the 
nation ;  if  it  had  been  so  condemned,  it 
must  have  fallen  long  ago. 

"  President  Arthur  has  been  admonished 
by  his  English  counsellors  to  take  heed 
that  he  follows  closely  in  the  steps  of  his 
predecessor.  General  Garfield  was  not 
long  enough  in  office  to  give  any  decided 
indications  of  the  policy  which  he  intend 
ed  to  pursue ;  but,  so  i'ar  as  he  had  gone, 
impartial  observers  could  detect  very  little 
difference  between  his  course  of  conduct  in 
regard  to  patronage  and  that  of  former 
Presidents.  He  simply  preferred  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Elaine  to  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Conkling ;  but  Mr.  Elaine  is  a  politician  of 
precisely  the  same  class  as  Mr.  Conkling — 
both  are  men  intimately  versed  in  all  the 
intricacies  of '  primaries,'  the  '  caucus,'  and 
the  general  working  of  the  'machine/ 
They  are  precisely  the  kind  of  men  which 
American  politics,  as  at  present  practised 
and  understood,  are  adapted  to  produce. 
Mr.  Conkling,  however,  is  of  more  impe 
rious  a  disposition  than  Mr.  Elaine ;  the 
first  disappointment  or  contradiction  turns 
him  from  a  friend  into  an  enemy.  Presi 
dent  Garfield  removed  the  Collector  of 
New  York — the  most  lucrative  and  most 
coveted  post  in  the  entire  Union— and  in- 


CURRENT    POLITICS. 


301 


stead  of  nominating  a  friend  of  Mr.  Conk- 
ling's  for  the  vacancy,  he  nominated  a 
friend  of  Mr.  Elaine's.  Now  Mr.  Conk- 
ling  had  done  much  to  secure  New  York 
State  for  the  Republicans,  and  thus  gave 
them  the  victory ;  and  he  thought  himself 
•entitled  to  better  treatment  than  he  re 
ceived.  But  was  it  in  the  spirit  of  true  re 
form  to  remove  the  Collector,  against 
whom  no  complaint  had  been  made,  merely 
for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  vacancy,  and 
then  of  putting  a  friend  of  Mr.  Elaine's 
into  it — a  friend,  moreover,  who  had  been 
largely  instrumental  in  securing  General 
Garfield's  own  nomination  at  Chicago?  * 
Is  this  all  that  is  meant,  when  the  Reform 
party  talk  of  the  great  changes  which  they 
desire  to  see  carried  out?  Again,  the  new 
President  has  been  fairly  warned  by  his 
advisers  in  this  country,  that  he  must 
abolish  every  abuse,  new  or  old,  connected 
with  the  distribution  of  patronage.  If  he 
is  to  execute  this  commission,  not  one  term 
of  office,  nor  three  terms,  will  be  sufficient 
for  him.  Over  every  appointment  there 
will  inevitably  arise  a  dispute ;  if  a  totally 
untried  nlan  is  chosen,  he  will  be  suspected 
as  a  wolf  coming  in  sheep's  clothing ;  if  a 
well  known  partizan  is  nominated,  he  will 
be  denounced  as  a  mere  tool  of  the  leaders, 
and  there  will  be  another  outcry  against 
*  machine  politics/  '  One  party  or  other/ 
said  an  American  journal  not  long  ago, 
'must  begin  the  work  of  administering 
the  Government  on  business  principles,' 
and  the  writer  admitted  that  the  work 
would  '  cost  salt  tears  to  many  a  politician.' 
The  honor  of  making  this  beginning  has 
not  yet  been  sought  for  with  remarkable 
eagerness  by  either  party ;  but  seems  to  be 
deemed  necessary  to  promise  that  some 
thing  shall  be  done,  and  the  Democrats, 
being  out  of  power,  are  naturally  in  the 
position  to  bid  the  highest.  The  reform 
will  come,  as  we  have  intimated,  when  the 
people  demand  it ;  it  cannot  come  before, 
for  few,  indeed,  are  the  politicians  in  the 
United  States  who  venture  to  trust  them 
selves  far  in  advance  of  public  opinion. 
And  even  of  that  few,  there  are  some  who 
have  found  out,  by  hard  experience,  that 
there  is  little  honor  or  profit  to  be  gained 
by  undertaking  to  act  as  pioneers. 

"  It  is  doubtless  a  step  in  advance,  that 
both  parties  now  admit  the  absolute  ne 
cessity  of  devising  measures  to  elevate  the 
character  of  the  public  service,  to  check 
the  progress  of  corruption,  and  to  intro 
duce  a  better  class  of  men  into  the  offices 
which  are  held  under  the  Government. 
The  necessity  of  great  reforms  in  these  re 
spects  has  been  avowed  over  and  over 
again  by  most  of  the  leading  journals  and 
influential  men  in  the  country.  The  most 

*  The  undeniable  facts  of  the  case  were  as  we  have 
briefly  indicated  above.  See,  for  example,  a  letter  to  the 
'New  York  Nation,'  Nov.  3, 1881. 


radical  of  the  Republicans,  and  the  most 
conservative  of  the  Democrats,  are  of  one 
mind  on  this  point.  Mr.  Wendell  Phil 
lips,  an  old  abolitionist  and  Radical,  once 
publicly  declared  that  Republican  govern 
ment  in  cities  had  been  a  complete  fail 
ure.*  An  equally  good  Radical,  the  late 
Mr.  Horace  Greeley,  made  the  following 
still  more  candid  statement : — '  There  are 
probably  at  no  time  less  than  twenty 
thousand  men  in  this  city  [New  York] 
who  would  readily  commit  a  safe  murder 
for  a  hundred  dollars,  break  open  a  house 
for  twenty,  and  take  a  false  oath  for  five. 
Most  of  these  are  of  European  birth, 
though  we  have  also  native  miscreants 
who  are  ready  for  any  crime  that  will  pay.'  f 
Strong  testimony  against  the  working  of 
the  suffrage — and  it  must  have  been  most 
unwilling  testimony — was  given  in  1875  by 
a  politician  whose  long  familiarity  with 
caucuses  and  '  wire-pulling '  in  every  form 
renders  him  an  undeniable  authority. 
Let  it  be  widely  proclaimed/  he  wrote, 
'  that  the  experience  and  teachings  of  a 
republican  form  of  government  prove 
nothing  so  alarmingly  suggestive  of  and 
pregnant  with  danger  as  that  cheap  suf 
frage  involves  and  entails  cheap  represen 
tation.  'J  Another  Republican,  of  high 
character,  has  stated  that '  the  methods  of 
politics  have  now  become  so  repulsive,  the 
corruption  so  open,  the  intrigues  and  per 
sonal  hostilities  are  so  shameless,  that  it 
is  very  difficult  to  engage  in  them  without 
a  sense  of  humiliation.' "  \ 

Passing  to  another  question,  and  one 
worthy  of  the  most  intelligent  discussion, 
but  which  has  never  yet  taken  the  shape 
of  a  political  demand  or  issue  in  this 
country,  this  English  writer  says : 

"Although  corruption  has  been  suspect 
ed  at  one  time  or  other  in  almost  every 
Department  of  the  Government,  the  Pres 
idential  office  has  hitherto  been  kept  free 
from  its  stain.  And  yet,  by  an  anomaly  of 
the  Constitution,  the  President  has  some 
times  been  exposed  to  suspicion,  and  still 
more  frequently  to  injustice  and  misrepie- 
sentation,  in  consequence  of  the  practical 
irresponsibility  of  his  Cabinet  officers. 
They  are  his  chief  advisers  in  regard  to  the 
distribution  of  places,  as  well  as  in  the 
higher  affairs  of  State,  and  the  discredit  of 
any  mismanagement  on  their  part  falls 
upon  him.  It  is  true  that  he  chooses  them, 
and  may  dismiss  them,  with  the  concur 
rence  of  the  Senate ;  but,  when  once  ap 
pointed,  they  are  beyond  reach  of  all  effec 
tive  criticism — for  newspaper  attacks  are 
easily  explained  by  the  suggestion  of  party 
malice.  They  cannot  be  questioned  in 


*  Speech  in  "N>w  York,  March  7.  1881. 

i'New  York  Tribune,'  Keb     5,  1870. 
Letter  in  Nuw  York  papers,  Feb.  20, 1875. 
Mr.  George  \Villiaru  Curtia,  iu  'Harper's  Magazine,' 
0. 


302 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Congress,  for  they  are  absolutely  pro 
hibited  from  sitting  in  either  House. 
For  months  together  it  is  quite  possible 
for  the  Cabinet  to  pursue  a  course  which  is 
in  direct  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  the 
people.  This  was  seen,  among  other  oc 
casions,  in  1873-4,  when  Mr.  Richardson 
was  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  at  a 
time  when  his  management  of  the  finances 
caused  great  dissatisiaetion.  At  last  a  par 
ticularly  gross  case  of  negligence,  to  use 
no  harsher  word,  known  as  the  '  JSanborn 
contracts,'  caused  his  retirement ;  that  is 
to  say,  the  demand  ior  his  withdrawal  be 
came  so  persistent  and  so  general,  that  the 
President  could  no  longer  refuse  to  listen 
to  it.  His  objectionable  policy  might  have 
been  pursued  till  the  end  of  the  Presiden 
tial  term,  but  for  the  accidental  discovery 
of  a  scandal,  which  exhausted  the  patience 
of  his  friends  as  well  as  his  enemies.  Now 
had  Mr.  Richardson  been  a  member  of 
either  House,  and  liable  to  be  subjected  to 
a  rigorous  cross-questioning  as  to  his  pro 
ceedings,  the  mismanagement  of  which  he 
was  accused,  and  which  was  carried  on  in 
the  dark,  never  could  have  occurred.  Why 
the  founders  of  the  Constitution  should 
have  thrown  this  protection  round  the  per 
sons  who  happen  to  fill  the  chief  offices  of 
State,  is  difficult  to  conjecture,  but  the 
clause  is  clear : — '  No  person  holding  any 
office  under  the  United  States  shall  be  a 
member  of  either  House  during  his  con 
tinuance  in  office.'*  Mr.  Justice  Story  de 
clares  that  this  provision  '  has  been  vindi 
cated  upon  the  highest  grounds  of  public 
authority,'  but  he  also  admits  that,  as  ap 
plied  to  the  heads  of  departments,  it  leads 
to  many  evils.  He  adds  a  warning  which 
many  events  of  our  own  time  have  shown 
to  be  not  unnecessary : — '  if  corruption 
ever  eats  its  way  silently  into  the  vitals  of 
this  Republic,  it  will  be  because  the  peo 
ple  are  unable  to  bring  responsibility  home 
to  the  Executive  through  his  chosen  Min 
isters.  They  will  be  betrayed  when  their 
suspicions  are  most  lulled  by  the  Execu 
tive,  under  the  guise  of  an  obedience  to 
the  will  of  Congress.'!  The  inconveniences 
occasioned  to  the  public  service  under  the 
present  system  are  very  great.  There  is  no 
official  personage  in  either  House  to  ex 
plain  the  provisions  of  any  Bill,  or  to  give 
information  on  pressing  matters  of  public 
business.  Cabinet  officers  are  only  brought 
into  communication  with  the  nation  when 
they  send  in  their  annual  reports,  or  when 
a  special  report  is  called  for  by  some  un 
usual  emergency.  Sometimes  the  Presi 
dent  himself  goes  down  to  the  Capitol  to 
talk  over  the  merits  of  a  Bill  with  mem 
bers.  The  Department  which  happens  to 
be  interested  in  any  particular  measure 


*  Article  I.  sect.  vi.  2. 

f '  Commentaries,  'I.,  book  lii.  sect.  869; 


puts  it  under  the  charge  of  some  friend  of 
the  Administration,  and  if  a  member  par 
ticularly  desires  any  further  information 
respecting  it  he  may,  if  he  thinks  proper, 
go  to  the  Department  and  ask  for  it.  But 
Congress  and  Ministers  are  never  brought 
face  to  face.  It  is  possible  that  American 
'  Secretaries '  may  escape  some  of  the  in- ' 
convenience  which  English  Ministers  are 
at  times  called  upon  to  undergo ;  but  the  j 
most  capable  and  honest  of  them  forfeit  | 
many  advantages,  not  the  least  of  which  is 
the  opportunity  of  making  the  exact  na 
ture  of  their  work  known  to  their  country 
men,  and  of  meeting  party  misrepresenta 
tions  and  calumnies  in  the  most  effectual 
way.  In  like  manner,  the  incapable  mem 
bers  of  the  Cabinet  would  not  be  able, 
under  a  different  system,  to  shift  the  bur 
den  of  responsibility  for  their  blunders  up 
on  the  President.  No  President  suffered 
more  in  reputation  for  the  faults  of  others 
than  General  Grant.  It  is  true  that  he  did 
not  always  choose  his  Secretaries  with  suf 
ficient  care  or  discrimination,  but  he  was 
made  to  bear  more  than  a  just  proportion 
of  the  censure  which  was  provoked  by 
their  mistakes.  And  it  was  not  in  Gen 
eral  Grant's  disposition  to  defend  himself. 
In  ordinary  intercourse  he  was  sparing  of 
his  words,  and  could  never  be  induced  to 
talk  about  himself,  or  to  make  a  single 
speech  in  defense  of  any  portion  of  his 
conduct.  The  consequence  was,  that  his 
second  term  of  office  was  far  from  being 
worthy  of  the  man  who  enjoyed  a  popu 
larity,  just  after  the  war,  which  Washing 
ton  himself  might  have  envied,  and  who 
is  still,  and  very  justly,  regarded  with  re 
spect  and  gratitude  for  his  memorable  ser 
vices  in  the  field. 

"  The  same  sentiment,  to  which  we  have 
referred  as  specially  characteristic  of  the 
American  people — hostility  to  all  changes 
in  their  method  of  government  which  are 
not  absolutely  essential — will  keep  the 
Cabinet  surrounded  by  irresponsible,  and 
sometimes  incapable,  advisers.  Contrary 
to  general  supposition,  there  is  no  nation 
in  the  world  so  little  disposed  to  look  favor 
ably  on  Radicalism  and  a  restless  desire  for 
change,  as  the  Americans.  The  Constitu 
tion  itself  can  only  be  altered  by  a  long 
and  tedious  process,  and  after  every  State- 
in  the  Union  has  been  asked  its  opinion  on 
the  question.  There  is  no  hesitation  in 
enforcing  the  law  in  case  of  disorder,  as 
the  railroad  rioters  in  Pennsylvania  found 
out  a  few  years  ago.  The  state  of  affairs, 
which  the  English  Government  has  per 
mitted  to  exist  in  Ireland  for  upwards  of  a 
year,  would  not  have  been  tolerated  twenty- 
four  hours  in  the  United  States.  The 
maintenance  of  the  law  first,  the  discussion 
of  grievances  afterwards ;  such  is,  and  al 
ways  has  been,  the  policy  of  every  Ameri 
can  Government,  until  the  evil  day  of 


CURRENT    POLITICS. 


303 


James  Buchanan.  The  governor  of  every  j 
State  is  a  real  ruler,  and  not  a  mere  orna-  i 
ment,  and'the  President  wields  a  hundred-  i 
fold  more  power  than  has  been  left  to  the  | 
Sovereign  of  Great  Britain.  Both  parties  ! 
as  a  rule,  combine  to  uphold  his  authority,  i 
and,  in  the  event  of  any  dispute  with  a 
foreign  Power,  all  party  distinctions  disap 
pear  as  if  by  magic.  There  are  no  longer  | 
Democrats  and  Republicans,  but  only  ! 
Americans.  The  species  of  politician,  who  i 
endeavors  to  gain  a  reputation  for  himself  j 
by  destroying  the  reputation  of  his  country 
was  not  taken  over  to  America  in  the '  May 
flower/  and  it  would  be  more  difficult  than 
ever  to  establish  it  on  American  ground 
to-day.  A  man  may  hold  any  opinions 
that  may  strike  his  fancy  on  other  subjects, 
but  in  reference  to  the  Government,  he  is 
expected,  while  he  lives  under  it,  to  give  it 
his  hearty  support,  especially  as  against 
foreign  nations.  There  was  once  a  faction 
called  the  '  Know  Nothings,'  the  guiding 
principle  of  which  was  inveterate  hostility 
to  foreigners ;  but  a  party  based  upon  the 
opposite  principle,  of  hostility  to  one's  own 
country,  has  not  yet  ventured  to  lift  up  its 
head  across  the  Atlantic.  That  is  an  in 
vention  in  politics  which  England  has 
introduced,  and  of  which  she  is  allowed  to 
enjoy  the  undisputed  monopoly.  *  *  * 
"Display  and  ceremonial  were  by  no 
means  absent  from  the  Government  in  the 
beginning  of  its  history.  President  Wash 
ington  never  went  to  Congress  on  public 
business  except  in  a  State  coach,  drawn  by 
six  cream-colored  horses.  The  coach  was 
an  object  which  would  excite  the  admira 
tion  of  the  throng  even  now  in  the  streets 
of  London.  It  was  built  in  the  shape  of 
a  hemisphere,  and  its  panels  were  adorned 
with  cupids,  surrounded  with  flowers 
worthy  of  Florida,  and  of  fruit  not  to  be 
equalled  out  of  California.  The  coachman 
and  postillions  were  arrayed  in  gorgeous 
liveries  of  white  and  scarlet.  The  Phila 
delphia  'Gazette,'  a  Government  organ, 
regularly  gave  a  supply  of  Court  news  for 
the  edification  of  the  citizens.  From  that 
the  people  were  allowed  to  learn  as  much 
as  it  was  deemed  proper  for  them  to  know 
about  the  President's  movements,  and  a  fair 
amount  of  spacevwas  also  devoted  to  Mrs. 
Washington — who  was  not  referred  to  as 
Mrs.  Washington,  but  as  '  the  amiable  con 
sort  of  our  beloved  President. '  When  the 
President  made  his  appearance  at  a  ball  or 
public  reception,  a  dais  was  erected  for  him 
upon  which  he  might  stand  apart  from  the 
vulgar  throng,  and  the  guests  or  visitors 
bowed  to  him  in  solemn  silence.  *  Repub 
lican  simplicity'  has  only  come  in  later 
times.  In  our  day,  the  hack-driver  who 
takes  a  visitor  to  a  public  reception  at  the 
White  House,  is  quite  free  to  get  off  his 
box,  walk  intaide  by  side  with  his  fare,  and 
shake  hands  with  the  President  with  as 


much  familiarity  as  anybody  else.  Very 
few  persons  presumed  to  offer  to  shake 
hands  with  General  Washington.  One  of 
his  friends,  Gouverneur  Morris,  rashly 
undertook,  for  a  foolish  wager,  to  go  up  to 
him  and  slap  him  on  the  shoulder,  saying, 
'  My  dear  General,  I  am  happy  to  see  you 
look  so  well.'  The  moment  fixed  upon 
arrived,  and  Mr.  Morris,  already  half- 
repenting  of  his  wager,  went  up  to  the 
President,  placed  his  hand  upon  his  shoul 
der,  and  uttered  the  prescribed  words. 
'  Washington,'  as  an  eye-witness  described 
the  scene,  '  withdrew  his  hand,  stepped 
suddenly  back,  fixed  his  eye  on  Morris  for 
several  minutes  with  an  angry  frown,  until 
the  latter  retreated  abashed,  and  sought 
refuge  in  the  crowd.'  No  one  else  ever 
tried  a  similar  experiment.  It  is  recorded 
of  Washington,  that  he  wished  the  official 
title  of  the  President  to  be  '  High  Mighti 
ness,'  *  and  at  one  time  it  was  proposed  to 
engrave  his  portrait  upon  the  national 
coinage.  No  royal  levees  were  more  punc 
tiliously  arranged  and  ordered  than  those 
of  the  First  President.  It  was  Jefferson, 
the  founder  of  the  Democratic  party,  who 
introduced  Democratic  manners  into  the 
Republic.  He  refused  to  hold  weekly  re 
ceptions,  and  when  he  went  to  Congress  to 
read  his  Address,  he  rode  up  unattended, 
tied  his  horse  to  a  post,  and  came  away 
with  the  same  disregard  for  outward  show. 
After  his  inauguration,  he  did  not  even 
take  the  trouble  to  go  to  Congress  with  his 
Message,  but  sent  it  by  the  hands  of  his 
Secretary — a  custom  which  has  been  found 
so  convenient  that  it  has  been  followed 
ever  since.  A  clerk  now  mumbles  through 
the  President's  Message,  while  members 
sit  at  their  desks  writing  letters,  or  reading 
the  Message  itself,  if  they  do  not  happen 
to  have  made  themselves  masters  of  its 
contents  beforehand." 

The  writer,  after  discussing  monopolies 
and  tariffs,  closes  with  hopes  and  predic 
tions  so  moderately  and  sensibly  stated  that 
any  one  will  be  safe  in  adopting  them  as 
his  own. 

"The  controversies  which  have  yet  to  be 
fought  out  on  these  issues  [the  tariff  and 
corporate  power]  may  sometimes  become 
formidable,  but  we1*-  may  hope  that  the 
really  dangerous  questions  that'  once  con 
fronted  the  American  people  are  set  at  rest 
for  ever.  The  States  once  more  stand  in 
their  proper  relation  to  the  Union,  and  any 
interference  with  their  self-government  is 
never  again  likely  to  be  attempted,  for  the 
feeling  of  the  whole  people  would  condemn 
it.  It  was  a  highly  Conservative  system 
which  the  framers  of  the  Constitution 
adopted,  when  they  decided  that  each  State 
should  be  entitled  to  make  its  own  laws, 

*  [Those  are  mere  traditions  tinged  with  the  spirit  of 
some  of  the  assaults  uiado  in  the  "  good  old  days"  even 
against  so  illustrious  a  man  as  Washington.—^//!.  Pol] 


304 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


to  regulate  its  own  franchise,  to  raise  its 
own  taxes,  and  settle  everything  in  connec 
tion  with  its  own  affairs  in  its  own  way.  The 
general  government  has  no  right  whatever 
to  send  a  single  soldier  into  any  State,  even 
to  preserve  order,  until  it  has  been  called 
upon  to  act  by  the  Governor  of  that  State. 
The  Federal  Government,  as  it  has  been 
said  by  the  Supreme  Court,  is  one  of  enu 
merated  powers ; '  and  if  it  has  ever  acted 
in  excess  of  those  powers,  it  was  only  when 
officers  in  States  broke  the  compact  which 
existed,  and  took  up  arms  for  its  destruc 
tion.  They  abandoned  their  place  in  the 
Union,  and  were  held  to  have  thereby  for 
feited  their  rights  as  States.  In  ordinary 
times  there  is  ample  security  against  the 
abuse  of  power  in  any  direction.  If  a 
State  government  exceeds  its  authority,  the 
people  can  at  the  next  election  expel  the 
parties  who  have  been  guilty  of  the  offense ; 
if  Congress  trespasses  upon  the  functions 
of  the  States,  there  is  the  remedy  of  an  ap 
peal  to  the  Supreme  Court,  the  '  final  in 
terpreter  of  the  Constitution ; '  if  usurpa 
tion  should  be  attempted  in  spite  of  these 
safeguards,  there  is  the  final  remedy  of  an 
appeal  to  the  whole  nation  under  the  form 
of  a  Constitutional  Amendment,  which 
may  at  any  time  be  adopted  with  the  con 
sent  of  three-fourths  of  the  States.  Only, 
therefore,  as  Mr.  Justice  Story  has  pointed 
out,  when  three-fourths  of  the  States  have 
combined  to  practice  usurpation,  is  the  case 
1  irremediable  under  any  known  forms  of 
the  Constitution.'  It  would  be  difficult  to 
conceive  of  any  circumstances  under  which 
such  a  combination  as  this  could  arise.  No 
form  of  government  ever  yet  devised  has 
proved  to  be  faultless  in  its  operation ;  but 
that  of  the  United  States  is  well  adapted 
to  the  genius  and  character  of  the  people, 
and  the  very  dangers  which  it  has  passed 
through  render  it  more  precious  in  their 


eyes  than  it  was  before  it  had  been  tried  in 
the  fire.  It  assures  freedom  to  all  who  live 
under  it ;  and  it  provides  for  the  rigid  ob 
servance  of  law,  and  the  due  protection  of 
every  man  in  his  rights.  There  is  much  in 
the  events  which  are  now  taking  place 
around  us  to  suggest  serious  doubts, 
whether  these  great  and  indispensable  ad 
vantages  are  afforded  by  some  of  the  older 
European  systems  of  government  which 
we  have  been  accustomed  to  look  upon  as 
better  and  wiser  than  the  American  Con 
stitution." 

A  final  word  as  to  a  remaining  great  is 
sue — that  of  the  tariff.  It  must  ever  be  a 
political  issue,  one  which  parties  cannot 
wholly  avoid.  The  Democratic  party  as  a 
mass,  yet  leans  to  Free  Trade ;  the  Repub 
lican  party,  as  a  mass,  favors  Tariffs  and 
high  ones,  at  least  plainly  protective. 
Within  a  year,  two  great  National  Conven 
tions  were  held,  one  at  Chicago  and  one 
at  New  York,  both  in  former  times,  Free 
Trade  centres,  and  in  these  Congress  was 
petitioned  either  to  maintain  01  improve  the 
existing  tariff.  As  a  result  we  see  presented 
and  advocated  at  the  current  session  the 
Tariff  Commission  Bill,  decisive  action 
upon  which  has  not  been  taken  at  the 
time  we  close  these  pages.  The  effect  of 
the  conventions  was  to  cause  the  Demo 
cratic  Congressional  caucus  to  reject  the 
effort  of  Proctor  Knott,  to  place  it  in  its 
old  attitude  of  hostility  to  protection. 
Many  of  the  members  sought  and  for  the 
time  secured  an  avoidance  of  the  issue. 
Their  ability  to  maintain  this  attitude  in 
the  face  of  Mr.  Watterson's*  declaration 
that  the  Democratic  party  must  stand  or 
fall  on  that  issue,  remains  to  be  seen. 

*  Mr.  Watterson,  formerly  a  distinguished  member  of 
Congress,  is  the  author  of  the  '•  tariff  for  revenue  only  " 
plank  in  the  Democratic  National  Platform  of  1880,  and 
is  now,  as  he  has  been  for  years,  the  chief  editor  ol  the 
L(juisi:ilh  Courier  Journal. 


POLITICAL  CHANGES  IN  1882. 


With  a  view  to  carry  this  work  through 
the  year  1882  and  into  part  of  1883,  very 
plain  reference  should  be  made  to  the 
campaign  of  1882,  which  in  several  im 
portant  States  was  fully  as  disastrous  to 
the  Republican  party  as  any  State  elec 
tions  since  the  advent  of  that  party  to 
national  supremacy  and  power.  In  1863 
and  1874  the  Republican  reverses  were 
almost  if  not  quite  as  general,  but  in  the 
more  important  States  the  adverse  majori 
ties  were  not  near  so  sweeping.  Political 
"  tidal  waves "  had  been  freely  talked  of 
as  descriptive  of  the  situation  in  the  earlier 


years  named,  but  the  result  of  1882  has 
been  pertinently  described  by  Horatio 
Seymour  as  the  "  groundswell,"  and  such 
it  seemed,  both  to  the  active  participants 
in,  and  lookers-on,  at  the  struggle. 

Political  discontent  seems  to  be  periodi 
cal  under  all  governments,  and  the  periods 
are  probably  quite  as  frequent  though  less 
violent  under  republican  as  other  forms. 
Certain  it  is  that  no  political  party  in  our 
history  has  long  enjoyed  uninterrupted 
success.  The  National  success  of  the  Re 
publicans  cannot  truthfully  be  said  to 
have  been  uninterrupted  since  the  first 


REPUBLICANS— DEMOCRATS. 


305 


election  of  Lincoln,  as  at  times  one  or  the 
other  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  have 
been  in  the  hands  of  the  Democratic  party, 
while  since  the  second  Grant  administra 
tion  there  has  not  been  a  safe  working 
majority  of  Eepublicans  in  either  House. 
Combinations  with  Greenbackers,  Read- 
justers,  and  occasionally  with  dissenting 
Democrats  have  had  to  be  employed  to 
preserve  majorities  in  behalf  of  important 
measures,  and  these  have  not  always  suc 
ceeded,  though  the  general  tendency  of 
tide-parties  has  been  to  support  the  majo 
rity,  for  the  very  plain  reason  that  majori 
ties  can  reward  with  power  upon  commit 
tees  and  with  patronage. 

Efforts  were  made  by  the  Democrats  in 
the  first  session  of  the  47th  Congress  to 
reduce  existing  tariffs,  and  to  repeal  the 
internal  revenue  taxes.  The  Repub 
licans  met  the  first  movement  by  establish 
ing  a  Tariff  Commission,  which  was  ap 
pointed  by  President  Arthur,  and  com 
posed  mainly  of  gentlemen  favorable  to 
protective  duties.  In  the  year  previous 
(1881)  the  income  from  internal  taxes  was 
$135,264,385.51,  and  the  cost,  of  collecting 
$4,327,793.24,  or  3.20  per  cent.  The  cus 
toms  revenues  amounted  to  $198,159,676.02, 
the  cost  of  collecting  the  same  $6,383,288. 
10,  or  3.22  per  cent.  There  was  no  gene 
ral  complaint  as  to  the  cost  of  collecting 
these  immense  revenues,  for  this  cost  was 
greatly  less  than  in  former  years,  but  the 
surplus  on  internal  taxes  (about  $146,000, 
000)  was  so  large  that  it  could  not  be 
profitably  employed  even  in  the  payment 
of  the  public  debt,  and  as  a  natural  result 
all  interests  called  upon  to  pay  the  tax 
(save  where  there  was  a  monopoly  in  the 
product  or  the  manufacture)  complained 
of  the  burden  as  wholly  unnecessary,  and 
large  interests  and  very  many  people  de4 
manded  immediate  and  absolute  repeal. 
The  Republicans  sought  to  meet  this  de 
mand  half  way  by  a  bill  repealing  all  the 
taxes,  save  those  on  spirits  and  tobacco, 
but  the  Democrats  obstructed  and  defeated 
every  attempt  at  partial  repeal.  The 
Republicans  thought  that  the  moral  senti 
ment  of  the  country  would  favor  the  re 
tention  of  the  internal  taxes  upon  spirits 
and  tobacco  (the  latter  having  been  pre 
viously  reduced)  but  if  there  was  any  such 
sentiment  it  did  not  manifest  itself  in  the 
fall  elections.  On  the  contrary,  every 
form  of  discontent,  encouraged  by  these 
great  causes,  took  shape.  While  the 
Tariff  Commission,  by  active  and  very  in 
telligent  work,  held  out  continued  hope  to 
the  more  confident  industries,  those  which 
had  been  threatened  or  injured  by  the 
failure  of  the  crops  in  1881,  and  by  the 
assassination  of  President  Garfield,  saw 
only  prolonged  injury  in  the  probable 
work  of  the  Commission,  for  to  meet  the 
20 


close  Democratic  sentiment  and  to  unite 
that  which  it  was  hoped  would  be  gene 
rally  friendly,  moderate  tariff  rates  had  to 
be  fixed;  notably  upon  iron,  steel,  and 
many  classes  of  manufactured  goods. 
Manufacturers  of  the  cheaper  grades  of 
cotton  goods  were  feeling  the  pressure  of 
competition  from  the  South — where  goods 
could  be  made  from  a  natural  product- 
close  at  hand — while  those  of  the  North 
found  about  the  same  time  thai  tne  tastes 
of  their  customers  had  improved,  and 
hence  their  cheaper  grades  were  no  longer 
in  such  general  demand.  There  was  over 
production,  as  a  consequence  grave  depres 
sion,  and  not  all  in  the  business  could  at 
once  realize  the  cause  of  the  trouble. 
Doubt  and  distrust  prevailed,  and  early  in 
the  summer  of  1882,  and  indeed  until  late 
in  the  fall,  the  country  seemed  upon  the 
verge  of  a  business  panic.  At  the  same 
time  the  leading  journals  of  the  country 
seemed  to  have  joined  in  a  crusade  against 
all  existing  political  methods,  and  against 
all  statutory  and  political  abuses.  The 
cry  of  "  Down  with  Boss  Rule !  "  was  heard 
in  many  States,  and  this  rallied  to  the 
swelling  ranks  of  discontent  all  who  are 
naturally  fond  of  pulling  down  leaders — 
and  the  United  States  Senatorial  election* 
of  1883  quickly  showed  that  the  blow  was 
aimed  at  all  leaders,  whether  they  were 
alleged  Bosses  or  not.  Then,  too,  the 
forms  of  discontent  which  could  not  take 
practical  shape  in  the  great  Presidential 
contest  between  Garfield  and  Hancock, 
came  to  the  front  with  cumulative  force 
after  the  assassination.  There  is  little  use 
in  philosophizing  and  searching  for  suffi 
cient  reasons  leading  to  a  fact,  when  the 
fact  itself  must  be  confessed  and  when  its 
force  has  been  felt.  It  is  a  plain  fact  that 
many  votes  in  the  fall  of  1882  were  deter 
mined  by  the  nominating  struggle  for  the 
Presidency  in  1880,  by  the  quarrels  which 
followed  Garfield's  inauguration,  and  by 
the  assassination.  Indeed,  the  nation  had 
not  recovered  from  the  shock,  and  many 
very  good  people  looked  with  very  grave 
suspicion  upon  every  act  of  President 
Arthur  after  he  had  succeeded  to  the 
chair.  The  best  informed,  broadest  and 
most  liberal  political  minds  saw  in  his 
course  an  honest  effort  to  heal  existing 
differences  in  the  Republican  party,  but 
many  acts  of  recommendation  and  appoint 
ment  directed  to  this  end  were  discounted 
by  the  few  which  could  not  thus  be  traced, 
and  suspicion  and  discontent  swelled  the 
chorus  of  other  injuries.  The  result  was 
the  great  political  changes  of  1882.  It  be 
gan  in  Ohio,  the  only  important  and  de 
batable  October  State  remaining  at  this 
time.  The  causes  enumerated  above  (save 
the  assassination  and  the  conflict  between 
the  friends  of  Grant  and  Blaine)  operated 


306 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


with  less  force  in  Ohio  than  any  other  sec 
tion — for  here  leaders  had  not  been  held  up 
as  "  Bosses ;"  civil  service  reform  had  many 
advocates  among  them;  the  people  were 
not  by  interest  specially  wedded  to  high 
tariff  duties,  nor  were  they  large  payers  of 
internal  revenue  taxes.  But  the  liquor 
issue  had  sprung  up  in  the  Legislature  the 

Erevious  winter,  the  Republicans  attempt- 
ig  to  levy  and  collect  a  tax  from  all  who 
sold,  and  to  prevent  the  sale  on  Sundays. 
These  brief  facts  make  strange  reading  to 
the  people  of  other  States,  where  the  sale 
of  liouor  has  generally  been  licensed,  and 
forbidden  on  Sundays.  Ohio  had  previ 
ously  passed  a  prohibitory  constitutional 
amendment,  in  itself  defective,  and  as  no 
legislation  had  been  enacted  to  enforce  it, 
those  who  wished  began  to  sell  as  though 
the  right  were  natural,  and  in  this  way  be 
came  strong  enough  to  resist  taxation  or 
license.  The  Legislature  of  1882,  the  ma 
jority  controlled  by  the  Republicans,  at 
tempted  to  pass  the  Pond  liquor  tax  act, 
and  its  issue  was  joined.  The  liquor  in 
terests  organized,  secured  control  of  the 
Democratic  State  Convention,  nominated 
a  ticket  pledged  to  their  interests,  made 
a  platform  which  pointed  to  unrestricted 
sale,  and  by  active  work  and  the  free 
use  of  funds,  carried  the  election  and 
reversed  the  usual  majority.  Governor 
Foster,  the  boldest  of  the  Republican  lead 
ers,  accepted  the  issue  as  presented,  and 
stumped  in  favor  of  license  and  the  sanc 
tity  of  the  Sabbath ;  but  the  counsels  of 
the  Republican  leaders  were  divided,  Ex- 
Secretary  Sherman  and  others  enacting  the 
role  of  '  confession  and  avoidance."  The 
result  carried  with  it  a  train  of  Republi 
can  disasters.  Congressional  candidates 
whom  the  issue  could  not  legimately  touch, 
fell  before  4t,  probably  on  the  principle 
that  "  that  which  strikes  the  head  injures 
the  entire  body."  The  Democratic  State 
and  Legislative  tickets  succeeded,  and  the 
German  element,  which  of  all  others  is 
most  favorable  to  freedom  in  the  observ 
ance  of  the  Sabbath,  transferred  its  vote 
almost  as  an  entirety  from  the  Republican 
to  the  Democratic  party. 

Ohio  emboldened  the  liquor  interests, 
and  in  their  Conventions  and  Societies  in 
other  States  they  agreed  as  a  rule  to  check 
and,  if  possible,  defeat  the  advance  of  the 
prohibitory  amendment  idea.  This  started 
in  Kansas  in  1880,  under  the  lead  of  Gov. 
St.  John,  an  eloquent  temperance  advo 
cate.  It  was  passed  by  an  immense 
majority,  and  it  was  hardly  in  force  be 
fore  conflicting  accounts  were  scattered 
throughout  the  country  as  to  its  effect. 
Some  of  the  friends  of  temperance  con 
tended  that  it  improved  the  public  con 
dition  ;  its  enemies  all  asserted  that  in 
the  larger  towns  and  cities  it  produced 


free  and  irresponsible  instead  of  licensed 
sale.  The  latter  seem  to  have  had  the 
best  of  the  argument,  if  the  election  re 
sult  is  a  truthful  witness.  Gov.  St.  John 
was  again  the  nominee  of  the  Repub 
licans,  but  while  all  of  the  remainder  of 
the  State-ticket  was  elected,  he  fell  under 
a  majority  which  must  have  been  pro 
duced  by  a  change  of  forty  thousand  votes. 
Iowa  next  took  up  the  prohibitory  amend 
ment  idea,  secured  its  adoption,  but  the 
result  was  injurious  to  the  Republicans  in 
the  Fall  elections,  where  the  discontent 
struck  at  Congressmen,  as  well  as  State 
and  Legislative  officers. 

The  same  amendment  had  been  pro 
posed  in  Pennsylvania,  a  Republican 
House  in  1881  having  passed  it  by  almost 
a  solid  vote  (Democrats  freely  joining  in 
its  support),  but  a  Republican  Senate  de 
feated,  after  it  had  been  loaded  down 
with  amendments.  New  York  was  co 
quetting  with  the  same  measure,  and  as  a 
result  the  liquor  interests — well-organized 
and  with  an  abundance  of  money,  as  a 
rule  struck  at  the  Republican  party  in 
both  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  and 
thus  largely  aided  the  groundswell.  The 
same  interests  aided  the  election  of  Genl. 
B.  F.  Butler  of  Massachusetts,  but  from  a 
different  reason.  He  had,  in  one  of  his 
earlier  canvasses,  freely  advocated  the 
right  of  the  poor  to  sell  equally  with  those 
who  could  pay  heavy  license  fees,  and  had 
thus  won  the  major  sympathy  of  the 
interest.  Singularly  enough,  Massachu 
setts  alone  of  all  the  Republican  States 
meeting  with  defeat  in  1882,  fails  to  show 
in  her  result  reasons  which  harmonize 
with  those  enumerated  as  making  up  the 
elements  of  discontent.  Her  people  most 
do  favor  high  tariffs,  taxes  on  liquors  and 
luxuries,  civil  service  reforms,  and  were 
supposed  to  be  more  free  from  legal  and 
political  abuses  than  any  other.  Massa 
chusetts  had,  theretofore,  been  considered 
to  be  the  most  advanced  of  all  the  States — 
n  notions,  in  habit,  and  in  law — yet 
Butler's  victory  was  relatively  more  pro 
nounced  than  that  of  any  Democratic 
candidate,  not  excepting  that  of  Cleve 
land  over  Folger  in  New  York,  the 
Democratic  majority  here  approaching 
two  hundred  thousand.  How  are  we  to 
explain  the  Massachusetts'  result?  Gov. 
Bishop  was  a  high-toned  and  able  gentle 
man,  the  type  of  every  reform  contended 
for.  There  is  but  one  explanation. 
Massachusetts  had  had  too  much  of  re 
form  ;  it  had  come  in  larger  and  faster 
doses  than  even  her  progressive  people 
sould  stand — and  an  inconsistent  discon 
tent  took  new  shape  there — that  of  very 
slain  reaction.  This  view  is  confirmed  by 
:he  subsequent  attempt  of  Gov.  Butler  to 
defeat  the  re-election  of  Geo.  F.  Hoar  to 


CURRENT    POLITICS. 


307 


the  U.  S.  Senate,  by  a  combination  of 
Democrats  with  dissatisfied  Republicans. 
The  movement  failed,  but  it  came  very 
near  to  success,  and  ior  days  the  result 
was  in  doubt.  Hoar  had  been  a  Senator 
of  advanced  views,  of  broad  and  com 
prehensive  statesmanship,  but  that  com 
munistic  sentiment  which  occasionally 
crops  out  in  our  politics  and  strikes  at  all 
leaders,  merely  from  the  pleasure  of  assert 
ing  the  right  to  tear  down,  assailed  him 
with  a  vi^or  almost  equal  to  that  which 
struck  Windom  of  Minnesota,  a  statesman 
of  twenty-four  years'  honorable,  able  and 
sometimes  brilliant  service.  To  prejudice 
the  people  of  his  State  against  him,  a 
photograph  of  his  Washington  residence 
had  been  scattered  broadcast.  The  print 
in  the  photograph  intended  to  prejudice 
being  a  coach  with  a  liveried  lackey  It 
might  have  been  the  coach  and  lackey  of 
a  visitor,  but  the  effect  was  the  same  where 
discontent  had  run  into  a  fever. 

Political  discontent  gave  unmistakable 
manifestations  of  its  existence  in  Ohio, 
Massachusetts,  New  York  (where  Ex- 
Governor  Cornell's  nomination  had  been 
defeated  by  a  forged  telegram),  Michigan, 
Nebraska,  Kansas,  Iowa,  Connecticut, 
California,  Colorado,  Pennsylvania,  and 
Indiana.  The  Republican  position  was 
well  maintained  in  New  Hampshire,  Ver 
mont,  Rhode  Island,  Minnesota,  Illinois, 
and  Wisconsin.  It  was  greatly  improved 
in  Virginia,  where  Mahone's  Republican 
Readjuster  ticket  carried  the  State  by 
nearly  ten  thousand,  and  where  a  United 
States'  Senator  and  Congress  man-at-large 
were  gained,  as  well  as  some  of  the  District 
Congressmen.  The  Republicans  also  im 
proved  the  situation  in  North  Carolina 
and  Tennessee,  though  they  failed  to 
carry  either.  They  also  gained  Congress 
men  in  Mississippi  and  Louisiana,  but 
the  Congressional  result  throughout  the 
country  was  a  sweeping  Democratic  vic 
tory,  the  48th  Congress,  beginning  March 
4,  1883,  showing  a  Democratic  majority  of 
71  in  a  total  membership  of  325. 

In  Pennsylvania  alone  of  all  the 
Northern  States,  were  the  Republican 
elements  of  discontent  organized,  and 
here  they  were  as  well  organized  as  pos 
sible  under  the  circumstances.  Charles  S. 
Wolfe  had  the  year  previous  proclaimed 
what  he  called  his  "independence  of  the 
Basses,"  by  declaring  himself  a  candidate 
for  State  Treasurer,  "  nominated  in  a  con 
vention  of  one."  He  secured  49,984  votes, 
and  this  force  was  used  as  the  nucleus  for 
the  better  organized  Independent  Repub 
lican  movement  of  1882.  Through  this  a 
State  Convention  was  called  which  placed 
a  full  ticket  in  the  field,  and  which  in 
many  districts  nominated  separate  legisla 
tive  candidates. 


The  complaints  of  the  Independent 
Republicans  of  Pennsylvania  were  very 
much  like  those  of  dissatisfied  Repub 
licans  in  other  Northern  StatesJJwhere  no 
adverse  organizations  were  set  up,  and 
these  can  best  be  understood  by  giving  the 
official  papers  and  correspondence  con 
nected  with  the  revolt,  and  the  attempts 
to  conciliate  and  suppress  it  by  the  regular 
organization.  The  writer  feels  a  delicacy 
in  appending  this  data,  inasmuch  as  he 
was  one  of  the  principals  in  the  negotia 
tions,  but  formulated  complaints,  methods 
and  principles  peculiar  to  the  time  can  be 
better  understood  as  presented  by  organ 
ized  and  official  bodies,  than  where  mere 
opinions  of  cotemporaneous  writers  and 
speakers  must  otherwise  be  given.  A  very- 
careful  summary  has  been  made  by  Col. 
A.  K.  McClure,  in  the  Philadelphia  Times 
Almanac,  and  from  this  we  quote  the  data 
connected  with  the — 

The    Independent   Republican  Revolt    in 
Pennsylvania. 

The  following  call  was  issued  by  Chair 
man  McKee,  of  the  committee  which  con 
ducted  the  Wolfe  campaign  in  1881 : 

HEADQUARTERS  STATE  COMMITTEE, 
CITIZENS'  REPUBLICAN  ASSOCIATION, 
GIRARD  HOUSE, 

PHILADELPHIA,  December  16, 1881. 
To  the  Independent  Republicans  of  Penn 
sylvania,  : 

You  are  earnestly  requested  to  send  re 
presentatives  from  each  county  to  a  State 
conference,  to  be  held  at  Philadelphia, 
Thursday,  January  12th,  1882,  at  10  o'clock 
A.  M.,  to  take  into  consideration  the  wis 
dom  of  placing  in  nomination  proper  per 
sons  for  the  offices  of  Governor,  Lieuten 
ant  Governor,  Secretary  of  Internal  Affairs 
and  Supreme  Court  Judge,  and  such  other 
matters  as  may  come  before  the  confer 
ence,  looking  to  the  overthrow  of  "  boss 
rule,"  and  the  elimination  of  the  pernicious 
"  spoils  system,"  and  its  kindred  evils,  from 
the  administration  of  public  affairs.  It  is 
of  the  utmost  importance  that  those  fifty 

rted 
arles 

State  Treasurer 
as  a  solemn  protest  against  ring  domina 
tion,  together  with  the  scores  of  thousands 
of  liberty-loving  citizens  who  are  ready  to 
join  in  the  next  revolt  against  "  bossism," 
shall  be  worthily  represented  at  this  con 
ference. 

I.  D.  McKEE,  Chairman. 

FRANK  WILLING  LEACH,  Secretary. 

Pursuant  to  the  above  call,  two  hundred 
and  thirteen  delegates,  representing  thirty- 
three  of  the  sixty-six  counties,  met  at  the 
Assembly  Building,  January  12th,  1882, 


308 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


and  organized  by  the  election  of  John  J. 
Pinkerton  as  chairman,  together  with  a 
suitable  list  of  vice-presidents  and  secre 
taries.  After  a  general  interchange  of 
views,  a  resolution  was  adopted  directing 
the  holding  of  a  State  Convention  for  the 
nomination  of  a  State  ticket,  May  24th. 
An  executive  committee,  with  power  to 
arrange  for  the  election  of  delegates  from 
each  Senatorial  district,  was  also  appointed, 
consisting  of  Messrs.  I.  D.  McKee,  of 
Philadelphia-,  Wharton  Barker,  of  Mont 
gomery;  John  J.  Pinkerton,  of  Chester; 
F.  M.  Nichols,  of  Luzerne ;  H.  S.  McNair, 
of  York,  and  C.  W.  Miller,  of  Crawford. 
Mr.  Nichols  aftewards  declining  to  act, 
George  E.  Mapes,  of  Venango,  was  sub 
stituted  in  his  place.  Before  the  time 
.  arrived  for  the  meeting  of  the  convention 
of  May  24th,  several  futile  efforts  were 
made  to  heal  the  breach  between  the  two 
wings  of  the  Republican  partv.  At  a  con 
ference  of  leading  Independents  held  in 
Philadelphia,  April  23d,  at  which  Senator 
Mitchell  was  present,  a  committee  was 
appointed  for  the  purpose  of  conferring 
with  a  similar  committee  from  the  regular 
organization,  upon  the  subject  of  the  party 
differences.  The  members  of  the  Peace 
Conference,  on  the  part  of  the  Indepen 
dents,  were  Charles  S.  Wolfe,  I.  D.  McKee, 
Francis  B.  Beeves,  J.  W.  Lee,  and  Whar- 
4on  Barker.  The  committee  on  the  part 
of  the  Stalwarts  were  M.  S.  Quay,  John  F. 
Hartranft,  C.  L.  Magee,  Howard  J.  ReeJer, 
and  Thomas  Cochran.  A  preliminary 
meeting  was  held  at  the  Continental 
Hotel,  on  the  evening  of  April  29th,  which 
adjourned  to  meet  at  the  same  place  on 
the  evening  of  May  1st;  at  which  meeting 
,the  following  peace  propositions  were 
agreed  upon : 

Resolved,  That  we  recommend  the  adop 
tion  of  the  following  principles  and 
methods  by  the  Republican  State  Conven 
tion  of  May  10th. 

First.  That  we  unequivocally  condemn 
the  use  of  patronage  to  promote  personal 
political  ends,  and  require  that  all  offices 
oestowed  within  the  party  shall  be  upon 
the  sole  basis  of  fitness. 

Second.  That  competent  and  faithful 
officers  should  not  be  removed  except  for 
cause. 

Third.  That  the  non- elective  minor 
offices  should  be  filled  in  accordance  with 
rules  established  by  law. 

Fourth.  That  the  ascertained  popular 
will  shall  be  faithfully  carried  out  in  State 
and  National  Conventions,  and  by  those 
holding  office  by  the  favor  of  the  party. 

Fifth.  That  we  condemn  compulsory 
assessments  for  political  purposes,  and  pro 
scription  for  failure  to  respond  either  to 
such  assessments  or  to  requests  for  volun 
tary  contributions,  and  that  any  policy  of 


Eolitical  proscription  is  urjust,  and  calcu- 
ited  to  disturb  party  harmony. 

Sixth.  That  public  office  constitutes  a 
high  trust  to  be  administered  solely  for  the 
people,  whose  interests  must  be  paramount 
to  those  of  persons  or  parties,  and  that  it 
should  be  invariably  conducted  with  the 
same  efficiency,  economy,  and  integrity  as 
are  expected  in  the  execution  of  private 
trusts. 

Seventh.  That  the  State  ticket  should 
be  such  as  by  the  impartiality  of  its  con 
stitution  and  the  high  character  and  ac 
knowledged  fitness  of  the  nominees  will 
justly  commend  itself  to  the  support  of  the 
united  Republican  party. 

Resolved,  That  we  also  recommend  the 
adoption  of  the  following  permanent  rules 
for  the  holding  of  State  Conventions,  and 
the  conduct  of  the  party : 

First.  That  delegates  to  State  Conven 
tions  shall  be  chosen  in  the  manner  in 
which  candidates  for  the  General  Assem 
bly  are  nominated,  except  in  Senatorial 
districts  composed  of  more  than  one  coun 
ty,  in  which  conferees  for  the  selection  of 
Senatorial  delegates  shall  be  chosen  in  the 
manner  aforesaid,  and  the  representation 
of  each  county  shall  be  based  upon  its  Re 
publican  vote  cast  at  the  Presidential  elec 
tion  next  preceding  the  convention. 

Second.  Hereafter  the  State  Convention 
of  the  Republican  party  shall  be  held  on 
the  second  Wednesday  of  July,  except  in 
the  year  of  the  Presidential  election,  when 
it  shall  be  held  not  more  than  thirty  days 
previous  to  the  day  fixed  for  the  National 
Convention,  and  at  least  sixty  days'  notice 
shall  be  given  of  the  date  of  the  State  Con 
vention. 

Third.  That  every  person  who  voted 
the  Republican  electoral  ticket  at  the  last 
Presidential  election  next  preceding  any 
State  Convention  shall  be  permitted  to 
participate  in  the  election  of  delegates  to 
State  and  National  Conventions,  and  we 
recommend  to  the  county  organizations 
that  in  their  rules  they  allow  the  largest 
freedom  in  the  general  participation  in  the 
primaries  consistent  with  the  preservation 
of  the  party  organization. 

M.  S.  QUAY, 
J.  F.  HARTRANFT, 
THOMAS  COCHRAN, 
HOWARD  J.  REEDER, 
C.  L.  MAGEE, 

On  the  part  of  the  Republican  State  Com 
mittee,  appointed  by  Chairman  Cooper. 

CHARLES  S.  WOLFE, 
I.  D.  McKEE, 
FRANCIS  B.  REEVES, 
WHARTON  BARKER, 
J.  W.  LEE, 

On  the  part  of  Senator  Mitchell's  Inde 
pendent  Republican  Committee. 


CURRENT    POLITICS. 


309 


The  following  resolution  was  adopted  by 
the  joint  conference : 

Resolved,  That  we  disclaim  any  authority 
to  speak  or  act  for  other  persons  than  our 
selves,  and  simply  make  these  suggestions 
as  in  our  opinion  are  essential  to  the  pro 
motion  of  harmony  and  unity. 

In  order,  however,  that  there  might  be 
no  laying  down  of  arms  on  the  part  of  the 
Independents,  in  the  false  belief  that  the 
peace  propositions  had  ended  the  contest, 
without  regard  to  whether  they  were  ac 
cepted  in  good  faith,  and  put  in  practice 
by  the  regular  convention,  the  following 
call  was  issued  by  the  Independent  Execu 
tive  Committee : 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE, 
CITIZENS'  REPUBLICAN  ASSOCIATION  OF 
PENNSYLVANIA,  GIRARD  HOUSE. 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  3d,  1882. 
To  the  Independent  Republicans  of  Pennsyl 
vania  : 

At  a  conference  of  Independent  Repub 
licans  held  in  Philadelphia,  on  January 
12th,  1882,  the  following  resolution  was 
adopted,  to  wit: 

Resolved,  That  a  convention  be  held  on 
the  24th  day  of  May,  1882,  for  the  purpose 
of  placing  in  nomination  a  full  Indepen 
dent  Republican  ticket  for  the  offices  to  be 
filled  at  the  general  election  next  Novem 
ber. 

In  pursuance  and  by  the  authority  of  the 
above  resolution  the  undersigned,  the  State 
Executive  Committee  appointed  at  the  said 
conference,  request  the  Independent  Re 
publicans  of  each  county  of  the  Common 
wealth  of  Pennsylvania  to  send  delegates 
to  the  Independent  Convention  of  May 
24th,  the  basis  of  representation  to  be  the 
same  as  that  fixed  for  Senators  and  Repre 
sentatives  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
Pennsylvania. 

Should  the  convention  of  May  10th  fail 
to  nominate  as  its  candidates  men  who  in 
their  character,  antecedents  and  affiliations 
are  embodiments  of  the  principles  of  true 
Republicanism  free  from  the  iniquities  of 
bossism,  and  of  an  honest  administration 
of  public  affairs  free  from  the  evils  of  the 
spoils  system,  such  nominations,  or  any 
such  nomination,  should  be  emphatically 
repudiated  by  the  Independent  Convention 
of  May  24th,  and  by  the  Independent  Re 
publicans  of  Pennsylvania  in  November 
next. 

The  simple  adoption  by  the  Harrisburg 
Convention  of  May  10th  of  resolutions  of 
plausible  platitudes,  while  confessing  the 
existence  of  the  evils  which  we  have  stren 
uously  opposed,  and  admitting  the  justice 
of  our  position  in  opposing  them,  will  not 
satisfy  the  Independent  Republicans  of 
this  Commonwealth.  We  are  not  battling 


for  the  construction  of  platforms,  but  for 
the  overthrow  of  bossism,  and  the  evils  of 
the  spoils  system,  which  animated  a  de 
spicable  assassin  to  deprive  our  loved  Pres 
ident  Garfield  of  his  life,  and  our  country 
of  its  friend  and  peacemaker. 

The  nomination  of  slated  candidates  by 
machine  methods,  thereby  tending  to  the 
perpetuation  of  boss  dominion  in  our  Com 
monwealth,  should  never  be  ratified  by  the 
Independent  Republicans  in  convention 
assembled  or  at  the  polls.  Upon  this  very 
vital  point  there  should  be  no  mistake  in 
the  mind  of  any  citizen  of  this  State.  The 
path  of  duty  in  this  emergency  leads  for 
ward,  and  not  backward,  and  forward  we 
should  go  until  bossism  and  machineism 
and  stalwartism — aye,  and  Cameronism — 
are  made  to  give  way  to  pure  Republican 
ism.  The  people  will  not  submit  to  tem 
porizing  or  compromising. 

We  appeal  to  the  Independent  Republi 
cans  of  Pennsylvania  to  take  immediate 
steps  toward  perfecting  their  organization 
in  each  county,  and  completing  the  selec 
tion  of  delegates  to  the  Independent  State 
Convention.  Use  every  exertion  to  secure 
the  choice  as  delegates  of  representative, 
courageous  men,  who  will  not  falter  when 
the  time  arrives  to  act — who  will  not  de 
sert  into  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  when  the 
final  time  of  testing  comes.  Especially  see 
to  it  that  there  shall  not  be  chosen  as  dele 
gates  any  Pharisaical  Independents,  who 
preach  reform,  yet  blindly  follow  boss 
leadership  at  the  crack  of  the  master's 
whip.  Act  quickly  and  act  discreetly. 

A  State  Campaign  Committee  of  fifty, 
comprising  one  member  from  each  Sena 
torial  district,  has  been  formed,  and  any 
one  desiring  to  co-operate  with  us  in  this 
movement  against  the  enemies  of  the  in 
tegrity  of  our  State,  who  shall  communi 
cate  with  us,  will  be  immediately  referred 
to  the  committeeman  representing  the  dis 
trict  in  which  he  lives.  We  urgently  invite 
a  correspondence  from  the  friends  of  politi 
cal  independence  from  all  sections  of  the 
State.  ^ 

Again  we  say  to  the  IndependentRepub- 
licans  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  interest  of 
justice  and  the  Commonwealth's  honor, 
leave  no  stone  unturned  to  vindicate  the 
rights  of  the  people. 

I.  D.  McKEE,  Chairman. 
WHARTON  BARKER. 
JOHN  J.  PINKERTON. 
GEO.  E.  MAPES. 
H.  S.  McNAiR. 
CHARLES  W.  MILLER. 
FRANK  WILLING  LEACH,  Secretary. 

In  pursuance  of  the  above  call,  the  In 
dependent  Convention  met,  May  24th,  in 
Philadelphia,  and  deciding  that  the  action 
of  the  regular  Republican  Convention,  held 


310 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


at  Harrisburg  on  May  10th,  did  not  give 
the  guarantee  of  reform  demanded  by  the 
Independents,  proceeded  to  nominate  a 
ticket  and  adopt  a  platform  setting  forth 
their  views. 

Although  the  break  between  the  two 
wings  of  the  party  was  thus  made  final  to 
all  appearances,  yet  all  efforts  for  a  recon 
ciliation  were  not  entirely  abandoned. 
Thos.  M.  Marshall  having  declined  the 
nomination  for  Congressman  at  Large  on 
the  Kepublican  ticket,  the  convention  was 
reconvened  June  21st,  for  the  purpose  of 
filling  the  vacancy,  and  while  in  session, 
instructed  the  State  Central  Committee  to 
use  all  honorable  means  to  secure  harmony 
between  the  two  sections  of  the  party. 
Accordingly,  the  Kepublican  State  Com 
mittee  was  called  to  meet  in  Philadelphia, 
July>13th.  At  this  meeting  the  following 
propositions  were  submitted  to  the  Inde 
pendents  : 

Pursuant  to  the  resolution  passed  by 
the  Harrisburg  Convention  of  June  21st, 
and  authorizing  the  Republican  State  Com 
mittee  to  use  all  honorable  means  to  pro 
mote  harmony  in  the  party,  the  said  com 
mittee,  acting  in  conjunction  with  the  Re 
publican  candidates  on  the  State  ticket, 
respectfully  submit  to  the  State  Committee 
and  candidates  of  the  Independents  the 
following  propositions : 

First.  The  tickets  headed  by  James  A. 
Beaver  and  John  Stewart,  respectively,  be 
submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  Republican 
electors  of  the  State,  at  primaries,  as  here 
inafter  provided  for. 

Second.  The  selection  of  candidates  to 
be  voted  for  by  the  Republican  party  in 
November  to  be  submitted  as  aforesaid, 
every  Republican  elector,  constitutionally 
and  legally  qualified,  to  be  eligible  to 
nomination. 

Third.  A  State  Convention  to  be  held, 
to  be  constituted  as  recommended  by  the 
Continental  Hotel  Conference,  whereof 
Wharton  Barker  was  chairman  and  Francis 
B.  Reeves  secretary,  to  select  candidates 
to  be  voted  for  by  the  Republican  party  in 
November,  its  choice  to  be  limited  to  the 
candidates  now  in  nomination,  or  unlimit 
ed,  as  the  Independent  State  Committee 
may  prefer. 

The  primaries  or  convention  referred  to 
in  the  foregoing  propositions  to  be  held 
on  or  before  the  fourth  Wednesday  of 
August  next,  under  regulations  or  ap 
portionment  to  be  made  by  Daniel  Agnew, 
Hampton  L.  Carson,  and  Francis  B. 
Reeves,  not  in  conflict,  however,  with  the 
acts  of  Assembly  regulating  primary  elec 
tions,  and  the  candidates  receiving  the 
highest  popular  vote,  or  the  votes  of  a 
majority  of  the  members  of  the  convention, 
to  receive  the  united  support  of  the  party. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  the  Re 


publican  State  Committee  the  above  pro 
positions  fully  carry  out,  in  letter  and 
spirit,  the  resolution  passed  by  the  Harris 
burg  Convention,  June  21st,  and  that  we 
hereby  pledge  the  State  Committee  to 
carry  put  in  good  faith  any  one  of  the 
foregoing  propositions  which  may  be  ac 
cepted. 

Resolved,  That  the  chairman  of  the  Re 
publican  State  Committee  be  directed  to 
forward  an  official  copy  of  the  proceedings 
of  this  meeting,  together  with  the  forego 
ing  propositions,  to  the  Independent  State 
Committee  and  candidates. 

Whereupon,  General  Reeder,  of  North 
ampton,  moved  to  amend  by  adding  a 
further  proposition,  as  follows. 

Fourth.  A  State  Convention,  to  be  con 
stituted  as  provided  for  by  the  new  rules 
adopted  by  the  late  Republican  State  Con 
vention,  to  select  candidates  to  be  voted 
for  by  the  Republican  party  in  November, 
provided,  if  such  convention  be  agreed  to, 
said  convention  shall  be  held  not  later 
than  the  fourth  Wednesday  in  August. 
Which  amendment  was  agreed  to,  and  the 
preamble  and  resolutions  as  amended 
were  agreed  to. 

This  communication  was  addressed  to 
the  chairman  of  the  Independent  State 
Committee,  I.  D.  McKee,  who  called  the 
Independent  Committee  to  meet  July  27th, 
to  consider  the  propositions.  In  the 
meantime  the  Independent  candidates 
held  a  conference  on  the  night  of  July 
13th,  and  four  of  them  addressed  the  fol 
lowing  propositions  to  the  candidates  of 
the  Stalwart  wing  of  the  party : 

PHILADELPHIA,  July  13th,  1882. 

To  General  James  A.  Beaver,  Hon.  William 
T.  Davies,  Hon.  John  M.  Greer,  William 
Henry  Rawle,  Esq.,  and  Marriott  Brosius, 
Esq. 

Gentlemen:  By  a  communication  re 
ceived  from  the  Hon.  Thomas  V.  Cooper, 
addressed  to  us  as  candidates  of  the  Inde 
pendent  Republicans,  we  are  advised  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  State  Committee, 
which  assembled  in  this  city  yesterday. 

Without  awaiting  the  action  of  the  In 
dependent  State  Committee,  to  which  we 
have  referred  the  communication,  and  at 
tempting  no  discussion  of  the  existing 
differences,  or  the  several  methods  pro 
posed  by  which  to  secure  party  unity,  we 
beg  to  say  that  we  do  not  believe  that  any 
of  the  propositions,  if  accepted,  would  pro 
duce  harmony  in  the  party,  but  on  the 
contrary,  would  lead  to  wider  divisions. 
We  therefore  suggest  that  the  desired  re 
sult  can  be  secured  by  the  hearty  co-op 
eration  of  the  respective  candidates.  We 
have  no  authority  to  speak  for  the  great 
body  of  voters  now  giving  their  support  to 
the  Independent  Republican  ticket,  nor 


CURRENT    POLITICS. 


311 


can  we  include  them  by  any  action  we 
may  take.  We  are  perfectly  free,  however, 
to  act  in  our  individual  capacity,  and  de 
sire  to  assure  you  that  we  are  not  only 
willing,  but  anxious  to  co-operate  with 
you  in  the  endeavor  to  restore  peace  and 
harmony  to  our  party.  That  this  can  be 
accomplished  beyond  all  doubt  we  feel  en 
tirely  assured,  if  you,  gentlemen,  are  pre 
pared  to  yield,  with  us,  all  personal  con 
siderations,  and  agree  to  the  following 
propositions: 

First.  The  withdrawal  of  both  tickets. 

Second.  The  several  candidates  of  these 
tickets  to  pledge  themselves  not  to  accept 
any  subsequent  nomination  by  the  pro 
posed  convention. 

Under  these  conditions  we  will  unite 
with  you  in  urging  upon  our  respective 
constituencies  the  ^adoption  of  the  third 
proposition  submitted  by  your  committee, 
and  conclude  the  whole  controversy  by 
our  final  withdrawal  as  candidates.  Such 
withdrawal  of  both  tickets  would  remove 
from  the  canvass  all  personal  as  well  as 
political  antagonisms,  and  leave  the  party 
united  and  unembarrassed. 

We  trust,  gentlemen,  that  your  judgment 
will  approve  the  method  we  have  suggest 
ed,  and  that,  appreciating  the  importance 
of  concluding  the  matter  with  as  little  de 
lay  as  possible,  you  will  give  us  your  re 
ply  within  a  week  from  this  date. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servants, 
JOHN  STEWART, 
LEVI  BIRD  DUFF. 
GEORGE  W.  MERRICK. 
GEORGE  JUNKIN. 

William  McMichael,  Independent  can 
didate  for  Congressman  at  Large,  dissented 
from  the  proposition  of  his  colleagues,  and 
addressed  the  following  communication  to 
Chairman  Cooper : 

PHILADELPHIA,  July  13th,  1882. 

Hon.  Thomas  V.  Cooper,  Chairman,  etc. 

Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  of  July  12th  is 
received,  addressed  to  the  chairman  of  the 
State  Committee  of  the  Independent  Re 
publicans  and  their  candidates,  containing 
certain  propositions  of  your  committee.  I 
decline  those  propositions,  because  they 
involve  an  abandonment  of  the  cause  of 
the  Independent  Republicans. 

If  a  new  convention,  representing  all 
Republicans,  had  nominated  an  entirely 
new  ticket,  worthy  of  popular  support,  and 
not  containing  the  name  of  any  candidate 
on  either  of  the  present  tickets,  and  sin 
cerely  supporting  the  principles  of  the 
Independent  Republicans,  the  necessity 
for  a  separate  Independent  Republican 
movement  would  not  exist.  Your  propo 
sition,  however,  practically  proposes  to 
re-nominate  General  Beaver,  and  reaffirm 
the  abuse  which  we  oppose. 


The  convention  of  Independent  Repub* 
licans  which  met  in  Philadelphia  on  May 
24th,  announced  principles  in  which  I 
believe.  It  nominated  me  for  Congress 
man  at  Large,  and  I  accepted  that  nomi 
nation.  It  declared  boldly  against  boss- 
ism,  the  spoils  system,  and  all  the  evils 
which  impair  Republican  usefulness,  and 
in  favor  of  popular  rule,  equal  rights  of 
all,  national  unity,  maintenance  of  public 
credit,  protection  to  labor,  and  all  the 
great  principles  of  true  Republicanism. 
No  other  ticket  now  in  the  field  presents 
those  issues.  The  people  of  Pennsylvania 
can  say  at  the  polls,  in  November,  whether 
they  approve  of  those  principles,  and  will 
support  the  cause  which  represents  them. 
I  will  not  withdraw  or  retire  unless  events 
hereafter  shall  give  assurance  that  ne 
cessary  reform  in  the  civil  service  shall  be 
adopted;  assessments  made  upon  office 
holders  returned,  and  not  hereafter  exact 
ed  ;  boss,  machine,  and  spoils  methods 
forever  abandoned;  and  all  our  public 
offices,  from  United  States  Senator  to  the 
most  unimportant  officials,  shall  be  filled 
only  by  honest  and  capable  men,  who  will 
represent  the  people,  and  not  attempt  to 
dictate  to  or  control  them. 

I  shall  go  on  with  the  fight,  asking  the 
support  of  all  my  fellow-citizens  who  believe 
in  the  principles  of  the  Independent  Re 
publican  Convention  of  May  24th. 

Yours  truly, 

WILLIAM  MCMICHAEL. 

To  these  propositions  General  Beaver 
and  his  colleagues  replied  in  the  following 
communication : 

PHILADELPHIA,  July  15th,  1882. 

Hon.  Thomas  V.  Cooper,  Chairman  Repub 
lican  State  Committee,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Sir :  We  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge 
the  receipt  through  you  of  a  communica 
tion  addressed  to  us  by  the  Hon.  John 
Stewart,  Colonel  Levi  Bird  Duff,  Major  G. 
W.  Merrick,  and  George  Junkin,  Esq.,  in 
response  to  certain  propositions  submitted 
by  the  Republican  State  Committee,  re 
presenting  the  Republican  party  of  Penn 
sylvania,  looking  to  an  amicable  and  hon 
orable  adjustment  of  whatever  differences 
there  may  be  among  the  various  element* 
of  the  party.  Without  accepting  any  of 
the  propositions  submitted  by  your  com 
mittee,  this  communication  asks  us,  as  a 
condition  precedent  to  any  recommenda 
tion  on  the  part  of  the  writers  thereof,  to 
declare  that  in  the  event  of  the  calling  of 
a  new  convention,  we  will  severally  forbid 
the  Republicans  of  Pennsylvania  to  call 
upon  us  for  our  services  as  candidates  for 
the  various  positions  to  be  filled  by  the 
people  at  the  coming  election.  To  say 


312 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


that  in  the  effort  to  determine  whether  or 
not  our  nomination  was  the  free  and  un 
biased  choice  of  the  Republican  party  we 
must  not  be  candidates,  is  simply  to  try 
the  question  at  issue.  We  have  no  de 
sire  to  discuss  the  question  in  any  of  its 
numerous  bearings.  We  have  placed  our 
selves  unreservedly  in  the  hands  of  the 
Republicans  of  Pennsylvania.  We  have 
pledged  ourselves  to  act  concurrently  with 
your  committee,  and  are  bound  by  its  ac 
tion.  We  therefore  respectfully  suggest  that 
we  have  no  power  or  authority  to  act  in 
dependently  of  the  committee,  or  make  any 
declaration  at  variance  with  the  proposi 
tions  submitted  in  accordance  with  its  ac 
tion.  There  ought  to  be  and  can  be  no 
such  thing  as  personal  antagonism  in  this 
contest.  We  socially  and  emphatically 
disclaim  even  the  remotest  approach  to  a 
feeling  of  this  kind  toward  any  person. 
We  fraternize  with  and  are  ready  to  sup 
port  any  citizen  who  loves  the  cause  of 
pure  Republicanism,  and  with  this  decla 
ration  we  submit  the  whole  subject  to  your 
deliberate  judgment  and  wise  considera 
tion. 

JAMES  A.  BEAVER. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  RAWLE, 

MARRIOTT  BROSIUS. 

W.  T.  DAVIES. 

JOHN  M.  GREER. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Independent  State 
Committee,  July  27th,  the  propositions  of 
the  Regular  Committee  were  unanimously 
rejected,  and  a  committee  appointed  to 
draft  a  reply,  which  was  done  in  the  fol 
lowing  terms : 

Thomas  V.  Cooper,  Esq.,  Chairman  Repub 
lican  State  Committee. 
Dear  Sir :  I  am  instructed  to  advise  you 
that  the  Independent  Republican   State 
Committee  have  considered  the  four  sug 
gestions  contained  in  the  minutes  of  the 
proceedings  of  your  committee, forwarded 
to  me  by  you  on  the  12th  instant. 

I  am  directed  to  say  that  this  committee 
find  that  none  of  the  four  are  methods 
fitted  to  obtain  a  harmonious  and  honora 
ble  unity  of  the  Republican  voters  of 
Pennsylvania.  All  of  them  are  inadequate 
to  that  end,  for  the  reason  that  they  afford 
no  guarantee  that,  being  accepted,  the 
principles  upon  which  the  Independent 
Republicans  have  taken  their  stand  would 
be  treated  with  respect  or  put  into  action. 
All  of  them  contain  the  probability  that 
an  attempt  to  unite  the  Republicans  of  the 
State  by  their  means  would  either  result 
in  reviving  and  strengthening  the  political 
dictatorship  which  we  condemn  or  would 
permanently  distract  the  Republican  body, 
and  insure  the  future  and  continued 
triumph  of  our  common  opponent,  the 
Democratic  party. 


Of  the  four  suggestions,  the  first,  second 
and  fourth  are  so  inadequate  as  to  need  no 
separate  discussion :  the  third,  which  alone 
may  demand  attention,  has  the  fatal  defect 
of  not  including  the  withdrawal  of  that 
"  slated  ''  ticket  which  was  made  up  many 
months  ago,  and  long  in  advance  of  the 
Harrisburg  Convention,  to  represent  and 
to  maintain  the  very  evils  of  control  and 
abuses  of  method  to  which  we  stand  op 
posed.  This  proposition,  like  the  others, 
supposing  it  to  have  been  sincerely  put 
forward,  clearly  shows  that  you  miscon 
ceive  the  cause  of  the  Independent  Repub 
lican  movement,  as  well  as  its  aims  and 
purposes.  You  assume  that  we  desire  to 
measure  the  respective  numbers  of  those 
who  support  the  Harrisburg  ticket  and 
those  who  find  their  principles  expressed 
by  the  Philadelphia  Convention.  This  is 
a  complete  and  fatal  misapprehension.  We 
are  organized  to  promote  certain  reforms, 
and  not  to  abandon  them  in  pursuit  of 
votes.  Our  object  is  the  overthrow  of  the 
"  boss  system  "  and  of  the  "  spoils  system." 

In  behalf  of  this  we  are  willing  and 
anxious  to  join  hands  with  you  whenever 
it  is  assured  that  the  union  will  be  honestly 
and  earnestly  for  that  purpose.  But  we 
cannot  make  alliances  or  agree  to  com 
promises  that  in  their  face  threaten  the 
very  object  of  the  movement  in  which  we 
have  engaged.  Whether  your  ticket  has 
the  support  of  many  or  few,  of  a  majority 
or  a  minority  of  the  Republican  voters, 
does  not  affect  in  the  smallest  degree  the 
duty  of  every  citizen  to  record  himself 
against  the  abuses  which  it  represents. 
Had  the  gentlemen  who  compose  it  been 
willing  to  withdraw  themselves  from  the 
field,  as  they  were  invited  to  join  in  doing, 
for  the  common  good,  by  the  Independent 
Republican  candidates,  this  act  would 
have  encouraged  the  hope  that  a  new  con 
vention,  freely  chosen  by  the  people,  and 
unembarrassed  by  claims  of  existing  can 
didates,  might  have  brought  forth  the 
needed  guarantee  of  party  emancipation 
and  public  reform. 

This  service,  however,  they  have  de 
clined  to  render  their  party ;  they  not  only 
claim  and  receive  your  repeated  assurances 
of  support,  but  they  permit  themselves  to 
be  put  forward  to  secure  the  use  of  the  In 
dependent  Republican  votes  at  the  same 
time  that  they  represent  the  "bossism," 
the  "spoils"  methods,  and  the  "machine  " 
management  which  we  are  determined  no 
longer  to  tolerate.  The  manner  in  which 
their  candidacy  was  decreed,  the  means 
employed  to  give  it  convention  formality, 
the  obligations  which  they  incur  by  it,  the 
political  methods  with  which  it  identifies 
them,  and  the  political  and  personal  plans 
for  which  their  official  influence  would  be 
required,  all  »oin  to  make  it  the  most  iin- 


CURRENT    POLITICS.^ 


313 


perative  public  duty  not  to  give  them  sup 
port  at  this  election  under  any  circum 
stances. 

In  closing  this  note,  this  committee 
must  express  its  regret,  that,  having  con 
sidered  it  desirable  to  make  overtures  to 
the  Independent  Republicans,  you  should 
have  so  far  misapprehended  the  facts  of 
the  situation.  It  is  our  desire  to  unite  the 
Republican  party  on  the  sure  ground  of 
principle,  in  the  confidence  that  we  are 
thus  serving  it  with  the  highest  fidelity,  and 
preserving  for  the  future  service  of  the 
Commonwealth  that  vitality  of  Repub 
licanism  which  has  made  the  party  useful 
in  the  past,  and  which  alone  confers  upon 
it  now  the  right  of  continued  existence. 
The  only  method  which  promises  this  re 
sult  in  the  approaching  election  is  that 
proposed  by  the  Independent  Republican 
candidates  in  their  letter  of  July  13th, 
1882,  which  was  positively  rejected  by 
your  committee. 

On  behalf  of  the  Independent  Repub 
lican  State  Committee  of  Pennsylvania, 

I.  D.  McKEE,  Chairman. 

"With   this    communication    ended    all 
efforts  at  conciliation. 
**•*##••**•* 

The  election  followed,  and  the  Demo 
cratic  ticket,  headed  by  Robert  E.  Pattison 
of  Philadelphia,  received  an  average 
plurality  of  40,000,  and  the  Independent 
Republican  ticket  received  an  average 
vote  of  about  43,000 — showing  that  while 
Independence  organized  did  not  do  as  well 
in  a  gubernatorial  as  it  had  in  a  previous 
off-year,  it  yet  had  force  enough  to  defeat 
the  Republican  State  ticket  headed  by 
Gen.  James  A.  Beaver.  All  of  the  three 
several  State  tickets  were  composed  of 
able  men,  and  the  force  of  both  of  the 
Republican  tickets  on  the  hustings  excited 
great  interest  and  excitement ;  yet  the 
Republican  vote,  owing  to  the  division, 
was  not  out  by  nearly  one  hundred  thou 
sand,  and  fifty  thousand  more  Republicans 
than  Democrats  remained  at  home,  many 
of  them  purposely.  In  New  York,  where 
dissatisfaction  had  no  rallying  point,  about 
two  hundred  thousand  Republicans  re 
mained  at  home,  some  because  of  anger  at 
the  defeat  of  Gov.  Cornell  in  the  State 
nominating  convention — some  in  protest 
against  the  National  Administrations, 
which  was  accused  of  the  desire  for  direct 
endorsement  where  it  presented  the  name 
of  Hon  Chas.  J.  Folger,  its  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  as  the  home  gubernatorial 
candidate, — others  because  of  some  of  the 
many  reasons  set  forth  in  the  bill  of 
complaints  which  enumerates  the  causes 
of  the  dissatisfaction  within  the  party. 

At  this  writing  the  work  of  Republican 
repair  is  going  on.  Both  the  Senate  and 


House  at  Washington  are  giving  active 
work  to  the  passage  of  a  tariff  bill,  the  re 
peal  of  the  revenue  taxes,  and  the  passage 
of  a  two-cent  letter  postage  bill — measures 
anxiously  hastened  by  the  Republicans  in 
order  to  anticipate  friendly  and  defeat  un 
friendly  attempts  on  the  part  of  the 
Democratic  House,  which  comes  in  with 
the  first  session  of  the  48th  Congress. 

In  Pennsylvania,  as  we  close  this  review 
of  the  struggle  of  1882,  the  Regular  and 
Independent  Republican  State  Committees 
— at  least  the  heads  thereof — are  devising 
a  plan  to  jointly  call  a  Republican  State 
Convention  to  nominate  the  State  ticket 
to  be  voted  for  in  November,  1883.  The 
groundswell  was  so  great  that  it  had  no 
sooner  passed,  than  Republicans  of  all 
shades  of  opinion,  felt  the  need  of  har 
monious  action,  and  the  leaders  every 
where  set  themselves  to  the  work  of  repair. 

The  Republicans  in  the  South  differed 
from  those  of  the  North  in  the  fact  that 
their  complaints  were  all  directed  against 
a  natural  political  enemy — the  Bourbons — 
and  wherever  there  was  opportunity  they 
favored  and  entered  into  movements  with 
Independent  and  Readjuster  Democrats, 
with  the  sole  object  of  revolutionizing 
political  affairs  in  the  South.  Their  suc 
cess  in  these  combinations  was  only  great 
in  Virginia,  but  it  proved  to  be  promising 
in  North  Carolina,  Mississippi,  and  Louisi 
ana,  and  may  take  more  definite  and 
generalshape  in  the  great  campaign  of  1884. 

The  Democratic  party  was  evidently 
surprised  at  its  great  victory  in  1882,  and 
has  not  yet  formally  resolved  what  it  will 
do  with  it.  The  Congress  beginning  with 
December,  1883,  will  doubtless  give  some 
indication  of  the  drift  of  Democratic 
events. 

The  most  notable  law  passed  in  the 
closing  session  of  the  47th  Congress,  was 
the  Civil  Service  Reform  Bill,  introduced 
by  Senator  Geo.  H.  Pendleton  of  Ohio, 
but  prepared  under  the  direction  of  the 
Senate  Judiciary  Committee.  The  Re 
publicans,  feeling  that  there  was  some 
public  demand  for  the  passage  of  a 
measure  of  the  kind,  eagerly  rushed  to  its 
support,  at  a  time  when  it  was  apparent 
that  the  spoils  of  office  might  slip  from 
their  hands.  From  opposite  motives  the 
Democrats,  who  had  previously  encour 
aged,  now  ran  away  from  it,  but  it  passed 
both  Houses  with  almost  a  solid  Repub 
lican  vote,  a  few  Democrats  in  each  House 
voting  with  them.  President  Arthur 
signed  the  bill,  but  at  this  writing  the 
Commission  which  it  creates  has  not  been 
appointed,  and  of  course  none  of  the  rules 
and  constructions  under  the  act  have  been 
formulated.  Its  basic  principles  are  fixed 
tenure  in  minor  places,  competitive  ex 
aminations,  and  non-partisan  selections. 


:         PART  III. 
POLITICAL  PLATFORMS. 

COMPARISONS  AND  DESCRIPTION  OF  ALL  LEADING  ISSUE& 
WITH  TABLES  FOR  READY  REFERENCE. 


POLITICAL  PLATFORMS. 


THE  FIRST  POLITICAL  PLATFORM  ENUNCIATED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  TO 
COMMAND  GENERAL  ATTENTION  WAS  DRAWN  BY  MR.  MADISON  IN  1798,  WHOSE 
OBJECT  WAS  TO  PliO_*OWCE  THE  ALIEN  AND  SEDITION  LAWS  UNCONSTITU 
TIONAL,  AND  TO  DEFINE  THE  RIGHTS  OF  THE  STATES. 


Virginia  Resolutions  of  1798. 

Pronouncing  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  to  be  unconstitu 
tional,  and  Defining  tlte  rights  of  the  States.— Drawn  by 
Jfr.  Madison. 

In  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates, 

Friday,  Lee.  21,  1798. 

Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  of 
Virginia  doth  unequivocally  express  a 
firm  resolution  to  maintain  and  defend 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  constitution  of  this  state,  against  every 
aggression  t IT  ier  fc  reign  or  domestic ;  and 
that  they  wi.i  support  the  government  of 
the  Unitet'.  States  in  all  measures  war 
ranted  by  the  former. 

That  this  Assembly  most  solemnly  de 
clares  a  warm  attachment  to  the  Union  of 
the  states,  to  maintain  which  it  pledges  its 
powers  ;  and,  that  for  this  end,  it  is  their 
duty  to  watch  over  and  oppose  every  in 
fraction  of  those  principles  which  consti 
tute  the  only  basis  of  that  Union,  because 
a  faithful  observance  of  them  can  alone 
secure  its  existence  and  the  public  happi 
ness. 

That  this  Assembly  doth  explicitly  and 
peremptorily  declare,  that  it  views  the 
powers  of  the  federal  government,  as  re 
sulting  from  the  compact  to  which  the 
states  are  parties,  as  limited  by  the  plain 
sense  and  intention  of  the  instrument  con 
stituting  that  compact,  as  no  farther  valid 
than  they  are  authorized  by  the  grants 
enumerated  in  that  compact ;  and  that  in 
case  of  a  deliberate,  palpable,  and  dan 
gerous  exercise  of  other  powers,  not  granted 
by  the  said  compact,  the  states,  who  are 
parties  thereto,  have  the  right,  and  are  in 
duty  bound,  to  interpose,  for  arresting  the 


progress  of  the  evil,  and  for  maintaining 
within  their  respective  limits  the  authori 
ties,  rights,  and  liberties  appertaining  to 
them. 

That  the  General  Assembly  doth  also 
express  its  deep  regret,  that  a  spirit  has, 
in  sundry  instances,  been  manifested  by 
the  federal  government,  to  enlarge  its 
powers  By  forced  constructions  of  the  con 
stitutional  charter  which  defines  them; 
and,  that  indications  have  appeared  of  a 
design  to  expound  certain  general  phrases 
(which,  having  been  copied  from  the  very 
limited  grant  of  powers  in  the  former  Ar 
ticles  of  Confederation,  were  the  less  liable 
to  be  misconstrued)  so  as  to  destroy  the 
meaning  and  effect  of  the  particular 
enumeration  which  necessarily  explains, 
and  limits  the  general  phrases,  and  so  as 
to  consolidate  the  states  by  degrees  into 
one  sovereignty,  the  obvious  tendency  and 
inevitable  result  of  which  would  be,  to 
transform  the  present  republican  system 
of  the  United  States  into  an  absolute,  or  at 
best,  a  mixed  monarchy. 

That  the  General  Assembly  doth  par 
ticularly  protest  against  the  palpable  and 
alarming  infractions  of  the  Constitution, 
in  the  two  late  cases  of  the  "Alien  and 
Sedition  Acts,"  passed  at  the  last  session 
of  Congress ;  the  first  of  which  exercises  a 
power  nowhere  delegated  to  the  federal 
government,  and  which,  by  uniting  legis 
lative  and  judicial  powers  to  those  of 
executive,  subverts  the  general  principles 
of  free  government,  as  well  as  the  particu 
lar  organization  and  positive  provisions  of 
the  Federal  Constitution;  and  the  other 

3 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


of  which  acts  exercises,  in  like  manner,  a 
power  not  delegated  by  the  Constitution, 
but  on  the  contrary,  expressly  and  posi 
tively  forbidden  by  one  of  the  amendments 
thereto ;  a  power  which,  more  than  any 
other,  ought  to  produce  universal  alarm, 
because  it  is  levelled  against  the  right  of 
freely  examining  public  characters  and 
measures,  and  of  free  communication 
among  the  people  thereon,  which  has  ever 
been  justly  deemed  the  only  effectual 
guardian  of  every  other  right. 

That  this  state  having  by  its  Conven 
tion,  which  ratified  the  Federal  Constitu 
tion,  expressly  declared,  that  among  other 
essential  rights,  "  the  liberty  of  conscience 
and  the  press  cannot  be  cancelled,  abridged, 
restrained,  or  modified  by  any  authority 
of  the  United  States,"  and  from  its  extreme 
anxiety  to  guard  these  rights  from  every 
possible  attack  of  sophistry  and  ambition, 
having  with  other  states  recommended  an 
amendment  for  that  purpose,  which  amend 
ment  was,  in  due  time,  annexed  to  the 
Constitution,  it  would  mark  a  reproachful 
inconsistency,  and  criminal  degeneracy,  if 
an  indifference  were  now  shown  to  the 
most  palpable  violation  of  one  of  the 
rights,  thus  declared  and  secured ;  and  to 
the  establishment  of  a  precedent  which 
may  be  fatal  to  the  other. 

That  the  good  people  of  this  common 
wealth,  having  ever  felt,  and  continuing  to 
feel  the  most  sincere  affection  for  their 
brethren  of  the  other  states;  the  truest 
anxiety  for  establishing  and  perpetuating 
the  Union  of  all :  and  the  most  scrupulous 
fidelity  to  that  Constitution,  which  is  the 
pledge  of  mutual  friendship,  and  the  in 
strument  of  mutual  happiness ;  the  General 
Assembly  doth  solemnly  appeal  to  the  like 
dispositions  in  the  other  fetates,  in  confi 
dence  that  they  will  concur  with  this  com 
monwealth,  in  declaring,  as  it  does  hereby 
declare,  that  the  acts  aforesaid  are  uncon 
stitutional;  and,  that  the  necessary  and 
proper  measures  will  be  taken  by  each  for 
co-operating  with  this  state,  in  maintain 
ing  unimpaired  the  authorities,  rights,  and 
'iberties,  reserved  to  the  states,  respectively, 
or  to  the  people. 

That  the  governor  be  desired  to  transmit 
a  copy  of  the  foregoing  resolutions  to  the 
executive  authority  of  each  of  the  other 
states,  with  a  request  that  the  same  may  be 
communicated  to  the  legislature  thereof; 
and  that  a  copy  be  furnished  to  each  of  the 
Senators  and  Representatives  representing 
this  state  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States. 

Attest,  JOHN  STEWART. 

1798.  December  24th.  Agreed  to  by  the 
Senate.  H.  BROOKE. 

A  true  copy  from  the  original  deposited 
in  the  office  of  the  General  Assembly. 
JOHN  STEWART,  Keeper  of  Rolls. 


Extracts  from  the  Address  to  the  People, 
which  accompanied  the  foregoing  resolu 
tions  : — 

Fellow  -  Citizens :  Unwilling  to  shrink 
from  our  representative  responsibility, 
conscious  of  the  purity  of  our  motives,  but 
acknowledging  your  right  to  supervise  our 
conduct,  we  invite  your  serious  attention 
to  the  emergency  which  dictated  the  sub 
joined  resolutions.  Whilst  we  disdain  to 
alarm  you  by  ill-founded  jealousies,  we  i 
recommend  an  investigation,  guided  by 
the  coolness  of  wisdom,  and  a  decision  bot 
tomed,  on  firmness  but  tempered  with 
moderation. 

It  would  be  perfidious  in  those  intrusted 
with  the  guardianship  of  the  state  sover 
eignty,  and  acting  under  the  solemn  obliga 
tion  of  the  following  oath :  "  I  do  swear, 
that  I  will  support  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,"  not  to  warn  you  of  encroach 
ments,  which,  though  clothed  with  the 
pretext  of  necessity,  or  disguised  by  argu 
ments  of  expediency,  may  yet  establish 
precedents,  which  may  ultimately  devote  a 
generous  and  unsuspicious  people  to  all 
the  consequences  of  usurped  power. 

Encroachments,  springing  from  a  govern 
ment  whose  organization  cannot  be  main 
tained  without  the  co-operation  of  the 
states,  furnish  the  strongest  incitements 
upon  the  state  legislatures  to  watchfulness, 
and  impose  upon  them  the  strongest  obliga 
tion  to  preserve  unimpaired  the  line  of 
partition. 

The  acquiescence  of  the  states  under  in 
fractions  of  the  federal  compact,  would 
either  beget  a  speedy  consolidation,  by 
precipitating  the  state  governments  into 
impotency  and  contempt ;  or  prepare  the 
way  for  a  revolution,  by  a  repetition  of 
these  infractions,  until  the  people  are 
aroused  to  appear  in  the  majesty  of  their 
strength.  It  is  to  avoid  these  calamities, 
that  we  exhibit  to  the  people  the  momen 
tous  question,  whether  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  shall  yield  to  a  construc 
tion  which  defies  every  restraint  and  over 
whelms  the  best  hopes  of  republicanism. 

Exhortations  to  disregard  domestic  usur 
pations  until  foreign  danger  shall  have 
passed,  is  an  artifice  which  may  be  for  ever 
used ;  because  the  possessors  of  power,  who 
are  the  advocates  for  its  extension,  can 
ever  create  national  embarrassments,  to  be 
successively  employed  to  soothe  the  people 
into  sleep,  whilst  that  power  is  swelling 
silently,  secretly,  and  fatally.  Of  the  same 
character  are  insinuations  of  a  foreign  in 
fluence,  which  seize  upon  a  laudable  en 
thusiasm  against  danger  from  a  broad,  and 
distort  it  by  an  unnatural  application,  so 
as  to  blind  your  eyes  against  danger  at 
home. 

The  sedition  act  presents  a  scene  which 
was  never  expected  by  the  early  friends  of 
the  Constitution.  It  was  then  admitted 


POLITICAL  PLATFORMS. 


that  the  state  sovereignties  were  only  di 
minished  by  powers  specifically  enumer 
ated,  or  necessary  to  carry  the  specified 
powers  into  effect.  Now  federal  authority 
is  deduced  from  implication,  and  from  the 
existence  of  state  law  it  is  inferred  that 
Congress  possesses  a  similar  power  of  legis 
lation  ;  whence  Congress  will  be  endowed 
with  a  power  of  legislation  in  all  cases 
whatsoever,  and  the  states  will  be  stript  of 
every  right  reserved  by  the  concurrent 
claims  of  a  paramount  legislature. 

The  sedition  act  is  the  offspring  of  these 
tremendous  pretensions,  which  inflict  a 
death  wound  on  the  sovereignty  of  these 
states. 

For  the  honor  of  American  understand 
ing,  we  will  not  believe  that  the  people 
have  been  allured  into  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution  by  an  affectation  of  denning 
powers,  whilst  the  preamble  would  admit 
a  construction  which  would  erect  the  will 
of  Congress  into  a  power  paramount  in  all 
cases,  and  therefore  limited  in  none.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  evident  that  the  objects 
for  which  the  Constitution  was  formed 
were  deemed  attainable  only  by  a  particu 
lar  enumeration  and  specification  of  each 
power  granted  to  the  federal  government ; 
reserving  all  others  to  the  people,  or  to  the 
states.  And  yet  it  is  in  vain  we  search  for 
any  specified  power,  embracing  the  right 
of  legislation  against  the  freedom  of  the 
press. 

Had  the  states  been  despoiled  of  their 
sovereignty  by  the  generality  of  the 

Ereamble,  and  had  the  federal  government 
een  endowed  with  whatever  they  should 
judge  to  be  instrumental  towards  union, 
justice,  tranquillity,  common  defence,  gen 
eral  welfare,  and  the  preservation  of  liberty 
nothing  could  have  been  more  frivolous 
than  an  enumeration  of  powers. 

All  the  preceding  arguments  rising  from 
a  deficiency  of  constitutional  power  in  Con 
gress,  apply  to  the  alien  act,  and  this  act  is 
liable  to  other  objections  peculiar  to  itself. 
If  a  suspicion  that  aliens  are  dangerous 
constitute  the  justification  of  that  power 
exercised  over  them  by  Congress,  then  a 
similar  suspicion  will  justify  the  exercise 
of  a  similar  power  over  natives.  Because 
there  is  nothing  in  the  Constitution  dis 
tinguishing  between  the  power  of  a  state  to 
permit  the  residence  of  natives  and  aliens. 
It  is  therefore  a  right  originally  possessed, 
and  never  surrendered  by  the  respective 
states,  and  which  is  rendered  dear  and 
valuable  to  Virginia,  because  it  is  assailed 
through  the  bosom  of  the  Constitution, 
and  because  her  peculiar  situation  renders 
the  easy  admission  of  artisans  and  labor 
ers  an  interest  of  vast  importance. 

But  this  bill  contains  other  features,  still 
more  alarming  and  dangerous.  It  dispen 
ses  with  the  trial  by  jury :  it  violates  the 
judicial  system;  it  confounds  legislative, 


executive,  and  judicial  powers ;  it  punishes 
without  trial;  and  it  bestows  upon  the 
President  despotic  power  over  a  numerous 
class  of  men.  Are  such  measures  consistent 
with  our  constitutional  principles?  And 
will  an  accumulation  of  power  so  extensive 
in  the  hands  of  the  executive,  over  aliens, 
secure  to  natives  the  blessings  of  republi 
can  liberty  ? 

If  measures  can  mould  governments, 
and  if  an  uncontrolled  power  of  construc 
tion  is  surrendered  to  those  who  administer 
them,  their  progress  may  be  easily  foreseen 
and  their  end  easily  foretold.  A  lover  of 
monarchy,  who  opens  the  treasures  of  cor 
ruption,  by  distributing  emolument  among 
devoted  partisans,  may  at  the  same  time  be 
approaching  his  object,  and  deluding  the 
people  with  professions  of  republicanism. 
He  may  confound  monarchy  and  republic 
anism,  by  the  art  of  definition.  He  may 
varnish  over  the  dexterity  which  ambition 
never  fails  to  display,  with  the  pliancy  of 
language,  the  seduction  of  expediency,  or 
the  prejudices  of  the  times.  And  he  may 
come  at  length  to  avow  that  so  extensive 
a  territory  as  that  of  the  United  States  can 
only  be  governed  by  the  energies  ^of  mon 
archy  ;  that  it  cannot  be  defended,  except 
by  standing  armies ;  and  that  it  cannot  be 
united,  except  by  consolidation. 

Measures  have  already  been  adopted 
which  may  lead  to  these  consequences. 
They  consist: 

In  fiscal  systems  and  arrangements,  which 
keep  a  host  of  commercial  and  wealthy 
individuals,  embodied  and  obedient  to  the 
mandates  of  the  treasury. 

In  armies  and  navies,  which  will,  on  the 
one  hand,  enlist  the  tendency  of  man  to 
pay  homage  to  his  fellow-creature  who  can 
feed  or  honor  him ;  and  on  the  other,  em 
ploy  the  principle  of  fear,  by  punishing 
imaginary  insurrections,  under  the  pretext 
of  preventive  justice. 

In  swarms  of  officers,  civil  and  military, 
who  can  inculcate  political  tenets  tending 
to  consolidation  and  monarchy,  both  by 
indulgences  and  severities ;  and  can  act  as 
spies  over  the  free  exercise  of  human  reason. 

In  restraining  the  freedom  of  the  press, 
and  investing  the  executive  with  legisla 
tive,  executive,  and  judicial  powers,  over 
a  numerous  body  of  men. 

And,  that  we  may  shorten  the  catalogue, 
in  establishing  by  successive  precedents 
such  a  mode  of  construing  the  Constitution 
as  will  rapidly  remove  every  restraint  upon 
federal  power. 

Let  history  be  consulted ;  let  the  man  of 
experience  reflect ;  nay,  let  the  artificers 
of  monarchy  be  asked  what  farther  mate 
rials  they  can  need  for  building  up  their 
favorite  system? 

These  are  solemn,  but  painful  truths; 
and  yet  we  recommend  it  to  you  not  to  for 
get  the  possibility  of  danger  from  without, 


6 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


although  danger  threatens  us  from  within. 
Usurpation  is  indeed  dreadful,  but  against 
foreign  invasion,  if  that  should  happen,  let 
us  rise  with  hearts  and  hands  united,  and 
repel  the  attack  with  the  zeal  of  freemen, 
who  will  strengthen  their  title  to  examine 
and  correct  domestic  measures  by  having 
defended  their  country  against  foreign  ag 
gression. 

Pledged  as  we  are,  fellow-citizens,  to 
these  sacred  engagements,  we  yet  humbly 
and  fervently  implore  the  Almighty  Dis 
poser  of  events  to  avert  from  our  land  war 
and  usurpation,  the  scourges  of  mankind ; 
to  permit  our  fields  to  be  cultivated  in 
peace ;  to  instill  into  nations  the  love  of 
friendly  intercourse ;  to  suffer  our  youth  to 
be  educated  in  virtue ;  and  to  preserve  our 
morality  from  the  pollution  invariably  in 
cident  to  habits  of  war ;  to  prevent  the 
laborer  and  husbandman  from  being  har 
assed  by  taxes  and  imposts;  to  remove 
from  ambition  the  means  of  disturbing  the 
commonwealth;  to  annihilate  all  pretexts 
for  power  afforded  by  war;  to  maintain 
the  Constitution ;  and  to  bless  our  nation 
with  tranquillity,  under  whose  benign  in 
fluence  we  may  reach  the  summit  of  hap 
piness  and  glory,  to  which  we  are  destined 
by  Nature  and  Nature's  God. 

Attest,         JOHN  STEWART,  C.  H.  D. 

1799,  Jan.  23.    Agreed  to  by  the  Senate. 

H.  BROOKE,  C.  S. 

A  true  copy  from  the  original,  deposited 
in  the  office  of  the  General  Assembly. 
JOHN  STEWART,  Keeper  of  Eolls. 


Answers  of  the  several  State  Legislatures. 

STATE  OF  DELAWARE. — In  the  House 
of  Representatives,  Feb.  1,  1799.  Resolved, 
By  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  the  state  of  Delaware,  in  General 
Assembly  met,  that  they  consider  the  reso 
lutions  from  the  state  of  Virginia  as  a  very 
unjustifiable  interference  with  the  general 
government  and  constituted  authorities  of 
the  United  States,  and  of  dangerous  tend 
ency,  and  therefore  not  fit  subject  for  the 
further  consideration  of  the  General  As 
sembly. 

ISAAC  DAYIS,  Speaker  of  the  Senate. 

STEPHEN  LEWIS,  Speaker  of  the  H.  of 
R's.  Test- 

JOHN  FISHER,  C.  S. 
JOHN  CALDWELL,  C.  H.  R. 

STATE  OF  RHODE  ISLAND  AND  PROV 
IDENCE  PLANTATIONS. — In  General  As 
sembly,  February,  A.  D.  1799.  Certain 
resolutions  of  the  Legislature  of  Virginia, 
passed  on  21st  of  December  last,  being 
communicated  to  this  Assembly, 


1.  Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  this 
legislature,  the  second  section  of  third  ar 
ticle  of  the  Constitution  of  the   United 
States  in  these  words,  to  wit :      The  judi 
cial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases  arising 
under  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  vests 
in  the  federal  courts,  exclusively,  and  in 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
ultimately,  the  authority  of  deciding  on 
the  constitutionality  of  any  act  or  law  of 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

2.  Resolved,  That  for  any  state  legisla 
ture  to  assume  that  authority,  would  be, 

1st.  Blending  together  legislative  and 
judicial  powers. 

2d.  Hazarding  an  interruption  of  the 
peace  of  the  states  by  civil  discord,  in  case 
of  a  diversity  of  opinions  among  the  state 
legislatures ;  each  state  having,  in  that 
case,  no  resort  for  vindicating  its  own 
opinions,  but  to  the  strength  of  its  own 
arm. 

3d.  Submitting  most  important  ques 
tions  of  law  to  less  competent  tribunals. ; 
and 

4th.  An  infraction  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  expressed  in  plain 
terms. 

3.  Resolved,  That  although  for  the  above 
reasons,  this  legislature,  in  their  public 
capacity,  do  not  feel  themselves  authorized 
to   consider  and  decide  on  the  constitu 
tionality  of  the  sedition  and  alien  laws  (so 
called)  ;  yet  they  are  called  upon  by  the 
exigency  of  this  occasion,  to  declare,  that 
in  their  private  opinions,  these  laws  are 
within  the  powers  delegated  to  Congress, 
and  promotive  of  the  welfare  of  the  Uni 
ted  States. 

4.  Resolved,  That  the  governor  commu 
nicate  these  resolutions  to  the  supreme  ex 
ecutive  of  the  state  of  Virginia,  and  at  the 
same  time  express  to  him  that  this  legisla 
ture  cannot  contemplate,  without  extreme 
concern    and    regret,  the  many  evil  and 
fatal  consequences  which  may  flow  from 
the  very  unwarrantable  resolutions  afore 
said,  of  the  legislature  of  Virginia,  passed 
on  the  twenty-first  day  of  December  last. 

A  true  copy.        SAMUEL  EDDY,  Sec. 

COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 
—In  Senate,  Feb.  9,  1799.  The  legisla 
ture  of  Massachusetts  having  taken  into 
serious  consideration  the  resolutions  of  the 
State  of  Virginia,  passed  the  21st  day  of 
December  last,  and  communicated  by 
his  excellency  the  governor,  relative  to 
certain  supposed  infractions  of  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  by  the  gov 
ernment  thereof,  and  being  convinced  that 
the  Federal  Constitution  is  calculated  to 
promote  the  happiness,  prosperity,  and 
safety  of  the  people  of  these  United  States, 
and  to  maintain  that  union  of  the  several 
states,  so  essential  to  the  welfare  of  the 
whole  ;  and  being  bound  by  solemn  oath 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


to  support  and  defend  that  Constitution, 
feel  it  unnecessary  to  make  any  professions 
of  their  attachment  to  it,  or  of  their  firm 
determination  to  support  it  against  every 
aggression,  foreign  or  domestic. 

But  they  deem  it  their  duty  solemnly  to 
declare,  that  while  they  hold  sacred  the 
principle,  that  consent  of  the  people  is  the 
only  pure  source  of  just  and  legitimate 
power,  they  cannot  admit  the  right  of  the 
state  legislatures  to  denounce  the  adminis 
tration  of  that  government  to  which  the 
people  themselves,  by  a  solemn  compact, 
have  exclusively  committed  their  national 
concerns :  That,  although  a  liberal  and 
enlightened  vigilance  among  the  people  is 
always  to  be  cherished,  yet  an  unreasona 
ble  jealousy  of  the  men  of  their  choice, 
and  a  recurrence  to  measures  of  extremity, 
upon  groundless  or  trivial  pretexts,  have  a 
strong  tendency  to  destroy  all  rational  lib 
erty  at  home,  and  to  deprive  the  United 
States  of  the  most  essential  advantages  in 
their  relations  abroad :  That  this  legisla 
ture  are  persuaded  that  the  decision  of  all 
cases  in  law  and  equity,  arising  under  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
construction  of  all  laws  made  in  pursu 
ance  thereof,  are  exclusively  vested  by  the 
people  in  the  judicial  courts  of  the  United 
States. 

That  the  people  in  that  solemn  compact, 
which  is  declared  to  be  the  supreme  law 
of  the  land,  have  not  constituted  the  state 
legislatures  the  judges  of  the  acts  or  mea 
sures  of  the  federal  government,  but  have 
confided  to  them  the  power  of  proposing 
such  amendments  of  the  Constitution,  as 
shall  appear  to  them  necessary  to  the  in 
terests,  or  conformable  to  the  wishes  of 
the  people  whom  they  represent. 

That  by  this  construction  of  the  Con 
stitution,  an  amicable  and  dispassionate 
remedy  is  pointed  out  for  any  evil  which 
experience  may  prove  to  exist,  and  the 
peace  and  prosperity  of  the  United  States 
may  be  preserved  without  interruption. 

But,  should  the  respectable  state  of  Vir 
ginia  persist  in  the  assumption  of  the 
right  to  declare  the  acts  of  the  national 
government  unconstitutional,  and  should 
she  oppose  successfully  her  force  and  will 
to  those  of  the  nation,  the  Constitution 
would  be  reduced  to  a  mere  cipher,  to  the 
form  and  pageantry  of  authority,  without 
the  energy  of  power.  Every  act  of  the 
federal  government  which  thwarted  the 
views  or  checked  the  ambitious  projects  of 
a  particular  state,  or  of  its  leading  and  in 
fluential  members,  would  be  the  object  of 
opposition  and  of  remonstrance ;  while 
the  people,  convulsed  and  confused  by  the 
conflict  between  two  hostile  jurisdictions, 
enjoying  the  protection  of  neither,  would 
be  wearied  into  a  submission  to  some  bold 
leader,  who  would  establish  himself  on  the 
ruins  of  both. 
21 


The  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  al 
though  they  do  not  themselves  claim  the 
right,  nor  admit  the  authority  of  any  of 
the  state  governments,  to  decide  upon  the 
constitutionality  of  the  acts  of  the  federal 
government,  still,  lest  their  silence  should 
be  construed  into  disapprobation,  or  at 
best  into  a  doubt  of  the  constitutionality 
of  the  acts  referred  to  by  the  State  of  Vir 
ginia  ;  and,  as  the  General  Assembly  of 
Virginia  has  called  for  an  expression  of 
their  sentiments,  do  explicitly  declare,  that 
they  consider  the  acts  of  Congress,  com 
monly  called  "the  alien  and  sedition  acts," 
not  only  constitutional,  but  expedient  and 
necessary:  That  the  former  act  respects 
a  description  of  persons  whose  rights  were 
not  particularly  contemplated  in  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  who  are  en 
titled  only  to  a  temporary  protection, 
while  they  yield  a  temporary  allegiance ; 
a  protection  which  ought  to  be  withdrawn 
whenever  they  become  "  dangerous  to  the 
public  safety,"  or  are  found  guilty  of 
"  treasonable  machination  "  against  the 
government :  That  Congress  having  been 
especially  intrusted  by  the  people  with  the 
general  defence  of  the  nation,  had  not  onlj 
the  right,  but  were  bound  to  protect  it 
against  internal  as  well  as  external  foes. 
That  the  United  States,  at  the  time  of  pass 
ing  the  act  concerning  aliens,  were  threat 
ened  with  actual  invasion,  had  been  driv 
en  by  the  unjust  and  ambitious  conduct  of 
the  French  government  into  warlike  pre 
parations,  expensive  and  burthensome,  and 
had  then,  within  the  bosom  of  the  coun 
try,  thousands  of  aliens,  who,  we  doubt 
not,  were  ready  to  co-operate  in  any  ex 
ternal  attack. 

It  cannot  be  seriously  believed,  that  the 
United  States  should  have  waited  till  the 
poignard  had  in  fact  been  plunged.  The 
removal  of  aliens  is  the  usual  preliminary 
of  hostility,  and  is  justified  by  the  invari 
able  usages  of  nations.  Actual  hostility 
had  unhappily  long  been  experienced,  and 
a  formal  declaration  of  it  the  government 
had  reason  daily  to  expect.  The  law, 
therefore,  was  just  and  salutary,  and  no 
officer  could,  with  so  much  propriety,  be 
intrusted  with  the  execution  of  it,  as  the 
one  in  whom  the  Constitution  has  reposed 
the  executive  power  of  the  United  States. 

The  sedition  act,  so  called,  is,  in  the 
opinion  of  this  legislature,  equally  defen 
sible.  The  General  Assembly  of  Virginia, 
in  their  resolve  under  consideration,  ob 
serve,  that  when  that  state  by  its  conven 
tion  ratified  the  Federal  Constitution,  it 
expressly  declared,  "That,  among  other 
essential  rights,  the  liberty  of  conscience 
and  of  the  press  cannot  be  cancelled, 
abridged,  restrained,  or  modified  by  any 
authority  of  the  United  States,"  and  from 
its  extreme  anxiety  to  guard  these  rights 
from  every  possible  attack  of  sophistry  or 


8 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


ambition,  with  other  states,  recommend 
an  amendment  for  that  purpose :  which 
amendment  was,  in  due  time,  annexed  to 
the  Constitution ;  but  they  did  not  surely 
expect  that  the  proceedings  of  their  state 
convention  were  to  explain  the  amend 
ment  adopted  by  the  Union.  The  words 
of  that  amendment,  on  this  subject,  are, 
"  Congress  shall  make  no  law  abridging 
the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press." 

The  act  complained  of  is  no  abridgment 
of  the  freedom  of  either.  The  genuine 
liberty  of  speech  and  the  press,  is  the  lib 
erty  to  utter  and  publish  the  truth ;  but 
the  constitutional  right  of  the  citizen  to 
utter  and  publish  the  truth,  is  not  to  be 
confounded  with  the  licentiousness  in 
speaking  and  writing,  that  is  only  em 
ployed  in  propagating  falsehood  and  slan 
der.  This  freedom  of  the  press  has  been 
explicitly  secured  by  most,  if  not  all,  the 
state  constitutions ;  and  of  this  provision 
there  has  been  generally  but  one  construc 
tion  among  enlightened  men  ;  that  it  is  a 
security  for  the  rational  use  and  not  the 
abuse  of  the  press  ;  of  which  the  courts  of 
law,  the  juries,  and  people  will  judge;  this 
right  is  not  infringed,  but  confirmed  and 
established  by  the  late  act  of  Congress. 

By  the  Constitution,  the  legislative,  ex 
ecutive,  and  judicial  departments  of  gov 
ernment  are  ordained  and  established ; 
and  general  enumerated  powers  vested  in 
them  respectively,  including  those  which 
are  prohibited  to  the  several  states.  Cer 
tain  powers  are  granted  in  general  terms 
by  the  people  to  their  general  government, 
for  the  purposes  of  their  safety  and  protec 
tion.  The  government  is  not  only  em 
powered,  but  it  is  made  their  duty  to  re 
pel  invasions  and  suppress  insurrections ; 
to  guaranty  to  the  several  states  a  repub 
lican  form  of  government ;  to  protect  each 
state  against  invasion,  and,  when  applied 
to,  against  domestic  violence  ;  to  hear  and 
decide  all  cases  in  law  and  equity,  arising 
under  the  Constitution,  and  under  any 
treaty  or  law  made  in  pursuance  thereof; 
and  all  cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime 
jurisdiction,  and  relating  to  the  law  of  na 
tions.  Whenever,  therefore,  it  becomes 
necessary  to  effect  any  of  the  objects  de 
signated,  it  is  perfectly  consonant  to  all 
just  rules  of  construction,  to  infer,  that  the 
usual  means  and  powers  necessary  to  the 
attainment  of  that  object,  are  also  granted : 
But  the  Constitution  has  left  no  occasion 
to  resort  to  implication  for  these  powers  ; 
it  has  made  an  express  grant  of  them,  in 
fee  8th  section  of  the  first  article,  which 
ordains,  "  That  Congress  shall  have  power 
to  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary 
and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution  the 
foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  powers 
vested  by  the  Constitution  in  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  or  in  any  de 
partment  or  officer  thereof." 


This  Constitution  has  established  a  Su 
preme  Court  of  the  United  States,  but  has 
made  no  provisions  for  its  protection,  even 
against  such  improper  conduct  in  its  pres 
ence,  as  might  disturb  its  proceedings,  un 
less  expressed  in  the  section  before  recited. 
But  as  no  statute  has  been  passed  on  this 
subject,  this  protection  is,  and  has  been 
for  nine  years  past,  uniformly  found  in  the 
application  of  the  principles  and  usages  of 
the  common  law.  The  same  protection 
may  unquestionably  be  afforded  by  a  stat 
ute  passed  in  virtue  of  the  before-men 
tioned  section,  as  necessary  and  proper,  for 
carrying  into  execution  the  powers  vested 
in  that  department.  A  construction  of 
the  different  parts  of  the  Constitution,  per 
fectly  just  and  fair,  will,  on  analogous 
principles,  extend  protection  and  security 
against  the  offences  in  question,  to  the 
other  departments  of  government,  in  dis 
charge  of  their  respective  trusts. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  is 
bound  by  his  oath  "  to  preserve,  protect, 
and  defend  the  Constitution,"  and  it  is  ex 
pressly  made  his  duty,  "  to  take  care  that 
the  laws  be  faithfully  executed ;  "  but  this 
would  be  impracticable  by  any  created 
being,  if  there  could  be  no  legal  restraint 
of  those  scandalous  misrepresentations  of 
his  measures  and  motives,  which  directly 
tend  to  rob  him  of  the  public  confidence. 
And  equally  impotent  would  be  every 
other  public  officer,  if  thus  left  to  the  mercy 
of  the  seditious. 

It  is  holden  to  be  a  truth  most  clear,  that 
the  important  trusts  before  enumerated 
cannot  be  discharged  by  the  government 
to  which  they  are  committed,  without  the 
power  to  restrain  seditious  practices  and 
unlawful  combinations  against  itself,  and 
to  protect  the  officers  thereof  from  abusive 
misrepresentations.  Had  the  Constitution 
withheld  this  power,  it  would  have  made 
the  government  responsible  for  the  effects 
without  any  control  over  the  causes  which 
naturally  produce  them,  and  would  have 
essentially  failed  of  answering  the  great 
ends  for  which  the  people  of  the  United 
States  declare,  in  the  first  clause  of  that  in 
strument,  that  they  establish  the  same, 
viz :  "  To  form  a  more  perfect  union,  es 
tablish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity, 
provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote 
the  general  warfare,  and  secure  the  bless 
ings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  posterity." 

Seditious  practices  and  unlawful  combi 
nations  against  the  federal  government,  or 
any  officer  thereof,  in  the  performance  of 
his  duty,  as  well  as  licentiousness  of  speech 
and  of  the  press,  were  punishable  on  the 
principles  of  common  law  in  the  courts  of 
the  United  States,  before  the  act  in  ques 
tion  was  passed.  This  act  then  is  an  ame 
lioration  of  that  law  in  favor  of  the  party 
accused,  as  it  mitigates  the  punishment 
which  that  authorizes,  and  admits  of  any 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


9 


investigation  of  public  men  and  measures 
which  is  regulated  by  truth.  It  is  not  in 
tended  to  protect  men  in  office,  only  as 
they  are  agents  of  the  people.  Its  object 
is  to  afford  legal  security  to  public  offices 
and  trusts  created  for  the  safety  and  hap 
piness  of  the  people,  and  therefore  the  se 
curity  derived  from  it  is  for  the  benefit  of 
the  people,  and  is  their  right. 

The  construction  of  the  Constitution  and 
of  the  existing  law  of  the  land,  as  well  as 
the  act  complained  of,  the  legislature  of 
Massachusetts  most  deliberately  and  firmly 
believe  results  from  a  just  and  full  view  of 
the  several  parts  of  the  Constitution :  and 
they  consider  that  act  to  be  wise  and  ne 
cessary,  as  an  audacious  and  unprincipled 
spirit  of  falsehood  and  abuse  had  been  too 
long  unremittingly  exerted  for  the  pur 
pose  of  perverting  public  opinion,  and 
threatened  to  undermine  and  destroy  the 
whole  fabric  of  government. 

The  legislature  further  declare,  that  in 
the  foregoing  sentiments  they  have  ex 
pressed  the  general  opinion  of  their  consti 
tuents,  who  have  not  only  acquiesced 
without  complaint  in  those  particular 
measures  of  the  federal  government,  but 
have  given  their  explicit  approbation  by 
re-electing  those  men  who  voted  for  the 
adoption  of  them.  Nor  is  it  apprehended, 
that  the  citizens  of  this  state  will  be  ac 
cused  of  supineness  or  of  an  indifference 
to  their  constitutional  rights;  for  while, 
on  the  one  hand,  they  regard  with  due  vi 
gilance  the  conduct  of  the  government,  on 
the  other,  their  freedom,  safety  and  happi 
ness  require,  that  they  should  defend  that 
government  and  its  constitutional  mea 
sures  against  the  open  or  insidious  attacks 
of  any  foe,  whether  foreign  or  domestic. 

And,  lastly,  that  the  legislature  of  Mas- 
Bacnusetts  feel  a  strong  conviction,  that 
the  several  United  States  are  connected 
by  a  common  interest  which  ought  to  ren 
der  their  union  indissoluble,  and  that  this 
state  will  always  co-operate  with  its  con 
federate  states  in  rendering  that  union  pro 
ductive  of  mutual  security,  freedom,  and 
happiness. 

Bent  down  for  concurrence. 

SAMUEL  PHILIPS,  President 

In  the  House  of  Representatives.  Feb. 
13,  1799. 
Read  and  concurred. 

EDWARD  H.  ROBBINS,  Speaker. 
A  true  copy.    Attest, 

JOHN  A  VERY,  Secretary. 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. — In  Senate, 
March  5,  1799. — Whereas,  the  people  of 
the  United  States  have  established  for 
themselves  a  free  and  independent  national 
government:  And  whereas  it  is  essential 
to  the  existence  of  every  government,  that 
it  have  authority  to  defend  and  preserve 


its  constitutional  powers  inviolate,  inas 
much  as  every  infringement  thereof  tends 
to  its  subversion:  And  whereas  the  judi 
cial  power  extends  expressly  to  all  cases  of 
law  and  equity  arising  under  the  Consti 
tution  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States 
whereby  the  interference  of  the  legislatures 
of  the  particular  states  in  those  cases  is 
manifestly  excluded:  And  whereas  our 
peace,  prosperity,  and  happiness,  eminent 
ly  depend  on  the  preservation  of  the  Union, 
in  order  to  which,  a  reasonable  confidence 
in  the  constituted  authorities  and  chosen 
representatives  of  the  people  is  indispen 
sable  :  And  whereas  every  measure  calcu 
lated  to  weaken  that  confidence  has  a  ten 
dency  to  destroy  the  usefulness  of  our  pub 
lic  functionaries,  and  to  excite  jealousies 
equally  hostile  to  rational  liberty,  and  the 
principles  of  a  good  republican  govern 
ment  :  And  whereas  the  Senate,  not  per 
ceiving  that  the  rights  of  the  particular 
states  have  been  violated,  nor  any  uncon 
stitutional  powers  assumed  by  the  general 
government,  cannot  forbear  to  express  the 
anxiety  and  regret  with  which  they  observe 
the  inflammatory  and  pernicious  senti 
ments  and  doctrines  which  are  contained 
in  the  resolutions  of  the  legislatures  of 
Virginia  and  Kentucky — sentiments  and 
doctrines,  no  less  repugnant  to  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  prin 
ciples  of  their  union,  than  destructive  to 
the  Federal  government  and  unjust  to 
those  whom  the  people  have  elected  to  ad 
minister  it:  wherefore,  Resolved,  That 
while  the  Senate  feel  themselves  con 
strained  to  bear  unequivocal  testimony 
against  such  sentiments  and  doctrines, 
they  deem  it  a  duty  no  less  indispensable, 
explicitly  to  declare  their  incompetency,  as 
a  branch  of  the  legislature  of  this  state,  to  su 
pervise  the  acts  of  the  general  government. 

Resolved,  That  his  Excellency,  the  . 
Governor,  be,  and  he  is  hereby  requested 
to  transmit  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  resolu 
tion  to  the  executives  of  the  states  of  Vir 
ginia  and  Kentucky,  to  the  end  that  the 
same  may  be  communicated  to  the  legisla 
tures  thereof. 

A  true  copy. 

ABM.  B.  BAUCKER,  Clerk. 

STATE  OF  CONNECTICUT.— At  a  General 
Assembly  of  the  state  of  Connecticut, 
holden  at  Hartford,  in  the  said  state,  on 
the  second  Thursday  of  May,  Anno  Domi 
ni  1799,  his  excellency  the  governor  hav 
ing  communicated  to  this  assembly  sundry 
resolutions  of  the  legislature  of  Virginia, 
adopted  in  December,  1798,  which  relate 
to  the  measures  of  the  general  government ; 
and  the  said  resolutions  having  been  con 
sidered,  it  is 

Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  views  with 
deep  regret,  and  explicitly  disavows,  the 
principles  contained  in  the  aforesaid  reao- 


10 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


lutions;  and  particularly  the  opposition 
to  the  "Alien  and  Sedition  Acts" — acts 
which  the  Constitution  authorized ;  which 
the  exigency  of  the  country  rendered  ne 
cessary  ;  which  the  constituted  authorities 
have  enacted,  and  which  merit  the  entire 
approbation  of  this  Assembly.  They, 
therefore,  decidedly  refuse  to  concur  with 
the  legislature  of  Virginia,  in  promoting 
any  of  the  objects  attempted  in  the  afore 
said  resolutions. 

And  it  is  further  resolved,  That  his  ex 
cellency  the  governor  be  requested  to  trans 
mit  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  resolution  to 
the  governor  of  Virginia,  that  it  may  be 
communicated  to  the  legislature  of  that 
state. 

Passed  in  the  House  of  Kepresentatives 
unanimously. 

•Attest,  JOHN  C.  SMITH,  Clerk. 

Concurred,  unanimously,  in  the  upper 
House. 

Teste,  SAM.  WYLLYS,  Sec'y. 

STATE  OF  NEW  HAMPSHIRE. — In  the 
House  of  Representatives,  June  14, 1799. 
—The  committee  to  take  into  considera 
tion  the  resolutions  of  the  General  Assem 
bly  of  Virginia,  dated  December  21,  1798 ; 
also  certain  resolutions  of  the  legislature  of 
Kentucky,  of  the  10th  of  November,  1798; 
report  as  follows : — 

The  legislature  of  New  Hampshire,  hav 
ing  taken  into  consideration  certain  reso 
lutions  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Vir 
ginia,  dated  December  21,  1798  ;  also  cer 
tain  resolutions  of  the  legislature  of  Ken 
tucky,  of  the  10th  of  November,  1798,— 

Resolved,  That  the  legislature  of  New 
Hampshire  unequivocally  express  a  firm 
resolution  to  maintain  and  defend  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  con 
stitution  of  this  state,  against  every  aggres 
sion,  either  foreign  or  domestic,  and  that 
they  will  support  the  government  of  the 
United  States  in  all  measures  warranted 
by  the  former. 

That  the  state  legislatures  are  not  the 
proper  tribunals  to  determine  the  consti 
tutionality  of  the  laws  of  the  general  gov 
ernment  ;  that  the  duty  of  such  decision  is 
properly  and  exclusively  confided  to  the 
judicial  department. 

That  if  the  legislature  of  New  Hamp 
shire,  for  mere  speculative  purposes,  were 
to  express  an  opinion  on  the  acts  of  the 
general  government,  commonly  called 
"'the  Alien  and  Sedition  Bills/'  that 
opinion  would  unreservedly  be,  that  those 
acts  are  constitutional  and,  in  the  present 
critical  situation  of  our  country,  highly  ex 
pedient. 

That  the  constitutionality  and  expedi 
ency  of  the  acts  aforesaid  have  been  very 
ably  advocated  and  clearly  demonstrated 
by  many  citizens  of  the  United  States,  more 
especially?  by  the  minority  of  the  General 


Assembly  of  Virginia.  The  legislature  of 
New  Hampshire,  therefore,  deem  it  unne 
cessary,  by  any  train  of  arguments,  to  at 
tempt  further  illustration  of  the  proposi 
tions,  the  truth  of  which,  it  is  confidently 
believed,  at  this  day,  is  very  generally  seen 
and  acknowledged. 

Which  report,  being  read  and  considered, 
was  unanimously  received  and  accepted, 
one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  members 
being  present. 

Sent  up  for  concurrence. 

JOHN  PRENTICE,  Speaker. 

In  Senate,  same  day,  read  and  concurred 
in  unanimously. 

AMOS  SHEPARD,  President. 

Approved  June  15,  1799. 

J.  T.  GILMAN,  Governor. 
A  true  copy. 

Attest,  JOSEPH  PEARSON,  Sec'y. 

STATE  OF  VERMONT. — In  the  House  of 
Representatives,  October  30,  A.  D.  1799. — 
The  House  proceeded  to  take  under  their 
consideration  the  resolutions  of  the  Gene 
ral  Assembly  of  Virginia,  relative  to  cer 
tain  measures  of  the  general  government, 
transmitted  to  the  legislature  of  this  state 
for  their  consideration ;  whereupon, 

Resolved,  that  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  state  of  Vermont  do  highly  disapprove 
of  the  resolutions  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  state  of  Virginia,  as  being  unconsti 
tutional  in  their  nature  and  dangerous  in 
their  tendency.  It  belongs  not  to  state 
legiolatures  to  decide  on  the  constitution 
ality  of  the  laws  made  by  the  general  gov 
ernment;  this  power  being  exclusively 
vested  in  judiciary  courts  of  the  Union. 

That  his  excellency  the  governor  be  re 
quested  to  transmit  a  copy  of  this  resolu 
tion  to  the  executive  of  Virginia,  to  be 
communicated  to  the  General  Assembly  of 
that  state;  and  that  the  same  be  sent  to 
the  Governor  and  Council  for  their  con 
currence. 

SAMUEL  C.  CRAFTS,  Clerk. 

In  Council,  October  30, 1799.— Read  and 
concurred  in  unanimously. 

RICHARD  WHITNEY,  Sec'y. 

Resolutions  of  1798  and  1799. 

(The  original  draught  prepared  by  Thomas  Jefferson.) 

The  following  resolutions  passed  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  Kentucky, 
Nov.  10,  1798.  On  the  passage  of  the  first 
resolution,  one  dissentient;  2d,  3d,  4th, 
5th,  6th,  7th,  8th,  two  dissentients;  9th, 
three  dissentients. 

1.  Resolved,  That  the  several  states  com 
posing  the  United  States  of  America,  are 
not  united  on  the  principle  of  unlimited 
submission  to  their  general  government ; 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


11 


but  that  by  compact  under  the  style  and 
title  of  a  Constitution  for  the  United  States, 
and  of  amendments  thereto,  they  consti 
tuted  a  general  government  for  special  pur 
poses,  delegated  to  that  government  certain 
definite  powers,  reserving,  each  state  to  it 
self,  the  residuary  mass  of  right  to  their 
own  self-government :  and,  that  whenso 
ever  the  general  government  assumes  un- 
delegated  powers,  its  acts  are  unauthorita- 
tive,  void,  and  of  no  force ;  that  to  this 
compact  each  state  acceded  as  a  state,  and 
is  an  integral  party;  that  this  govern 
ment,  created  by  this  compact,  was  not 
made  the  exclusive  or  final  judge  of  the 
extent  of  the  powers  delegated  to  itself; 
since  that  would  have  made  its  discretion, 
and  not  the  Constitution,  the  measure  of 
its  powers  ;  but,  that  as  in  all  other  cases 
of  compact  among  parties  having  no  com 
mon  judge,  each  party  has  an  equal  right 
to  judge  for  itself,  as  well  of  infractions  as 
of  the  mode  and  measure  of  redress. 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  having  delegated  to  Con 
gress  a  power  to  punish  treason,  counter 
feiting  the  securities  and  current  coin  of 
the  United  States,  piracies  and  felonies 
committed  on  the  high  seas,  and  offences 
against  the  laws  of  nations,  and  no  other 
crimes  whatever ;  and  it  being  true,  as  a 
general  principle,  and  one  of  the  amend 
ments  to  the  Constitution  having  alsq  de 
clared,  "  that  the  powers  not  delegated  to 
the  United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor 
prohibited  by  it  to  the  states,  are  reserved 
to  the  states  respectively,  or  to  the  people," 
therefore  also  the  same  act  of  Congress, 
passed  on  the  14th  day  of  July,  1798,  and 
entitled    "An  act  in  addition  to  the  act 
entitled  An  act  for  the  punishment  of  cer 
tain  crimes  against  the  United  States  ;"  as 
also  the  act  passed  by  them  on  the  27th 
day  of  June,  1798,  entitled  "An  act  to 
punish  frauds  committed  on  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States,"  (and  all  other  their 
acts  which  assume  to    create,  define,  or 
punish  crimes  other  than  those  enumerated 
in  the  Constitution),  are  altogether  void 
and  of  no  force,  and  that  the  power  to 
create,  define,  and  punish  such  other  crimes 
is  reserved,  and  of  right  appertains  solely 
and  exclusively  to  the  respective  states, 
each  within  its  own  territory. 

3.  Resolved,  That  it  is  true,  as  a  general 
principle,  and  is  also  expressly  declared  by 
one  of  the  amendments  to  the  Constitution, 
that   "the  powers  not    delegated  to  the 
United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  pro 
hibited  by  it  to  the  states,  are  reserved  to 
the  states  respectively,  or  to  the  people  ;" 
and  that  no  power  over  the  freedom  of  re 
ligion,  freedom  of  speech,  or  freedom  of 
the  press  being  delegated  to  the  United 
States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited 
by  it  to  the  states,  all  lawful  powers  respect 
ing  the  same  did  of  right  remain,  and  were 


reserved  to  the  states  or  to  the  people ;  that 
thus  was  manifested  their  determination  to 
retain  to  themselves  the  right  of  judging 
how  far  the  licentiousness  of  speech  and 
of  the  press  may  be  abridged  without  les 
sening  their  useful  freedom,  and  how  far 
those  abuses  which  cannot  be  separated 
from  their  use  should  be  tolerated  rather 
than  the  use  be  destroyed  ;  and  thus  also 
they  guarded  against  all  abridgment  by  the 
United  States,  of  the  freedom  of  religious 
principles  and  exercises,  and  retained  to 
themselves  the  right  of  protecting  the  same, 
as  this,  stated  by  a  law  passed  on  the  gen 
eral  demand  of  its  citizens,  had  already 
protected  them  from  all  human  restraint  or 
interference  :  and  that,  in  addition  to  this 
general  principle  and  express  declaration, 
another  and  more  special  provision  has 
been  made  by  one  of  the  amendments  to 
the  Constitution,  which  expressly  declares, 
that  "  Congress  shall  make  no  laws  respect 
ing  an  establishment  of  religion,  or  pro 
hibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof,  or 
abridging  the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the 
press,"  thereby  guarding  in  the  same  sen 
tence,  and  under  the  same  words,  the  free 
dom  of  religion,  of  speech,  and  of  the 
press,  insomuch  that  whatever  violates 
either,  throws  down  the  sanctuary  which 
covers  the  others ;  and  that  libels,  false 
hood,  and  defamation,  equally  with  heresy 
and  false  religion,  are  withheld  from  the 
cognisance  of  federal  tribunals.  That  there 
fore  the  act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  passed  on  the  14th  of  July,  1798, 
entitled  "  An  act  in  addition  to  the  act  en 
titled  An  act  for  the  punishment  of  certain 
crimes  against  the  United  States,"  which 
does  abridge  the  freedom  of  the  press,  is 
not  law,  but  is  altogether  void  and  of  no 
force. 

4.  Resolved,  That  alien  friends  are  under 
the  jurisdiction  and  protection  of  the  lawa 
of  the  state  wherein  they  are:   that  no 
power  over  them  has  been  delegated  to  the 
United  States,  nor  prohibited  to  the  indi 
vidual  states  distinct  from  their  power  over 
citizens ;  and  it  being  true,  as  a  general 
principle,  and  one  of  the  amendments  to 
the  Constitution  having  also  declared,  that 
"  the  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United 
States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited 
to  the  states,  are  reserved  to  the  states  re 
spectively,  or  to  the  people,"  the  actof  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  passed  the 
22d  day  of  June,  1798,  entitled  "  An  act 
concerning  aliens,"  which  assumes  power 
over  alien  friends  not  delegated  by  the  Con 
stitution,  is  not  law,  but  is  altogether  void 
and  of  no  force. 

5.  Resolved,  That  in  addition  to  the  gen 
eral  principle  as  well  as  the  express  de 
claration,  that  powers  not  delegated  are  re 
served,  another  and  more  special  provision 
inferred  in  the  Constitution,  from  abund 
ant  caution  has  declared,  "that,  the  migra-; 


12 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


tion  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any 
of  the  states  now  existing  shall  think 
proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by 
the  Congress  prior  to  the  year  1808."  That 
this  commonwealth  does  admit  the  migra 
tion  of  alien  friends  described  as  the  sub 
ject  of  the  said  act  concerning  aliens ;  that 
a  provision  against  prohibiting  their  migra 
tion,  is  a  provision  against  all  acts  equiva 
lent  thereto,  or  it  would  be  nugatory ;  that 
to  remove  them  when  migrated  is  equiva- 
Jent'  to  a  prohibition  of  their  migration, 
and  is,  therefore,  contrary  to  the  said  pro 
vision  of  the  Constitution,  and  void. 

6.  Resolved,    That  the  imprisonment  of 
a  person  under  the  protection  of  the  laws 
of  this  commonwealth  on  his  failure  to 
obey  the  simple  order  of  the  President  to 
depart  out  of  the  United  States,  as  is  under 
taken  by  the  said  act,  entitled,  "  An  act 
concerning  aliens,"  is  contrary  to  the  Con 
stitution,   one  amendment  in  which  has 
provided,  that "  no  person  shall  be  deprived 
of  liberty  without  due  process  of  law," 
and,  that  another  having  provided,  "  that 
in  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused 
shall' enjoy  the  right  to  a  public  trial  by 
an  impartial  jury,  to  be  informed  as  to  the 
nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation,  to  be 
confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him, 
to  have  compulsory  process  for  obtaining 
witnesses  in  his  favor,  and  to  have  assist 
ance  of  counsel  for  his  defence,"  the  same 
act  undertaking  to  authorize  the  President 
to  remove  a  person  out  of  the  United  States 
who  is  under  the  protection  of  the  law,  on 
liis  own  suspicion,  without  jury,  without 
public  trial,  Avithout  confrontation  of  the 
witnesses  against  him,  without  having  wit 
nesses  in  his  favor,  without  defence,  with 
out  counsel,  is  contrary  to  these  provisions 
also  of  the  Constitution,  is  therefore  not 
law,  but  utterly  void  and  of  no  force. 

That  transferring  the  power  of  judging 
any  person  who  is  under  the  protection  of 
the  laws,  from  the  courts  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  as  is  undertaken  by 
the  same  act  concerning  aliens,  is  against 
the  article  of  the  Constitution  which  pro 
vides,  that  "the  judicial  power  of  the 
United  States  shall  be  vested  in  the  courts, 
the  judges  of  which  shall  hold  their  office 
during  good  behavior,"  and  that  the  said 
act  is  void  for  that  reason  also  ;  and  it  is 
further  to  be  noted  that  this  transfer  of 
judiciary  power  is  to  that  magistrate  of  the 
general  government  who  already  possesses 
all  the  executive,  and  a  qualified  negative 
in  all  the  legislative  powers. 

7.  Resolved,   That  the  construction  ap 
plied   by  the  general  government  (as  is 
evident  by  sundry  of  their  proceedings)  to 
those   parts  of   the  Constitution   of   the 
United  States  which  delegate  to  Congress 
power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  im 
posts,  excises ;  to  pay  the  debts,  and  pro 
vide  for  the  common  defence  and  general 


welfare  of  the  United  States,  and  to  make 
all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and 
proper  for  carrying  into  execution  the 
powers  vested  by  the  Constitution  in  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  or  any 
department  thereof,  goes  to  the  destruction 
of  all  the  limits  prescribed  to  their  power 
by  the  Constitution :  That  words  meant  by 
that  instrument  to  be  subsidiary  only  to 
the  execution  of  the  limited  powers,  ought 
not  to  be  so  construed  as  themselves  to  give 
unlimited  powers,  nor  a  partf  so  to  be  taken 
as  to  destroy  the  whole  residue  of  the  in 
strument:  That  the  proceedings  of  the 
general  government  under  color  of  those 
articles,  will  be  a  fit  and  necessary  subject 
for  revisal  and  correction  at  a  time  of 
greater  tranquillity,  while  those  specified  in 
the  preceding  resolutions  call  for  imme 
diate  redress. 

8.  Resolved,  That  the  preceding  resolu 
tions  be  transmitted  to  the  Senators  and 
Eepresentatives  in  Congress  from  this  com 
monwealth,  who  are  enjoined  to  present 
the  same  to  their  respective  Houses,  and 
to  use  their  best  endeavors  to  procure  at 
the  next  session  of  Congress  a  repeal  of 
the  aforesaid  unconstitutional  and  obnox 
ious  acts. 

9.  Resolved  lastly,  That  the  governor  of 
this  commonwealth  be,  and  is  hereby  au 
thorized  and  requested  to  communicate  the 
preceding  resolutions  to  the  legislatures  of 
the  several  states,  to  assure  them  that  this 
commonwealth  considers  union  for  special 
national    purposes,   and    particularly  for 
those  specified  in  their  late  federal  com 
pact,  to  be  friendly  to  the  peace,  happiness, 
and  prosperity  of  all  the  states — that,  faith 
ful  to  that  compact,  according  to  the  plain 
intent  and  meaning  in  which  it  was  under 
stood  and  acceded  to  by  the  several  parties, 
it  is  sincerely  anxious  for  its  preservation  ; 
that  it  does  also  believe,  that  to  take  from 
the  states  all  the  powers  of  self-govern 
ment,  and  transfer  them  to  a  general  and 
consolidated  government,  without  regard 
to  the  special  delegations  and  reservations 
solemnly  agreed  to  in  that  compact,  is  not 
for  the  peace,  happiness,  or  prosperity  of 
these  states  ;  and  that,  therefore,  this  com 
monwealth  is  determined,  as  it  doubts  not 
its  co-states  are,  to  submit  to  undelegated 
and  consequently  unlimited  powers  in  no 
man,  or  body  of  men  on  earth  :  that  if  the 
acts  before  specified  should  stand,  these 
conclusions  would  flow  from  them ;  that 
the  general  government  may  place  any  act 
they  think  proper  on  the  list  of  crimes  and 
punish  it  themselves,  whether  enumerated 
or  not  enumerated  by  the  Constitution  as 
cognisable  by  them  ;*that  they  may  trans 
fer  its  cognisance  to  the  President  or  any 
other  person,  who  may  himself  be  the  ac 
cuser,  counsel,  judge,  and  jury,  whose  sus 
picions  may  be  the  evidence,  his  order  the 
sentence,  his  officer  the  executioner,  and 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


13 


his  breast  the  sole  record  of  the  transac 
tion  ;  that  a  very  numerous  and  valuable 
description  of  the  inhabitants  of  these 
states,  being  by  this  precedent  reduced  as 
outlaws  to  the  absolute  dominion  of  one 
man  and  the  barriers  of  the  Constitution 
thus  swept  from  us  all,  no  rampart  now  re 
mains  against  the  passions  and  the  power 
of  a  majority  of  Congress,  to  protect  from 
a  like  exportation  or  other  grievous  pun 
ishment  the  minority  of  the  same  body, 
the  legislatures,  judges,  governors,  and 
counsellors  of  the  states,  nor  their  other 
peaceable  inhabitants  who  may  venture  to 
reclaim  the  constitutional  rights  and  liber 
ties  of  the  states  and  people,  or  who,  for 
other  causes,  good  or  bad,  may  be  obnox 
ious  to  the  view  or  marked  by  the  suspi 
cions  of  the  President,  or  to  be  thought  dan 
gerous  to  his  or  their  elections  or  other 
interests,  public  or  personal;  that  the 
friendless  alien  has  been  selected  as  the 
safest  subject  of  a  first  experiment ;  but 
the  citizen  will  soon  follow,  or  rather  has 
already  followed  ;  for,  already  has  a  sedi 
tion  act  marked  him  as  a  prey  :  that  these 
and  successive  acts  of  the  same  character, 
unless  arrested  on  the  threshold,  may  tend 
to  drive  these  states  into  revolution  and 
blood,  and  will  furnish  new  calumnies 
against  republican  governments,  and  new 
pretexts  for  those  who  wish  it  to  be  be 
lieved,  that  man  cannot  be  governed  but 
by  a  rod  of  iron  ;  that  it  would  be  a  dan 
gerous  delusion  were  a  confidence  in  the 
men  of  our  choice  to  silence  our  fears  for 
the  safety  of  our  rights ;  that  confidence  is 
everywhere  the  parent  of  despotism  ;  free 
government  is  found  in  jealousy  and  not 
in  confidence  ;  it  is  jealousy  and  not  con 
fidence  which  prescribes  limited  constitu 
tions  to  bind  down  those  whom  we  are 
obliged  to  trust  with  power  ;  that  our  Con 
stitution  has  accordingly  fixed  the  limits 
to  which,  and  no  farther,  our  confidence 
may  go ;  and  let  the  honest  advocate  of 
confidence  read  the  alien  and  sedition  acts, 
and  say  if  the  Constitution  has  not  been 
wise  in  fixing  limits  to  the  government  it 
created,  and  whether  we  should  be  wise  in 
destroying  those  limits  ?  Let  him  say  what 
the  government  is,  if  it  be  not  a  tyranny, 
which  the  men  of  our  choice  have  conferred 
on  the  President,  and  the  President  of  our 
choice  has  assented  to  and  accepted  over 
the  friendly  strangers,  to  whom  the  mild 
spirit  of  our  country  and  its  laws  had 
pledged  hospitality  and  protection ;  that 
the  men  of  our  choice  have  more  respected 
the  bare  suspicions  of  the  President  than 
the  solid  rights  of  innocence,  the  claims  of 
justification,  the  sacred  force  of  truth,  and 
the  forms  and  substance  of  law  and  justice. 
In  questions  of  power,  then,  let  no  more 
be  said  of  confidence  in  man,  but  bind  him 
down  from  mischief  by  the  chains  of  the 
Constitution.  That  this  Commonwealth 


does  therefore  call  on  its  co-states  for  an 
expression  of  their  sentiments  on  the  acts 
concerning  aliens,  and  for  the  punishment 
of  certain  crimes  hereinbefore  specified, 
plainly  declaring  whether  these  acts  are  or 
are  not  authorized  by  the  federal  compact. 
And  it  doubts  not  that  their  sense  will  be 
so  announced  as  to  prove  th^ir  attachment 
to  limited  government,  whether  general  or 
particular,  and  that  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  their  co-states  will  be  exposed  to  no 
dangers  by  remaining  embarked  on  a  com 
mon  bottom  with  their  own  :  but  they  will 
concur  with  this  commonwealth  in  consid 
ering  the  said  acts  as  so  palpably  against 
the  Constitution  as  to  amount  to  an  undis 
guised  declaration,  that  the  compact  is  not 
meant  to  be  the  measure  of  the  powers  of 
the  general  government,  but  that  it  will 
proceed  in  the  exercise  over  these  states  of 
all  powers  whatsoever.  That  they  will 
view  this  as  seizing  the  rights  of  the  states 
and  consolidating  them  in  the  hands  of  the 
general  government,  with  a  power  assumed 
to  bind  the  states  (not  merely  in  cases 
made  federal)  but  in  all  cases  whatsoever, 
by  laws  made,  not  with  their  consent,  but 
by  others  against  their  consent ;  that  this 
would  be  to  surrender  the  form  of  govern 
ment  we  Jiave  chosen,  and  live  under  one 
deriving  its  powers  from  its  own  will,  and 
not  from  our  authority ;  and  that  the  co- 
states  recurring  to  their  natural  rights  in 
cases  not  made  federal,  will  concur  in  de 
claring  these  void  and  of  no  force,  and  will 
each  unite  with  this  Commonwealth  in  re 
questing  their  repeal  at  the  next  session  of 
Congress. 

EDMUND  BULLOCK,  S.  H.  K. 

JOHN  CAMPBELL,     S.  P.  T. 

Passed  the  House  of  Representatives, 
Nov.  10,  1798. 

Attest,  THOS.  TODD,  C.  H.  E. 

In  Senate,  Nov.  13, 1798. — Unanimously 
concurred  in. 

.Attest,  B.  THURSTON,  C.  S. 

Approved,  Nov.  19, 1798. 

JAS.  GARRARD,  Gov.  of  Ky. 

By  the  Governor, 

HARRY  TOULMIN,  Sec.  of  State. 

House  of  Representatives,  Thursday, ) 
Nov.  14,  1799.  j 

The  House,  according  to  the  standing 
order  of  the  day,  resolved  itself  into  A 
committee  of  the  whole  House,  on  the  state 
of  the  commonwealth,  Mr.  Desha  in  the 
chair ;  and  after  some  time  spent  therein, 
the  speaker  resumed  the  chair,  and  Mr. 
Desha  reported  that  the  committee  had 
taken  under  consideration  sundry  resolu 
tions  passed  by  several  state  legislatures, 
on  the  subject  of  the  alien  and  sedition 
laws,  and  had  come  to  a  resolution  there 
upon,  which  he  delivered  in  at  the  clerk's 


14 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


table,  where  it  was  read  and  unanimously 
agreed  to  by  the  House,  as  follows : — 

The  representatives  of  the  good  people 
of  this  commonwealth,  in  General  Assem 
bly  convened,  having  maturely  considered 
the  answers  of  sundry  states  in  the  Union, 
to  their  resolutions  passed  the  last  session, 
respecting  certain  unconstitutional  laws  of 
Congress,  commonly  called  the  alien  and 
sedition  laws,  would  be  faithless,  indeed, 
to  themselves  and  to  those  they  represent, 
were  they  silently  to  acquiesce  in  the  prin 
ciples  and  doctrines  attempted  to  be  main 
tained  in  all  those  answers,  that  of  Vir 
ginia  only  excep ted.  To  again  enter  the 
field  of  argument,  and  attempt  more  fully 
or  forcibly  to  expose  the  unconstitutional 
ly  of  those  obnoxious  laws,  would,  it  is 
apprehended,  be  as  unnecessary  as  unavail 
ing.  We  cannot,  however,  but  lament 
that,  in  the  discussion  of  those  interesting 
subjects  by  sundry  of  the  legislatures  of 
our  sister  states,  unfounded  suggestions 
and  uncandid  insinuations,  derogatory  to 
the  true  character  and  principles  of  this 
commonwealth,  have  been  substituted  in 
place  of  fair  reasoning  and  sound  argu 
ment.  Our  opinions  of  these  alarming 
measures  of  the  general  government,  to 
gether  with  our  reasons  for  those  opinions, 
were  detailed  with  decency  and  with  tem 
per,  and  submitted  to  the  discussion  and 
judgment  of  our  fellow-citizens  throughout 
the  Union.  Whether  the  like  decency 
and  temper  have  been  observed  in  the  an 
swers  of  most  of  those  states  who  have 
denied  or  attempted  to  obviate  the  great 
truths  contained  in  those  resolutions,  we 
have  now  only  to  submit  to  a  candid  world. 
Faithful  to  the  true  principles  of  the  Fed 
eral  Union,  unconscious  of  any  designs  to 
disturb  the  harmony  of  that  Union,  and 
anxious  only  to  escape  the  fangs  of  despot 
ism,  the  good  people  of  this  common 
wealth  are  regardless  of  censure  or  calum 
niation.  Lest,  however,  the  silence  of 
this  commonwealth  should  be  construed 
into  an  acquiescence  in  the  doctrines  and 
principles  advanced  and  attempted  to  be 
maintained  by  the  said  answers,  or  lest 
those  of  our  fellow-citizens  throughout  the 
Union  who  so  widely  differ  from  us  on 
those  important  subjects,  should  be  deluded 
by  the  expectation,  that  we  shall  be  de 
terred  from  what  we  conceive  our  duty,  or 
shrink  from  the  principles  contained  in 
those  resolutions — therefore, 

Resolved,  That  this  commonwealth  con 
siders  the  Federal  Union,  upon  the  terms 
and  for  the  purposes  specified  in  the  late 
compact,  as  conducive  to  the  liberty  and 
happiness  of  the  several  states :  That  it 
does  now  unequivocally  declare  its  attach 
ment  to  the  Union,  and  to  that  compact, 
agreeably  to  its  obvious  and  real  intention, 
and  will  be  among  the  last  to  seek  its  dis 
solution  :  That  it  those  who  administer 


the  general  government  be  permitted  to 
transgress  the  limits  fixed  by  that  compact, 
by  a  total  disregard  to  the  special  delega 
tions  of  power  therein  contained,  an  anni 
hilation  of  the  state  governments,  and  the 
creation  upon  their  ruins  of  a  general  con 
solidated  government,  will  be  the  inevita 
ble  consequence:  That  the  principle  and 
construction  contended  for  by  sundry  of 
the  state  legislatures,  that  the  general  gov 
ernment  is  the  exclusive  judge  of  the  ex 
tent  of  the  powers  delegated  to  it,  stop 
nothing  short  of  despotism — since  the  dis 
cretion  of  those  who  administer  the  gov 
ernment,  and  not  the  Constitution,  would 
be  the  measure  of  their  powers :  That  the 
several  states  who  formed  that  instrument 
being  sovereign  and  independent,  have  the 
unquestionable  right  to  judge  of  the  in 
fraction  ;  and  that  a  nullification  by  those 
sovereignties  of  all  unauthorized  acts  done 
under  color  of  that  instrument  is  the  right 
ful  remedy :  That  this  commonwealth 
does,  under  the  most  deliberate  reconsid 
eration,  declare  that  the  said  alien  and 
sedition  laws  are,  in  their  opinion,  palpa 
ble  violations  of  the  said  Constitution; 
and,  however  cheerfully  it  may  be  disposed 
to  surrender  its  opinion  to  a  majority  of  its 
sister  states,  in  matters  of  ordinary  or 
doubtful  policy,  yet,  in  momentous  regula 
tions  like  the  present,  which  so  vitally 
wound  the  best  rights  of  the  citizen,  it 
would  consider  a  silent  acquiescence  as 
highly  criminal :  That  although  this  com 
monwealth,  as  a  party  to  the  federal  com 
pact,  will  bow  to  the  laws  of  the  Union, 
yet  it  does,  at  the  same  time,  declare  that 
it  will  not  now,  or  ever  hereafter,  cease  to 
oppose  in  a  constitutional  manner  every 
attempt,  at  what  quarter  soever  offered,  to 
violate  that  compact.  And,  finally,  in  or 
der  that  no  pretext  or  arguments  may  be 
drawn  from  a  supposed  acquiescence  on 
the  part  of  this  commonwealth  in  the  con 
stitutionality  of  those  laws,  and  be  thereby 
used  as  precedents  for  similar  future  viola 
tions  of  the  federal  compact— this  com 
monwealth  does  now  enter  against  them  its 
solemn  protest. 

Extract,  &c.   Attest,  T.  TODD,  C.  H.  R 
In  Senate,  Nov.  22, 1799— Head  and  con 
curred  in. 
Attest,  B.  THURSTON,  C.  S. 

Washington's  Farewell  Address  to  tlie  Peo 
ple  of  the  United  States,  Sept.  17,  1796. 

Accepted  as  a  Platform  for  the  People  of  the  Nation,  regard 
less  of  party. 

FRIENDS  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS: — 

The  period  for  a  new  election  of  a  citi 
zen  to  administer  the  executive  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  being  not  far 
distant,  and  the  time  actually  arrived  when 
your  thoughts  must  be  employed  in  desig 
nating  the  person  who  is  to  be  clothed  with 
that  important  trust,  it  appears  to  me  pro- 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


15 


per,  especially  as  it  may  conduce  to  a  more 
distinct  expression  of  the  public  voice,  that 
I  should  now  apprise  you  of  the  resolution 
I  have  formed  to  decline  being  considered 
among  the  number  of  those  out  of  whom  a 
choice  is  to  be  made.  I  beg  you,  at  the 
same  time,  to  do  me  the  justice  to  be  as 
sured  that  this  resolution  has  not  been 
taken  Avithout  a  strict  regard  to  all  the 
considerations  appertaining  to  the  relation 
which  binds  a  dutiful  citizen  to  his  coun 
try  ;  and  that  in  withdrawing  the  tender  of 
service,  which  silence,  in  my  situation, 
might  imply,  I  am  influenced  by  no  dimi 
nution  of  zeal  for  your  future  interests;  no 
deficiency  of  grateful  respect  of  your  past 
kindness ;  but  am  supported  by  a  full  con 
viction  that  the  step  is  compatible  with 
both. 

The  acceptance  of,  and  continuance 
hitherto  in,  the  office  to  which  your  sui- 
.frages  have  twice  called  me,  have  been  a 
uniform  sacrifice  of  inclination  to  the 
opinion  of  duty,  and  to  a  deference  for 
what  appeared  to  be  your  desire.  I  con 
stantly  hoped  that  it  would  have  been 
much  earlier  in  my  power,  consistently 
with  motives  which  I  was  not  at  liberty  to 
disregard,  to  return  to  that  retirement  from 
whicli  I  had  been  reluctantly  drawn.  The 
strength  of  my  inclination  to  do  this,  pre 
vious  to  the  last  election,  had  even  led  to 
the  preparation  of  an  address  to  declare  it 
to  you ;  but  mature  reflection  on  the  then 
perplexed  and  critical  posture  of  our  affairs 
with  foreign  nations,  and  the  unanimous 
advice  of  persons  entitled  to  my  confidence, 
impelled  me  to  abandon  the  idea. 

I  rejoice  that  the  state  of  your  concerns, 
external  as  well  as  internal,  no  longer  ren 
ders  the  pursuit  of  inclination  incompati 
ble  with  the  sentiment  of  duty  or  propriety ; 
and  am  persuaded,  whatever  partiality 
may  be  retained  for  my  services,  that,  in 
the  present  circumstances  of  our  country, 
you  will  not  disapprove  my  determination 
to  retire. 

The  impressions  with  which  I  first  un 
dertook  the  arduous  trust  were  explained 
on  the  proper  occasion.  In  the  discharge 
of  this  trust,  I  will  only  say,  that  I  have 
with  good  intentions  contributed  towards 
the  organization  and  administration  of  the 
government  the  best  exertions  of  which  a 
very  fallible  judgment  was  capable.  Not 
unconscious  in  the  outset  of  the  inferiority 
of  my  qualifications,  experience,  in  my 
own  eyes — perhaps  still  more  in  the  eyes 
of  others — has  strengthened  the  motives  to 
diffidence  of  myself;  and  every  day  the  in 
creasing  weight  of  years  admonishes  me, 
more  and  more,  that  the  abode  of  retire 
ment  is  as  necessary  to  me  as  it  will  be 
welcome.  Satisfied  that  if  any  circum 
stances  have  given  peculiar  value  to  my 
services,  they  were  temporary,  I  have  the 
consolation  to  believe  that,  while  choice 


and  prudence  invite  me  to  quit  the  politi 
cal  scene,  patriotism  does  not  forbid  it. 

In  looking  forward  to  the  moment  which 
is  intended  to  terminate  the  career  of  my 
public  life,  my  feelings  do  not  permit  me 
to  suspend  the  deep  acknowledgment  of 
that  debt  of  gratitude  which  I  owe  to  my 
beloved  country  for  the  many  honors  it 
has  conferred  upon  me ;  still  more  for  the 
steadfast  confidence  with  which  it  has 
supported  me ;  and  for  the  opportunities  I 
have  thence  enjoyed  of  manifesting  my 
inviolable  attachment,  by  services  faithful 
and  persevering,  though  in  usefulness  un 
equal  to  my  zeal.  If  benefits  have  re 
sulted  to  our  country  from  these  services, 
let  it  always  be  remembered  to  your 
praise,  and  as  an  instructive  example  in 
our  annals,  that  under  circumstances  in 
which  the  passions,  agitated  in  every  direc 
tion,  were  liable  to  mislead ;  amidst  ap 
pearances  sometimes  dubious,  vicissitudes 
of  fortune  often  discouraging ;  in  situations 
in  which,  not  unfrequently,  want  of  suc 
cess  has  countenanced  the  spirit  of  criti 
cism, — the  constancy  of  your  support  was 
the  essential  prop  of  the  efforts,  and  a 
guarantee  of  the  plans,  by  which  they 
were  effected.  Profoundly  penetrated  by 
this  new  idea,  I  shall  carry  it  wif.h  me  to 
my  grave,  as  a  strong  incitement  to  un 
ceasing  vows,  that  Heaven  may  continue 
to  you  the  choicest  tokens  of  its  benefi 
cence  ;  that  union  and  brotherly  affection 
may  be  perpetual ;  that  the  free  Constitu 
tion,  which  is  the  work  of  your  hands, 
may  be  sacredly  maintained ;  that  its  ad 
ministration,  in  every  department,  may  be 
stamped  with  wisdom  and  virtue ;  that  in 
fine,  the  happiness  of  the  people  of  these 
states,  under  the  auspices  of  liberty,  may 
be  made  complete,  by  so  careful  a  preser 
vation  and  so  prudent  a  use  of  this  blessing 
as  will  acquire  to  them  the  glory  of  recom 
mending  it  to  the  applause,  the  affection, 
and  the  adoption  of  every  nation  which  is 
yet  a  stranger  to  it. 

Here,  perhaps,  I  ought  to  stop;  but  a 
solicitude  for  your  welfare,  which  cannot 
end  but  with  my  life,  and  the  apprehen 
sion  of  danger  natural  to  that  solicitude, 
urge  me,  on  an  occasion  like  the  present, 
to  offer  to  your  solemn  contemplation,  and 
to  recommend  to  your  frequent  review, 
some  sentiments,  which  are  the  result  of 
much  reflection,  of  no  inconsiderable  ob 
servation,  and  which  appear  to  me  all-im 
portant  to  the  permanency  of  your  felicity 
as  a  people.  These  will  be  afforded  to  you 
with  the  more  freedom,  as  you  can  only 
see  in  them  the  disinterested  warning  of  a 
parting  friend,  who  can  possibly  have  no 
personal  motive  to  bias  his  counsel ;  nor 
can  I  forget,  as  an  encouragement  to  it, 
your  indulgent  reception  of  my  sentiments 
on  a  former  and  not  dissimilar  occasion. 

Interwoven  as  is  the  love  of  liberty  with 


16 


AMERICAN,  POLITICS. 


every  ligament  of  your  hearts,  no  recom 
mendation  of  mine  is  necessary  to  fortify 
or  confirm  the  attachment. 

The  unity  of  government  which  consti 
tutes  you  one  people,  is  also  now  dear  to 
you.  It  is  justly  so ;  for  it  is  a  main  pillar 
in  the  edifice  of 'your  real  independence — 
the  support  of  your  tranquillity  at  home, 
your  peace  abroad,  of  your  safety,  of  your 
prosperity,  of  that  very  liberty  which  you 
so  highly  prize.  But  as  it  is  easy  to  foresee 
that,  from  different  causes  and  from  differ 
ent  quarters,  much  pains  will  be  taken, 
many  artifices  employed,  to  weaken  in 
your  minds  the  conviction  of  this  truth ; 
as  this  is  the  point  in  your  political  fortress 
against  which  the  batteries  of  internal  and 
external  enemies  will  be  most  constantly 
and  actively,  (though  often  covertly  and 
insidiously)  directed, —  it  is  of  infinite  mo 
ment  that  you  should  properly  estimate  the 
immense  value  of  your  national  union  to 
your  collective  and  individual  happiness ; 
that  you  should  cherish  a  cordial,  habitual, 
and  immovable  attachment  to  it;  accus 
toming  yourself  to  think  and  speak  of  it  as 
of  the  palladium  of  your  political  safety 
and  prosperity,  watching  for  its  preserva 
tion  with  jealous  anxiety;  discountenan 
cing  whatever  may  suggest  even  a  suspicion 
that  it  can,  in  any  event,  be  abandoned ; 
and  indignantly  frowning  upon  the  first 
dawning  of  every  attempt  to  alienate  any 
portion  of  our  country  from  the  rest,  or  to 
enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  which  now  link  to 
gether  the  various  parts. 

For  this  you  have  every  inducement  of 
sympathy  and  interest.  Citizens,  by  birth 
or  choice,  of  a  common  country,  that  coun 
try  has  a  right  to  concentrate  your  affec 
tions.  The  name  of  American,  which  be 
longs  to  you  in  your  national  capacity, 
must  always  exalt  the  just  pride  of  patri 
otism,  more  than  appellations  derived' from 
local  discriminations.  With  slight  shades 
of  difference,  you  have  the  same  religion, 
manners,  habits,  and  political  principles. 
You  have,  in  a  common  cause,  fought  and 
triumphed  together ;  the  independence  and 
liberty  you  possess  are  the  work  of  joint 
counsels  and  joint  efforts,  of  common  dan 
gers,  sufferings,  and  successes.  But  these 
considerations,  however  powerfully  they 
address  themselves  to  yotfr  sensibility,  are 
generally  outweighed  by  those  which  ap 
ply  more  immediately  to  your  interest; 
here  eveiy  portion  of  our  country  finds  the 
most  commanding  motives  for  carefully 
guarding  and  preserving  the  union  of  the 
whole. 

The  North,  in  an  unrestrained  inter 
course  with  the  South,  protected  by  the 
equal  laws  of  a  common  government,  finds, 
in  the  productions  of  the  latter,  great  ad 
ditional  resources  of  maritime  and  com 
mercial  enterprise,  and  precious  materials 
of  manufacturing  industry.  The  South-,  in 


[  the  same  intercourse  benefiting  by  the 
agency  of  the  North,  sees  its  agriculture 
grow,  and  its  commerce  expanded.  Turn 
ing  partly  into  its  own  channels  the  sea 
men  of  the  North,  it  finds  its  particular 
navigation  invigorated ;  and  while  it  con 
tributes,  in  different  ways,  to  nourish  and 
increase  the  general  mass  of  the  national 
navigation,  it  looks  forward  to  the  protec 
tion  of  a  maritime  strength  to  which  itself 
is  unequally  adapted.  The  East,  in  like 
intercourse  with  the  West,  already  finds, 
and  in  the  progressive  improvement  of  in 
terior  communication,  by  land  and  by 
water,  will  more  and  more  find,  a  valuable 
vent  for  the  commodities  which  each  brings 
from  abroad  or  manufactures  at  home.  The 
West  derives  from  the  East  supplies  re 
quisite  to  its  growth  or  comfort,  and  what 
is  perhaps  of  stili  greater  consequence,  it 
must,  of  necessity,  owe  the  secure  enjoy 
ment  of  indispensable  outlets  for  its  own 
productions,  to  the  weight,  influence,  and 
the  maritime  strength  of  the  Atlantic  side 
of  the  Union,  directed  by  an  indissoluble 
community  of  interests  as  one  nation.  Any 
other  tenure  by  which  the  West  can  hold 
this  essential  advantage,  whether  derived 
from  its  own  separate  strength,  or  from  an 
apostate  and  unnatural  connexion  with  any 
foreign  power,  must  be  intrinsically  pre 
carious. 

While,  then,  every  part  of  our  country 
thus  feels  an  immediate  and  particular  in 
terest  in  union,  all  the  parts  combined  can 
not  fail  to  find,  in  the  united  mass  of 
means  and  efforts,  greater  strength,  greater 
resource,  proportionably  greater  security 
from  external  danger,  a  less  frequent  inter 
ruption  of  their  peace  by  foreign,  nations ; 
and  what  is  of  inestimable  value,  they  must 
derive  from  union  an  exemption  from  those 
broils  and  wars  between  themselves,  which 
so  frequently  afflict  neighboring  countries, 
not  tied  together  by  the  same  government ; 
which  their  own  rivalship  alone  would  be 
sufficient  to  produce,  but  which  opposite 
foreign  alliances,  attachments  and  intrigues, 
would  stimulate  and  embitter.  Hence, 
likewise,  they  will  avoid  the  necessity  of 
those  overgrown  military  establishments, 
which,  under  any  form  of  government,  are 
inauspicious  to  liberty,  and  which  are  to 
be  regarded  as  particularly  hostile  to  re 
publican  liberty ;  in  this  sense  it  is  that 
your  union  ought  to  be  considered  as  a 
main  prop  of  your  liberty,  and  that  the 
love  of  one  ought  to  endear  to  you  the  pre 
servation  of  the  other. 

These  considerations  speak  a  persuasive 
language  to  every  reflecting  and  virtuous 
mind,  and  exhibit  the  continuance  of  the 
Union  as  a  primary  object  of  patriotic  de 
sire.  Is  there  a  doubt,  whether  a  common 
government  can  embrace  so  large  a  sphere  ? 
Let  experience  solve  it.  To  listen  to  mere 
speculation,  in  such  a  case,  were  criminal. 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


17 


We  are  authorized  to  hope,  that  a  proper 
organization  of  the  whole,  with  the  aux 
iliary  agency  of  governments  for  the  re 
spective  subdivisions,  will  afford  a  happy 
issue  to  the  experiment.  It  is  well  worth 
a  fair  and  full  experiment.  With  such 
powerful  and  obvious  motives  to  Union, 
affecting  all  parts  of  our  country,  while  ex 
perience  shall  not  have  demonstrated  its 
impracticability,  there  will  always  be  rea 
son  to  distrust  the  patriotism  of  those  who, 
in  any  quarter,  may  endeavor  to  weaken 
its  bands. 

In  contemplating  the  causes  which  may 
disturb  our  Union,  it  occurs  as  a  matter  of 
serious  concern,  that  any  ground  should 
have  been  furnished  for  characterizing 
parties  by  geographical  discriminations — 
Northern  and  Southern — Atlantic  and 
Western :  whence  designing  men  may  en 
deavor  to  excite  a  belief  that  there  is  a  real 
difference  of  local  interests  and  views.  One 
of  the  expedients  of  party  to  acquire  in 
fluence  within  particular  districts,  is  to 
misrepresent  the  opinions  and  aims  of  oth 
er  districts.  You  cannot  shield  yourselves 
too  much  against  the  jealousies  and  heart 
burnings  which  spring  from  these  misrep 
resentations  ;  they  tend  to  render  alien  to 
each  other  those  who  ought  to  be  bound 
together  by  paternal  affection.  The  inhabi 
tants  of  our  Western  country  have  lately 
had  a  useful  lesson  on  this  head ;  they  have 
seen  in  the  negotiation  by  the  executive, 
and  in  the  unanimous  ratification  by  the 
Senate,  of  the  treaty  with  Spain,  and  in  the 
universal  satisfaction  at  that  event  through 
out  the  United  States,  decisive  proof  how 
unfounded  were  the  suspicions  propagated 
among  them,  of  a  policy  in  the  general 
government,  and  in  the  Atlantic  States, 
unfriendly  to  their  interest  in  regard  to  the 
Mississippi — that  with  Great  Britain,  and 
that  with  Spain,  which  secure  to  them 
everything  they  could  desire  in  respect  to 
our  foreign  relations,  towards  confirming 
their  prosperity.  Will  it  not  be  their  wis 
dom  to  rely  for  the  preservation  of  these 
advantages  on  the  Union  by  which  they 
were  procured?  Will  they  not  henceforth 
be  deaf  to  those  advisers,  if  such  there  are, 
who  would  sever  them  from  their  brethren, 
and  connect  them  with  aliens? 

To  the  efficacy  and  permanency  of  your 
Union  a  government  of  the  whole  is  indis 
pensable.  No  alliance,  however  strict  be 
tween  the  parties,  can  be  an  adequate  sub 
stitute  ;  they  must  inevitably  experience 
the  infractions  and  interruptions  which  all 
alliances,  in  all  time,  have  experienced. 
Sensible  of  this  momentous  truth,  you 
have  improved  upon  your  first  essay,  by 
the  adoption  of  a  Constitution  of  govern 
ment,  better  calculated  than  your  former 
for  an  intimate  union,  and  for  the  effica 
cious  management  of  your  common  con 
cerns.  This  government,  the  offspring  of 


our  own  choice,  uninfluenced  and  unawed 
— adopted  upon  full  investigation  and  ma 
ture  deliberation,  completely  free  in  its 
principles,  in  the  distribution  of  its  powers 
— uniting  security  with  energy,  and  con 
taining  within  itself  a  pro  vision  for  its  own 
amendment,  has  a  just  claim  to  your  con 
fidence  and  your  support.  Eespect  for  its 
authority,  compliance  with  its  laws,  ac 
quiescence  in  its  measures,  are  duties  en 
joined  by  the  fundamental  maxims  of  true 
liberty.  The  basis  of  our  political  system 
is  the  right  of  the  people  to  make  and  to 
alter  their  Constitutions  of  government; 
but  the  Constitution  which  at  any  time 
exists,  till  changed  by  an  explicit  and 
authentic  act  of  the  whole  people,  is  sacred 
ly  obligatory  upon  all.  The  very  idea  of 
the  power  and  right  of  the  people  to  estab 
lish  government,  presupposes  the  duty  of 
every  individual  to  obey  the  established 
government. 

All  obstruction  to  the  execution  of  laws, 
all  combinations  and  associations  under 
whatever  plausible  character,  with  the 
real  design  to  direct,  control,  counteract,  or 
awe  the  regular  deliberation  and  action  of 
the  constituted  authorities,  are  destructive 
to  this  fundamental  principle,  and  of  fatal 
tendency.  They  serve  to  organize  faction, 
to  give  it  an  artificial  and  extraordinary 
force,  to  put  in  the  place  of  the  delegated 
will  of  the  nation,  the  will  of  a  party,  often 
a  small  but  artful  and  enterprising  minority 
of  the  community ;  and,  according  to  the 
alternate  triumphs  of  different  parties,  to 
make  the  public  administration  the  mirror 
of  the  ill-concerted  and  incongruous  pro 
jects  of  fashion,  rather  than  the  organ  of 
consistent  and  wholesome  plans,  digested 
by  common  counsels  and  modified  by  mu 
tual  interests. 

However  combinations  or  associations  of 
the  above  description  may  now  and  then 
answer  popular  ends,  they  are  likely,  in 
the  course  of  time  and  things,  to  become 
potent  engines,  by  which  cunning,  am 
bitious,  and  unprincipled  men  will  be 
enabled  to  subvert  the  power  of  the  people, 
and  to  usurp  for  themselves  the  reins  of 
government;  destroying,  afterwards,  the 
very  engines  which  had  lifted  them  to  un 
just  dominion. 

Towards  the  preservation  of  your  gov 
ernment,  and  the  permanency  of  your 
present  happy  state,  it  is  requisite,  not  only 
that  you  steadily  discountenance  irregular 
oppositions  to  its  acknowledged  authority, 
but  also  that  you  resist  with  care  the  spirit 
of  innovation  upon  its  principles,  however 
specious  the  pretexts.  One  method  of  as 
sault  may  be  to  effect,  in  the  forms  of  the 
Constitution,  alterations  which  will  impair 
the  energy  of  the  system,  and  thus  to  un 
dermine  what  cannot  be  directly  over 
thrown.  In  all  the  changes  to  which  you 
may  be  invited,  remember  that  time  and 


18 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


habit  are  at  least  as  necessary  to  fix  the 
true  character  of  governments  as  of  other 
human  institutions ;  that  experience  is  the 
surest  standard  by  which  to  test  the  real 
tendency  of  the  existing  constitution  of  a 
country ;  that  facility  in  changes,  upon  the 
credit  of  mere  hypothesis  and  opinion  ex 
poses  to  perpetual  change,  from  the  end 
less  variety  of  hypothesis  and  opinion  ;  and 
remember,  especially,  that  for  the  efficient 
management  of  your  common  interests,  in 
a  country  so  extensive  as  ours,  a  govern 
ment  of  as  much  vigor  as  is  consistent  with 
the  perfect  security  of  liberty  is  indispen 
sable.  Liberty  itself  will  find  in  such  a 
government,  with  powers  properly  distri- 
uted,  and  adjusted,  its  surest  guardian. 
It  is,  indeed,  little  else  than  a  name,  where 
the  government  is  too  feeble  to  withstand 
the  enterprise  of  faction,  to  confine  each 
member  of  the  society  within  the  limits  de 
scribed  by  the  laws,  and  to  maintain  all 
in  the  secure  and  tranquil  enjoyment  of 
the  rights  of  person  and  property. 

I  have  already  intimated  to  you  the 
danger  of  parties  in  the  state  with  particu 
lar  reference  to  the  founding  of  them  on 
geographical  discriminations.  Let  me 
now  take  a  more  comprehensive  view,  and 
warn  you,  in  the  most  solemn  manner, 
against  the  baneful  effects  of  the  spirit  of 
party  generally. 

This  spirit,  unfortunately,  is  inseparable 
from  our  nature,  having  its  root  in  the 
strongest  passions  of  the  human  mind.  It 
exists  under  different  shapes  in  all  govern 
ments,  more  or  less  stifled,  controlled,  or 
repressed ;  but  in  those  of  the  popular 
form  it  is  seen  in  its  greatest  rankness,  and 
is  truly  their  worst  enemy. 

The  alternate  domination  of  one  faction 
over  another,  sharpened  by  the  spirit  of 
revenge,  natural  to  party  dissensions, 
which,  in  different  ages  and  countries,  has 
perpetrated  the  most  horrid  enormities,  is 
itself  a  frightful  despotism.  But  this 
leads,  at  length,  to  a  more  formal  and 
permanent  despotism.  The  disorders  and 
miseries  which  result,  gradually  incline 
the  minds  of  men  to  seek  security  and  re 
pose  in  the  absolute  power  of  an  indi 
vidual  ;  and  sooner  or  later,  the  chief  of 
some  prevailing  faction,  more  able  or  more 
fortunate  than  his  competitors,  turns  this 
disposition  to  the  purposes  of  his  own  ele 
vation  on  the  ruins  of  public  liberty. 

Without  looking  forward  to  an  ex 
tremity  of  this  kind  (which,  nevertheless, 
ought  not  to  be  entirely  out  of  sight),  the 
common  and  continual  mischiefs  of  the 
spirit  of  party  are  sufficient  to  make  it  the 
interest  and  duty  of  a  wise  people  to  dis 
courage  and  restrain  it. 

It  serves  always  to  distract  the  public 
councils,  and  enfeeble  the  public  adminis 
tration.  It  agitates  the  community  with 
ill-founded  jealousies  and  false  alarms; 


kindles  the  animosity  of  one  part  against 
another;  foments,  occasionally,  riot  and 
insurrection.  It  opens  the  door  to  foreign 
influence  and  corruption,  which  find  a 
facilitated  access  to  the  government  itself, 
through  the  channels  of  party  passions. 
Thus  the  policy  and  the  will  of  one  coun 
try  are  subjected  to  the  policy  and  will  of 
another. 

There  is  an  opinion  that  parties,  in  free 
countries,  are  useful  checks  upon  the  ad 
ministration  of  the  government,  and  serve 
to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of  liberty.  This, 
within  certain  limits,  is  probably  true; 
and  in  governments  of  a  monarchical  cast, 
patriotism  may  look  with  indulgence,  if 
not  with  favor,  upon  the  spirit  of  party. 
But  in  those  of  the  popular  character,  in 
governments  purely  elective,  it  is  a  spirit 
not  to  be  encouraged.  From  their  natural 
tendency,  it  is  certain  there  will  always  be 
enough  of  that  spirit  for  every  salutary 
purpose.  And  there  being  constant  dan 
ger  of  excess,  the  effort  ought  to  be,  by 
force  of  public  opinion,  to  mitigate  and 
assuage  it.  A  fire  not  to  be  quenched,  it 
demands  a  uniform  vigilance  to  prevent 
its  bursting  into  a  flame,  lest,  instead  of 
warming,  it  should  consume. 

It  is  important,  likewise,  that  the  habits 
of  thinking,  in  a  free  country,  should  in 
spire  caution  in  those  intrusted  with  its 
administration,  to  confine  themselves  with 
in  their  respective  constitutional  spheres, 
avoiding,  in  the  exercise  of  the  powers  of 
one  department,  to  encroach  upon  another. 
The  spirit  of  encroachment  tends  to  con 
solidate  the  powers  of  all  the  departments  in 
one,  and  thus  to  create,  whatever  the  form 
of  government,  a  real  despotism.  A  just 
estimate  of  that  love  of  power,  and  prone- 
ness  to  abuse  it,  which  predominates  in 
the  human  heart,  is  sufficient  to  satisfy  us 
of  the  truth  of  this  position. 

The  necessity  of  reciprocal  checks  in  the 
exercise  of  political  power,  by  dividing 
and  distributing  it  into  different  deposito 
ries,  and  constituting  each  the  guardian 
of  the  public  weal,  against  invasions  by 
the  others,  has  been  evinced  by  experi 
ments,  ancient  and  modern;  some  of  them 
in  our  own  country,  and  under  our  own 
eyes.  To  preserve  them  must  be  as  neces 
sary  as  to  institute  them.  If,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  people,  the  distribution  or 
modification  of  the  constitutional  powers 
be,  in  any  particular,  wrong,  let  it  be  cor 
rected  by  an  amendment  in  the  way  which 
the  Constitution  designates.  But  let  there 
be  no  change  by  usurpation;  for  though 
this,  in  one  instance,  may  be  the  instru 
ment  of  good,  it  is  the  customary  weapon 
by  which  free  governments  are  destroyed. 
The  precedent  must  always  greatly  over 
balance,  in  permanent  evil,  any  partial  or 
transient  benefit  which  the  use  can  at  any 
time  yield. 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which 
lead  to  political  prosperity,  religion  and 
morality  are  indispensable  supports.  In 
vain  would  that  man  claim  the  tribute  of 
patriotism,  who  should  labor  to  subvert 
these  great  pillars  of  human  happiness, 
these  firmest  props  of  the  duties  of  men 
and  citizens.  The  mere  politician,  equally 
with  the  pious  man,  ought  to  respect  and 
cherish  them.  A  volume  could  not  trace 
all  their  connexions  with  private  and  pub 
lic  felicity.  Let  it  simply  be  asked,  where 
is  the  security  for  property,  for  reputation, 
for  life,  if  the  sense  of  religious  obligation 
desert  the  oaths  which  are  the  instruments 
of  investigation  in  courts  of  justice?  And 
let  us  with  caution  indulge  the  supposition, 
that  morality  can  be  maintained  without 
religion.  Whatever  may  be  conceded  to 
the  influence  of  refined  education  on  minds 
of  peculiar  structure,  reason  and  experi 
ence  both  forbid  us  to  expect  that  national 
morality  can  prevail  in  exclusion  of  re 
ligious  principles.  It  is  substantially  true, 
that  virtue  or  morality  is  a  necessary 
spring  of  popular  government.  The  rule, 
indeed,  extends  with  more  or  less  force  to 
every  species  of  free  government.  Who, 
that  ia  a  sincere  friend  to  it,  can  look  with 
indifference  upon  attempts  to  shake  the 
foundation  of  the  fabric? 

Promote  then,  as  an  object  of  primary 
importance,  institutions  &>r  the  general 
diffusion  of  knowledge.  In  proportion  as 
the  structure  of  a  government  gives  force 
to  public  opinion,  it  is  essential  that  pub 
lic  opinion  should  be  enlightened. 

As  a  very  important  source  of  strength 
and  securitv,  cherish  public  credit.  One 
method  of  preserving  it  is  to  use  it  as  spar 
ingly  as  possible,  avoiding  occasions  of 
expense  by  cultivating  peace,  but  remem 
bering  also  that  timely  disbursements  to 
prepare  for  da-iger  frequently  prevent 
much  greater  disbursements  to  repel  it ; 
avoiding,  likewise,  the  accumulation  of 
debt,  not  only  by  shunning  occasions  of 
expense,  but  by  vigorous  exertions  in  time 
of  peace  to  discharge  the  debts  which  un 
avoidable  wars  may  have  occasioned ;  not 
ungenerously1  throwing  upon  posterity  the 
burden  which  we  ourselves  ought  to  bear. 
The  execution  of  these  maxims  belongs  to 
your  representatives,  but  it  is  necessary 
that  public  opinion  should  co-operate.  To 
facilitate  to  them  the  performance  of  their 
duty,  it  is  essential  that  you  should  practi 
cally  bear  in  mind,  that  toward  the  payments 
of  debts  there  must  be  revenues ;  that  to 
have  revenue  there  must  be  taxes ;  that  no 
taxes  can  be  devised,  which  are  not  more 
or  less  inconvenient  and  unpleasant ;  that 
the  intrinsic  embarrassment  inseparable 
from  the  selection  of  the  proper  objects 
(which  is  alwavs  a  choice  of  difficulties) 
ought  to  be  a  decisive  moment  for  a  can 
did  construction  of  the  conduct  of  the 


government  in  making  it,  and  for  a  spirit 
of  acquiescence  in  the  measure  for  obtain 
ing  revenue,  which  the  public  exigencies 
may  at  any  time  dictate. 

Observe  good  faith  and  justice  towards 
all  nations ;  cultivate  peace  and  harmony 
with  all ;  religion  and  morality  enjoin  this 
conduct;  and  can  it  be  that  good  policy 
does  not  equally  enjoin  it?  It  will  be 
worthy  of  a  free,  enlightened,  and  at  no 
distant  period  a  great  nation,  to  give  to 
mankind  the  magnanimous  and  too  novel 
example  of  a  people  always  guided  by  an 
exalted  justice  and  benevolence.  Who 
can  doubt  that,  in  the  course  of  time  and 
things,  the  fruits  of  such  a  plan  would 
richly  repay  any  temporary  advantages 
which  might  be  lost  by  a  steady  adherence 
to  it  ?  Can  it  be  that  Providence  has  not 
connected  the  permanent  felicity  of  a  na 
tion  with  its  virtue?  The  experiment,  at 
least,  is  recommended  by  every  sentiment 
which  ennobles  human  nature.  Alas!  is 
it  rendered  impossible  by  its  vices  ? 

In  the  execution  of  such  a  plan,  nothing 
is  more  essential  than  that  permanent,  in 
veterate  antipathies  against  particular  na 
tions,  and  passionate  attachment  for  others, 
should  be  excluded :  and  that  in  place  of 
them,  just  and  amicable  feelings  towards 
all  should  be  cultivated.  The  nation 
which  indulges  towards  another  an  habitual 
hatred,  or  an  habitual  fondness,  is,  in  some 
degree,  a  slave.  It  is  a  slave  to  its  ani 
mosity  or  to  its  affection  ;  either  of  which 
is  sufficient  to  lead  it  astray  from  its  duty 
and  its  interest.  Antipathy  in  one  nation 
against  another,  disposes  each  more  readily 
to  offer  insult  and  injury,  to  lay  hold  of 
slight  causes  of  umbrage,  and  to  be  haughty 
and  untractable,  when  accidental  or  trifling 
occasions  of  dispute  occur.  Hence  fre 
quent  collisions,  obstinate,  envenomed,  and 
bloody  contests.  The  nation,  prompted  by 
ill-will  and  resentment,  sometimes  impels 
to  war  the  government,  contrary  to  the  best 
calculations  of  policy.  The  government 
sometimes  participates  in  the  national 
propensity,  and  adopts,  through  passion, 
what  reason  would  reject;  at  other  times 
it  makes  the  animosity  of  the  nation  sub 
servient  to  projects  of  hostility,  instigated 
by  pride,  ambition,  and  other  sinister  and 
pernicious  motives.  The  peace  often,  some 
times  perhaps  the  liberty,  of  nations  has 
been  the  victim. 

So  likewise  a  passionate  attachment  of 
one  nation  to  another  produces  a  variety 
of  evils.  Sympathy  for  the  favorite  na 
tion,  facilitating  the  illusion  of  an  im 
aginary  common  interest,  in  cases  where 
no  real  common  interest  exists,  and  infus 
ing  into  one  the  enmities  of  the  other, 
betrays  the  former  into  a  participation  in 
the  quarrels  and  wars  of  the  latter,  without 
adequate  inducement  or  justification.  It 
leads  also  to  concessions  to  the  favorite 


20 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


nation  of  privileges  denied  to  others,  which 
is  apt  doubly  to  injure  the  nation  making 
the  concessions ;  by  unnecessarily  parting 
with  what  ought  to  have  been  retained, 
and  by  exciting  jealousy,  ill-will,  and  a 
disposition  to  retaliate,  in  the  parties  from 
whom  equal  privileges  are  withheld ;  and 
it  gives  to  ambitious,  corrupted,  or  de 
luded  citizens  (who  devote  themselves 
to  the  i'avorite  nation)  facility  to  betray,  or 
sacrifice  the  interest  of  their  own  country, 
without  odium ;  sometimes  even  with  popu 
larity  ;  gilding  with  the  appearance  of  a 
virtuous  sense  of  obligation,  a  commend 
able  deference  for  public  opinion,  or  a 
laudable  zeal  for  public  good,  the  base  or 
foolish  compliances  of  ambition,  corrup 
tion,  or  infatuation. 

As  avenues  to  foreign  influence  in  in 
numerable  ways,  such  attachments  are 
particularly  alarming  to  the  truly  enlight 
ened  and  independent  patriot.  How  many 
opportunities  do  they  afford  to  tamper 
with  domestic  factions,  to  practice  the  art 
of  seduction,  to  mislead  public  opinion,  to 
influence  or  awe  the  public  councils? 
Such  an  attachment  of  a  small  or  weak, 
towards  a  great  and  powerful  nation,  dooms 
the  former  to  be  the  satellite  of  the  latter. 

Against  the  insidious  wiles  of  foreign 
influence  (I  conjure  you  to  believe  me, 
fellow-citizens),  the  jealousy  of  a  free  peo 
ple  ought  to  be  constantly  awake ;  since 
history  and  experience  prove  that  foreign 
influence  is  one  of  the  most  baneful  foes 
of  republican  government.  But  that 
jealousy,  to  be  useful,  must  be  impar 
tial  ;  else  it  becomes  the  instrument  of  the 
very  influence  to  be  avoided,  instead  of  a 
defence  against  it.  Excessive  partiality 
for  one  foreign  nation,  and  excessive  dis 
like  for  another,  cause  those  whom  they 
actuate  to  see  danger  only  on  one  side,  ancl 
serve  to  veil,  and  even  second,  the  arts  of 
influence  on  the  other.  Heal  patriots,  who 
may  resist  the  intrigues  of  the  i'avorite,  are 
liable  to  become  suspected  and  odious; 
while  its  tools  and  dupes  usurp  the  ap 
plause  and  confidence  of  the  people,  to 
surrender  their  interests. 

The  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us,  in  re 
gard  to  .foreign  nations,  is,  in  extending 
our  commercial  relations,  to  have  with 
them  as  little  political  connexion  as  possi 
ble.  So  far  as  we  have  already  formed 
engagements,  let  them  be  fulfilled  with 
perfect  good  faith.  There  let  us  stop. 

Europe  has  a  set  of  primary  interests, 
which  to  us  have  none,  or  a  very  remote 
relation.  Hence  she  must  be  engaged  in 
frequent  controversies,  the  causes  of  which 
are  essentially  foreign  to  our  concerns. 
Hence,  therefore,  it  must  be  unwise  in  us 
to  implicate  ourselves,  by  artificial  ties,  in 
the  ordinary  vicissitudes  of  her  politics,  or 
the  ordinary  combinations  and  collisions 
of  her  friendships  or  enmities. 


Our  detached  and  distant  situation  in 
vites  and  enables  us  to  pursue  a  different 
course.  If  we  remain  one  people  under 
an  efficient  government,  the  period  is  not 
far  off  when  we  may  defy  material  injury 
from  external  annoyance ;  when  we  may 
take  such  an  attitude  as  will  cause  the 
neutrality  we  may  at  any  time  resolve 
upon,  to  be  scrupulously  respected  ;  when 
belligerent  nations,  under  the  impossibility 
of  making  acquisitions  upon  us,  will  not 
lightly  hazard  the  giving  us  provocation ; 
when  we  may  choose  peace  or  war,  as  our 
interests,  guided  by  justice,  shall  counsel. 

Why  forego  the  advantages  of  so  pecu 
liar  a  situation?  Why  quit  our  own  to 
stand  upon  foreign  ground?  Why,  by  in 
terweaving  our  destiny  with  that  of  any 
part  of  Europe,  entangle  our  peace  and 
prosperity  in  the  toils  of  European  ambi 
tion,  rivalship,  interest,  humor,  or  caprice  ? 

It  is  our  true  policy  to  steer  clear  of 
permanent  alliances  with  any  portion  of 
the  foreign  world ;  so  far,  I  mean,  as  we 
are  now  at  liberty  to  do  it;  for  let  me  not 
be  understood  as  capable  of  patronizing 
infidelity  to  existing  engagements.  I  hold 
the  maxim  no  less  applicable  to  public 
than  to  private  affairs,  that  honesty  is  al 
ways  the  best  policy.  I  repeat  it,  there 
fore,  let  those  engagements  be  observed  in 
their  genuine  sense.  But,  in  my  opinion, 
it  is  unnecessary,  and  would  be  unwise  to 
extend  them. 

Taking  care  always  to  keep  ourselves,  by 
suitable  establishments,  on  a  respectable 
defensive  posture,  we  may  safely  trust  to 
temporary  alliances  for  extraordinary 
emergencies. 

Harmony,  and  a  liberal  intercourse  with 
all  nations,  are  recommended  by  policy, 
humanity,  and  interest.  But  even  our  com 
mercial  policy  should  hold  an  equal  and 
impartial  hand;  neither  seeking  nor  grant 
ing  exclusive  favors  or  preferences;  con 
sulting  the  natural  cause  of  things ;  diffus 
ing  and  diversifying,  by  gentle  means,  the 
streams  of  commerce,  by  forcing  nothing ; 
establishing,  with  powers  so  disposed,  in 
order  to  give  trade  a  stable  course,  to  de 
fine  the  rights  of  our  merchants,  and  to 
enable  the  government  to  support  them, 
conventional  rules  of  intercourse,  the  best 
that  present  circumstances  and  mutual 
opinions  will  permit,  but  temporary,  and 
liable  to  be,  from  time  to  time,  abandoned 
or  varied,  as  experience  and  circumstances 
shall  dictate ;  constantly  keeping  in  view, 
that  it  is  folly  in  one  nation  to  look  for  dis 
interested  favors  from  another;  that  it 
must  pay,  with  a  portion  of  its  independ 
ence,  for  whatever  it  may  accept  under 
that  character ;  that  by  such  acceptance  it 
may  place  itself  in  the  condition  of  hav 
ing  given  equivalents  for  nominal  favors, 
and  yet  of  being  reproached  with  ingrati 
tude  for  not  giving  more.  There  can  be 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


21 


no  greater  error  than  to  expect,  or  calcu 
late  upon,  real  favors  from  nation  to  nation. 
It  is  an  illusion  which  experience  must 
cure,  which  a  just  pride  ought  to  discard. 

In  offering  to  you,  my  countrymen,  these 
counsels  of  an  old  and  affectionate  friend, 
I  dare  not  hope  they  will  make  the  strong 
and  lasting  impression  I  could  wish  ;  that 
they  will  control  the  usual  current  of  the 
passions,  or  prevent  our  nation  from  run 
ning  the  course  wt  ich  has  hitherto  marked 
the  destiny  of  nations ;  but  if  I  may  even 
flatter  myself  that  they  may  be  productive 
of  some  partial  benefit,  some  occasional 
good ;  that  they  may  now  and  then  recur 
to  moderate  the  fury  of  party  spirit,  to 
warn  against  the  mischiefs  of  foreign  in 
trigues,  to  guard  against  the  impostures  of 
pretended  patriotism ;  this  hope  will  be  a 
full  recompense  for  the  solicitude  for  your 
welfare  by  which  they  have  been  dictated. 

How  far,  in  the  discharge  of  my  official 
duties,  I  have  been  guided  by  the  princi 
ples  which  have  been  delineated,  the  pub 
lic  records,  and  other  evidences  of  my  con 
duct,  must  witness  to  you  and  the  world. 
To  myself,  the  assurance  of  my  own  con 
science  is,  that  I  have  at  least  believed  my 
self  to  be  guided  by  them. 

In  relation  to  the  still  subsisting  war  in 
Europe,  my  proclamation  of  the  23d  of 
April,  1793,  is  the  index  to  my  plan. 
Sanctioned  by  your  approving  voice,  and 
by  that  of  your  representatives  in  both 
Houses  of  Congress,  the  spirit  of  that 
measure  has  continually  governed  me,  un 
influenced  by  any  attempts  to  deter  or  di 
vert  me  from  it. 

After  deliberate  examination,  with  the 
aid  of  the  best  lights  I  could  obtain,  I  was 
well  satisfied  that  our  country,  under  all 
the  circumstances  of  the  case,  had  a  right 
to  take,  and  was  bound  in  duty  and  inter- 
eat  to  take  a  neutral  position.  Having 
taken  it,  I  determined,  as  far  as  should 
depend  upon  me,  to  maintain  it  with  mod 
eration,  perseverance,  and  firmness. 

The  considerations  which  respect  the 
right  to  hold  this  conduct,  it  is  not  neces 
sary  on  this  occasion  to  detail.  I  will  only 
observe,  that,  according  to  my  understand 
ing  of  the  matter,  that  right,  so  far  from 
being  denied  by  any  of  the  belligerent 
powers,  has  been  virtually  admitted  by  all. 

The  duty  of  holding  neutral  conduct 
may  be  inferred,  without  anything  more, 
from  the  obligation  which  justice  and  hu 
manity  impose  on  every  nation,  in  cases  in 
which  it  is  free  to  act,  to  maintain  invio 
late  the  relations  of  peace  and  unity  to 
wards  other  nations. 

The  inducements  of  interests,  for  observ 
ing  that  conduct,  will  best  be  referred  to 
your  own  reflections  and  experience. 
With  me,  a  predominant  motive  has  been 
to  endeavor  to  gain  time  to  our  country  to 
settle  and  mature  its  yet  recent  institutions, , 


and  to  progress,  without  interruption,  to 
that  degree  of  strength  and  consistency 
which  is  necessary  to  give  it,  humanly 
speaking,  the  command  of  its  own  for 
tunes. 

Though,  in  reviewing  the  incidents  of 
my  administration,  I  am  unconscious  of 
intentional  error;  I  am,  nevertheless,  too 
sensible  of  my  defects  not  to  think  it  pro 
bable  that  I  may  have  committed  many 
errors.  Whatever  they  may  be,  I  fervently 
beseech  the  Almighty  to  avert  or  mitigate 
the  evils  to  which  they  may  tend.  I  shall 
also  carry  with  me  the  hope,  that  my  coun 
try  will  never  come  to  view  them  with  in 
dulgence  ;  and  that,  after  forty -five  years 
of  my  life  dedicated  to  its  service  with  an 
upright  zeal,  the  faults  of  incompetent 
abilities  will  be  consigned  to  oblivion,  as 
myself  must  soon  be  to  the  mansions  of 
rest. 

Kelying  on  its  kindness  in  this,  as  in 
other  things,  and  actuated  by  that  fervent 
love  towards  it  which  is  so  natural  to  a 
man  who  views  in  it  the  native  soil  of 
himself  and  his  progenitors  for  several 
generations,  I  anticipate,  with  pleasing  ex 
pectation,  that  retreat  in  which  I  promise 
myself  to  realize,  without  alloy,  the  sweet 
enjoyment  of  partaking,  in  the  midst  of 
my  fellow-citizens,  the  benign  influence  of 
good  laws  under  a  free  government — the 
ever  favorite  object  of  my  heart — and 
happy  reward,  as  I  trust,  of  our  mutual 
cares,  labors,  and  dangers. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 
United  States,  17th  of  Sept.,  1796. 


1800.— No  Federal  Platform. 


Republican  Platform,  Philadelphia. 

Adopted  in  Congressional  Caucus, 

1.  An    inviolable    preservation  of  the 
Federal  constitution,  according  to  the  true 
sense  in  which  it  was  adopted  by  the  states, 
that    in    which  it  was  advocated  by  its 
friends,  and  not  that  which  its  enemies 
apprehended,    who,     therefore,      became 
its  enemies. 

2.  Opposition  to  monarchizing  its  fea 
tures  by  the  forms  of  its  administration, 
with  a  view  to  conciliate  a  transition,  first, 
to  a  president  and    senate  for  life;   and, 
secondly,  to  an  hereditary  tenure  of  those 
offices,  and  thus  to  worm*  out  the  elective 
principle. 

3.  Preservation  to  the  states  of  the  pow 
ers  not  yielded  by  them  to  the  Union,  and 
to  the  legislature  of  the  Union  its  constitu 
tional  share  in  division  of  powers;  and  re 
sistance,  therefore,  to  existing  movements 
for  transferring  all  the  powers  of  the  states 


22 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


to  the  general  government,  and  all  of  those 
of  that  government  to  the  executive 
branch. 

,  4.  A  rigorously  frugal  administration  of 
the  government,  and  the  application  ox>  all 
the  possible  savings  of  the  public  revenue 
to  the  liquidation  of  the  public  debt ;  and 
resistance,  therefore,  to  all  measures  look 
ing  to  a  multiplication  of  officers  and  sala 
ries,  merely  to  create  partisans  and  to  aug- 
'  ment  the  public  debt,  on  the  principle  of 
its  being  a  public  blessing. 

5.  Eeliance  for  internal  defense  solely 
upon  the  militia,  till  actual  invasion,  and 
ior  such  a  naval  force  only  as  may  be  suf 
ficient  to  protect  our   coasts  and  harbors 
from  depredations ;  and  opposition,  there- 
lore,  to  the  policy  of  a  standing  army  in 
time  of  peace  which  may  overawe  the  pub 
lic  sentiment,  and  to  a  navy,  which,  by  its 
own  expenses,  and  the  wars  in  which  it 
will  implicate  us,  will  grind  us  with  pub 
lic  burdens  and  sink  us  under  them. 

6.  Free  commerce  with  all  nations,  po 
litical  connection  with  none,  and  little  or 
no  diplomatic  establishment. 

7.  Opposition  to  linking  ourselves,  by 
new  treaties,  with  the  quarrels  of  Europe, 
entering  their  fields  of  slaughter  to  pre 
serve  their  balance,  or  joining  in  the  con 
federacy  of  kings  to  war  against  the  princi 
ples  of  liberty. 

8.  Freedom  of  religion,  and  opposition 
to  all  maneuvers  to  bring  about  a  legal  as 
cendency  of  one  sect  over  another. 

9.  Freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  ; 
and  opposition,  therefore,  to  all  violations 
of  the  constitution,  to  silence,  by  force,  and 
not  by  reason,  the  complaints  or  criticisms, 
just  or  unjust,  of  our  citizens  against  the 
conduct  of  their  public  agents. 

10.  Liberal  naturalization    laws,  under 
which  the  well  disposed  of  all  nations  who 
may  desire  to  embark  their  fortunes  with 
us  and  share  with  us  the  public  burdens, 
may  have  that  oppportunity,  under  mode 
rate  restrictions,  for  the  development  of 
honest  intention,  and  severe  ones  to  guard 
against  the  usurpation  of  our  flag. 

11  Encouragement  of  science  and  the 
arts  in  all  their  branches,  to  the  end  that 
the  American  people  may  perfect  their  in 
dependence  of  all  foreign  monopolies,  in 
stitutions  and  influences. 


1801—  1811.—  No  Platforms. 

(No  Convention  or  Caucus   held.) 


o  Republican  Platform. 


No  Federal  Platform. 


Clintoiiian  Platform. 

New  York,  August  17. 

1.  Opposition  to  nominations  of  chief 
magistrates  by  congressional  caucuses,  as 
well  because  such  practices  are  the  exer 
cise  of  undelegated  authority,  as  of  their 
repugnance  to  the  freedom  of  elections. 

2.  Opposition  to  all  customs  and  usages 
in  both  the  executive  and  legislative  de 
partments  which  have  for  their  object  the 
maintenance  of  an  official  regency  to  pre 
scribe  tenets  of  political  faith,  the  line  of 
conduct  to  be  deemed  fidelity  or  recreancy 
to  republican  principles,  and  to  perpetuate 
in  themselves  or  families  the  offices  of  the 
Federal  government. 

3.  Opposition  to  all  efforts  on  the  part  of 
particular  states  to  monopolize  the  princi 
pal  offices  of  the  government,  as  well  be 
cause  of  their  certainty  to  destroy  the  har 
mony  which  ought  to  prevail  amongst  all 
the  constituent  parts  of  the  Union,  as  of 
their  leanings  toward  a  form  of  oligarchy 
entirely  at  variance  with  the  theory  of  re 
publican  government ;  and,  consequently, 
particular  opposition  to  continuing  a  citi 
zen  of  Virginia  in  the  executive  office  an 
other  term,  unless  she  can  show  that  she 
enjoys  a  corresponding  monopoly  of  talents 
and  patriotism,  after  she  has  been  honored 
with   the  presidency    for  twenty  out    of 
twenty-four  years  of  our  constitutional  ex 
istence,  and  when  it  is  obvious  that  the 
practice     has    arrayed    the     agricultural 
against  the  commercial    interests  of  the 
country. 

4.  Opposition  to  continuing  public  men 
for  long  periods  in  offices  of  delicate  trust 
and  weighty  responsibility  as  the  reward 
of  public  services,  to  the  detriment  of  all 
or  any  particular  interest  in,  or  section  of, 
the   country;    and,   consequently,   to  the 
continuance  of  Mr.  Madison  in  an  office 
which,  in  view  of  our  pending  difficulties 
with  Great  Britain,  requires  an  incumbent 
of  greater  decision,  energy  and  efficiency. 

6.  Opposition  to  the  lingering  inadequa 
cy  of  preparation  for  the  war  with  Great 
Britain,  now  about  to  ensue,  and  to  the 
measure  which  allows  uninterrupted  trade 
with  Spain  and  Portugal,  which,  as  it  can 
not  be  carried  on  under  our  flag,  gives  to 
Great  Britain  the  means  of  supplying  her 
armies  with  provisions,  of  which  they 
would  otherwise  be  destitute,  and  thus  af 
fording  aid  and  comfort  to  our  enemy. 

6.  Averment  of  the  existing    necessity 
for  placing  the  country  in  a  condition  for 
aggressive  action  for  the  conquest  of  the  Bri 
tish  American  Provinces  and  for  the  defence 
of  our  coasts  and  exposed  frontiers:  and  of 
the  propriety  of  such  a  levy  of  taxes  as  will 
raise  the  necessary  funds  for  the  emergency. 

7.  Advocacy  of  the  election  of  De  Witt 
Clinton  as  the  surest  method  of  relieving 
the  country  from  all  the  evils  existing  and 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


prospective,  for  the  reason  that  his  great 
talents  and  inflexible  patriotism  guaranty 
a  firm  and  unyielding  maintenance  of  our 
national  sovereignty,  and  the  protection  of 
those  commercial  interests  which  were 
nagging  under  the  weakness  and  imbecility 
of  the  administration. 


1815.— Resolutions  passed  by  the  Hartford 
Convention,  January  4. 

Resolved,  That  it  be  and  is  hereby  re 
commended  to  the  legislatures  of  the  seve 
ral  states  represented  in  this  convention,  to 
adopt  all  such  measures  as  may  be  neces 
sary  effectually  to  protect  the  citizens  of 
said  states  from  the  operation  and  effects  of 
all  acts  which  have  been  or  may  be  passed 
by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
which  shall  contain  provisions  subjecting 
the  militia  or  other  citizens  to  forcible 
drafts,  conscriptions,  or  impressments  not 
authorized  by  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

Resolved,  That  it  be  and  is  hereby  re 
commended  to  the  said  legislatures,  to  au 
thorize  an  immediate  and  an  earnest  ap 
plication  to  be  made  to  the  government  of 
the  United  States,  requesting  their  consent 
to  some  arrangement  whereby  the  said 
states  may,  separately  or  in  concert,  be 
empowered  to  assume  upon  themselves  the 
defense  of  their  territory  against  the  ene 
my,  and  a  reasonable  portion  of  the  taxes 
collected  within  said  states  may  be  paid 
into  the  respective  treasuries  thereof,  and 
appropriated  to  the  balance  due  said  states 
and  to  the  future  defense  of  the  same. 
The  amount  so  paid  into  said  treasuries  to 
be  credited,  and  the  disbursements  made 
as  aforesaid  to  be  charged  to  the  United 
States. 

Resolved,  That  it  be  and  hereby  is  re 
commended  to  the  legislatures  of  the  afore 
said  states,  to  pass  laws  where  it  has  not 
already  been  done,  authorizing  the  gov 
ernors  or  commanders-in-chief  of  their  mi 
litia  to  make  detachments  from  the  same, 
or  to  form  voluntary  corps,  as  shall  be 
most  convenient  and  conformable  to  their 
constitutions,  and  to  cause  the  same  to  be 
well  armed,  equipped,  and  held  in  readi 
ness  for  service,  and  upon  request  of  the 
governor  of  either  of  the  other  states,  to 
employ  the  whole  of  such  detachment  or 
corps,  as  well  as  the  regular  forces  of  the 
state,  or  such  part  thereof  as  may  be  re 
quired,  and  can  be  spared  consistently  with 
the  safety  of  the  state,  in  assisting  the  state 
making  such  request  to  repel  any  invasion 
thereof  which  shall  be  made  or  attempted 
by  the  public  enemy. 

Resolved,  That  the  following  amendments 
of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  be 
recommended  to  the  states  represented  as 
99 


aforesaid,  to  be  proposed  by  them  for 
adoption  by  the  state  legislatures,  and  in 
such  cases  as  may  be  deemed  expedient  by 
a  convention  chosen  by  the  people  of  each 
state.  And  it  is  further  recommended  that 
the  said  states  shall  persevere  in  their  ef 
forts  to  obtain  such  amendments,  until  the 
same  shall  be  effected. 

First.  Eepresentatives  and  direct  taxes 
shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several 
states  which  may  be  included  within  this 
Union,  according  to  their  respective  num 
bers  of  free  persons,  including  those  bound 
to  serve  for  a  term  of  years,  and  excluding 
Indians  not  taxed,  and  all  other  persons; 

Second.  No  new  state  shall  be  admitted 
into  the  Union  by  Congress,  in  virtue  of 
the  power  granted  in  the  constitution, 
without  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of 
both  houses ; 

Third.  Congress  shall  not  have  power  to 
lay  an  embargo  on  the  ships  or  vessels  of  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  in  the  ports  or 
harbors  thereof,  for  more  than  sixty  days ; 

Fourth.  Congress  shall  not  have  power, 
without  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of 
both  houses,  to  interdict  the  commercial 
intercourse  between  the  United  States  and 
any  foreign  nation  or  the  dependencies 
thereof; 

Fifth.  Congress  shall  not  make  nor  de 
clare  war,  nor  authorize  acts  of  hostility 
against  any  foreign  nation,  without  the 
concurrence  of  two-thirds  of  both  houses, 
except  such  acts  of  hostility  be  in  defense 
of  the  territories  of  the  United  States  when 
actually  invaded ; 

Sixth.  No  person  who  shall  hereafter  be 
naturalized  shall  be  eligible  as  a  member 
of  the  Senate  or  House  of  Eepresentatives 
of  the  United  States,  or  capable  of  holding 
any  civil  office  under  the  authority  of  the 
United  States ; 

Seventh.  The  same  person  shall  not  be 
elected  President  of  the  United  States  a 
second  time,  nor  shall  the  President  be 
elected  from  the  same  state  two  terms  in 
succession. 

Resolved,  That  if  the  application  of  these 
states  to  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  recommended  in  a  foregoing  resolu 
tion,  should  be  unsuccessful,  and  peace 
should  not  be  concluded,  and  the  defense 
of  these  states  should  be  neglected,  as  it  has 
been  since  the  commencement  of  the  war, 
it  will,  in  the  opinion  of  this  convention, 
be  expedient  for  the  legislatures  of  the 
several  states  to  appoint  delegates  to  an 
other  convention,  to  meet  at  Boston,  in  the 
state  of  Massachusetts,  on  the  third  Mon 
day  of  June  next,  with  such  powers  and 
instructions  as  the  exigency  of  a  crisis  so 
momentous  may  require. 

Resolved,  That  the  Honorable  George 
Cabot,  the  Honorable  Chauncey  Goodrich, 
the  Honorable  Daniel  Lyman,  or  any  two 
of  them,  be  authorized  to  call  another 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


meeting  of  this  convention,  to  be  holden 
in  Boston  at  any  time  before  new  delegates 
shall  be  chosen  as  recommended  in  the 
above  resolution,  if  in  their  judgment  the 
situation  of  the  country  shall  urgently  re 
quire  it. 


From  1813-1829.— No  Platforms   by   either 

political  party,  except  that  at  Hartford 

by  Federalists,  given  above. 


1830.— Anti-masonic  resolution, 

Philadelphia,  September. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  recommended  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  opposed  to 
secret  societies,  to  meet  in  convention  on 
Monday,  the  26th  day  of  September,  1831, 
at  the  city  of  Baltimore,  by  delegates  equal 
in  number  to  their  representatives  in  both 
Houses  of  Congress,  to  make  nominations 
of  suitable  candidates  for  the  offices  of 
President  and  Vice-President,  to  be  sup 
ported  at  the  next  election,  and  for  the 
transaction  of  such  other  business  as  the 
cause  of  Anti-Masonry  may  require. 


1838.— National  Democratic  Platform, 
adopted  at  a  ratification  Meeting 

at  Washington  City,  May  11. 

Resolved,  That  an  adequate  protection 
to  American  industry  is  indispensable  to 
the  prosperity  of  the  country ;  and  that  an 
abandonment  of  the  policy  at  this  period 
would  be  attended  with  consequences  ruin 
ous  to  the  best  interests  of  the  nation. 

Resolved,  That  a  uniform  system  of  in 
ternal  improvements,  sustained  and  sup 
ported  by  the  general  government,  is  calcu 
lated  to  secure,  in  the  highest  degree,  the 
harmony,  the  strength  and  permanency  of 
the  republic. 

Resolved,  That  the  indiscriminate  remo 
val  of  public  officers  for  a  mere  difference 
of  political  opinion,  is  a  gross  abuse  of 
power ;  and  that  the  doctrine  lately  boldly 
preached  in  the  United  States  Senate,  that 
"  to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils  of  the 
vanquished,"  is  detrimental  to  the  interests, 
corrupting  to  the  morals,  and  dangerous  to 
the  liberties  of  the  country. 


1836.—"  Locofoco  "  Platform, 

New  York,  January. 

We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident, 
that  all  men  are  created  free  and  equal  ; 
that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  inalienable  rights,  among 
which  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness ;  that  the  true  foundation  of  re 


publican  government  is  the  equal  rights  of 
every  citizen  in  his  person  and  property, 
and  in  their  management ;  that  the  idea  is 
quite  unfounded  that  on  entering  into 
society  we  give  up  any  natural  right ;  that 
the  rightful  power  of  all  legislation  is  to 
declare  and  enforce  only  our  natural  rights 
and  duties,  and  to  take  none  of  them  from 
us ;  that  no  man  has  the  natural  right  to 
commit  aggressions  on  the  equal  rights  of 
another,  and  this  is  all  from  which  the 
law  ought  to  restrain  him ;  that  every  man 
is  under  the  natural  duty  of  contributing 
to  the  necessities  of  society,  and  this  all 
the  law  should  enforce  on  him ;  that  when 
the  laws  have  declared  and  enforced  all 
this,  they  have  fulfilled  their  functions. 

We  declare  unqualified  hostility  to  bank 
notes  and  paper  money  as  a  circulating 
medium,  because  gold  and  silver  is  the  only 
safe  and  constitutional  currency ;  hostility 
to  any  and  all  monopolies  by  legislation, 
because  they  are  violations  of  equal  rights 
of  the  people ;  hostility  to  the  dangerous 
and  unconstitutional  creation  of  vested 
rights  or  prerogatives  by  legislation,  be 
cause  they  are  usurpations  of  the  people's 
sovereign  rights ;  no  legislative  or  other 
authority  in  the  body  politic  can  rightful 
ly,  by  charter  or  otherwise,  exempt  any 
man  or  body  of  men,  in  any  case  whatever, 
from  trial  by  jury  and  the  jurisdiction  or 
operation  of  the  laws  which  govern  the 
community. 

We  hold  that  each  and  every  law  or  act 
of  incorporation,  passed  by  preceding  le 
gislatures,  can  be  rightfully  altered  and  re 
pealed  by  their  successors ;  and  that  they 
should  be  altered  or  repealed,  when  neces 
sary  for  the  public  good,  or  when  required 
by  a  majority  of  the  people. 


1836.- Whig  Resolutions, 

Albaiaj,  N.  Y.,  February  3. 

Resolved,  That  in  support  of  our  cause, 
we  invite  all  citizens  opposed  to  Martin 
Van  Buren  and  the  Baltimore  nominees. 

Resolved,  That  Martin  Van  Buren,  by 
intriguing  with  the  executive  to  obtain  his 
influence  to  elect  him  to  the  presidency, 
has  set  an  example  dangerous  to  our  free 
dom  and  corrupting  to  our  free  institutions* 

Resolved,  That  the  support  we  render  to 
William  H.  Harrison  is  by  no  means  given 
to  him  solely  on  account  of  his  brilliant 
and  successful  services  as  leader  of  our 
armies  during  the  last  war,  but  that  in 
him  we  view  also  the  man  of  high  intellect, 
the  stern  patriot,  uncontaminated  by  the 
machinery  of  hackneyed  politicians — a 
man  of  the  school  of  Washington. 

Resolved,  That  in  Francis  Granger  we 
recognize  one  of  our  most  distinguished 
fellow-citizens,  whose  talents  we  admire, 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


25 


whose  patriotism  we  trust,  and  whose  prin 
ciples  we  sanction. 


1839.— Abolition  Resolution, 

Warsaw,  N.  T.,  November  13. 

Resolved,  That,  in  our  judgment,  every 
consideration  of  duty  and  expediency 
which  ought  to  control  the  action  of  Chris 
tian  freemen,  requires  of  the  Abolitionists 
of  the  United  States  to  organize  a  distinct 
and  independent  political  party,  embracing 
all  the  necessary  means  for  nominating 
candidates  for  office  and  sustaining  them 
by  public  suffrage. 


Abolition  Platforms. 

The  first  national  platform  of  the  Aboli 
tion  party  upon  which  it  went  into  the 
contest  in  1840,  favored  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and 
Territories ;  the  inter-state  slave-trade,  and 
a  general  opposition  to  slavery  to  the  fiill 
extent  of  constitutional  power. 

In  1848,  that  portion  of  the  party  which 
did  not  support  the  Buffalo  nominees  took 
the  ground  of  affirming  the  constitutional 
authority  and  duty  of  the  General  Govern 
ment  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  States. 

Under  the  head  of  "  Buffalo,"  the  plat 
form  of  the  Free  Soil  party,  which  nomi 
nated  Mr.  Van  Buren,  will  be  found. 


1840.— Democratic  Platform, 

Baltimore,  May  5. 

Resolved,  That  the  Federal  government 
is  one  of  limited  powers,  derived  solely 
from  the  constitution,  and  the  grants  of 
power  shown  therein  ought  to  be  strictly 
construed  by  all  the  departments  and  agents 
of  the  government,  and  that  it  is  inexpe 
dient  and  dangerous  to  exercise  doubtful 
constitutional  powers. 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  constitution  does 
not  confer  upon  the  general  government 
the  power  to  commence  and  carry  on  a 
general  system  of  internal  improvements. 

3.  Resolved,  That  the  constitution  does 
not  confer  authority  upon  the    Federal 
government,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  as 
sume  the  debts  of  the  several  states,  con 
tracted  for  local  internal  improvements  or 
other  state  purposes ;  nor  would  such  as 
sumption  be  just  or  expedient. 

4.  Resolved,  That  justice  and  sound  po 
licy  forbid    the  Federal    government   to 
foster  one  branch  of  industry  to  the  detri 
ment  of  another,  or  to  cherish  the  interests 
of  one  portion  to  the  injury  of  another 
portion  of  our  common  country — that  every 
citizen  and  every  section  of  the  country 


has  a  right  to  demand  and  insist  upon  an 
equality  of  rights  and  privileges,  and  to 
complete  and  ample  protection  of  persons 
and  property  from  domestic  violence  or 
foreign  aggression. 

5.  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  every 
branch  of  the  government  to  enforce  and 
practice  the  most  rigid  economy  in  con 
ducting  our  public  affairs,   and  that  no 
more  revenue  ought  to  be  raised  than  is 
required  to  defray  the  necessary  expenses 
of  the  government. 

6.  Resolved,  That  Congress  has  no  power 
to  charter  a  United  States  bank ;  that  we 
believe  such  an  institution  one  of  deadly 
hostility  to  the  best  interests  of  the  coun 
try,  dangerous  to  our  republican  institu 
tions  and  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and 
calculated  to  place  the  business  of  the 
country  within  the  control  of  a  concen 
trated  money  power,  and  above  the  laws 
and  the  will  of  the  people. 

7.  Resolved,  That  Congress  has  no  power 
under  the  constitution,  to  interfere  with  or 
control  the  domestic  institutions  of   the 
several  states ;  and  that  such  states  are  the 
sole  and  proper  judges  of  everything  per 
taining  to  their  own  affairs,  not  prohibited 
by  the  constitution;   that  all  efforts,   by 
Abolitionists  or  others,   made  to  induce 
Congress  to  interfere  with  questions    of 
slavery,  or  to  take  incipient  steps  in  rela 
tion  thereto,  are  calculated  to  lead  to  the 
most  alarming  and  dangerous  consequen 
ces,  and  that  all  such  efforts  have  an  inevi 
table  tendency  to  diminish  the  happiness 
of  the  people,  and  endanger  the  stability 
and  permanence  of  the  Union,  and  ought 
not  to  be  countenanced  by  any  friend  to 
our  political  institutions. 

8.  Resolved,  That  the  separation  of  the 
moneys  of  the  government  from  banking 
institutions  is  indispensable  for  the  safety 
of  the  funds  of  the  government  and  the 
rights  of  the  people. 

9.  Resolved,  That  the  liberal  principles 
embodied  by  Jefferson  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and   sanctioned  in  the 
constitution,,  which  makes  ours  the  land  of 
liberty  and  the  asylum  of  the  oppressed  of 
every  nation,  have  ever  been  cardinal  prin 
ciples  in  the  democratic  faith ;  and  every 
attempt  to  abridge  the  present  privilege 
of  becoming  citizens,  and  the  owners  of 
soil  among  us,  ought  to  be  resisted  with 
the  same  spirit  which  swept  the  alien  and 
sedition  laws  from  our  statute  book. 

Whereas,  Several  of  the  states  which 
have  nominated  Martin  Van  Buren  as  a 
candidate  for  the  presidency,  have  put  in 
nomination  different  individuals  as  candi 
dates  for  Vice-President,  thus  indicating  a 
diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  person  best 
entitled  to  the  nomination ;  and  whereas, 
some  of  the  said  states  are  not  represented 
in  this  convention ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  convention  deem  it 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


expedient  at  the  present  time  not  to  choose 
between  the  individuals  in  nomination, 
but  to  leave  the  decision  to  their  repub 
lican  fellow-citizens  in  the  several  states, 
trusting  that  before  the  election  shall  take 
place,  their  opinions  will  become  so  con 
centrated  as  to  secure  the  choice  of  a  Vice- 
President  by  the  electoral  college. 


1843.— Liberty  Platform. 

Buffalo,  August  30. 

1.  Resolved,  That  human  brotherhood  is 
a  cardinal  principle  of  true  democracy,  as 
well  as  of  pure  Christianity,  which  spurns 
all  inconsistent  limitations ;   and  neither 
the  political  party  which  repudiates  it,  nor 
the  political  system  which  is  not    based 
upon  it,  can  be  truly  democratic  or  per 
manent. 

2.  Resolved,   That  the  Liberty  party, 
placing  itself  upon  this  broad  principle, 
will  demand  the  absolute  and  unqualified 
divorce  of  the  general  government  from 
slavery,  and  also  the  restoration  of  equal 
ity  of  rights  among  men,  in  every  state 
where  the  party  exists,  or  may  exist. 

3.  Resolved,  That  the  Liberty  party  has 
not  been  organized  for  any  temporary  pur 
pose    by  interested    politicians,  but    has 
arisen  from  among  the  people  in   conse 
quence  of   a  conviction,  hourly  gaining 
ground,  that  no  other  party  in  the  country 
represents  the  true  principles  of  American 
liberty,  or  the  true  spirit  of  the  constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States. 

4.  Resolved,  That  the  Liberty  party  has 
not  been  organized  merely  for  the  over 
throw  of  slavery ;  its  first  decided  effort 
must,  indeed,  be  directed  against  slave- 
holding  as  the  grossest  and  most  revolting 
manifestation  of  despotism,  but  it  will  also 
carry  out  the  principle  of  equal  rights  into 
all  its  practical  consequences  and  applica 
tions,  and  support  every  just  measure  con 
ducive  to  individual  and  social  freedom. 

5.  Resolved,  That  the  Liberty  party  is 
not  a  sectional  party  but  a  national  party ; 
was  not  originated  in  a  desire  to  accom 
plish  a  single  object,  but  in  a  comprehen 
sive  regard  to  the  great  interests  of  the 
whole  country  ;  is  not  a  new  party,  n0r  a 
third  party,  but  is  the  party  of  1776,  re 
viving  the  principles  of  that  memorable 
era,  and  striving  to  carry  them  into  prac 
tical  application. 

6.  Resolved,  That  it  was  understood  in  the 
times  of  the  declaration  and  the  constitu 
tion,  that  the  existence  of  slavery  in  some 
of  the  states  was  in  derogation  of  the  prin 
ciples  of  American   liberty,  and  a  deep 
stain  upon  the  character  of  the  country, 
and  the  implied  faith  of  the  states  and  the 
nation  was    pledged  that   slavery  should 
tiever  be  extended  beyond  its  then  exist 


ing  limits,  but  should  be  gradually,  and 
yet,  at  no  distant  day,  wholly  abolished  by 
state  authority. 

7.  Resolved,  That  the  faith  of  the  states 
and    the  nation  thus  pledged,  was  most 
nobly  redeemed  by  the  voluntary  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  in  several  of  the  states,  and 
by  the  adoption  of  the  ordinance  of  1787, 
for  the  government  of  the  territory  north 
west  of  the  river  Ohio,  then  the  only  ter 
ritory  in  the  United   States,  and   conse 
quently  the  only  territory  subject  in  this 
respect    to    the    control  of  Congress,   by 
which  ordinance  slavery  was  forever  ex 
cluded  from  the  vast  regions  which  now 
compose  the  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Michigan,  and  the  territory  of  Wisconsin, 
and  an  incapacity  to  bear  up  any  other 
than  freemen  was  impressed  on  the  soil 
itself. 

8.  Resolved,  That  the  faith  of  the  states 
and  the  nation  thus  pledged,   has    been 
shamefully  violated  by  the  omission,  on 
the  part  of  many  of  the  states,  to  take  any 
measures  whatever  for  the   abolition   of 
slavery  within  their  respective  limits ;  by 
the  continuance  of  slavery  in  the  District 
of   Columbia,   and    in    the  territories  of 
Louisiana  and  Florida  ;  by  the  legislation 
of  Congress ;  by  the  protection  afforded  by 
national    legislation    and    negotiation  to 
slaveholding  in  American  vessels,  on  the 
high  seas,  employed  in  the  coastwise  Slave 
Traffic  ;  and  by  the  extension  of  slavery 
far  beyond  its  original  limits,  by  acts  of 
Congress  admitting  new  slave  states  into 
the  Union. 

9.  Resolved,  That  the  fundamental  truths 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  that 
all  men  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with 
certain  inalienable  rights,  among  which 
are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happi 
ness,  was  made  the  fundamental  law  of 
our  national  government,  by  that  amend 
ment  of  the  constitution  which  declares 
that  no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life, 
liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process 
of  law. 

10.  Resolved,  That  we  recognize  as  sound 
the  doctrine  maintained  by  slaveholding 
jurists,    that    slavery  is    against    natural 
rights,  and  strictly  local,  and  that  its  ex 
istence  and  continuance  rests  on  no  other 
support  than  state  legislation,  and  not  on 
any  authority  of  Congress. 

11.  Resolved,  That  the  general  govern 
ment  has,  under  the  constitution,  no  pow 
er  to  establish  or  continue  slavery  any 
where,  and  therefore  that  all  treaties  and 
acts  of  Congress  establishing,  continuing 
or  favoring  slavery  in  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia,  in  the  territory  of  Florida,  or  on 
the  high  seas,  are  unconstitutional,  and  all 
attempts  to  hold  men  as  property  within 
the  limits  of  exclusive  national  jurisdic 
tion  ought  to  be  prohibited  by  law. 

12.  Resolved,  That  the  provisions  of  the 


POLITICAL  PLATFORMS. 


27 


constitution  of  the  United  States  which 
confers  extraordinary  political  powers  on 
the  owners  of  slaves,  and  thereby  consti 
tuting  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
slaveholders  in  the  slave  states  a  privi 
leged  aristocracy ;  and  the  provisions  for 
the  reclamation  of  fugitive  slaves  from 
service,  are  anti-republican  in  their  char 
acter,  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  peo 
ple,  and  ought  to  be  abrogated. 

13.  Resolved,  That  the  practical  opera 
tion  of  the  second  of  these  provisions,  is 
seen  in  the  enactment  of  the  act  of  Con 
gress    respecting    persons   escaping  from 
their  masters,  which  act,  if  the  construc 
tion  given  to  it  by  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  in  the  case  of  Prigg  vs. 
Pennsylvania  be  correct,  nullifies  the  ha 
beas  corpus  acts  of  all  the  states,,  takes 
away    the  whole   legal    security  of  per 
sonal  freedom,  and  ought,  therefore,  to  be 
immediately  repealed. 

14.  Resolved,  That  the  peculiar  patron 
age    and    support    hitherto    extended  to 
slavery  and  slaveholding,  by  the  general 
government,  ought  to  be  immediately  with 
drawn,  and  the  example  and  influence  of 
national  authority  ought  to  be  arrayed  on 
the  side  of  liberty  and  free  labor. 

15.  Resolved,  That  the  practice  of  the 
general    government,  which   prevails    in 
the  slave  states,  of  employing  slaves  upon 
the  public  works,  instead  of  free  laborers, 
and  paying  aristocratic  masters,  with  a 
view  to  secure  or  reward  political  services, 
is   utterly  indefensible  and  ought  to  be 
abandoned. 

16.  Resolved,  That  freedom  of  speech 
and  of  the  press,  and  the  right  of  petition, 
and  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  are  sacred 
and  inviolable ;  and  that  all  rules,  regula 
tions  and  laws,  in  derogation  of  either,  are 
oppressive,  unconstitutional,  and  not  to  be 
endured  by  a  free  people. 

17.  Resolved,  That  we  regard  voting,  in 
an  eminent  degree,  as  a  moral  and   reli 
gious  duty,  which,  when  exercised,  should 
be  by  voting  for  those  who  will  do  all  in 
their  power  for  immediate  emancipation. 

18.  Resolved,   That  this  convention  re 
commend  to  the  friends  of  liberty  in  all 
those  free  states  where  any  inequality  of 
rights  and  privileges  exists  on  account  of 
color,  to  employ  their  utmost  energies  to 
remove  all  such  remnants  and  effects  of 
the  slave  system. 

Whereas,  The  constitution  of  these  Uni 
ted  States  is  a  series  of  agreements,  cove 
nants  or  contracts  between  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  each  with  all,  and  all 
with  each ;  and, 

Whereas,  It  is  a  principle  of  universal 
morality,  that  the  moral  laws  of  the  Crea 
tor  are  paramount  to  all  human  laws  ;  or, 
in  the  language  of  an  Apostle,  that  "  we 
ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  men  ; " 
and, 


Whereas,  The  principle  of  common  law 
— that  any  contract,  covenant,  or  agree 
ment,  to  do  an  act  derogatory  to  natural 
right,  is  vitiated  and  annulled  by  its  in 
herent  immorality — has  been  recognized 
by  one  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  who  in  a  re 
cent  case  expressly  holds  that  "  any  con 
tract  that  rests  upon  such  a  basis  is  void;" 
and, 

Whereas,  The  third  clause  of  the  second 
section  of  the  fourth  article  of  the  constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States,  when  construed 
as  providing  for  the  surrender  of  a  fugitive 
slave,  does  "rest  upon  such  a  basis,"  in 
that  it  is  a  contract  to  rob  a  man  of  a 
natural  right — namely,  his  natural  right 
to  his  own  liberty — and  is  therefore  ab 
solutely  void.  Therefore, 

19.  Resolved,  That  we  hereby  give  it  to 
be    distinctly  understood  by  this  nation 
and  the  world,  that,  as  abolitionists,  con 
sidering  that  the  strength  of  our  cause  lies 
in  its  righteousness,  and  our  hope  for  it  in 
our  conformity  to  the  laws  of  God,  and  our 
respect  for  the  rights  of  man,  we  owe  it  to 
the  Sovereign  Ruler  of  the  Universe,  as  a 
proof  of  our  allegiance  to  Him,  in  all  our 
civil  relations  and  offices,  whether  as  pri 
vate  citizens,  or  public  functionaries  sworn 
to  support  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  to  regard  and  to  treat  the  third 
clause  of  the  fourth  article  of  that  instru 
ment,  whenever  applied  to  the  case  of  a 
fugitive  slave,   as  utterly  null  and  void, 
and  consequently  as  forming  no  part  of  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States,  when 
ever  we  are  called  upon  or  sworn  to  sup* 
port  it. 

20.  Resolved,   That  the  power  given  to 
Congress  by  the  constitution,  to  provide 
for  calling  out  the  militia  to  suppress  in 
surrection,  does  not  make  it  the  duty  of 
the  government  to  maintain  slavery  by 
military  force,  much   less  does   it  make 
it  the  duty  of  the  citizens  to  form  a  part 
of  such  military  force  ;    when    freemen 
unsheathe  the  sword  it  should  be  to  strike 
for  liberty,  not  for  despotism. 

21.  Resolved,  That  to  preserve  the  peace 
of  the  citizens,  and  secure  the  blessings  of 
freedom,  the  legislature  of  each  of  the  free 
states  ought  to  keep  in  force  suitable  statutes 
rendering  it  penal  for  any  of  its  inhabi 
tants  to  transport,  or  aid  in  transporting 
from  such  state,  any  person  sought  to^  be 
thus  transported,  merely  because  subject 
to  the  slave  laws  of  any  other  state  ;  this 
remnant  of  independence  being  accorded 
to  the  free  states  by  the  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  in  the  case  of  Prigg  vs. 
the  state  of  Pennsylvania. 


184Wt.— Wlilg  Platform. 

Baltimore,  May  1. 

I.  Resolved,  That  these  principles  may 


28 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


be  summed  as  comprising  a  well-regulated 
national  currency  :  a  tariff  for  revenue  to 
defray  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  gov 
ernment,  and  discriminating  with  special 
reference  to  the  protection  of  the  domes 
tic  labor  of  the  country  ;  the  distribution 
of  the  proceeds  from  the  sales  of  the  pub 
lic  lands ;  a  single  term  for  the  presidency  ; 
a  reform  of  executive  usurpations;  and 
generally  such  an  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  the  country  as  shall  impart  to 
every  branch  of  the  public  service  the 
greatest  practical  efficiency,  controlled  by 
a  well-regulated  and  wise  economy. 


1844. -Democratic  Platform. 

Baltimore,  May  27. 

Resolutions  1 ,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8  and  9,  of 
the  platform  of  1840,  were  reaffirmed,  to 
which  were  added  the  following : 

10.  Resolved,  That  the  proceeds  of  the 
public  lands  ought  to   be    sacredly  ap 
plied  to  the  national  objects  specified  in 
the  constitution,  and  that  we  are  opposed 
to  the  laws  lately  adopted,  and  to  any  law 
for    the    distribution    of    such    proceeds 
among  the  states,  as  alike  inexpedient  in 
policy  and  repugnant  to  the  constitution. 

11.  Resolved,  That  we  are  decidedly  op 
posed  to  taking  from  the  President  the 
qualified  veto  power  by  which  he  is  ena 
bled,  under  restrictions  and  responsibili 
ties  amply  sufficient  to  guard  the  public 
interest,  to  suspend  the  passage  of  a  bill 
whose  merits  can  not  secure  the  approval 
of  two-thirds  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives,  until  the  judgment  of  the 
people  can  be  obtained  thereon,  and  which 
has  thrice  saved  the  American  people  from 
the  corrupt  and  tyrannical  domination  of 
the  bank  of  the  United  States. 

12.  Resolved,  That  our  title  to  the  whole 
of  the  territory  of  Oregon  is  clear  and  un 
questionable  ;  that  no  portion  of  the  same 
ought  to  be  ceded  to  England  or  any  other 
power,  and  that  the  reoccupation  of  Ore 
gon  and  the  reanuexation  of  Texas  at  the 
earliest    practicable     period,     are     great 
American  measures,  which  this  conven 
tion  recommends  to  the  cordial  support  of 
the  democracy  of  the  Union. 


1848,-Democratic  Platform. 

Baltimore,  May  22. 

1.  Resolved,  That  the  American  democ 
racy  place  their  trust  in  the  intelligence, 
the  patriotism,  and  the  discriminating  jus 
tice  of  the  American  people. 

2.  Resolved,  That  we  regard  this  as  a 
distinctive  feature  of  our  political  creed, 
which  we  are  proud  to  maintain  before  the 
world,  as  the  great  moral  element  in  a 


form  of  government  springing  from  and 
upheld  by  the  popular  will ;  and  contrast 
it  with  the  creed  and  practice  of  federal 
ism,  under  whatever  name  or  form,  which 
seeks  to  palsy  the  will  of  the  constituent, 
and  which  conceives  no  imposture  too 
monstrous  for  the  popular  credulity. 

3.  Resolved,  Therefore,  that  entertain 
ing  these  views,  the  Democratic  party  of 
this  Union,  through  the  delegates  assem 
bled  in  general  convention  of  the  states, 
coming  together  in  a  spirit  of  concord,  of 
devotion  to  the  doctrines  and  faith  of  a  free 
representative  government,  and  appealing 
to  their  fellow-citizens  for  the  rectitude  of 
their  intentions,  renew  and  reassert  before 
the  American  people,  the  declaration  of 
principles  avowed  by  them  on  a  former  oc 
casion,  when,  in  general  convention,  they 
presented  their  candidates  for  the  popular 
suffrage. 

Resolutions  1,  2,  3  and  4,  of  the  plat 
form  of  1840,  were  reaffirmed. 

8.  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  every 
branch  of  the  government  to  enforce  and 
practice  the  most  rigid  economy  in  con 
ducting  our  public  affairs,  and  that  no 
more  revenue  ought  to  be  raised  than  is  re- 
uired  to  defray  the  necessary  expenses  of 
the  government,  and  for  the  gradual  but 
certain  extinction  of  the  debt  created  by 
the  prosecution  of  a  just  and  necessary 
war. 

Resolution  5,  of  the  platform  of  1840, 
was  enlarged  by  the  following : 

And  that  the  results  of  democratic  legis 
lation,  in  this  and  all  other  financial  mea 
sures,  upon  which  issues  have  been  made 
between  the  two  political  parties  of  the 
country,  have  demonstrated  to  careful  and 
practical  men  of  all  parties,  their  sound 
ness,  safety  and  utility  in  all  business  pur 
suits. 

Resolutions  7,  8  and  9,  of  the  platform 
of  1840,  were  here  inserted. 

13.  Resolved,  That  the  proceeds  of  the 
public  lands  ought  to  be  sacredly  applied 
to  the  national  objects  specified  in  the  con 
stitution  ;  and  that  we  are  opposed  to  any 
law  for  the  distribution  of  such  proceeds 
among  the  states  as  alike  inexpedient  in 
policy  and  repugnant  to  the  constitution. 

14.  Resolved,  That  we  are  decidedly  op 
posed  to  taking  from   the  President  the 
qualified  veto  power,  by  which  he  is  en 
abled,  un  der  restrictions  and  responsibili 
ties  amply  sufficient  to  guard  the  public  in 
terests,  to  supend  the  passage  of  a  bill 
whose  merits  can  not  secure  the  approval 
of  two-thirds  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives,  until  the  judgment  of  the 
people  can  be  obtained  thereon,  and  which 
has  saved  the  American  people  from  the 
corrupt  and  tyrannical  domination  of  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  from  a  cor 
rupting    system  of  general  internal    im 
provements. 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


29 


15.  Resolved,  That  the  war  with  Mexi 
co,  provoked  on  her  part  by  years  of  insult 
and  injury,  was  commenced  by  her  army 
crossing  the  Rio   Grande,   attacking  the 
American  troops,  and  invading  our  sister 
state  of  Texas,  and  upon  all  the  principles 
of  patriotism  and  the  laws  of  nations,  it  is 
a  just  and  necessary  war  on  our  part,  in 
which  every  American  citizen  should  have 
shown  himself  on  the  side  of  his  country, 
and    neither  morally  nor  physically,   by 
word  or  by  deed,  have  given  "aid  and 
comfort  to  the  enemy.  " 

16.  Resolved,  That  we  would  be  rejoiced 
at  the  assurance  of  peace  with  Mexico, 
founded  on  the  just  principles  of  indem 
nity  for  the  past  and  security  for  the  fu 
ture  ;  but  that  while  the  ratification  of  the 
liberal  treaty  offered  to  Mexico  remains  in 
doubt,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  country  to  sus 
tain  the  administration  and  to  sustain  the 
country  in  every  measure  necessary  to  pro 
vide  for  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the 
war,  should  that  treaty  be  rejected. 

17.  Resolved,  That  the  officers  and  sol 
diers  who  have  carried  the  arms  of  their 
country  into  Mexico,  have  crowned  it  with 
imperishable  glory.     Their  unconquerable 
courage,  their  daring  enterprise,  their  un 
faltering  perseverance  and  fortitude  when 
assailed  on  all  sides  by  innumerable  foes 
and    that    more    formidable    enemy — the 
diseases  of  the  climate — exalt  their  devoted 
patriotism  into  the  highest  heroism,  and 
give  them  a  right  to  the  profound  grati 
tude  of  their  country,  and  the  admiration 
of  the  world. 

18.  Resolved^  That  the  Democratic  Na 
tional  Convention  of  thirty  states  composing 
the  American  Republic,  tender  their  fra 
ternal  congratulations  to  the  National  Con 
vention  of  the  Republic  of  France,  now  as 
sembled  as  the  free  suffrage  representative 
of  the  sovereignty  of  thirty-five  millions  of 
Republicans,  to  establish  government  on 
those  eternal  principles  of  equal  rights,  for 
which  their  La  Fayette  and  our  Washing 
ton  fought  side  by  side  in  the  struggle  for 
our  national  independence ;  and  we  would 
especially    convey    to  them,   and  to   the 
whole  people  of  France,  our  earnest  wishes 
for    the    consolidation  of  their  liberties, 
through  the  wisdom  that  shall  guide  their 
councils,  on  the  basis  of  a  democratic  con 
stitution,  not  derived  from  the  grants  or 
concessions  of  kings  or  dynasties,  but  orig 
inating  from  the  only  true  source  of  political 
power    recognized    in  the   states  of   this 
Union — the  inherent  and  inalienable  right 
of  the  people,  in  their  sovereign  capacity, 
to  make  and  to  amend  their  forms  of  gov 
ernment    in    such  manner  as  the  welfare 
of  the  community  may  require. 

19.  Resolved,  That  in  view  of  the  recent 
development  of  this  grand  political  truth, 
of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  and  their 
capacity   and  power  for  self-government, 


which  is  prostrating  thrones  and  erecting 
republics  on  the  ruins  of  despotism  in  the 
old  world,  we  feel  that  a  high  and  sacred 
duty  is  devolved,  with  increased  responsi 
bility,  upon  the  Democratic  party  of  this 
country,  as  the  party  of  the  people,  to  sustain 
and  advance  among  us  constitutional  lib 
erty,  equality,  and  fraternity,  by  continu 
ing  to  resist  all  monopolies  and  exclusive 
legislation  for  the  benefit  of  the  few  at  the 
expense  of  the  many,  and  by  a  vigilant 
and  constant  adherence  to  those  principles 
and  compromises  of  the  constitution,  which 
are  broad  enough  and  strong  enough  to 
embrace  and  uphold  the  Union  as  it  was, 
the  Union  as  it  is,  and  the  Union  as  it 
shall  be  in  the  full  expansion  of  the 
energies  and  capacity  of  this  great  and 
progressive  people. 

20.  Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  reso 
lutions  be  forwarded,  through  the  American 
minister  at  Paris,  to  the  National  Conven 
tion  of  the  Republic  of  France. 

21.  Resolved,   That    the    fruits    of  the 
great  political  triumph  of  1844,  which  elect 
ed  James  K.  Polk  and  George  M.  Dallas, 
President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  have  fulfilled  the  hopes  of  the  de 
mocracy  of  the  Union  in  defeating  the  de 
clared    purposes    of  their    opponents    in 
creating  a  National  Bank ;  in  preventing 
the  corrupt  and  unconstitutional  distribu 
tion  of  the  land  proceeds  from  the  com 
mon  treasury  of  the  Union  for  local  pur 
poses  ;  in  protecting  the  currency  and  labor 
of  the  country  from  ruinous  fluctuations, 
and  guarding  the  money  of  the  country  for 
the  use  of  the  people  by  the  establishment 
of  the  constitutional  treasury  ;  in  the  noble 
impulse  given  to  the  cause  of  free  trade  by 
the  repeal  of  the  tariff  of  '42,  and  the  crea 
tion  of  the  more  equal,  honest,  and  pro 
ductive   tariff  of  1846 ;  and  that,  in  our 
opinion,  it  would  be  a  fatal  error  to  weaken 
the  bands  of  a  political  organization  by 
which    these    great    reforms    have   been 
achieved,  and  risk  them  in  the  hands  of 
their   known  adversaries,  with  whatever 
delusive  appeals  they  may  solicit  our  sur 
render  of  that  vigilance  which  is  the  only 
safeguard  of  liberty. 

22.  Resolved,  That  the  confidence  of  the 
democracy  of  the  Union  in  the  principles, 
capacity,  firmness,  and  integrity  of  James 
K.  Polk,  manifested  by  his  nomination  and 
election  in  1844,  has  been  signally  justified 
by  the  strictness  of  his  adherence  to  sound 
democratic  doctrines,  by  the  purity  of  pur 
pose,  the  energy  and  ability,  which  have 
characterized  his  administration  in  all  our 
affairs  at  home  and  abroad  ;  that  we  tender 
to  him  our  cordial  congratulations  upon 
the  brilliant  success  which  has  hitherto 
crowned  his  patriotic  efforts,  and  assure 
him  in  advance,  that  at  the  expiration  of 
his  presidential  term  he  will  carry  with  him 


30 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


to  his  retirement,  the  esteem,  respect  and 
admiration  of  a  grateful  country. 

23.  Resolved,  That  this  convention  here 
by  present  to  the  people  of  the  United  States 
Lewis  Cass,  of  Michigan,  as  the  candidate 
of  the  Democratic  party  for  the  office  of 
President,  and  William  O.  Butler,  of  Ken 
tucky,  for  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States. 


1848.— Whig  Principles  Adopted  at  a  Rati 
fication  Meeting, 

Philadelphia,  Jum  9. 

1.  Resolved,   That   the    Whigs    of  the 
United  States,  here  assembled  by  their 
representatives,  heartily  ratify  the  nomi 
nations  of  General  Zachary  Taylor  as  Pres 
ident,  and  Millard  Fillmore  as  Vice-Pres 
ident,  of  the  United  States,   and  pledge 
themselves  to  their  support. 

2.  Resolved,  That  in  the  choice  of  Gen 
eral    Taylor  as  the  Whig  candidate  for 
President,  we  are  glad  to  discover  sympathy 
with  a  great  popular  sentiment  throughout 
the  nation — a  sentiment  which  having  its 
origin  in  admiration  of  great  military  suc 
cess,  has  been  strengthened  by  the  develop 
ment,  in  every  action  and  every  word,  of 
sound  conservative  opinions,  and  of  true 
fidelity  to  the  great  example  of  former 
days,  and  to  the  principles  of  the  constitu 
tion  as  administered  by  its  founders. 

3.  Resolved,  That  General  Taylor,  in  say 
ing  that,  had  he  voted  in  1844,  he  would 
have  voted  the  Whig  ticket,  gives  us  the 
assurance — and  no  better  is  needed  from  a 
consistent  and  truth-speaking  man — that 
his  heart  was  with  us  at  the  crisis  of  our 
political  destiny,  when  Henry  Clay  was 
our  candidate,  and  when  not  only  Whig 
principles  were    well  defined  and  clearly 
asserted,  but  Whig  measures  depended  on 
success.     The  heart  that  was  with  us  then 
is  with  us  now,  and,  we  have  a  soldier's 
word  of  honor,  and  a  life  of  public  and 
private  virtue,  as  the  security. 

4.  Resolved,  That  we  look  on  General 
Taylor's  administration  of  the  government 
as  one  conducive  of  peace,  prosperity  and 
union ;   of  peace,  because  no  one  better 
knows,  or  has  greater  reason  to  deplore, 
what  he  has  seen  sadly  on  the  field  of  vic 
tory,  the  horrors  of  war,  and  especially  of  a 
foreign  and  aggressive  war ;  of  prosperity, 
now  more  than  ever  needed  to  relieve  the 
nation  from  a  burden  of  debt,  and  restore 
industry — agricultural,  manufacturing,  and 
commercial — to  its  accustomed  and  peace 
ful  functions  and  influences;  of  union,  be 
cause  we  have  a  candidate  whose  very 
position  as  a  southwestern  man,  reared  on 
the  banks  of  the  great  stream  whose  trib 
utaries,  natural  and  artificial,  embrace  the 
whole  Union,  renders  the  protection  of  the 
interests  of   the  whole  country  his  first 
trust,  and  whose  various  duties  in  past  life 


have  been  rendered,  not  on  the  soil,  or 
under  the  flag  of  any  state  or  section,  but 
over  the  wide  frontier,  and  under  the 
broad  banner  of  the  nation. 

5.  Resolved,  That  standing,  as  the  Whig 
party  does,  on  the  broad  and  firm  platform 
of  the  constitution,  braced  up  by  all  its  in 
violable  and  sacred  guarantees  and  com 
promises,  and  cherished  in  the  affections, 
because  protective  of  the  interests  of  the 
people,  we  are  proud  to  have  as  the  ex 
ponent  of  our  opinions,  one  who  is  pledged 
to  construe  it  by  the  wise  and  generous 
rules  which  Washington  applied  to  it,  and 
who  has  said — and  no  Wnig  desires  any 
other  assurance — that  he  will  make  Wash 
ington's  administration  his  model. 

6.  Resolved,  That  as  Whigs  and  Ameri 
cans,  we  are  proud  to  acknowledge  our 
gratitude  for  the  great  military  services 
which,  beginning  at  Palo  Alto,  and  end 
ing  at  Buena  Vista,   first  awakened  the 
American  people  to  a  just  estimate  of  him 
who  is  now  our  Whig  candidate.     In  the 
discharge  of  a  painful  duty — for  his  march 
into  the  enemy's  country  was  a  reluctant 
one ;  in  the  command  of  regulars  at  one 
time,   and  volunteers  at  another,  and  of 
both  combined ;  in  the  decisive  though 
punctual  discipline  of  his  camp,  where  all 
respected  and  loved  him ;  in  the  negotia 
tion  of  terms  for  a  dejected  and  desperate 
enemy ;  in  the  exigency  of  actual  conflict 
when  the  balance  was  perilously  doubtful— 
we  have  found  him  the  same — brave,  dis 
tinguished,  and  considerate,  no  heartless 
spectator  of  bloodshed,  no  trifler  with  hu 
man  life  or  human  happiness ;  and  we  do 
not  know  which  to  admire  most,  his  hero 
ism  in  withstanding  the  assaults  of  the 
enemy  in  the  most  hopeless  fields  of  Buena 
Vista — mourning  in  generous  sorrow  over 
the  graves  of  Kinggold,  of  Clay,  of  Hardin 
— or  in  giving,  in  the  heat  of  battle,  terms 
of  merciful   capitulation  to  a  vanquished 
foe  at  Monterey,  and  not  being  ashamed  to 
avow  that  he  did  it  to  spare  women   and 
children,  helpless  infancy  and  more  help 
less  age,  against  whom  no  American  sol 
dier   ever    wars.     Such  a  military    man, 
whose  triumphs  are  neither  remote  nor 
doubtful,  whose  virtues  these  trials  have 
tested,  we  are  proud  to  make  our  candidate. 

7.  Resolved,  That    in    support    of   this 
nomination,    we    ask    our    Whig   friends 
throughout  the  nation  to  unite,  to  co-op 
erate  zealously,   resolutely,   with  earnest 
ness,  in  behalf  of   our  candidate,   whom 
calumny  can  not  reach,  and  with  respect 
ful  demeanor  to  our  adversaries,  whose  can 
didates  have  yet  to  prove  their  claims  on 
the  gratitude  of  the  nation. 


1848.— Buffalo  Platform. 

Utica,  June  22. 

Whereas,  We  have  assembled  in  conven 
tion  as  a  union  of  freemen,  for  the  sake  of 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


31 


freedom,  forgetting  all  past  political  dif 
ference,  in  a  common  resolve  to  maintain 
the  rights  of  free  labor  against  the  aggres 
sion  of  the  slave  power,  and  to  secure  free 
soil  to  a  free  people ;  and, 

Whereas,  The  political  conventions  re 
cently  assembled  at  Baltimore  and  Phila 
delphia — the  one  stifling  the  voice  of  a 
great  constituency,  entitled  to  be  heard  in 
its  deliberations,  and  the  other  abandoning 
its  distinctive  principles  for  mere  avail 
ability — have  dissolved  the  national  party 
organization  heretofore  existing,  by  nomi 
nating  for  the  chief  magistracy  of  the 
United  States,  under  the  slaveholding  dic 
tation,  candidates,  neither  of  whom  can  be 
supported  by  the  opponents  of  slavery  ex 
tension,  without  a  sacrifice  of  consistency, 
duty,  and  self-respect ;  and, 

Whereas,  These  nominations  so  made, 
furnish  the  occasion,  and  demonstrate  the 
necessity  of  the  union  of  the  people  under 
the  banner  of  free  democracy,  in  a  solemn 
and  formal  declaration  of  their  independ 
ence  of  the  slave  power,  and  of  their  fixed 
determination  to  rescue  the  Federal  gov 
ernment  from  its  control, 

1.  Resolved,  therefore,  That  we,  the  peo 
ple  here  assembled,  remembering  the  ex 
ample  of  our  fathers  in  the  days  of  the 
first  Declaration  of  Independence,  putting 
our  trust  in  God  for  the  triumph  of  our 
cause,  and  invoking  His  guidance  in  our 
endeavors  to  advance  it,  do  now  plant  our 
selves  upon  the  national  platform  of  free 
dom,  in  opposition  to  the  sectional  plat 
form  of  slavery. 

2.  Resolved,  That  slavery  in  the  several 
states  of  this  Union  which  recognize  its 
existence,   depends  upon  the  state    laws 
alone,  which  can  not  be  repealed  or  modi 
fied  by  the  Federal  government,  and  for 
which  laws  that  government  is  not  respon 
sible.     We  therefore  propose  no  interfer 
ence  by  Congress  with  slavery  within  the 
limits  of  any  state. 

3.  Resolved,  That  the  proviso  of  Jeffer 
son,  to  prohibit  the  existence  of  slavery, 
after  1800,   in  all  the  territories  of  the 
United  States,  southern  and  northern ;  the 
votes  of  six  states  and  sixteen  delegates  in 
Congress  of  1784,  for  the  proviso,  to  three 
states  and  seven  delegates  against  it ;   the 
actual  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  North 
western  Territory,  by  the  Ordinance  of 
1787,  unanimously  adopted  by  the  states 
in  Congress ;  and  the  entire  history  of  that 
period,  clearly  show  that  it  was  the  settled 
policy  of  the  nation  not  to   extend,  na 
tionalize  or  encourage,  but  to  limit,  lo 
calize  and  discourage,  slavery ;  and  to  this 
policy,  which  should  never  have  been  de 
parted    from,   the    government    ought  to 
return. 

4.  Resolved,  That  our  fathers  ordained 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  in 
order,  among  other  great  national  objects, 


to  establish  justice,  promote  the  general 
welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty ; 
but  expressly  denied  to  the  Federal  gov 
ernment,  which  they  created,  all  constitu 
tional  power  to  deprive  any  person  of  life, 
liberty,  or  property,  without  due  legal 
process. 

5.  Resolved,  That  in  the  judgment  of 
this  convention,   Congress    has  no  more 
power  to  make  a  slave  than  to  make  a 
king ;  no  more  power  to  institute  or  estab 
lish  slavery  than  to  institute  or  establish  a 
monarchy ;   no  such  power  can  be  found 
among  those  specifically  conferred  by  the 
constitution,  or  derived  by  just  implication 
from  them. 

6.  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Federal  government  to  relieve  itself  from 
all  responsibility  for  the  existence  or  con 
tinuance  of  slavery  wherever  the  govern 
ment    possesses    constitutional    power  to 
legislate  on  that  subject,  and  it  is  thus  re 
sponsible  for  its  existence. 

7.  Resolved,  That  the  true,  and,  in  the 
judgment  of  this  convention,  the  only  safe 
means    of   preventing   the    extension    of 
slavery  into  territory  now  free,  is  to  pro 
hibit  its  extension  in  all  such  territory  by 
an  act  of  Congress. 

8.  Resolved,  That  we  accept  the  issue 
which  the  slave  power  has  forced  upon  us ; 
and  to  their  demand  for  more  slave  states, 
and  more  slave  territory,  our  calm  but 
final  answer  is,  no  more  slave  states  and 
no  more  slave  territory.     Let  the  soil  of 
our  extensive  domains  be  kept  free  for  the 
hardy  pioneers  of  our  own  land,  and  the 
oppressed  and  banished  of  other  lands, 
seeking  homes  of  comfort  and  fields  or 
enterprise  in  the  new  world. 

9.  Resolved,  That  the  bill  lately  re 
ported  by  the  committee  of  eight  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  was  no  com 
promise,  but  an  absolute  surrender  of  the 
rights  of  the  non-slaveholders  of  all  the 
states ;  and  while  we  rejoice  to  know  that 
a  measure  which,  while  opening  the  door 
for  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  the 
territories  now  free,  would  also  have 
opened  the  door  to  litigation  and  strife 
among  the  future  inhabitants  thereof,  to 
the  ruin  of  their  peace  and  prosperity,  was 
defeated  in  the  House  of  Bepresentatives, 
its  passage,  in  hot  haste,  by  a  majority, 
embracing  several  senators  who  voted  in 
open  violation  of  the  known  will  of  their 
constituents,  should  warn  the  people  to 
see  to  it  that  their  representatives  be  not 
suffered  to  betray  them.  There  must  be 
no  more  compromises  with  slavery;  if 
made,  they  must  be  repealed. 

10.  Resolved,  That  we  demand  freedom 
and  established  institutions  for  our  breth 
ren  in  Oregon,  now  exposed  to  hardships, 
peril,  and  massacre,  by  the  reckless  hos 
tility  of  the  slave  power  to  the  establish 
ment  of  free  government  and  free  territo- 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


ries ;    and  not  only  for  them,  but  for  our 
brethren  in  California  and  New  Mexico. 

11.  Resolved,  It  is  due  not  only  to  this 
occasion,  but  to  the  whole  people  of  the 
United  States,  that  we  should  also  declare 
ourselves  on  certain  other  questions  of  na 
tional  policy ;  therefore, 

12.  Resolved,  That  we  demand  cheap 
postage  for  the  people ;  a  retrenchment  of 
the  expenses  and  patronage  of  the  Federal 
government ;  the  abolition  of  all  unneces 
sary  offices  and  salaries ;   and  the  election 
by  the  people  of  all  civil  officers  in  the 
service  of  the  government,  so  far  as  the 
same  may  be  practicable. 

13.  Resolved,  that  river  and  harbor  im 
provements,  when  demanded  by  the  safety 
and  convenience  of  commerce  with  for 
eign  nations,  or  among  the  several  states, 
are  objects  of  national  concern,  and  that  it 
is  the  duty  of  Congress,  in  the  exercise  of 
ite  constitutional  power,  to  provide  there 
for. 

14.  Resolved,  That   the  free  grant  to 
actual  settlers,  in  consideration  of  the  ex 
penses  they  incur  in  making  settlements  in 
the  wilderness,   which   are  usually  fully 
equal  to  their  actual  cost,  and  of  the  pub 
lic  benefits  resulting  therefrom,  of  reason 
able  portions  of  the  public  lands,  under 
suitable  limitations,   is  a  wise  and   just 
measure  of  public  policy,  which  will  pro 
mote  in  various  ways  the  interests  of  all 
the  states  of  this  Union ;    and  we,  there 
fore,  recommend  it  to  the  favorable  con 
sideration  of  the  American  People. 

15.  Resolved,  That  the  obligations  of 
honor  and  patriotism  require  the  earliest 
practical  payment  of  the  national  debt,  and 
we  are,  therefore,  in  favor  of  such  a  tariff 
of  duties  as  will  ra^se  revenue  adequate  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  Federal  govern 
ment,  and  to  pay  annual  installments  of 
our  debt  and  the  interest  thereon. 

16.  Resolved,  That  we  inscribe  on  our 
banner,   "Free  Soil,   Free  Speech,   Free 
Labor,  and  Free  Men,"  and  under  it  we  will 
fight  on,  and  fight  ever,  until  a  triumphant 
victory  shall  reward  our  exertions. 


1853.— Democratic  Platform. 

Baltimore,  June  1. 

Resolutions  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6  and  7,  of  the 
platform  of  1848,  were  reaffirmed,  to  which 
were  added  the  following : 

8.  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  every 
branch  of  the  government  to  enforce  and 
practice  the  most  rigid  economy  in  con 
ducting  our  public   affairs,   and  that  IK 
more  revenue  ought  to  be  raised  than  is 
required  to  defray  the  necessary  expense 
of  the  government,  and  for  the  gradual  but 
certain  extinction  of  the  public  debt. 

9.  Resolved,  That  Congress  has  no  power 


to  charter  a  National  Bank ;  that  we  be- 
ieve  such  an  institution  one  of  deadly 
lostility  to  the  best  interests  of  the  coun- 
;ry,  dangerous  to  our  republican  institu 
tions  and  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and 
calculated  to  place  the  business  of  the 
country  within  the  control  of  a  concen- 
;rated  money  power,  and  that  above  the 
laws  and  will  of  the  people ;  and  that  the 
results  of  Democratic  legislation,  in  this 
and  all  other  financial  measures,  upon 
which  issues  have  been  made  between  the 
two  political  parties  of  the  country,  have 
demonstrated  to  candid  and  practical  men 
of  all  parties,  their  soundness,  safety,  and 
utility,  in  all  business  pursuits. 

10.  Resolved,  That  the  separation  of  the 
moneys  of  the  government  from  banking 
institutions  is  indispensable  for  the  safety 
of  the  funds  of  the  government  and  the 
rights  of  the  people. 

11.  Resolved,  That  the  liberal  principles 
embodied  by  Jefferson  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  sanctioned  in  the 
constitution,  which  makes  ours  the  land 
of  liberty  and  the  asylum  of  the  oppressed 
of  every  nation,  have  ever  been  cardinal 
principles  in  the  Democratic  faith ;    and 
every  attempt  to  abridge  the  privilege  of 
becoming  citizens  and  the  owners  of  the 
soil  among  us,  ought  to  be  resisted  with 
the  same  spirit  that  swept  the  alien  and 
sedition  laws  from  our  statute  books. 

12.  Resolved,    That    Congress    has    no 
power  under  the  constitution  to  interfere 
with,  or  control,  the  domestic  institutions 
of  the  several  states,  and  that  such  states 
are  the  sole  and  proper  judges  of  every 
thing  appertaining  to  their  own  affairs,  not 
prohibited  by  the   constitution;    that  all 
efforts  of  the  Abolitionists  or  others,  made 
to  induce  Congress  to  interfere  with  ques 
tions  of  slavery,  or  to  take  incipient  steps 
in  relation  thereto,  are  calculated  to  lead 
to  the  most  alarming  and  dangerous  conse 
quences  ;  and  that  all  such  efforts  have  an 
inevitable  tendency  to  diminish  the  happi 
ness  of  the  people,  and  endanger  the  sta 
bility  and  permanency  of  the  Union,  and 
ought  not   to    be   countenanced    by   any 
friend  of  dur  political  institutions. 

13.  Resolved,  That  the  foregoing  propo 
sition  covers,  and  is  intended  to  embrace, 
the  whole  subject  of  slavery  agitation  in 
Congress;    and  therefore  the  Democratic 
party  of  the  Union,  standing  on  this  na 
tional  platform,  will  abide  by,  and  adhere 
to,  a  faithful  execution  of  the  acts  known 
as  the  Compromise  measures  settled  by 
last  Congress,  "  the  act  for  reclaiming  fugi 
tives  from  service  labor  "  included ;  which 
act,  being  designed  to  carry  out  an   ex 
press  provision   of  the   constitution,   can 
not,  with  fidelity  thereto,  be  repealed,  nor 
so   changed  as  to  destroy  or  impair  its 
efficiency. 

14.  Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  partv 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


33 


will  resist  all  attempts  at  renewing  in  Con 
gress,  or  out  of  it,  the  agitation  of  the 
slavery  question,  under  whatever  shape  or 
color  the  attempt  may  be  made. 

[Here  resolutions  13  and  14,  of  the  plat 
form  of  1848,  were  inserted.] 

17.  Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  party 
will  faithfully  abide  by  and  uphold  the 
principles  laid  down  in  the  Kentucky  and 
Virginia  resolutions  of  1792  and  1798,  and 
in  the  report  of  Mr.  Madison  to  the  Vir 
ginia  Legislature  in  1799 ;   that  it  adopts 
those  principles  as  constituting  one  of  the 
main  foundations  of  its  political  creed,  and 
is  resolved  to  carry  them  out  in  their  ob 
vious  meaning  and  import. 

18.  Resolved,  That  the  war  with  Mexico, 
upon  all  the  principles  of  patriotism  and 
the  law  of  nations,  was  a  just  and  necessary 
war  on  our  part,  in  which  no  American 
citizen  should  have  shown  himself  opposed 
to  his  country,  and  neither  morally  nor 
physically,  by  word  or  deed,  given  aid  and 
comfort  to  the  enemy. 

19.  Resolved^  That  we  rejoice  at  the  re 
storation  of   friendly  relations  with  our 
sister  Republic  of  Mexico,  and  earnestly 
desire  for  her  all  the  blessings  and  pros 
perity  which  we  enjoy  under  republican 
institutions,    and     we     congratulate     the 
American  people  on  the  results  of  that 
war  which  have  so  manifestly  justified  the 
policy  and    conduct  of  the    Democratic 
party,  and  insured  to  the  United  States 
indemnity  for  the  past  and  security  for  the 
future. 

20.  Resolved,  That,  in  view  of  the  condi 
tion   of   popular  institutions  in    the  old 
world,  a  high  and  sacred  duty  is  devolved 
with  increased  responsibility  upon  the  De 
mocracy  of  this  country,  as  the  party  of 
the  people,  to  uphold  and  maintain  the 
rights  of   every    state,   and    thereby  the 
union  of  states,  and  to  sustain  and  advance 
among  them  constitutional  liberty,  by  con 
tinuing  to  resist  all  monopolies  and  exclu 
sive  legislation  for  the  benefit  of  the  few 
at  the   expense  of  the  many,  and  by  a 
vigilant  and  constant  adherence  to  those 
principles  and  compromises  of  the  consti 
tution  which  are  broad  enough  and  strong 
enough  to  embrace  and  uphold  the  Union 
as  it  is,  and  the  Union  as  it  should  be,  in 
the  full  expansion  of  the  energies  and  ca 
pacity  of  this  great  and  progressive  people. 


1853.—  Whig   Platform. 

Baltimore,  Juiie  16. 

The  Whigs  of  the  United  States,  in  con 
vention  assembled  adhering  to  the  great 
conservative  principles  by  which  they  are 
controlled  and  governed,  and  now  as  ever 
relying  upon  the  intelligence  of  the  Ameri 
can  people,  with  an  abiding  confidence  in 
their  capacity  for  self-government  and 


their  devotion  to  the  constitution  and  the 
Union,  do  proclaim  the  following  as  the 
political  sentiments  and  determination  for 
the  establishment  and  maintenance  of 
which  their  national  organization  as  a 
party  was  effected : 

First.  The  government  of  the  United 
States  is  of  a  limited  character,  and  is  con 
fined  to  the  exercise  of  powers  expressly 
granted  by  the  constitution,  and  such  as 
may  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying 
the  granted  powers  into  full  execution, 
and  that  powers  not  granted  or  necessarily 
implied  are  reserved  to  the  states  respec 
tively  and  to  the  people. 

Second.  The  state  governments  should 
be  held  secure  to  their  reserved  rights,  and 
the  General  Government  sustained  in  its 
constitutional  powers,  and  that  the  Union 
should  be  revered  and  watched  over  as  the 
palladium  of  our  liberties. 

Third.  That  while  struggling  freedom 
everywhere  enlists  the  warmest  sympathy 
of  the  Whig  party,  we  still  adhere  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  Father  of  his  Country,  as 
announced  in  his  Farewell  Address,  of 
keeping  ourselves  free  from  all  entangling 
alliances  with  foreign  countries,  and  of 
never  quitting  our  own  to  stand  upon  for 
eign  ground  ;  that  our  mission  as  a  repub 
lic  is  not  to  propagate  our  opinions,  or  im 
pose  on  other  countries  our  forms  of  gov 
ernment,  by  artifice  or  force,  but  to  teach 
by  example,  and  show  by  our  success, 
moderation  and  justice,  the  blessings  of 
self-government,  and  the  advantages  of 
free  institutions. 

Fourth.  That,  as  the  people  make  and 
control  the  government,  they  should  obey 
its  constitution,  laws  and  treaties  as  they 
would  retain  their  self-respect  and  the  re 
spect  which  they  claim  and  will  enforce 
from  foreign  powers. 

Fifth.  Governments  should  be  conduc 
ted  on  the  principles  of  the  strictest  econo 
my  ;  and  revenue  sufficient  for  the,  expen 
ses  thereof,  in  time  of  peace,  ought  to  be 
derived  mainly  from  a  duty  on  imports, 
and  not  from  direct  taxes ;  and  on  laying 
such  duties  sound  policy  requires  a  just 
discrimination,  and,  when  practicable,  by 
specific  duties,  whereby  suitable  encour 
agement  may  be  afforded  to  American  in 
dustry,  equally  to  all  classes  and  to  all 
portions  of  the  country. 

Sixth.  The  constitution  vests  in  Con 
gress  the  power  to  open  and  repair  har 
bors,  and  remove  obstructions  from  navi 
gable  rivers,  whenever  such  improvements 
are  necessary  for  the  common  defense,  and 
for  the  protection  and  facility  of  commerce 
with  foreign  nations  or  among  the  states, 
said  improvements  being  in  every  instance 
national  and  general  in  their  character. 

Seventh.  The  Federal  and  state  govern 
ments  are  parts  of  one  system,  alike  neces 
sary  for  the  common  prosperity,  peace  and 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


security,  and  ought  to  be  regarded  alike 
with  a  cordial,  habitual  and  immovable  at 
tachment.  Respect  for  the  authority  of 
each,  and  acquiescence  in  the  just  consti 
tutional  measures  of  each,  are  duties  re 
quired  by  the  plainest  considerations  of 
national,  state  and  individual  welfare. 

Eighth.  That  the  series  of  acts  of  the 
32d  Congress,  the  act  known  as  the  Fugi 
tive  Slave  Law  included,  are  received  and 
acquiesced  in  by  the  Whig  party  of  the 
United  States  as  a  settlement  in  principle 
and  substance  of  the  dangerous  and  excit 
ing  questions  which  they  embrace ;  and, 
ao  far  as  they  are  concerned,  we  will  main 
tain  them,  and  insist  upon  their  strict  en 
forcement,  until  time  and  experience  shall 
demonstrate  the  necessity  of  further  legis 
lation  to  guard  against  the  evasion  of  the 
laws  on  the  one  hand  and  the  abuse  of 
their  powers  on  the  other — not  impairing 
their  present  efficiency ;  and  we  deprecate 
all  further  agitation  of  the  question  thus 
settled,  as  dangerous  to  our  peace,  and  will 
discountenance  all  efforts  to  continue  or 
renew  such  agitation  whenever,  where- 
ever  or  however  the  attempt  may  be  made ; 
and  we  will  maintain  the  system  as  essen 
tial  to  the  nationality  of  the  Whig  party, 
and  the  integrity  of  the  Union. 


1863.— Free-soil  Platform. 

PiU&urg,  August  11. 

Having  assembled  in  national  conven 
tion  as  the  free  democracy  of  the  United 
States,  united  by  a  common  resolve  to 
maintain  right  against  wrong,  and  freedom 
against  slavery;  confiding  in  the  intelli 
gence,  patriotism,  and  discriminating  jus 
tice  of  the  American  people ;  putting  our 
trust  in  God  for  the  triumph  of  our  cause, 
and  invoking  His  guidance  in  our  endea 
vors  to  advance  it,  we  now  submit  to  the 
candid  judgment  of  all  men,  the  following 
declaration  of  principles  and  measures : 

1.  That  governments,  deriving  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed, 
are  instituted  among  men  to  secure  to  all 
those  inalienable  rights  of  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness,  with  which  they 
are  endowed  by  their  Creator,  and  of  which 
none  can  be  deprived  by  valid  legislation, 
except  for  crime. 

2.  That  the  true  mission  of  American 
democracy  is  to  maintain  the  liberties  of 
the  people,  the  sovereignty  of  the  states, 
and  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union,  by  the 
impartial    application  of   public    affairs, 
without  sectional  discriminations,   of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  human  rights, 
strict  justice,  and  an  economical  adminis 
tration. 

3.  That  the  Federal  government  is  one 
of  limited  powers  derived  solely  from  the 


constitution,  and  the  grants  of  power  there 
in  ought  to  be  strictly  construed  by  all  the 
departments  and  agents  of  the  government, 
and  it  is  inexpedient  and  dangerous  to  ex 
ercise  doubtful  constitutional  powers. 

4.  That  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  ordained  to  form  a   more  perfect 
Union,  to'  establish  justice,  and  secure  the 
blessings  of  liberty,  expressly  denies  to  the 
general  government  all  power  to  deprive 
any  person  of  life,   liberty,  or  property, 
without  due  process  of  law ;  and,  there 
fore,   the  government,    having  no    more 
power  to  make  a  slave  than  to  make  a 
king,  and   no    more  power  to    establish 
slavery    than    to  establish  a    monarchy, 
should  at  once  proceed  to  relieve  itself 
from  all  responsibility  for  the  existence  of 
slavery,  wherever  it  possesses  constitutional 
power  to  legislate  for  its  extinction. 

5.  That,  to  the  persevering  and  importu 
nate  demands  of  the  slave  power  for  more 
slave  states,  new  slave  territories,  and  the 
nationalization    of   slavery,  our    distinct 
and  final  answer  is — no  more  slave  states, 
no  slave  territory,  no  nationalized  slavery, 
and  no  national  legislation  for  the  extra 
dition  of  slaves. 

6.  That  slavery  is  a  sin  against  God,  and 
a  crime  against  man,  which  no  human  en 
actment  nor  usage  can  make  right;   and 
that  Christianity,  humanity,  ana  patriot 
ism  alike  demand  its  abolition. 

7.  That  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  of  1850  is 
repugnant  to  the  constitution,  to  the  prin 
ciples  of  the  common  law,  to  the  spirit  of 
Christianity,  and  to  the  sentiments  of  the 
civilized  world;   we,  therefore,    deny  its. 
binding  force  on  the  American  people, 
and  demand  its  immediate  and  total  re 
peal. 

8.  That  the   doctrine  that  any  human 
law  is  a  finality,  and  not  subject  to  modi 
fication  or  repeal,  is  not  in  accordance 
with  the  creed  of  the  founders  of  our  gov 
ernment,  and  is  dangerous  to  the  liberties 
of  the  people. 

9.  That  the  acts  of  Congress,  known  as 
the  Compromise  measures  of  1850,  by  mak 
ing  the  admission  of  a  sovereign  state  con 
tingent  upon  the  adoption  of  other  mea 
sures  demanded  by  the  special  interests  of 
slavery ;   by  their  omission  to  guarantee 
freedom  in  the  free  territories ;  by  their  at 
tempt  to  impose  unconstitutional  limita 
tions  on  the  powers  of  Congress  and  the 
people  to  admit  new  states ;  by  their  pro 
visions  for  the  assumption  of  five  millions 
of  the  state  debt  of  Texas,  and  for  the  pay 
ment  of  five  millions  more,  and  the  cession 
of  large  territory  to  the  same  state  under 
menace,   as  an  inducement  to  the  relin- 
quishment  of  a  groundless  claim ;  and  by 
their  invasion  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
states  and  the    liberties  of   the "  people, 
through  the  enactment  of  an  unjust,  op 
pressive,    and    unconstitutional    fugitive 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


slave  law,  are  proved  to  be  inconsistent 
with  all  the  principles  and  maxims  of  de 
mocracy,  and  wholly  inadequate  to  the 
settlement  of  the  questions  of  which  they 
are  claimed  to  be  an  adjustment. 

10.  That  no  permanent  settlement    of 
the  slavery  question  can  be  looked  for  ex 
cept  in  the  practical  recognition  of  the 
truth  that  slavery  is  sectional  and  freedom 
national ;  by  the  total  separation  of  the 
general  government  from  slavery,  and  the 
exercise  of  its  legitimate  and  constitutional 
influence  on  the  side  of  freedom ;  and  by 
leaving  to  the  states  the  whole  subject  of 
slavery  and  the  extradition  of  fugitives 
from  service. 

11.  That  all  men  have  a  natural  right  to 
a  portion  of  the  soil ;  and  that  as  the  use 
of  the  soil  is  indispensable  to  life,  the  right 
of  all  men  to  the  soil  is  as  sacred  as  their 
right  to  life  itself. 

12.  That  the  public  lands  of  the  United 
States  belong  to  the  people  and  should  not  be 
sold  to  individuals  nor  granted  to  corpora 
tions,  but  should  be  held  as  a  sacred  trust 
for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  and  should 
be  granted  in  limited  quantities,  free  of 
cost,  to  landless  settlers. 

13.  That  due  regard  for  the    Federal 
constitution,  a  sound  administrative  poli 
cy,  demand  that  the  funds  of  the  general 
government  be  kept  separate  from  bank 
ing  institutions ;   that  inland  and  ocean 
postage  should  be  reduced  to  the  lowest 
possible    point;    that    no    more  revenue 
should  be  raised  than  is  required  to  defray 
the  strictly  necessary  expenses  of  the  pub 
lic  service  and  to  pay  off'  the  public  debt ; 
and  that  the  power  and  patronage  of  the 
government  should  be  diminished  by  the 
abolition  of  all  unnecessary  offices,  salaries 
and  privileges,  and  by  the  election  of  the 
people  of  all  civil  officers  in  the  service  of 
the  United  States,  so  far  as  may  be  consist 
ent  with  the  prompt  and  efficient  transac 
tion  of  the  public  business. 

14.  That  river  and  harbor  improvements, 
when   necessary  to  the  safety  and  con 
venience  of  commerce  with  foreign  nations, 
or  among  the  several  states,  are  objects  of 
national  concern;  and  it  is  the  duty  of 
Congress,  in  the  exercise  of  its  constitu 
tional  powers,  to  provide  for  the  same. 

15.  That  emigrants  and  exiles  from  the 
old  world  should  find  a  cordial  welcome  to 
homes  of  comfort  and  fields  of  enterprise  in 
the  new ;   and  every  attempt  to  abridge 
their  privilege  of  becoming  citizens  and 
owners  of  soil  among  us  ought  to  be  resist 
ed  with  inflexible  determination. 

16.  That  every  nation  has  a  clear  right 
to  alter  or  change,  its  own  government, 
and  to  administer  its  own  concerns  in  such 
manner  as  may  best  secure    the    rights 
and  promote  the  happiness  of  the  people  ; 
and  foreign  interference  with  that  right  is 
a  dangerous  violation  of  the  law  of  nations, 


against  which  all  independent  govern 
ments  should  protest,  and  endeavor  by  all 
proper  means  to  prevent ;  and  especially  is 
it  the  duty  of  the  American  government, 
representing  the  chief  republic  of  the 
world,  to  protest  against,  and  by  all  pro 
per  means  to  prevent,  the  intervention  of 
kings  and  emperors  against  nations  seek 
ing  to  establish  for  themselves  republican 
or  constitutional  governments. 

17.  That    the  independence    of  Hayti 
ought  to  be  recognized  by  our  government, 
and  our  commercial  relations  with  it  placed 
on  the  footing  of  the  most  favored  nations. 

18.  That  as  by  the  constitution,  "the 
citizens  of  each  state  shall  be  entitled  to 
all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citi 
zens  in  the  several  states,"  the  practice  of 
imprisoning  colored  seamen  of  other  states, 
while  the  vessels  to  which  they  belong  lie 
in  port,  and  refusing  the  exercise  of  the 
right  to  bring  such  cases  before  the  Su 
preme  Court  of  the  United  States,  to  test 
the  legality  of  such  proceedings,  is  a  fla 
grant  violation  of  the  constitution,  and  an 
invasion  of  the  rights  of  the  citizens  of 
other  states,  utterly  inconsistent  with  the 
professions  made  by  the  slaveholders,  that 
they  wish  the  provisions  of  the  constitu 
tion  faithfully  observed  by  every  state  in 
the  Union. 

19.  That  we  recommend   the  introduc 
tion  into  all  treaties  hereafter  to  be  nego 
tiated  between  the  United  States  and  for 
eign  nations,   of  some  provision  for  the 
amicable  settlement  of  difficulties  by  a  re 
sort  to  decisive  arbitrations. 

20.  That  the  free  democratic  party  is 
not  organized  to  aid  either  the  Whig  or 
Democratic  wing  of  the  great  slave  compro 
mise  party  of  the  nation,  but  to  defeat 
them  both  ;  and  that  repudiating  and  re 
nouncing  both  as  hopelessly  corrupt  and 
utterly  unworthy  of  confidence,  the  pur 
pose  of  the  Free  Democracy  is  to  take  pos 
session  of  the  Federal  government  and  ad 
minister  it  for  the  better  protection  of  the 
rights  and  interests  of  the  whole  people. 

21.  ,That    we  inscribe  on  our  banner 
Free  Soil,  Free  Speech,  Free  Labor,  and 
Free  Men,  and  under  it  will  fight  on  and 
fight  ever,  until  a  triumphant  victory  shall 
reward  our  exertions. 

22.  That  upon  this  platform,  the  con 
vention  presents  to  the  American  people, 
as  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  President 
of  the  United  States,   John  P.   Hale,  of 
New  Hampshire,  and  as  a  candidate  for 
the  office  of  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  George  W.  Julian,  of  Indiana,  and 
earnestly  commend  them  to  the  support  of 
all  freemen  and  all  parties. 


1856.— The  American  Platform. 

Adopted  at  Philadelphia  February  21. 

1.  An  humble  acknowledgment  to  the 


AMERICAN    POLITIoS. 


Supreme  Being  for  His  protecting  care 
vouchsafed  to  our  fathers  in  their  success 
ful  revolutionary  struggle,  and  hitherto 
manifested  to  us,  their  descendants,  in  the 
preservation  of  the  liberties,  the  indepen 
dence,  and  the  union  of  these  states. 

2.  The    perpetuation    of  the    Federal 
Union  and  constitution,  as  the  palladium 
of  our  civil  and  religious  liberties,  and  the 
only  sure  bulwarks  of  American  independ 
ence. 

3.  Americans  must  rule  America ;  and  to 
this  end  nafa'ye-born  citizens  should  be  se 
lected  for  all  state,  federal,  and  municipal 
offices  of  government  employment,  in  pre 
ference  to  all  others.     Nevertheless, 

4.  Persons  born  of  American    parents 
residing   temporarily    abroad,  should   be 
entitled  to  all  the  rights  of  native-born 
citizens. 

5.  No  person  should  be  selected  for  polit 
ical  station  (whether  of  native  or  foreign 
birth),  who  recognizes  any  allegiance  or 
obligation  of  any  description  to  any  foreign 
prince,  potentate,  or  power,  or  who  refuses 
to  recognize  the  federal  and  state  constitu 
tions  (each  within  its  sphere)  as  paramount 
to  all  other  laws,  as  rules  of  political  ac 
tion. 

6.  The  unequaled  recognition  and  main 
tenance  of  the  reserved  rights  of  the  several 
states,  and  the  cultivation  of  harmony  and 
fraternal  good-will  between  the  citizens 
of  the  several  states,  and,  to  this  end,  non 
interference  by  Congress  with  questions 
appertaining  solely  to  the  individual  states, 
and  non-intervention  by  each  state  with 
the  affairs  of  any  other  state. 

7.  The  recognition  of  the  right  of  native- 
born  and  naturalized  citizens  of  the  Uni 
ted  States,  permanently  residing  in  any 
territory  thereof,  to  frame  their  constitu 
tion  and  laws,  and  to  regulate  their  domes 
tic  and  social  affairs  in  their  own  mode, 
subject  only  to  the  provisions  of  the  fed 
eral  constitution,  with  the  privilege  of  ad 
mission  into  the   Union    whenever  they 
have    the    requisite    population    for    one 
Eepresentative  in  Congress:  Provided,  al 
ways,  that  none  but  those  who  are  citizens 
of  the  United  States  under  the  constitu 
tion  and  laws  thereof,  and  who  have  a 
fixed  residence  in  any  such  territory,  ought 
to  participate  in  the  formation  of  the  con 
stitution  or  in  the  enactment  of  laws  for 
said  territory  or  state. 

8.  An    enforcement    of  the    principles 
that  no  state  or  territory  ought  to  admit 
others  than  citizens  to  the  right  of  suffrage 
or  of  holding  political  offices  of  the  United 
States. 

9.  A  change  in  the  laws  of  naturaliza 
tion,    making  a  continued    residence    of 
twenty-one    years,  of  all  not    heretofore 
provided  for,  an  indispensable  requisite  for 
citizenship  hereafter,   and  excluding    all 
paupers  and  persons  convicted  of  crime 


from  landing  upon  our  shores  ;  but  no  in 
terference  with  the  vested  rights  of  for 
eigners. 

10.  Opposition  to  any  union  between 
church  and  state;   no  interference  with 
religious  faith  or  worship;  and  no  test- 
oaths  for  office. 

11.  Free    and    thorough    investigation 
into  any  and  all  alleged  abuses  of  public 
functionaries,  and  a  strict  economy  in  pub 
lic  expenditures. 

12.  The  maintenance  and  enforcement 
of  all  laws  constitutionally  enacted,  until 
said  laws  shall  be  repealed,  or  shall  be  de 
clared  null  and  void  by  competent  judicial 
authority. 

13.  Opposition  to  the  reckless  and  un 
wise  policy  of  the  present  administration 
in  the  general  management  of  our  national 
affairs,  and  more  especially  as  shown  in 
removing  "Americans"  (by  designation) 
and  conservatives  in  principle,  from  office, 
and  placing    foreigners  and   ultraists  in 
their  places ;  as  shown  in  a  truckling  sub 
serviency  to  the  stronger,  and  an  insolent 
and  cowardly  bravado  towards  the  weaker 
powers ;  as  shown  in  reopening  sectional 
agitation,  by  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise ;  as  shown  in  granting  to  un- 
naturalized  foreigners  the  right  of  suffrage 
in  Kansas  and  Nebraska ;  as  shown  in  its 
vacillating  course  on  the  Kansas  and  Ne 
braska  question ;  as  shown  in  the  corrup 
tions  which  pervade  some  of  the  depart 
ments  of  the  government ;  as  shown  in  dis 
gracing  meritorious  naval  officers  through 
prejudice  or  caprice ;  and  as  shown  in  the 
blundering  mismanagement  of  our  foreign 
relations. 

14.  Therefore,  to  remedy  existing  evils- 
and  prevent  the  disastrous  consequences 
otherwise  resulting  therefrom,  we  would 
build  up  the  "  American  Party  "  upon  the 
principles  hereinbefore  stated. 

15.  That  each  state  council  shall  have 
authority  to  amend  their  several  constitu 
tions,  so  as  to  abolish  the  several  degrees, 
and  substitute  a  pledge  of  honor,  instead 
of  other  obligations,   for  fellowship  and 
admission  into  the  party. 

16.  A  free  and  open   discussion  of  all 
political  principles  embraced  in  our  plat 
form. 


1856. — Democratic  Platform, 

Adopted  at  Cincinnati,  June  6. 

Resolved,  That  the  American  democracy 
place  their  trust  in  the  intelligence,  the 
patriotism,  and  discriminating  justice  of 
the  American  people. 

Resolved,  That  we  regard  this  as  a  dis 
tinctive  feature  of  our  political  creed, 
which  we  are  proud  to  maintain  before 
the  world  as  a  great  moral  element  in  a 
form  of  government  springing  from  and 
upheld  by  the  popular  will ;  and  we  co»- 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


37 


trast  it  with  the  creed  and  practice  of 
federalism,  under  whatever  name  or  form, 
which  seeks  to  palsy  the  will  of  the  con 
stituent,  and  which  conceives  no  imposture 
too  monstrous  for  the  popular  credulity. 

Resolved,  therefore,  That  entertaining 
these  views,  the  Democratic  party  of  this 
Union,  through  their  delegates,  assembled 
in  general  convention,  coming  together  in 
a  spirit  of  concord,  of  devotion  to  the  doc 
trines  and  faith  of  a  free  representative 
government,  and  appealing  to  their  fellow 
citizens  for  the  rectitude  of  their  intentions, 
renew  and  reassert,  before  the  American 
people,  the  declaration  of  principles 
avowed  by  them,  when,  on  former  occa 
sions,  in  general  convention,  they  have 
presented  their  candidates  for  the  popular 
suffrage. 

1.  That  the  Federal  government  is  one 
of  limited  power,  derived   solely  from  the 
constitution,  and  the  grants  of  power  made 
therein  ought  to  be  strictly   construed  by 
all  the  departments  and  agents  of  the  gov 
ernment,  and  that  it  is  inexpedient  and 
dangerous  to  exercise  doubtful  constitu 
tional  powers. 

2.  That  the  constitution  does  not  confer 
upon  the  general  government  the  power  to 
commence  and  carry  on  a  general  system 
of  internal  improvements. 

3.  That  the  constitution  does  not  confer 
authority  upon  the  Federal  government, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  assume  the  debts 
of  the  several  states,  contracted  for  local 
and  internal  improvements  or  other  state 
purposes;  nor  would  such  assumption  be 
just  or  expedient. 

4.  That  justice  and  sound  policy  forbid 
the    Federal    government    to  foster    one 
branch   of  industry  to  the  detriment  of 
another,  or  to  cherish  the  interests  of  one 
portion  of  our  common  country ;  that  every 
citizen  and  every  section  of  the  country 
has  a  right  to  demand  and  insist  upon  an 
equality   of  rights   and  privileges,  and  a 
complete  and  ample  protection  of  persons 
and  property  from  domestic  violence  and 
foreign  aggression. 

5.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  every  branch 
of  the  government  to  enforce  and  practice 
the  most  rigid  economy  in  conducting  our 
public  affairs,  and  that  no  more  revenue 
ought  to  be  raised  than  is  required  to  de 
fray  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  govern 
ment  and  gradual  but  certain  extinction  of 
the  public  debt. 

6.  That  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands 
ought  to  be  sacredly  applied  to  the  national 
objects  specified  in  the  constitution,  and 
that  we  are  opposed  to  any  law  for  the  dis 
tribution  of  such  proceeds  among  the  states, 
as  alike  inexpedient  in  policy  and  repug 
nant  to  the  constitution. 

7.  That  Congress  has  no  power  to  char 
ter  a  national  bank ;  that  we  believe  such 
an  institution  one  of  deadly  hostility  to 


the  best  interests  of  this  country,  danger 
ous  to  our  republican  institutions  and  the 
liberties  of  the  people,  and  calculated  to 
place  the  business  of  the  country  within 
the  control  of  a  concentrated  money  power 
and  above  the  laws  and  will  of  the  people ; 
and  the  results  of  the  democratic  legisla 
tion  in  this  and  all  other  financial  measures 
upon  which  issues  have  been  made  between 
the  two  political  parties  of  the  country, 
have  demonstrated  to  candid  and  practical 
men  of  all  parties  their  soundness,  safety, 
and  utility  in  all  business  pursuits. 

8.  That  the  separation  of  the  moneys  of 
the  government  from  banking  institutions 
is  indispensable  to  the  safety  of  the  funds 
of  the  government  and  the  rights  of  the 
people. 

9.  That  we  are  decidedly  opposed  to 
taking  from  the  President  the  qualified 
veto  power,  by  which  he  is  enabled,  under 
restrictions  and  responsibilities  amply  suffi 
cient  to  guard  the  public  interests,  to  sus 
pend  the  passage  of  a  bill  whose  merits 
can  not  secure  the  approval  of  two-thirds 
of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa 
tives,  until  the  judgment  of  the  people  can 
be  obtained  thereon,  and  which  has  saved 
the  American  people  from  the  corrupt  and 
tyrannical  dominion  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  and  from  a  corrupting  sys 
tem  of  general  internal  improvements. 

10.  That  the  liberal  principles  embodied 
by  Jefferson  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  and  sanctioned  in  the  Constitu 
tion,  which  makes  ours  the  land  of  liberty 
and  the  asylum  of  the  oppressed  of  every 
nation,  have  ever  been  cardinal  principles 
in  the  democratic  faith;   and  every  at 
tempt  to  abridge  the  privilege  of  becom 
ing  citizens  and  owners  of  soil  among  us, 
ought  to  be  resisted  with  the  same  spirit 
which  swept  the  alien  and  sedition  laws 
from  our  statute  books. 

And  whereas,  Since  the  foregoing  decla 
ration  was  uniformly  adopted  by  our  prede 
cessors  in  national  conventions,  an  adverse 
political  and  religious  test  has  been 
secretly  organized  by  a  party  claiming  to 
be  exclusively  Americans,  and  it  is  proper 
that  the  American  democracy  should 
clearly  define  its  relations  thereto;  and 
declare  its  determined  opposition  to  all 
secret  political  societies,  by  whatever  name 
they  may  be  called — 

Resolved,  That  the  foundation  of  this 
union  of  states  having  been  laid  in,  and 
its  prosperity,  expansion,  and  pre-eminent 
example  in  free  government  built  upon, 
entire  freedom  of  matters  of  religious  con 
cernment,  and  no  respect  of  persons  in  re 
gard  to  rank  or  place  of  birth,  no  party 
can  justly  be  deemed  national,  constitu 
tional,  or  in  accordance  with  American 
principles,  which  bases  its  exclusive  organ 
ization  upon  religious  opinions  and  acci 
dental  birth-place.  And  hence  a  political 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


crusade  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  in 
the  United  States  of  America,  against 
Catholics  and  foreign-born,  is  neither  justi 
fied  by  the  past  history  or  future  prospects 
of  the'  country,  nor  in  unison  with  the 
spirit  of  toleration  and  enlightened  free 
dom  which  peculiarly  distinguishes  the 
American  system  of  popular  government. 
Resolved,  That  we  reiterate  with  renewed 
energy  of  purpose  the  well-considered 
declarations  of  former  conventions  upon 
ihe  sectional  issue  of  domestic  slavery, 
and  concerning  the  reserved  rights  of  the 
states — 

1.  That  Congress  has  no  power  under 
the  constitution  to  interfere  with  or  con 
trol  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  several 
states,  and  that  all  such  states  are  the  sole 
and  proper  judges  of  everything  apper 
taining  to  their  own  affairs  not  prohibited 
by  the  constitution ;  that  all  efforts  of  the 
Abolitionists  or  others,   made  to  induce 
Congress  to  interfere   with    questions  of 
slavery,  or  to  take  incipient  steps  in  rela 
tion  thereto,  are  calculated  to  lead  to  the 
most  alarming     and     dangerous      conse 
quences,  and  that  all  such  efforts  have  an 
inevitable  tendency  to  diminish  the  hap 
piness  of  the  people  and  endanger  the 
stability  and  permanency  of  the  Union, 
and  ought  not  to  be  countenanced  by  any 
friend  of  our  political  institutions. 

2.  That  the  foregoing  proposition  covers 
and  was  intended  to  embrace  the  whole 
subject  of  slavery  agitation  in  Congress, 
and  therefore  the  Democratic  party  of  the 
Union,  standing  on  this  national  platform, 
will  abide  by  and  adhere  to  a  faithful  exe 
cution  of  the  acts  known  as  the  compro 
mise  measures,  settled  by  the  Congress  of 
1850 — "the  act  for    reclaiming    fugitives 
from  service  or  labor"   included;  which 
act,  being  designed  to  carry  out  an  express 
provision  of  the  constitution,  can  not,  with 
fidelity  thereto,  be  repealed,  or  so  changed 
as  to  destroy  or  impair  its  efficiency. 

3.  That  the  Democratic  party  will  resist 
all  attempts  at  renewing  in  Congress,  or 
out  of  it,  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  ques 
tion,  under  whatever  shape  or  color  the 
attempt  may  be  made. 

4.  That  the  Democratic  party  will  faith 
fully  abide  by  and  uphold  the  principles 
laid  down  in  the  Kentucky  and  Virginia 
resolutions  of  1792  and  1798,  and  in  the 
report  of  Mr.   Madison  to  the  Virginia 
legislature  in  1799;  that  it  adopts  these 
principles  as  constituting  one  of  the  main 
foundations  of  its  political   creed,  and  is 
resolved  to  carry  them  out  in  their  obvious 
meaning  and  import. 

And  that  we  may  more  distinctly  meet 
the  issue  on  which  a  sectional  party,  sub 
sisting  exclusively  on  slavery  agitation, 
now  relies  to  test  the  fidelity  of  the  people, 
north  and  south,  to  the  constitution  and 
the  Union — 


1.  Resolved,  That  claiming    fellowship 
with  and  desiring  the  co-operation  of  all 
who  regard  the  preservation  of  the  Union 
under  the  constitution  as  the  paramount 
issue,  and  repudiating  all  sectional  parties 
and  platforms  concerning  domestic  slavery 
which  seek  to  embroil  the  states  and  in 
cite  to  treason  and  armed  resistance  to  law 
in  the  territories,  and  whose  avowed  pur 
pose,  if  consummated,  must  end   in  civil 
war  and  disunion,  the  American  democracy 
recognize  and  adopt  the  principles  con 
tained  in  the  organic  laws  establishing  the 
territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas,  as  em 
bodying  the  only  sound  and  safe  solution 
of  the  slavery  question,  upon  which  the 
great  national   idea  of  the  people  of  this 
whole  country  can  repose  in  its  determined 
conservation  of  the  Union,  and  non-inter 
ference  of  Congress  with  slavery  in  the 
territories  or  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

2.  That  this  was  the  basis  of  the  com 
promise  of  1850,  confirmed  by  both  the 
Democratic  and  Whig  parties  in  national 
conventions,  ratified  by  the  people  in  the 
election  of  1852,  and  rightly  applied  to  the 
organization  of  the  territories  in  1854. 

3.  That  by  the  uniform  application  of 
the  Democratic  principle  to  the  organiza 
tion  of  territories  and  the  admission  of 
new  states,  with  or  without  domestic  sla 
very,  as  they  may  elect,  the  equal  rights  of 
all  the  states  will  be  preserved  intact,  the 
original  compacts  of  the  constitution  main 
tained  inviolate,  and  the  perpetuity  and 
expansion  of  the  Union  insured  to  its  ut 
most  capacity  of  embracing,  in  peace  and 
harmony,  every  future  American  state  that 
may  be  constituted  or  annexed  with  a  re 
publican  form  of  government. 

Resolved,  That  we  recognize  the  right 
of  the  people  of  all  the  territories,  includ 
ing  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  acting  through 
the  legally  and  fairly  expressed  will  of  the 
majority  of  the  actual  residents,  and  when 
ever  the  number  of  their  inhabitants  justi 
fies  it,  to  form  a  constitution,  with  or  with 
out  domestic  slavery,  and  be  admitted  into 
the  Union  upon  terms  of  perfect  equality 
with  the  other  states. 

Resolved,  finally,  That  in  view  of  the 
condition  of*  the  popular  institutions  in  the 
old  world  (and  the  dangerous  tendencies 
of  sectional  agitation,  combined  with  the 
attempt  to  enforce  civil  and  religious  disa 
bilities  against  the  rights  of  acquiring  and 
enjoying  citizenship  in  our  own  land),  a 
high  and  sacred  duty  is  devolved,  with  in 
creased  responsibility,  upon  the  Demo 
cratic  party  of  this  country,  as  the  party 
of  the  Union,  to  uphold  and  maintain  the 
rights  of  every  state,  and  thereby  the 
union  of  the  states,  and  to  sustain  and  ad 
vance  among  us  constitutional  liberty,  by 
continuing  to  resist  all  monopolies  and  ex 
clusive  legislation  for  the  benefit  of  the  few 
at  the  expense  of  the  many,  and  by  a  vigi- 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


39 


lant  and  constant  adherence  to  those  prin 
ciples  and  compromises  of  the  constitution 
which  are  broad  enough  and  strong  enough 
to  embrace  and  uphold  the  Union  as  it 
was,  the  Union  as  it  is,  and  the  Union  as 
it  shall  be,  in  the  full  expression  of  the 
energies  and  capacity  of  this  great  and 
progressive  people. 

1.  Resolved,  That  there   are    questions 
Connected  with  the  foreign  policy  of  this 
Ountry  which  are  inferior  to  no  domestic 
fjaestions  whatever.     The  time  has  come 
for  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  de 
clare  themselves  in  favor  of  free  seas  and 
progressive  free  trade  throughout  the  world, 
and,  by  solemn  manifestations,   to  place 
their  moral  influence  at  the  side  of  their 
successful  example. 

2.  Resolved,  That  our  geographical  and 
political  position  with  reference  to  the  other 
states  of  this  continent,  no  less  than  the 
interest  of  our  commerce  and  the  develop 
ment  of  our  growing  power,  requires  that 
we  should  hold  sacred  the  principles  in 
volved  in  the  Monroe  doctrine.     Their 
bearing  and  import  admit  of  no  miscon 
struction,  and  should  be  applied  with  un 
bending  rigidity. 

3.  Resolved,    That  the  great  highway 
which  nature,  as  well  as  the  assent  of  states 
most  immediately  interested  in  its  main 
tenance,  ha.->  marked  out  for  free  commu 
nication  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
oceans,  constitutes  one  of  the  most  impor 
tant  achievements  realized  by  the  spirit  of 
modern  times,  in  the  unconquerable  energy 
of  our  people ;  and  that  result  would  be 
secured  by  a  timely  and  efficient  exertion 
of  the  control  which  we  have  the  right  to 
claim  over  it;   and  no  power  on  earth 
should  be  suffered  to  impede  or  clog  its 
progress  by  any  interference  with  relations 
that  may  suit  our  policy  to  establish  be 
tween  our  government  and  the  govern 
ments  of  the  states  within  whose  dominions 
it  lies ;  we  can  under  no  circumstances  sur 
render  our  preponderance  in  the  adjust 
ment  of  all  questions  arising  out  of  it. 

4.  Resolved,   That  in  view  of  so  com 
manding  an  interest,  the  people  of  the 
United  States  cannot  but  sympathize  with 
the  efforts  which  are  being  made  by  the 
people  of  Central  America  to  regenerate 
that  portion  of  the  continent  which  covers 
the  passage  across  the  inter-oceanic  isthmus. 

5.  Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  party 
will  expect  of  the  next  administration  that 
every  proper  effort  be  made  to  insure  our 
ascendency  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  to 
maintain  permanent  protection  to  the  great 
outlets  through  which  are  emptied  into  its 
waters  the  products  raised  out  of  the  soil 
and  the  commodities  created  by  the  indus 
try  of  the  people  of  our  western  valleys 
and  of  the  Union  at  large. 

6.  Resolved,  That  the  administration  of 
Franklin  Pierce  has  been  true  to  Demo- 

23 


cratic  principles,  and,  therefore,  true  to  the 
great  interests  of  the  country ;  in  the  face 
of  violent  opposition,  he  has  maintained 
the  laws  at  home  and  vindicated  the  rights 
of  American  citizens  abroad,  and,  there 
fore,  we  proclaim  our  unqualified  admira 
tion  of  his  measures  and  policy. 


1856.— Republican  Platform, 

Adopted  at  Philadelphia,  June  17. 

This  convention  of  delegates,  assembled 
in  pursuance  of  a  call  addressed  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  without  regard 
to  past  political  differences  or  divisions, 
who  are  opposed  to  the  repeal  of  the  Mis 
souri  Compromise,  to  the  policy  of  the 
present  administration,  to  the  extension  of 
slavery  into  free  territory ;  in  favor  of  ad 
mitting  Kansas  as  a  free  state,  of  restoring 
the  action  of  the  Federal  government  to 
the  principles  of  Washington  and  Jeffer 
son  ;  and  who  purpose  to  unite  in  present 
ing  candidates  for  the  offices  of  President 
and  Vice-President,  do  resolve  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  That  the  maintenance  of  the 
principles  promulgated  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  embodied  in  the 
federal  constitution,  is  essential  to  the  pre 
servation  of  our  Republican  institutions, 
and  that  the  federal  constitution,  the  rights 
of  the  states,  and  the  union  of  the  states, 
shall  be  preserved. 

Resolved,  That  with  our  republican 
fathers  we  hold  it  to  be  a  self-evident  truth 
that  all  men  are  endowed  with  the  inalien 
able  rights  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness,  and  that  the  primary  object 
and  ulterior  design  of  our  Federal  govern 
ment  were,  to  secure  these  rights  to  all 
persons  within  its  exclusive  jurisdiction  ; 
that  as  our  republican  fathers,  when  they 
had  abolished  slavery  in  all  our  national 
territory,  ordained  that  no  person  should 
be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property, 
without  due  process  of  law,  it  becomes  our 
duty  to  maintain  this  provision  of  the  con 
stitution  against  all  attempts  to  violate  it 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  slavery  in 
any  territory  of  the  United  States,  by  posi 
tive  legislation,  prohibiting  its  existence  or 
extension  therein.  That  we  deny  the  au 
thority  of  Congress,  of  a  territorial  legis 
lature,  of  any  individual  or  association  of 
individuals,  to  give  legal  existence  to  sla 
very  in  any  territory  of  the  United  States, 
while  the  present  constitution  shall  be 
maintained. 

Resolved,  That  the  constitution  confers 
upon  Congress  sovereign  power  over  the 
territories  of  the  United  States  for  their 
government,  and  that  in  the  exercise  of 
this  power  it  is  both  the  right  and  the  im 
perative  duty  of  Congress  to  prohibit  in 
the  territories  those  twin  relics  of  barbar 
ism — polygamy  and  slavery. 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Resolved,  That  while  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States  was  ordained  and  estab 
lished,  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect 
union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic 
tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  de 
fense,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and 
secure  the  blessings  of  liberty,  and  contains 
ample  provisions  for  the  protection  of  the 
life,  liberty,  and  property  of  every  citizen, 
the  dearest  constitutional  rights  of  the 
people  of  Kansas  have  been  fraudulently 
and  violently  taken  from  them ;  their  terri 
tory  has  been  invaded  by  an  armed  force  ; 
spurious  and  pretended  legislative,  judicial, 
and  executive  officers  have  been  set  over 
them,  by  whose  usurped  authority,  sus 
tained  by  the  military  power  of  the  govern 
ment,  tyrannical  and  unconstitutional  laws 
have  been  enacted  and  enforced ;  the  rights 
of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  have 
been  infringed ;  test  oaths  of  an  extraordi 
nary  and  entangling  nature  have  been  im 
posed,  as  a  condition  of  exercising  the 
right  of  suffrage  and  holding  office  ;  the 
right  of  an  accused  person  to  a  speedy  and 
public  trial  by  an  impartial  jury  has  been 
denied  ;  the  right  of  the  people  to  be  se 
cure  in  their  persons,  houses,  papers,  and 
effects  against  unreasonable  searches  and 
seizures,  has  been  violated ;  they  have  been 
deprived  of  life,  liberty,  and  property  with 
out  due  process  of  law  ;  that  the  freedom 
of  speech  and  of  the  press  has  been  abridg 
ed  ;  the  right  to  choose  their  representa 
tives  has  been  made  of  no  effect ;  murders, 
robberies,  and  arsons  have  been  instigated 
or  encouraged,  and  the  offenders  have  been 
allowed  to  go  unpunished ;  that  all  these 
things  have  been  done  with  the  knowledge, 
sanction,  and  procurement  of  the  present 
national  administration  ;  and  that  for  this 
high  crime  against  the  constitution,  the 
Union,  and  humanity,  we  arraign  the  ad 
ministration,  the  President,  his  advisers, 
agents,  supporters,  apologists,  and  acces 
sories,  either  before  or  after  the  facts,  be 
fore  the  country  and  before  the  world  ; 
and  that  it  is  our  fixed  purpose  to  bring  the 
actual  perpetrators  of  these  atrocious  out 
rages,  and  their  accomplices,  to  a  sure  and 
condign  punishment  hereafter. 

Resolved,  That  Kansas  should  be  im 
mediately  admitted  as  a  state  of  the  Union 
with  her  present  free  constitution,  as  at 
once  the  most  effectual  way  of  securing  to 
her  citizens  the  enjoyment  of  the  rights 
and  privileges  to  which  they  are  entitled, 
and  of  ending  the  civil  strife  now  raging 
in  her  territory. 

Resolved,  That  the  highwayman's  plea 
that  "might  makes  right,"  embodied  in 
the  Ostena  circular,  was  in  every  respect 
unworthy  of  American  diplomacy,  and 
would  bring  shame  and  dishonor  upon  any 
government  or  people  that  gave  it  their 
sanction. 

Resolved,  That  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific 


ocean,  by  the  most  central  and  practicable 
route,  is  imperatively  demanded  by  the  in 
terests  of  the  whole  country,  and  that  the 
Federal  government  ought  to  render  im 
mediate  and  efficient  aid  in  its  construc 
tion,  and,  as  an  auxiliary  thereto,  the  im 
mediate  construction  of  an  emigrant  route 
on  the  line  of  the  railroad. 

Resolved,  That  appropriations  of  Con 
gress  for  the  improvement  of  rivers  and 
harbors  of  a  national  character,  required 
for  the  accommodation  and  security  of  our 
existing  commerce,  are  authorized  by  the 
constitution,  and  justified  by  the  obligation 
of  government  to  protect  the  lives  and 
property  of  its  citizens. 

Resolved,  That  we  invite  the  affiliation 
and  co-operation  of  the  men  of  all  parties, 
however  differing  from  us  in  other  respects, 
in  support  of  the  principles  herein  de 
clared  ;  and  believing  that  the  spirit  of 
our  institutions,  as  well  as  the  constitution 
of  our  country,  guarantees  liberty  of  con 
science  and  equality  of  rights  among  citi 
zens,  we  oppose  all  prescriptive  legislation 
affecting  their  security. 


1856.— Wfcig  Platform. 

Baltimore,  September  13. 

Resolved,  That  the  Whigs  of  the  United 
States,  now  here  assembled,  hereby  de 
clare  their  reverence  for  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States,  their  unalterable  at 
tachment  to  the  National  Union,  and  a 
fixed  determination  to  do  all  in  their 
power  to  preserve  them  for  themselves  and 
their  posterity.  They  have  no  new  princi 
ples  to  announce ;  no  new  platform  to  es 
tablish  ;  but  are  content  to  broadly  rest — 
where  their  fathers  rested — upon  the  con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  wishing  no 
safer  guide,  no  higher  law. 

Resolved,  That  we  regard  with  the 
deepest  interest  and  anxiety  the  present 
disordered  condition  of  our  national  af 
fairs — a  portion  of  the  country  ravaged  by 
civil  war,  large  sections  of  our  population 
embittered  by  mutual  recriminations;  and 
we  distinctly  trace  these  calamities  to  the 
culpable  neglect  of  duty  by  the  present 
national  administration. 

Resolved,  That  the  government  of  the 
United  States  was  formed  by  the  conjunc 
tion  in  political  unity  of  wide-spread  geo 
graphical  sections,  materially  differing,  not 
only  in  climate  and  products,  but  in  social 
and  domestic  institutions;  and  that  any 
cause  that  shall  permanently  array  the 
different  sections  of  the  Union  in  political 
hostility  and  organize  parties  founded  only 
on  geographical  distinctions,  must  inevit 
ably  prove  fatal  to  a  continuance  of  the 
National  Union. 

Resolved,  That  the  Whigs  of  the  United 
States  declare,  as  a  fundamental  article  of 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


41 


political  faith,  an  absolute  necessity  for 
avoiding  geographical  parties.  The  dan 
ger,  so  clearly  discerned  by  the  Father  of 
his  Country,  has  now  become  fearfully 
apparent  in  the  agitation  now  convulsing 
the  nation,  and  must  be  arrested  at  once 
if  we  would  preserve  our  constitution  and 
our  Union  from  dismemberment,  and  the 
name  of  America  from  being  blotted  out 
from  the  family  of  civilized  nations. 

Resolved,  That  all  who  revere  the  con 
stitution  and  the  Union,  must  look  with 
alarm  at  the  parties  in  the  field  in  the 
present  presidential  campaign — one  claim 
ing  only  to  represent  sixteen  northern 
states,  and  the  other  appealing  mainly  to 
the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  southern 
states ;  that  the  success  of  either  faction 
must  add  fuel  to  the  flame  which  now 
threatens  to  wrap  our  dearest  interests  in 
a  common  ruin. 

Resolved,  That  the  only  remedy  for  an 
evil  so  appalling  is  to  support  a  candidate 
pledged  to  neither  of  the  geographical  sec 
tions  nor  arrayed  in  political  antagonism, 
but  holding  both  in  a  just  and  equal  regard. 
We  congratulate  the  friends  of  the  Union 
that  such  a  candidate  exists  in  Millard 
Fillmore. 

Resolved,  That,  without  adopting  or  re 
ferring  to  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  the 
party  which  has  already  selected  Mr.  Fill- 
more  as  a  candidate,  we  look  to  him  as  a 
well  tried  and  faithful  friend  of  the  consti 
tution  and  the  Union,  eminent  alike  for 
his  wisdom  and  firmness — for  his  justice 
and  moderation  in  our  foreign  relations — 
calm  and  pacific  temperament,  so  well  be 
coming  the  head  of  a  great  nation — for  his 
devotion  to  the  constitution  in  its  true 
spirit — his  inflexibility  in  executing  the 
laws  but,  beyond  all  these  attributes,  in 
possessing  the  one  transcendent  merit  of 
being  a  representative  of  neither  of  the 
two  sectional  parties  now  struggling  for 
political  supremacy. 

Resolved,  That,  in  the  present  exigency 
of  political  affairs,  we  are  not  called  upon 
to  discuss  the  subordinate  questions  of  ad 
ministration  in  the  exercising  of  the  con 
stitutional  powers  of  the  government.  It 
is  enough  to  know  that  civil  war  is  raging, 
and  that  the  Union  is  in  peril ;  and  we 
proclaim  the  conviction  that  the  restora 
tion  of  Mr.  Fillmore  to  the  presidency  will 
furnish  the  best  if  not  the  only  means  of 
restoring  peace. 


I860.— Constitutional  Union  Platform. 

Baltimore,  May  9. 

Whereas,  Experience  has  demonstrated 
that  platforms  adopted  by  the  partisan 
conventions  of  the  country  have  had  the 
effect  to  mislead  and  deceive  the  people, 


and  at  the  same  time  to  widen  the  political 
divisions  of  the  country,  by  the  creation 
and  encouragement  of  geographical  and 
sectional  parties ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  both  the  part  of 
patriotism  and  of  duty  to  recognize  no  po 
litical  principles  other  than  THE  CONSTI 
TUTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY,  THE  UNION  OP 
THE  STATES,  AND  THE  ENFORCEMENT  OF 
THE  LAWS  ;  and  that  as  representatives  of 
the  Constitutional  Union  men  of  the  coun 
try,  in  national  convention  assembled,  we 
hereby  pledge  ourselves  to  maintain,  pro 
tect,  and  deiend,  separately  and  unitedly, 
these  great  principles  of  public  liberty  and 
national  safety  against  all  enemies  at  home 
and  abroad,  believing  that  thereby  peace 
may  once  more  be  restored  to  the  country, 
the  rights  of  the  people  and  of  the  states 
re-established,  and  the  government  again 
placed  in  that  condition  of  justice,  frater 
nity,  and  equality,  which,  under  the  exiam- 
ple  and  constitution  of  our  fathers,  has 
solemnly  bound  every  citizen  of  the  United 
States  to  maintain  a  more  perfect  union, 
establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquil 
lity,  provide  for  the  common  defense,  pro 
mote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the 
blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our 
posterity. 


I860.— Republican  Platform, 

Chicago,  May  17. 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  delegated  repre 
sentatives  of  the  Republican  electors  of 
the  United  States,  in  convention  assembled, 
in  discharge  of  the  duty  we  owe  to  our 
constituents  and  our  country,  unite  in  the 
following  declarations: 

1.  That  the  history  of  the  nation,  dur 
ing  the  last  four  years,  has  fully  establish 
ed  the  propriety  and  necessity  of  the  or 
ganization   and  perpetuation  of  the  Ee- 
publican  party,  and  that  the  causes  which 
called  it  into  existence  are  permanent  in 
their  nature,  and  now,  more  than  ever  be 
fore,  demand  its  peaceful  and  constitutional 
triumph. 

2.  That  the  maintenance  of  the  principles 
promulgated  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  and  embodied  in  the    federal 
constitution,  "That  all  men  are  created 
equal;    that  they  are  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights; 
that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness ;  that  to  secure  these 
rights,  governments  are  instituted  among 
men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed/'  is  essential  to 
the  preservation  of  our  republican  institu 
tions  ;   and  that  the  federal  constitution, 
the  rights  of  the  states,  and  the  union  of 
the  states,  must  and  shall  be  preserved. 

3.  That  to  the  union  of  the  states  this 
nation  owes  its  unprecedented  increase  in 
population,  its  surprising  development  of 


42 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


material  resources,  its  rapid  augmentation 
of  wealth,  its  happiness  at  home  and  its 
honor  abroad ;  and  we  hold  in  abhorrence 
all  schemes  for  disunion,  come  from  what 
ever  source  they  may  ;  and  we  congratulate 
the  country  that  no  Republican  member  of 
Congress  has  uttered  or  countenanced  the 
threats  of  disunion  so  often  made  by  De 
mocratic  members,  without  rebuke  and 
with  applause  from  their  political  associ 
ates  ;  and  we  denounce  those  threats  of  dis 
union,  in  case  of  a  popular  overthrow  of 
their  ascendency,  as  denying  the  vital 
principles  of  a  free  government,  and  as  an 
avowal  of  contemplated  treason,  which  it 
is  the  imperative  duty  of  an  indignant 
people  sternly  to  rebuke  and  forever  silence. 

4.  That  the  maintenance  inviolate  of  the 
rights  of  the  states,  and  especially  the  right 
of  each  state  to  order  and  control  its  own 
domestic  institutions  according  to  its  own 
judgment  exclusively,  is  essential  to  that 
balance  of  powers  on  which  the  perfection 
and  endurance  of  our  political  fabric  de 
pends;  and  we  denounce  the  lawless  in 
vasion,  by  armed  force,  of  the  soil  of  any 
state  or  territory,  no  matter  under  what 
pretext,  as  among  the  gravest  of  crimes. 

5.  That  the  present  Democratic  admini 
stration  has  far  exceeded  our  worst  ap 
prehensions,  in  its  measureless  subserviency 
to  the  exactions  of  a  sectional  interest,  as 
especially  evinced  in  its  desperate  exertions 
to  force  the  infamous  Lecompton  constitu 
tion  upon  the  protesting  people  of  Kansas ; 
in  construing  the  personal  relations  be 
tween  master  and  servant  to  involve  an 
unqualified  property  in  persons ;  in  its  at 
tempted  enforcement,  everywhere,  on  land 
and  sea,  through  the  intervention  of  Con 
gress  and  of  the  federal  courts,  of  the  ex 
treme  pretensions  of  a  purely  local  interest ; 
and  in  its  general  and  unvarying  abuse  of 
the  power  entrusted  to  it  by  a  confiding 
people. 

.  6.  That  the  people  justly  view  with  alarm 
the  reckless  extravagance  which  pervades 
every  department  of  the  Federal  govern 
ment  ;  that  a  return  to  rigid  economy  and 
accountability  is  indispensable  to  arrest  the 
systematic  plunder  of  the  public  treasury 
by  favored  partisans;  while  the  recent 
startling  developments  of  frauds  and  cor 
ruptions  at  the  federal  metropolis,  show 
that  an  entire  change  of  administration  is 
imperatively  demanded. 

7.  That  the  new  dogma,  that  the  consti 
tution,  of  its  own  force,  carries  slavery  into 
any  or  all  of  the  territories  of  the  United 
States,  is  a  dangerous  political  heresy,  at 
variance  with  the  explicit  provisions  of 
that  instrument  itself,  with  contemporane 
ous  exposition,  and  with  legislative  and 
judicial  precedent — is  revolutionary  in  its 
tendency,  and  subversive  of  the  peace  and 
harmony  of  the  country. 

8.  That  the  normal  condition  of  all  the 


territory  of  the  United  States  is  that  of 
freedom ;  that  as  our  republican  fathers, 
when  they  had  abolished  slavery  in  all  our 
national  territory,  ordained  that  "  no  per 
son  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or 
property,  without  due  process  of  law,"  it 
becomes  our  duty,  by  legislation,  whenever 
such  legislation  is  necessary,  to  maintain 
this  provision  of  the  constitution  against 
all  attempts  to  violate  it ;  and  we  deny  the 
authority  of  Congress,  of  a  territorial  legis 
lature,  or  of  any  individuals,  to  give  legal 
existence  to  slavery  in  any  territory  of  the 
United  States. 

9.  That  we  brand  the  recent  reopening 
of  the  African  slave  trade,  under  the  cover 
of  our  national  flag,  aided  by  perversions 
of  judicial  power,  as  a  crime  against  human 
ity  and  a  burning  shame  to  our  country 
and  age ;    and  we  call  upon  Congress  to 
take  prompt  and  efficient  measures  for  the 
total  and  final  suppression  of  that  execrable 
traffic. 

10.  That  in  the  recent  vetoes,  by  their 
federal  governors,  of  the  acts  of  the  legis 
latures  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  prohibit 
ing  slavery  in  those  territories,  we  find  a 
practical  illustration  of  the  boasted  De 
mocratic  principle  of  non-intervention  and 
popular    sovereignty,    embodied    in    the 
Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  and  a  demonstration 
of    the    deception    and    fraud    involved 
therein. 

11.  That  Kansas  should,  of  right,  be 
immediately  admitted  as  a  state  under  the 
constitution  recently  formed  and  adopted 
by  her  people,  and  accepted  by  the  House 
of  Representatives. 

12.  That,  while  providing  revenue  for 
the  support  of  the  general  government  by 
duties  upon  imports,  sound  policy  requires 
such  an  adjustment  of  these  imports  as  to 
encourage  the  development  of  the  indus 
trial  interest  of  the  whole  country ;    and 
we  commend  that  policy  of  national  ex 
changes  which  secures  to  the  working  men 
liberal  wages,  to  agriculture  remunerative 
prices,  to  mechanics  and  manufacturers  an 
adequate  reward  for  their  skill,  labor,  and 
enterprise,  and  to  the  nation  commercial 
prosperity  and  independence. 

13.  That  we  protest  against  any  sale  or 
alienation  to  others  of  the  public  lands 
held  by  actual  settlers,  and  against  any1 
view  of  the  homestead  policy  which  re 
gards  the  settlers  as  paupers  or  suppliants 
for  public  bounty;   and  we  demand  the 
passage  by  Congress  of  the  complete  and 
satisfactory  homestead  measure  which  has 
already  passed  the  House. 

14.  That  the  republican  party  is  opposed 
to  any  change  in  our  naturalization  laws, 
or  any  state  legislation  by  which  the  rights 
of  citizenship  hitherto  accorded  to  immi 
grants  from  foreign  lands  shall  be  abridged 
or  impaired ;  and  in  favor  of  giving  a  full 
and  efficient  protection  to  the  rights  of  all 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


43 


classes  of  citizens,  whether  native  or  na 
turalized,  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

15.  That  appropriations  by  Congress  for 
river  and  harbor  improvements  of  a  na 
tional  character,  required  for  the  accommo 
dation  and  security  of  an   existing  com 
merce,  are  authorized  by  the  constitution 
and  justified  by  the  obligations  of  govern 
ment  to  protect  the  lives  and  property  of 
its  citizens. 

16.  That  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  ocean 
is  imperatively  demanded  by  the  interest 
of  the  whole  country ;    that  the  Federal 
government  ought  to  render  immediate  and 
efficient  aid  in  its  construction ;  and  that 
as  preliminary  thereto,  a  daily  overland 
mail  should  be  promptly  established. 

17.  Finally,  having  thus  set  forth  our 
distinctive  principles  and  views,  we  invite 
the  co-operation  of  all  citizens,  however 
differing  on  other  questions,  who   substan 
tially  agree  with  us  in  their  affirmance  and 
support. 


I860.— Democratic  (Douglas)  Platform, 

Charleston,  April  23,  and  Baltimore,  June  18. 

'1.  Resolved,  That  we,  the  Democracy  of 
the  Union,  in  convention  assembled,  here 
by  declare  our  affirmance  of  the  resolutions 
unanimously  adopted  and  declared  as  a 
Platform  of  principles  by  the  Democratic 
convention  at  Cincinnati,  in  the  year  1856, 
believing  that  democratic  principles  are 
unchangeable  in  their  nature  when  applied 
to  the  same  subject-matters ;  and  we  recom 
mend,  as  the  only  further  resolutions,  the 
following : 

Inasmuch  as  differences  of  opinion  exist 
in  the  Democratic  party  as  to  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  powers  of  a  territorial 
legislature,  and  as  to  the  powers  and  duties 
of  Congress,  under  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States,  over  the  institution  of  sla 
very  within  the  territories : 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  party 
will  abide  by  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  on  the  questions 
of  constitutional  law. 

3.  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
United  States  to  afford  ample  and  complete 
protection  to  all  its  citizens,  whether  at 
home  or  abroad,  and   whether  native  or 
foreign. 

4.  Resolved,  That  one  of  the  necessities 
of  the  age,  in  a  military,  commercial,  and 
postal  point  of  view,  is  speedy  communi 
cation  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
states;  and  the  Democratic  party  pledge 
such  constitutional  government  aid  as  will 
insure  the  construction  of  a  railroad  to  the 
Pacific  coast  at  the  earliest   practicable 
period. 

5.  Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  party 
are  in  favor  of  the  acquisition  of  the  island 
of  Cuba,  on  such  terms  as  shall  be  honor 
able  to  ourselves  and  just  to  Spain. 


6.  Resolved,  That  the  enactments  of  state 
legislatures  to  defeat  the  faithful  execution 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  are  hostile  in 
character,  subversive  of  the  constitution, 
and  revolutionary  in  their  effect. 

7.  Resolved,   That  it  is  in  accordance 
with  the  true  interpretation  of  the  Cincin 
nati  platform,  that,  during  the  existence  of 
the  territorial  governments,  the  measure 
of  restriction,  whatever  it  may  be,  imposed 
by  the  federal  constitution  on  the  power  of 
the  territorial  legislature  over  the  subject 
of  domestic  relations,  as  the  same  has  been, 
or  shall  hereafter  be,  finally  determined  by 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
shall  be  respected  by  all  good  citizens,  and 
enforced  with  promptness  and  fidelity  by 
every  branch  of  the  general  government. 


I860.— Democratic  (Breckinridge)  Platform. 

Charleston  and  Baltimore. 

Resolved,  That  the  platform  adopted  by 
the  Democratic  party  at  Cincinnati  be  af 
firmed,  with  following  explanatory  resolu 
tions  : 

1.  That  the  government  of  a  territory, 
organized  by  an  act  of  Congress,  is  pro 
visional  and  temporary ;    and,  during  its 
existence,  all  citizens  of  the  United  States 
have  an  equal  right  to  settle,  with  their 
property,  in  the  territory,  without  their 
rights,  either  of  person  or  property,  being 
destroyed  or  impaired  by  congressional  or 
territorial  legislation. 

2.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the    Federal 
government,  in  all  its  departments,  to  pro 
tect,  when  necessary,  the  rights    of  per 
sons   and  property  in  the  territories,  and 
wherever  else  its  constitutional  authority 
extends. 

3.  That  when  the  settlers  in  a  territory 
having    an  adequate  population    form  a 
state  constitution  in  pursuance  of  law,  the 
right  of  sovereignty  commences,  and,  be 
ing  consummated  by  admission  into  the 
Union,  they  stand  on   an    equal  footing 

th  the  people  of  other  states,  and  the 
state  thus  organized  ought  to  be  admit 
ted  into  the  Federal  Union,  whether  its 
constitution  prohibits  or  recognizes  the  in 
stitution  of  slavery. 

4.  That  the   Democratic  party  are   in 
favor  of  the  acquisition  of  the  island  of 
~uba,  on  such  terms  as  shall  be  honorable 
to  ourselves  and  just  to  Spain,  at  the  earli 
est  practicable  moment. 

5.  That  the  enactments  of  state  legisla 
tures  to  defeat  the  faithful  execution  of 
:he   Fugitive   Slave   Law  are  hostile  in 
character,  subversive  of  the  constitution, 
and  revolutionary  in  their  effect. 

6.  That  the  Democracy  of  the  United 
States  recognize  it  as  the  imperative  duty 
of  this  government  to  protect  the  natural- 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


ized  citizen  in  all  his  rights,  whether  at 
home  or  in  foreign  lands,  to  the  same  ex 
tent  as  its  native-born  citizens. 

Whereas,  One  of  the  greatest  necessi 
ties  of  the  age,  in  a  political,  commercial, 
postal,  and  military  point  of  view,  is  a 
speedy  communication  betAveen  the  Pa 
cific  and  Atlantic  coasts ;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  party  do 
hereby  pledge  themselves  to  use  every 
means  in  their  power  to  secure  the  passage 
of  some  bill,  to  the  extent  of  the  constitu 
tional  authority  of  Congress,  for  the  con 
struction  of  a  Pacific  railroad  from  the 
Mississippi  river  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  at 
the  earliest  practicable  moment. 


1864.— Radical  Platform. 

Cleveland,  May  31. 

1.  That  the  Federal  Union  shall  be  pre 
served. 

2.  That  the  constitution  and  laws  of 
the  United  States  must  be  observed  and 
obeyed. 

3.  That  the    Rebellion    must  be  sup 
pressed  by  force  of  arms,  and  without  com 
promise. 

4.  That  the  rights  of  free  speech,  free 
press  and  the  habeas  corpus  be  held  invio 
late,  save  in  districts  where  martial  law 
has  been  proclaimed. 

5.  That   the    Rebellion  has  destroyed 
slavery ;     and    the    federal     constitution 
should  be  so  amended  as  to  prohibit  its 
re-establishment,  and  to  secure  to  all  men 
absolute  equality  before  the  law. 

6.  That  integrity  and  economy  are  de 
manded,  at  all  times  in  the  administration 
of  the  government,  and  that  in  time  of 
war  the  want  of  them  is  criminal. 

7.  That  the  right  of  asylum,  except  for 
crime  and  subject  to  law,  is  a  recognized 
principle  of  American  liberty ;    and  that 
any  violation  of  it  can  not  be  overlooked, 
and  must  not  go  unrebuked. 

8.  That  the  national  policy  known  as 
the  " Monroe  Doctrine"  has  become  a  re 
cognized  principle ;    and  that  the  estab 
lishment    of   an  anti-republican    govern 
ment  on    this  continent  by  any  foreign 
power  can  not  be  tolerated. 

9.  That  the  gratitude  and  support  of 
the  nation  are  due  to  the  faithful  soldiers 
and  the  earnest  leaders  of  the  Union  army 
and  navy,  for  their  heroic  achievements 
and  deathless  valor  in  defense  of  our  im 
periled  country  and  of  civil  liberty. 

10.  That  the  one-term    policy  for   the 
presidency,    adopted    by   the    people,    is 
Strengthened  by  the  force  of  the  existing 
crisia,  and  should  be  maintained  by  con 
stitutional  amendment. 

11.  That  the  constitution  should  be  so 
amended  that  the    President  and  Vice- 


President  shall  be  elected  by  a  direct  vote 
of  the  people. 

12.  That  the  question  of  the  reconstruc 
tion  of  the  rebellious  states  belongs  to  the 
people,  through  their   representatives  in 
Congress,  and  not  to  the  Executive. 

13.  That  the  confiscation  of  the  lands  of 
the  rebels,  and  their  distribution  among 
the  soldiers  and  actual  settlers,  is  a  mea 
sure  of  justice. 


1864.— Republican  Platform. 

Bullhnore,  June  7. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  highest  duty 
of  every  American  citizen  to  maintain, 
against  all  their  enemies,  the  integrity  of 
the  union  and  the  paramount  authority  of 
the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United 
States ;  and  that,  laying  aside  all  differ 
ences  of  political  opinions,  we  pledge  our 
selves,  as  Union  men,  animated  by  a  com 
mon  sentiment  and  aiming  at  a  common 
object,  to  do  everything  in  our  power  to 
aid  the  government  in  quelling,  by  force 
of  arms,  the  Rebellion  now  raging  against 
its  authority,  and  in  bringing  to  the  pun 
ishment  due  to  their  crimes  the  rebels  and 
traitors  arrayed  against  it. 

Resolved,  That  we  approve  the  determi 
nation  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States  not  to  compromise  with  rebels,  nor 
to  offer  them  any  terms  of  peace,  except 
such  as  may  be  based  upon  an  "  uncondi 
tional  surrender  "  of  their  hostility  and  a 
return  to  their  allegiance  to  the  constitu 
tion  and  laws  of  the  United  States ;  and 
that  we  call  upon  the  government  to  main 
tain  this  position,  and  to  prosecute  the 
war  with  the  utmost  possible  vigor  to  the 
complete  suppression  of  the  Rebellion,  in 
full  reliance  upon  the  self-sacrificing  pa 
triotism,  the  heroic  valor,  and  the  undying 
devotion  of  the  American  people  to  the 
country  and  its  free  institutions. 

Resolved,  That  as  slavery  was  the  cause, 
and  now  constitutes  the  strength,  of  this 
Rebellion,  and  as  it  must  be  always  and 
everywhere  hostile  to  the  principles  of  re 
publican  government,  justice  and  the  na 
tional  safety  demand  its  utter  and  com 
plete  extirpation  from  the  soil  of  the  Re 
public  ;  and  that  we  uphold  and  maintain 
the  acts  and  proclamations  by  which  the 
government,  in  its  own  defense,  has  aimed 
a  death-blow  at  the  gigantic  evil.  We  are 
in  favor,  furthermore,  of  such  an  amend 
ment  to  the  constitution,  to  be  made  by 
the  people  in  conformity  with  its  provis 
ions,  as  shall  terminate  and  forever  pro 
hibit  the  existence  of  slavery  within  the 
limits  or  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Amer 
ican  people  are  due  to  the  soldiers  and 
sailors  of  the  army  and  navy,  who  have 
periled  their  lives  in  defense  of  their 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


45 


country  and  in  vindication  of  the  honor  of 
its  flag ;  that  the  nation  owes  to  them 
some  permanent  recognition  of  their  pa 
triotism  and  their  vaior,  and  ample  and 
permanent  provision  for  those  of  their 
survivors  who  have  received  disabling  and 
honorable  wounds  in  the  service  of  the 
country ;  and  that  the  memories  of  those 
who  have  fallen  in  its  defense  shall  be 
held  in  grateful  and  everlasting  remem 
brance. 

Resolved,  That  we  approve  and  applaud 
the  practical  wisdom,  the  unselfish  patri 
otism,  and  the  unswerving  fidelity  to  the 
constitution  and  the  principles  of  Ameri 
can  liberty  with  which  Abraham  Lincoln 
has  discharged,  under  circumstances  of 
unparalleled  difficulty,  the  great  duties 
and  responsibilities  of  the  presidential 
office ;  that  we  approve  and  indorse,  as 
demanded  by  the  emergency  and  essential 
to  the  preservation  of  the  nation,  and  as 
within  the  provisions  of  the  constitution, 
the  measures  and  acts  which  he  has  adopt 
ed  to  defend  the  nation  against  its  open 
and  secret  foes ;  that  we  approve,  especial 
ly,  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation, 
and  the  employment,  as  Union  soldiers 
of  men  heretofore  held  in  slavery ;  and 
that  we  have  full  confidence  in  his  deter 
mination  to  carry  these,  and  all  other  con 
stitutional  measures  essential  to  the  salva 
tion  of  the  country,  into  full  and  complete 
effect. 

Resolved,  That  we  deem  it  essential  to 
the  general  welfare  that  harmony  should 
prevail  in  the  national  councils,  and  we 
regard  as  worthy  of  public  confidence  and 
official  trust  those  only  who  cordially  in 
dorse  the  principles  proclaimed  in  these 
resolutions,  and  which  should  characterize 
the  administration  of  the  government. 

Resolved,  That  the  government  owes  to 
all  men  employed  in  its  armies,  without 
regard  to  distinction  of  color,  the  full  pro 
tection  of  the  laws  of  war  ;  and  that  any 
violation  of  these  law,-:,  or  of  the  usages  of 
civilized  nations  in  the  time  of  war,  by 
the  rebels  now  in  arms,  should  be  made 
the  subject  of  prompt  and  full  redress. 

Resolved,  That  foreign  immigration, 
which  in  the  past  has  added  so  much  to 
the  wealth,  development  of  resources,  and 
increase  of  power  to  this  nation — the  asy 
lum  of  the  oppressed  of  all  nations — should 
be  fostered  and  encouraged  by  a  liberal 
and  just  policy. 

Resolved,  That  we  are  in  favor  of  the 
speedy  construction  of  the  railroad  to  the 
Pacific  coast. 

Resolved,  That  the  national  faith,  pledged 
for  the  redemption  of  the  public  debt,  must 
be  kept  inviolate  ;  and  that,  for  this  pur 
pose,  we  recommend  economy  and  rigid 
responsibility  in  the  public  expenditures 
and  a  vigorous  and  just  system  of  taxa 
tion  ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  loyal 


state  to  sustain  the  credit  and  promote  the 
use  of  the  national  currency. 

Resolved,  That  we  approve  the  position 
taken  by  the  government,  that  the  people 
of  the  United  States  can  never  regard  with 
indifference  the  attempt  of  any  European 
power  to  overthrow  by  force,  or  to  sup 
plant  by  fraud,  the  institutions  of  any  re 
publican  government  on  the  western  con 
tinent,  and  that  they  will  view  with  ex 
treme  jealousy,  as  menacing  to  the  peace 
and  independence  of  this,  oar  country,  the 
efforts  of  any  such  power  to  obtain  new 
footholds  for  monarchical  governments, 
sustained  by  a  foreign  military  force,  in 
near  proximity  to  the  United  States. 


1864.— Democratic  Platform. 

Chicago,  Augutt  29. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  future,  as  in  the 
past,  we  will  adhere  with  unswerving  fidel 
ity  to  the  Union  under  the  constitution, 
as  the  only  solid  foundation  of  our 
strength,  security,  and  happiness  as  a  peo 
ple,  and  as  a  frame-work  of  government 
equally  conducive  to  the  welfare  and  pros 
perity  of  all  the  states,  both  northern  and 
sputhern. 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  does  ex 
plicitly  declare,  as  the  sense  of  the  Ameri 
can  people,  that  after  four  years  of  failure 
to  restore  the  Union  by  the  experiment  of 
war,  during  which,  under  the  pretense  of 
a  military  necessity  of  a  war  power  higher 
than  the  constitution,  the  constitution  it 
self  has  been  disregarded  in  every  part, 
and  public  liberty  and  private  right  alike 
trodden  down,  and  the  material  prosperity 
of  the  country  essentially  impaired,  justice, 
humanity,  liberty,  and  the  public  welfare 
demand  that  immediate  efforts  be  made 
for  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  with  a  view 
to  an  ultimate  convention  of  all  the  states, 
or  other  peaceable  means,  to  the  end  that, 
at  the  earliest  practicable  moment,  peace 
may  be  restored  on  the  basis  of  the  federal 
union  of  all  the  states. 

Resolved,  That  the  direct  interference  of 
the  military  authority  of  the  United  States 
in  the  recent  elections  held  in  Kentucky, 
Maryland,  Missouri,  and  Delaware,  was  a 
shameful  violation  of  the  constitution ; 
and  the  repetition  of  such  acts  in  the  ap 
proaching  election  will  be  held  as  revolu 
tionary,  and  resisted  with  all  the  means 
and  power  under  our  contrel. 

Resolved,  That  the  aim  and  object  of  the 
Democratic  party  is  to  preserve  the  Fede 
ral  Union  and  the  rights  of  the  states  un 
impaired  ;  and  they  hereby  declare  that 
they  consider  the  administrative  usurpa 
tion  of  extraordinary  and  dangerous  pow 
ers  not  granted  by  the  constitution,  the 
subversion  of  the  civil  by  the  military  law 
in  states  not  in  insurrection,  the  arbitrary 


46 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


military  arrest,  imprisonment,  trial,  and 
sentence  of  American  citizens  in  states 
where  civil  law  exists  in  full  force,  the 
suppression  of  freedom  of  speech  and  of 
the  press,  the  denial  of  the  right  of  asy 
lum,  the  open  and  avowed  disregard  of 
state  rights,  the  employment  of  unusual 
test-oaths,  and  the  interference  with  and 
denial  of  the  right  of  the  people  to 
bear  arms  in  their  defense,  as  calculated 
to  prevent  a  restoration  of  the  Union  and 
the  perpetuation  of  a  government  deriving 
its  j  ust  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  gov 
erned. 

Resolved,  That  the  shameful  disregard  of 
the  administration  to  its  duty  in  respect  to 
our  fellow-citizeiis  who  now  are,  and  long 
have  been,  prisoners  of  war,  in  a  suffering 
condition,  deserves  the  severest  reproba 
tion,  on  the  score  alike  of  public  policy 
and  common  humanity. 

Resolved,  That  the  sympathy  of  the  De 
mocratic  party  is  heartily  and  earnestly 
extended  to  the  soldiery  of  our  army  and 
the  sailors  of  our  navy,  who  are  and  have 
been  in  the  field  and  on  the  sea  under  the 
flag  of  their  country  ;  and,  in  the  event  of 
our  attaining  power,  they  will  receive  all 
the  care  and  protection,  regard  and  kind 
ness,  that  the  brave  soldiers  of  the  Kepub- 
lic  have  so  nobly  earned. 


1868.    Republican  Platform. 

Chicago,  May  20. 

1.  We  congratulate  the  country  on  the 
assured  success  of  the  reconstruction  poli 
cy  of  Congress,  as  evinced  by  the  adoption, 
in  the  majority  of  the  states  lately  in  rebel 
lion,  of  constitutions  securing  equal  civil 
and  political  rights  to  all ;   and  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  government  to  sustain  those 
institutions  and  to  prevent  the  people  of 
such  states  from  being  remitted  to  a  state 
of  anarchy. 

2.  The  guarantee  by  Congress  of  equal 
suffrage  to  all  loyal  men  at  the  south  was 
demanded  by  every  consideration  of  pub 
lic  safety,  of  gratitude,  and  of  justice,  and 
must  be  maintained  ;  while  the  question  of 
suffrage  in  all  the  loyal  states  properly  be 
longs  to  the  people  of  those  states. 

3.  We  denounce  all  forms  of  repudiation 
as  a  national  crime ;   and    the   national 
honor  requires  the  payment  of  the  public 
indebtedness  in  the  uttermost  good  faith  to 
all  creditors  at  home  and  abroad,  not  only 
according    to  the    letter    but   the    spirit 
of  the    laws    under    which  it    was  con 
tracted. 

4.  It  is  due*  to  the  labor  of  the  nation 
.that  taxation  should  be  equalized  and  re 
duced  as  rapidly  as  the  national  faith  will 
permit. 

5.  The  national  debt,  contracted  as  it 


has  been  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union 
for  all  time  to  come,  should  be  extended 
over  a  fair  period  for  redemption  ;  and  it  is 
the  duty  of  Congress  to  reduce  the  rate  of 
interest  thereon  whenever  it  can  be  honest 
ly  done. 

6.  That  the  best  policy  to  diminish  our 
burden  of  debts  is  to  so  improve  our  credit 
that  capitalists  will  seek  to  loan  us  money 
at  lower  rates  of  interest  than  we  now  pay, 
and  must  continue  to  pay,  so  long  as  re 
pudiation,  partial  or  total,  open  or  covert, 
is  threatened  or  suspected. 

7.  The  government  of  the  United  States 
should  be  administered  with  the  strictest 
economy ;  and  the  corruptions  which  have 
been  so  shamefully  nursed  and  fostered  by 
Andrew  Johnson  call  loudly  for  radical  re 
form. 

8.  We  profoundly  deplore   the   tragic 
death  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  regret  the 
accession  to  the  presidency  of  Andrew 
Johnson,  who  has  acted  treacherously  to 
the  people  who  elected  him  and  the  cause 
he  was  pledged  to  support ;  who  has  usurped 
high  legislative  and  judicial    functions; 
who  has  refused  to  execute  the  laws ;  who 
has  used  his  high  office  to  induce  other 
officers  to  ignore  and  violate  the  laws; 
who  has  employed  his  executive  powers  to 
render  insecure  the  property,  the  peace, 
liberty,  and   life  of  the  citizen ;  who  has 
abused  the   pardoning   power ;    who   has 
denounced  the  national  legislature  as  un 
constitutional  ;    who  has  persistently  and 
corruptly  resisted,  by  every  means  in  his 
power,  every  proper  attempt  at  the  recon 
struction  of  the  states  lately  in  rebellion  ; 
who  has  perverted   the  public  patronage 
into  an   engine  of  wholesale  corruption ; 
and  who   has  been  justly  impeached  for 
high  crimes  and  misdemeanors,  and  pro 
perly  pronounced   guilty  thereof  by  the 
vote  of  thirty-five  Senators. 

9.  The  doctrine   of  Great  Britain  and 
other  European  powers,  that  because  a 
man  is  once  a  subject  he  is  always  so,  must 
be  resisted  at  every  hazard  by  the  United 
States,  as  a  relic  of  feudal  times,  not  au 
thorized  by  the  laws  of  nations,  and  at  war 
with  our  national  honor  and  independence. 
Naturalized   citizens  are  entitled  to  pro 
tection  in  all  their  rights  of  citizenship  as 
though  they   were   native-born  ;   and  no 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  native  or  na 
turalized,  must  be  liable  to  arrest  and  im 
prisonment  by  any  foreign  power  for  acts 
done  or  words  spoken  in  this  country  ; 
and,  if  so  arrested   and   imprisoned,  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  government  to  interfere  in 
tiis  behalf. 

10.  Of  all  who  were  faithful  in  the  trials 
of  the  late  war,  there  were  none  entitled  to 
more  special  honor  than  the  brave  soldiers 
and  seamen  who  endured  the  hardships  of 
campaign  and  cruise,  and  imperiled  their 
lives  in  the  service  of  the  country.     The 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


47 


bounties  and  pensions  provided  by  the 
laws  for  these  brave  defenders  of  the  na 
tion  are  obligations  never  to  be  forgotten ; 
the  widows  and  orphans  of  the  gallant 
dead  are  the  wards  of  the  people — a  sacred 
legacy  bequeathed  to  the  nation's  protect 
ing  care. 

11.  Foreign  immigration,  which  in  the 
past  has  added  so  much  to  the  wealth,  de 
velopment,  and  resources,  and  increase  of 
power  to  this  Republic,  the  asylum  of  the 
oppressed  of  all  nations,  should  be  fostered 
and    encouraged    by    a  liberal  and  just 
policy. 

12.  This  convention  declares  itself  in 
sympathy  with  all  oppressed  people  who 
are  struggling  for  their  rights. 

13.  That  we  highly  commend  the  spirit 
of   magnanimity    and    forbearance    with 
which  men  who  have  served  in  the  Rebel 
lion,  but  who  now  frankly  and  honestly 
co-operate  with  us  in  restoring  the  peace 
of  the    country  and    reconstructing    the 
southern  state  governments  upon  the  basis 
of  impartial  justice  and  equal  rights,  are  re 
ceived  back  into  the  communion  of  the 
loyal  people ;  and  we  favor  the  removal  of 
the  disqualifications  and  restrictions  im 
posed  upon  the  late  rebels,  in  the  same 
measure  as  the  spirit  of  disloyalty  shall  die 
out,   and  as  may  be  consistent  with  the 
safety  of  the  loyal  people. 

14.  That  we  recognize  the  great  princi 
ples   laid  down  in  the  immortal  Declara 
tion  of  Independence,  as  the  true  founda 
tion  of  democratic  government;   and  we 
hail   with  gladness    every   effort    toward 
making  these  principles  a  living  reality  on 
every  inch  of  American  soil. 


1868.— Democratic  Platform. 

New  York,  July  4. 

The  Democratic  party,  in  national  con 
vention  assembled,  reposing  its  trust  in 
the  intelligence,  patriotism,  and  discrimi 
nating  j  ustice  of  the  people,  standing  upon 
the  constitution  as  the  foundation  and 
limitation  of  the  powers  of  the  government 
and  the  guarantee  of  the  liberties  of  the 
citizen,  and  recognizing  the  questions  of 
slavery  and  secession  as  having  been  set 
tled,  for  all  time  to  come,  by  the  war  or 
voluntary  action  of  the  southern  states  in 
constitutional  conventions  assembled,  and 
never  to  be  revived  or  reagitated,  do,  with 
the  return  of  peace,  demand — 

1.  Immediate  restoration  of  all  the  states 
to  their  rights  in  the  Union  under  the  con 
stitution,  and  of  civil  government  to  the 
American  people. 

2.  Amnesty  for  all  past  political  offenses, 
and  the  regulation  of  the  elective  franchise 
in  the  states  by  their  citizens. 

3.  Payment  of  all  the  public  debt  of  the 
United  States  as  rapidly  as  practicable — 


all  money  drawn  from  the  people  by  taxa*. 
tion,  except  so  much  as  is  requisite  for  the 
necessities  of  the  government,  economically 
administered,  being  honestly  applied  to 
such  payment ;  and  where  the  obligations 
of  the  government  do  not  expressly  state 
upon  their  face,  or  the  law  under  which 
they  were  issued  does  not  provide  that 
they  shall  be  paid  in  coin,  they  ought,  in 
right  and  in  justice,  to  be  paid  in  the  law 
ful  money  of  the  United  States. 

4.  Equal  taxation  of  every  species  of 
property  according  to  its  real  value,  in 
cluding  government  bonds  and  other  pub 
lic  securities. 

5.  One  currency  for  the  government  and 
the  people,  the  laborer  and  the    office 
holder,  the  pensioner  and  the  soldier,  the 
producer  and  the  bondholder. 

6.  Economy  in  the  administration  of  the 
government ;  the  reduction  of  the  standing 
army  and  navy ;  the  abolition  of  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau  and  all  political  instrumen 
talities  designed  to  secure  negro  suprema 
cy  ;  simplification  of  the  system  and  dis 
continuance  of  inquisitorial  modes  of  as 
sessing  and  collecting  internal  revenue; 
that  the  burden  of  taxation  may  be  equal 
ized  and  lessened,  and  the  credit  of  the 
government  and  the  currency  made  good ; 
the  repeal  of  all  enactments  for  enrolling 
the  state  militia  into  national  forces  in 
time  of  peace ;   and  a  tariff  for  revenue 
upon  foreign  imports,  and  such  equal  taxa 
tion  under  the  internal  revenue  laws  'as 
will  afford  incidental  protection  to  domes 
tic  manufactures,  and  as  will,  without  im 
pairing  the  revenue,  impose  the  least  bur 
den  upon,  and  best  promote  and  encourage, 
the  great  industrial  interests  of  the  coun 
try. 

7.  Reform  of  abuses  in  the  administra 
tion  ;   the  expulsion  of  corrupt  men  from 
office;  the  abrogation  of  useless  offices; 
the  restoration  of  rightful  authority  to, 
and  the  independence  of,  the  executive  and 
judicial  departments  of  the  government; 
the  subordination  of  the  military  to  the 
civil  power,   to  the  end  that  the  usurpa 
tions  of  Congress  and  the  despotism  of  the 
sword  may  cease. 

8.  Equal  rights  and  protection  for  na 
turalized  and  native-born  citizens,  at  home 
and  abroad ;  the  assertion  of  American  na 
tionality  which  shall   command  the  re 
spect  of  foreign  powers,   and  furnish  an 
example    and  encouragement   to    people 
struggling  for  national  integrity,  constitu 
tional  liberty  and  individual  rights ;  and 
the  maintenance  of  the  rights  of  natural 
ized  citizens  against  the  absolute  doctrine 
of  immutable  allegiance  and  the  claims  of 
foreign  powers  to  punish  them  for  alleged 
crimes  committed  beyond  their  jurisdic 
tion. 

In  demanding  these  measures  and  re 
forms,  we  arraign  the  Radical  party  for  its 


48 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


disregard  of  right  and  the  unparalleled 
oppression  and  tyranny  which  have 
marked  its  career.  After  the  most  solemn 
and  unanimous  pledge  of  both  Houses  of 
Congress  to  prosecute  the  war  exclusively 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  government 
and  the  preservation  of  the  Union  under 
the  constitution,  it  has  repeatedly  violated 
1  the  most  sacred  pledge  under  which  alone 
was  rallied  that  noble  volunteer  army 
which  carried  our  flag  to  victory.  Instead 
of  restoring  the  Union,  it  has,  so  far  as  in 
its  power,  dissolved  it,  and  subjected  ten 
states,  in  time  of  profound  peace,  to  mili 
tary  despotism  and  negro  supremacy.  It 
has  nullified  there  the  right  of  trial  by 
jury;  it  has  abolished  the  habeas  corpus, 
that  most  sacred  writ  of  liberty ;  it  has 
overthrown  the  freedom  of  speech  and 
press;  it  has  substituted  arbitrary  seizures 
and  arrests,  and  military  trials  and  secret 
star-chamber  inquisitions,  for  the  consti 
tutional  tribunals ;  it  has  disregarded,  in 
time  of  peace,  the  right  of  the  people  to  be 
free  from  searches  and  seizures  ;  it  has 
entered  the  post  and  telegraph  offices,  and 
even  the  private  rooms  of  individuals,  and 
seized  their  private  papers  and  letters, 
without  any  specific  charge  or  notice  of 
affidavit,  as  required  by  the  organic  law. 
It  has  converted  the  American  capitol 
into  a  bastile  ;  it  has  established  a  system 
of  spies  and  official  espionage  to  which  no 
constitutional  monarchy  of  Europe  would 
now  dare  to  resort.  It  has  abolished  the 
right  of  appeal,  on  important  constitutional 
questions,  to  the  supreme  judicial  tribu 
nals,  and  threatens  to  curtail  or  destroy 
its  original  jurisdiction,  which  is  irrevoca 
bly  vested  by  the  constitution  ;  while  the 
learned  Chief  Justice  has  been  subjected 
to  the  most  atrocious  calumnies,  merely 
because  he  would  not  prostitute  his  high 
office  to  the  support  of  the  false  and  parti 
san  charges  preferred 'against  the  Presi 
dent.  Its  corruption  and  extravagance 
have  exceeded  anything  known  in  history; 
and,  by  its  frauds  and  monopolies,  it  has 
nearly  doubled  the  burden  of  the  debt 
created  by  the  war.  It  has  stripped  the 
President  of  his  constitutional  power  of 
appointment,  even  of  his  own  cabinet. 
Under  its  repeated  assaults,  the  pillars 
of  the  government  are  rocking  on  their 
base ;  and  should  it  succeed  in  November 
next,  and  inaugurate  its  President,  we  will 
meet,  as  a  subjected  and  conquered  people, 
amid  the  ruins  of  liberty  and  the  scattered 
fragments  of  the  constitution. 

And  we  do  declare  and  resolve  that 
ever  since  the  people  of  the  United  States 
threw  off  all  subjection  to  the  British 
crown,  the  privilege  and  trust  of  suffrage 
have  belonged  to  the  several  states,  and 
have  been  granted,  regulated,  and  con 
trolled  exclusively  by  the  political  power 
of  each  state  respectively ;  and  that  any 


attempt  by  Congress,  on  any  pretext  what 
ever,  to  deprive  any  state  of  this  right,  01 
interfere  with  its  exercise,  is  a  flagrant 
usurpation  of  power  which  can  find  no 
warrant  in  the  constitution,  and,  if  sanc 
tioned  by  the  people,  will  subvert  our 
form  of  government,  and  can  only  end  in  a 
single,  centralized,  and  consolidated,  gov 
ernment,  in  which  the  separate  existence 
of  the  states  will  be  entirely  absorbed,  and 
an  unqualified  despotism  be  established  in 
place  of  a  federal  union  of  co-equal  states. 
And  that  we  regard  the  construction  acts 
(so  called)  of  Congress  as  usurpations,  and 
unconstitutional,  revolutionary,  and  void. 

That  our  soldiers  and  sailors,  who  car 
ried  the  flag  of  our  country  to  victory 
against  the  most  gallant  and  determined 
foe,  must  ever  be  gratefully  remembered, 
and  all  the  guarantees  given  in  their  favor 
must  be  faithfully  carried  into  execution. 

That  the  public  lands  should  be  dis 
tributed  as  widely  as  possible  among  the 
people,  and  should  be  disposed  of  either 
under  the  pre-emption  of  homestead  lands 
or  sold  in  reasonable  quantities,  and  to 
none  but  actual  occupants,  at  the  minimum 
price  established  by  the  government. 
When  grants  of  public  lands  may  be  al 
lowed,  necessary  for  the  encouragement  of 
important  public  improvements,  the  pro 
ceeds  of  the  sale  of  such  lands,  and  not 
the  lands  themselves,  should  be  so  applied. 

That  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
Andrew  Johnson,  in  exercising  the  power 
of  his  high  office  in  resisting  the  aggres 
sions  of  Congress  upon  the  constitutional 
rights  of  the  states  and  the  people,  is  en 
titled  to  the  gratitude  of  the  whole  Ameri 
can  people;  and,  on  behalf  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party,  we  tender  him  our  thanks  for 
his  patriotic  efforts  in  that  regard. 

Upon  this  platform,  the  Democratic 
party  appeal  to  every  patriot,  including  all 
the  conservative  element  and  all  who  de 
sire  to  support  the  constitution  and  restore 
the  Union,  forgetting  all  past  differences 
of  opinion,  to  unite  with  us  in  the  present 
great  struggle  for  the  liberties  of  the  peo 
ple;  and  that  to  all  such,  to  whatever 
party  they  may  have  heretofore  belonged, 
we  extend  the  right  hand  of  fellowship, 
and  hail  all  such,  co-operating  with  us,  as 
friends  and  brethren. 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  sympa 
thizes  cordially  with  the  workingmen  of 
the  United  States  in  their  efforts  to  protect 
the  rights  and  interests  of  the  laboring 
classes  of  the  country. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  con 
vention  are  tendered  to  Chief  Justice 
Salmon  P.  Chase,  for  the  justice,  dignity. 
and  impartiality  with  which  he  presided 
over  the  court  of  impeachment  on  the 
trial  of  President  Andrew  Johnson. 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


49 


1873.— Labor  Reform  Platform. 

Columbus,  February  21. 

We  hold  that  all  political  power  is  in 
herent  in  the  people,  and  free  government 
founded  on  their  authority  and  established 
for  their  benefit ;  that  all  citizens  are  equal 
in  political  rights,  entitled  to  the  largest 
religious  and  political  liberty  compatible 
with  the  good  order  of  society,  as  also  the 
use  arid  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  their 
labor  and  talents;  and  no  man  or  set  of 
men  is  entitled  to  exclusive  separable  en 
dowments  and  privileges  or  immunities 
from  the  government,  but  in  consideration 
of  public  services ;  and  any  laws  destruc 
tive  of  these  fundamental  principles  are 
without  moral  binding  force,  and  should 
be  repealed.  And  believing  that  all  the 
evils  resulting  from  unjust  legislation  now 
affecting  the  industrial  classes  can  be  re 
moved  by  the  adoption  of  the  principles 
contained  in  the  following  declaration : 
therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  gov 
ernment  to  establish  a  just  standard  of 
distribution  of  capital  and  labor,  by  provid 
ing  a  purely  national  circulating  medium, 
based  on  the  faith  and  resources  of  the  na 
tion,  issued  directly  to  the  people  without 
the  intervention  of  any  system  of  banking 
corporations,  which  money  shall  be  legal 
tender  in  the  payment  of  all  debts,  public 
and  private,  and  interchangeable,  at  the 
option  of  the  holder,  for  government 
bonds  bearing  a  rate  of  interest  not  to  ex 
ceed  3.65  per  cent.,  subject  to  future  legis 
lation  by  Congress. 

2.  That  the  national  debt  should  be  j>aid 
in  good  faith,  according  to  the  original 
contract,  at  the  earliest  option  of  the  gov 
ernment,  without  mortgaging  the  property 
of  the  people  or  the  future  exigencies  of 
Jabor  to  enrich  a  few  capitalists  at  home 
land  abroad. 

3.  That  justice  demands  that  the  burdens 
of  government  should  be  so  adjusted  as  to 
bear  equally  on  all  classes,  and  that  the 
exemption   from  taxation  of  government 
bonds  bearing  extravagant  rates  of  inter 
est,  is  a  violation  of  all  just  principles  of 
revenue  laws. 

4.  That  the  public  lands  of  the  United 
States  belong  to  the  people,  and  should 
not  be  sold  to  individuals  nor  granted  to 
corporations,  but  should  be  held  as  a  sa 
cred  trust  for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  and 
should  be  granted  to  landless  settlers  only, 
in  amounts  not  exceeding  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  land. 

5.  That    Congress    should    modify    the 
tariff  so  as  to  admit  free  such  articles  of 
common  use  as  we  can  neither  produce  nor 
grow,  and  lay  duties  for  revenue  mainly 
upon  articles  of  luxury  and  upon  such  ar 
ticles  of  manufacture  as  will,  we  having 
the  raw  materials,  assist  in  further  develop 
ing  the  ra^ources  of  the  country. 


6.  That  the  presence  in  our  country  of 
Chinese  laborers,  imported  by  capitalists 
in  lar^e  numbers  for  servile  use  is  an  evil 
entailing  want  and  its  attendant  train  of 
misery    and  crime  on  all  classes  of  the 
American  people,  and  should  be  prohib 
ited  by  legislation. 

7.  That  we  ask  for  the  enactment  of  a 
law  by  which  all  mechanics  and  day-la 
borers  employed  by  or  on  behalf  of  the 
government,  whether  directly  or  indirectly, 
through    persons,  firms,    or  corporations, 
contracting  with  the  state,  shall  conform 
to  the  reduced  standard  of  eight  hours  a 
day,  recently  adopted  by  Congress  for  na 
tional   employes ;  and  also  for  an  amend 
ment  to  the  acts  of  incorporation  for  cities 
and  towns,  by  which  all  laborers  and  me 
chanics  employed  at  their  expense  shall 
conform  to  the  same  number  of  hours. 

8.  That  the  enlightened  spirit  of  the  age 
demands  the  abolition  of  the  system  of 
contract  labor  in  our  prisons  and  other  re 
formatory  institutions. 

9.  That  the  protection  of  life,  liberty, 
and  property  are  the  three  cardinal  prin 
ciples  of  government,  and  the  first  two 
are  more  sacred  than  the  latter ;  therefore, 
money  needed  for  prosecuting  wars  should, 
as  it  is  required,  be  assessed  and  collected 
from  the  wealthy  of  the  country,  and  not 
entailed  as  a  burden  on  posterity. 

10.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  govern 
ment  to  exercise  its  power  over  railroads 
and  telegraph  corporations,  that  th^y  shall 
not  in  any  case  be  privileged  to  exact  such 
rates  of  freight,  transportation,  or  charges, 
by  whatever  name,  as  may  bear  unduly  or 
unequally  upon  the  producer  or  consumer. 

11.  That  there  should  be  such  a  reform 
in  the  civil  service  of  the  national  govern 
ment  as  will  remove  it  beyond  all  partisan 
influence,  and  place  it  in  the  charge  and 
under  the  direction  of  intelligent  and  com 
petent  business  men. 

12.  That  as  both  history  and  experience 
teach  us  that  power  ever  seeks  to  perpetu 
ate  itself  by  every  and  all  means,  and  that 
its  prolonged  possession  in  the  hands  of 
one  person  is  always  dangerous  to  the  in 
terests  of  a  free  people,  and  believing  that 
the  spirit  of  our  organic  laws  and  the  sta 
bility  and  safety  of  our  free  institutions  are 
best  obeyed  on  the  one  hand,  and  secured 
on  the  other,  by  a  regular  constitutional 
change  in  the  chief  of  the  country  at  each 
election;  therefore,  we    are  in    favor  of 
limiting  the  occupancy  of  the  presidential 
chair  to  one  term. 

13.  That  we  are  in  favor  of  granting 
general  amnesty  and  restoring  the  Union 
at  once  on  the  basis  of  equality  of  rights 
and  privileges  to  all,  the  impartial  adminis 
tration  of  justice  being  the  only  true  bond 
of  union  to  bind  the  states  together  and  re 
store  the  government  of  the  people. 

14.  That  we  demand  the  subjection  of 


50 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


the  military  to  the  civil  authorities,  and 
the  confinement  of  its  operations  to  nation 
al  purposes  alone. 

15.  That  we  deem  it  expedient  for  Con 
gress  to  supervise  the  patent  laws  so  as  to 
give  labor  more  fully  the  benefit  of  its  own 
ideas  and  inventions. 

16.  That  fitness,  and  not  political  or  per 
sonal  considerations,  should  be  the  only 
recommendation  to  public  office,  either  ap 
pointive  or  elective ;  and  any  and  all  laws 
looking  to  the  establishment  of  this  prin 
ciple  are  heartily  approved. 


1873.— Prohibition  Platform. 

Columbus,  Ohio,  February  22. 

The  preamble  recites  that  protection  and 
allegiance  are  reciprocal  duties ;  and  every 
citizen  who  yields  obediently  to  the  full 
commands  of  government  should  be  pro 
tected  in  all  enjoyment  of  personal  security, 
personal  liberty,  and  private  property. 
That  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks 
greatly  impairs  the  personal  security  and 
personal  liberty  of  a  great  mass  of  citizens, 
and  renders  private  property  insecure. 
That  all  political  parties  are  hopelessly  un 
willing  to  adopt  an  adequate  policy  on  this 
question :  Therefore,  as  a  national  conven 
tion,  we  adopt  the  following  declaration  of 
principles  : 

That  while  we  acknowledge  the  pure 
patriotism  and  profound  statesmanship  of 
those  patriots  who  laid  the  foundation  of 
this  government,  securing  at  once  the 
rights  of  the  states  severally  and  their  in 
separable  union  by  the  federal  constitution, 
we  would  not  merely  garnish  the  sepulchres 
of  our  republican  fathers,  but  we  do  hereby 
renew  our  pledges  of  solemn  fealty  to  the 
imperishable  principles  of  civil  and  reli 
gious  liberty  embodied  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  our  federal  constitu 
tion. 

•  That  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  beverages 
is  a  dishonor  to  Christian  civilization,  a 
political  wrong  of  unequalled  enormity, 
subversive  of  ordinary  objects  of  govern 
ment,  not  capable  of  being  regulated  or  re 
strained  by  any  system  of  license  whatever, 
and  imperatively  demands,  for  its  suppres 
sion,  effective  legal  prohibition,  both  by 
state  and  national  legislation. 

That  there  can  be  no  greater  peril  to  a 
nation  than  existing  party  competition  for 
the  liquor  vote.  That  any  party  not  op 
posed  to  the  traffic,  experience  shows  will 
engage  in  this  competition — will  court  the 
favor  of  criminal  classes — will  barter  away 
the  public  morals,  the  purity  of  the  ballot, 
and  every  object  of  good  government,  for 
party  success. 

That,  as  prohibitionists,  we  will  individ 
ually  use  all  efforts  to  persuade  men  from 


the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors ;  and  we  in 
vite  all  persons  to  assist  in  this  movement. 

That  competence,  honesty,  and  sobriety 
are  indispensable  qualifications  for  holding 
office. 

That  removals  from  public  office  for 
mere  political  differences  of  opinion  are 
wrong. 

That  fixed  and  moderate  salaries  of  pub 
lic  officers  should  take  the  places  of  fees  and 
perquisites;  and  that  all  means  should  be 
taken  to  prevent  corruption  and  encourage 
economy. 

That  the  President  and  Vice-President 
should  be  elected  directly  by  the  people. 

That  we  are  in  favor  of  a  sound  national 
currency,  adequate  to  the  demands  of  bus 
iness,  and  convertible  into  gold  and  silver 
at  the  will  of  the  holder,  and  the  adoption 
of  every  measure  compatible  with  justice 
and  public  safety  to  appreciate  our  present 
currency  to  the  gold  standard. 

That  the  rates  of  ocean  and  inland  post 
age,  and  railroad  telegraph  lines  and 
water  transportation,  should  be  made  as 
low  as  possible  by  law. 

That  we  are  opposed  to  all  discrimination 
in  favor  of  capital  against  labor,  as  well  as 
all  monopoly  and  class  legislation. 

That  the  removal  of  the  burdens  imposed 
in  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  will 
emancipate  labor,  and  will  practically  pro 
mote  labor  reform. 

That  suffrage  should  be  granted  to  all 
persons,  without  regard  to  sex. 

That  the  fostering  and  extension  of  com 
mon  schools  is  a  primary  duty  of  the  gov 
ernment. 

That  a  liberal  policy  should  be  pursued 
to  promote  foreign  immigration. 


1873.— Liberal  Republican  Platform. 

Cincinnati,  May  1. 

We,  the  Liberal  Republicans  of  the 
United  States,  in  national  convention  as 
sembled  at  Cincinnati,  proclaim  the  follow 
ing  principles  as  essential  to  just  govern 
ment. 

1.  We  recognize  the  equality  of  all  men 
before  the  law,  and  hold  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  government,  in  its  dealings   with  the 
people,  to  mete  out  equal  and  exact  justice 
to  all,  of  whatever  nativity,  race,  color,  or 
persuasion,  religious  or  political. 

2.  We  pledge  ourselves  to  maintain  the 
union  of  these   states,  emancipation,  and 
enfranchisement,  and    to  oppose  any  re 
opening  of  the  questions   settled  by  the 
thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and  fifteenth  amend 
ments  of  the  constitution. 

3.  We  demand  the  immediate  and  abso 
lute  removal  of  all  disabilities  imposed  on 
account  of  the  Rebellion,  which  wras  finally 
subdued  seven  years  ago,  believing  that 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


51 


universal  amnesty  will  result  in  complete 
pacification  in  all  sections  of  the  country. 

4.  Local  self-government,  with  impartial 
suffrage,  will  guard  the  rights  of  all  citi 
zens  more  securely  than  any  centralized 
power.     The  public  welfare  requires  the 
supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the  military 
authority,  and  the  freedom  of  person  under 
the  protection  of  the  habeas  corpus.     We 
demand  for  the  individual  the  largest  lib 
erty  consistent  with  public  order,  for  the 
state  self-government,  and  for  the  nation  a 
return  to  the  methods  of  jpeace  and  the 
constitutional  limitations  ot  power. 

5.  The  civil  service  of  the  government 
has  become  a  mere  instrument  of  partisan 
tyranny  and  personal  ambition,  and  an  ob 
ject  of  selfish  greed.     It  is  a  scandal  and 
reproach  upon  free  institutions,  and  breeds 
a  demoralization  dangerous  to  the  per 
petuity  of  republican  government.     We, 
therefore,  regard  a  thorough  reform  of  the 
civil  service  as  one  of  the  most  pressing 
necessities  of  the  hour ;  that  honesty,  ca 
pacity,  and  fidelity  constitute  the  only  valid 
claims  to  public  employment ;  that  the  of 
fices  of  the  government  cease  to  be  a  mat 
ter  of  arbitrary  favoritism  and  patronage, 
and  that  public  station  shall  become  again 
a  post  of  honor.    To  this  end,  it  is  impera 
tively  required  that  no  President  shall  be 
a  candidate  for  re-election. 

6.  We  demand  a  system  of  federal  taxa 
tion  which  shall  not  unnecessarily  interfere 
with  the  industry  of  the  people,  and  which 
shall  provide  the  means  necessary  to  pay 
the  expenses  of  the  government,  economi 
cally  administered,  the  pensions,  the  inter 
est  on  the  public  debt,  and  a  moderate  re 
duction  annually  of  the  principal  thereof  ; 
and  recognizing  that  there  are  in  our  midst 
honest  but    irreconcilable  differences   of 
opinion  with  regard  to  the  respective  sys 
tems  of  protection  and  free  trade,  we  remit 
the  discussion  of  the  subject  to  the  people 
in  their  congressional  districts  and  the  de 
cision  of  Congress  thereon,  wholly  free 
from  Executive  interference  or  dictation. 

7.  The  public  credit  must  be  sacredly 
maintained,  and  we  denounce  repudiation 
in  every  form  and  guise. 

8.  A  speedy  return  to  specie  payment  is 
demanded  alike  by  the  highest  considera 
tions  of  commercial  morality  and  honest 
government. 

9.  We  remember  with  gratitude  the  hero 
ism  and  sacrifices  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors 
of  the  Republic  ;  and  no  act  of  ours  shall 
ever  detract  from  their  justly  earned  fame 
or  the  full  rewards  of  their  patriotism. 

10.  We  are  opposed  to  all  further  grants 
of  lands  to  railroads  or  other  corporations. 
The  public  domain  should  be  held  sacred 
to  actual  settlers. 

11.  We  hold  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
government,  in  its  intercourse  with  foreign 
nations,  to  cultivate    the  friendships  of 


peace,  by  treating  with  all  on  fair  and  equal 
terms,  regarding  it  alike  dishonorable 
either  to  demand  what  is  not  right  or  sub 
mit  to  what  is  wrong. 

12.  For  the  promotion  and  success  of 
these  vital  principles  and  the  support  of 
the  candidates  nominated  by  this  conven 
tion,  we  invite  and  cordially  welcome  the 
co-operation  of  all  patriotic  citizens,  with 
out  regard  to  previous  political  affiliations. 


1873.— Democratic    Platform, 

BaltimorQ,  Jvly  9. 

We,  the  Democratic  electors  of  the 
United  States,  in  convention  assembled, 
do  present  the  following  principles,  already 
adopted  at  Cincinnati,  as  essential  to  just 
government : 

[Here  followed  the  "Liberal  Republican 
Platform ;"  which  see  above.] 


1873.— Republican  Platform, 

Philadelphia,  June  5. 

The  Republican  party  of  the  United 
States,  assembled  in  national  convention 
in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  on  the  5th  and 
6th  days  of  June,  1872,  again  declares  its 
faith,  appeals  to  its  history,  and  announces 
its  position  upon  the  questions  before  the 
country ; 

1.  During  eleven  years  of  supremacy  it 
has  accepted,  with  grand  courage,  the  sol 
emn  duties  of  the  time.  It  suppressed  a 
gigantic  rebellion,  emancipated  four  mil 
lions  of  slaves,  decreed  the  equal  citizenship 
of  all,  and  established  universal  suffrage. 
Exhibiting  unparalleled  magnanimity,  it 
criminally  punished  no  man  for  political 
offenses,  and  warmly  welcomed  all  who 
proved  their  loyalty  by  obeying  the  laws 
and  dealing  justly  with  their  neighbors. 
It  has  steadily  decreased,  with  firm  hand, 
the  resultant  disorders  of  a  great  war,  and 
initiated  a  wise  and  humane  policy  toward 
the  Indians.  The  Pacific  railroad  and 
similar  vast  enterprises  have  been  gener 
ously  aided  and  successfully  conducted,  the 
public  lands  freely  given  to  actual  settlers, 
immigration  protected  and  encouraged, 
and  a  full  acknowledgment  of  the  natural 
ized  citizen's  rights  secured  from  European 
powers.  A  uniform  national  currency  has 
been  provided,  repudiation  frowned  down, 
the  national  credit  sustained  under  the 
most  extraordinary  burdens,  and  new 
bonds  negotiated  at  lower  rates.  The  rev 
enues  have  been  carefully  collected  and 
honestly  applied.  Despite  annual  large 
reductions  of  the  rates  of  taxation,  the 
public  debt  has  been  reduced  during  Gen 
eral  Grant's  presidency  at  the  rate  of  a 
hundred  millions  a  year,  great  financial 


62 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


crises  Iiave  been  avoided,  and  peace  and 
plenty  prevail  throughout  the  land.  Me 
nacing  foreign  difficulties  have  been  peace 
fully  and  honorably  compromised,  and  the 
honor  and  power  of  the  nation  kept  in 
high  respect  throughout  the  world.  This 
glorious  record  of  the  past  is  the  party's 
best  pledge  for  the  future.  We  believe  the 
people  will  not  intrust  the  government  to 
any  party  or  combination  of  men  composed 
chietiy  of  those  who  have  resisted  every 
step  of  this  beneficent  progress. 

2.  The  recent  amendments  to  the  national 
constitution  should  be  cordially  sustained 
because  they  are  right,  not  merely  tolerated 
because  they  are  law,  and  should  be  carried 
out  according  to  their  spirit  by  appropriate 
legislation,  the  enforcement  of  which  can 
salely  be  intrusted  only  to  the  party  that 
secured  those  amendments. 

3.  Complete  liberty  and  exact  equality 
in  the  enjoyment  of  all  civil,  political,  and 
public  rights  should  be  established  and 
effectually    maintained    throughout    the 
Union  by  efficient  and  appropriate  state 
and  federal  legislation.    Neither  the  law 
nor  its  administration  should  admit  any 
discrimination  in  respect  to  citizens  by 
reason  of  race,   creed,  color,  or  previous 
condition  of  servitude. 

4.  The  national  government  should  seek 
to  maintain  honorable  peace  with  all  na 
tions,  protecting  its  citizens  everywhere, 
and  sympathizing  with  all  peoples  who 
strive  for  greater  liberty. 

5.  Any  system  of  civil  service  under 
which  the  subordinate    positions  of  the 
government    are    considered  rewards  for 
mere  party  zeal  is  fatally  demoralizing ; 
and  we,  therefore,  favor  a  reform  of  the 
system,  by  laws  which  shall  abolish  the 
evils    of  patronage,  and    make  honesty, 
efficiency,  and  fidelity  the  essential  quali 
fications  for  public  positions,  without  prac 
tically  creating  a  life  tenure  of  office. 

6.  We  are  opposed  to  further  grants  of 
the-  public  lands  to  corporations  and  mo 
nopolies,  and  demand  that  the  national 
domain  be  set  apart  for  free  homes  for  the 
people. 

7.  The  annual  revenue,  after  paying  cur 
rent  expenditures,  pensions,  and  the  inter 
est  on  the  public  debt,  should  furnish  a 
moderate  balance  for  the  reduction  of  the 
principal ;    and  that    revenue,   except  so 
much  as  may  be  derived  from  a  tax  upon  | 
tobacco  and  liquors,  should  be  raised  by 
duties  upon  importations,  the  details  of 
which  should  be  so  adjusted  as  to  aid  in 
securing  remunerative  wages  to  labor,  and 
promote    the    industries,  prosperity,  and 
growth  of  the  whole  country. 

8.  We  hold  in  undying  honor  the  sol 
diers  and  sailors  whose  valor  saved  the 
Union.    Their  pensions  are  a  sacred  debt 
of  the  nation,  and  the  widows  and  orphans 
of  those  who  died  for  their  country  are  en 


titled  to  the  care  of  a  generous  and  grate 
ful  people.  We  favor  such  additional  legis 
lation  as  will  extend  the  bounty  of  the 
government  to  all  our  soldiers  and  sailors 
who  were  honorably  discharged,  and  who 
ia  the  line  of  duty  became  disabled,  with 
out  regard  to  the  length  of  service  or  the 
cause  of  such  discharge. 

9.  The  doctrine  of  Great  Britain  and 
other  European   powers   concerning   alle 
giance — "once  a  subject  always  a  subject" — 
having  at  last,  through  the  efforts  of  the 
Kepublican   party,  been  abandoned,  and 
the  American  idea  of  the  individual's  right 
to  transfer  allegiance  having  been  accepted 
by  European  nations,  it  is  the  duty  of  our 
government  to  guard  with  jealous  care  the 
rights  of  adopted  citizens  against  the  as 
sumption  of  unauthorized  claims  by  their 
former  governments,  and  we  urge  contin 
ued  careful  encouragement  and  protection 
of  voluntary  immigration. 

10.  The  franking  privilege  ought  to  be 
abolished,  and  a  way  prepared  for  a  speedy 
reduction  in  the  rates  of  postage. 

11.  Among  the  questions  which  press  for 
attention  is  that  which  concerns  the  rela 
tions  of  capital  and  labor ;  and  the  Re 
publican  party  recognizes  the  duty  of  so 
shading  legislation  as  to  secure  full  pro 
tection  and  the  amplest  field  for  capital, 
and  for  labor,  the  creator  of  capital,  the 
largest  opportunities  and  a  just  share  of 
the  mutual  profits  of  these  two  great  ser 
vants  of  civilization. 

12.  We  hold  that  Congress    and  the 
President  have  only  fulfilled  an  imperative 
duty  in  their  measures  for  the  suppression 
of  violence  and  treasonable  organizations 
in  certain  lately  rebellious  regions,  and  for 
the  protection  of  the    ballot-box;    and, 
therefore,  they  are  entitled  to  the  thanks 
of  the  nation. 

13.  We  denounce  repudiation  of  the 
public  debt,  in  any  form  or  disguise,  as  a 
national  crime.     We  witness  with  pride 
the  reduction  of  the  principal  of  the  debt, 
and  of  the  rates  of  interest  upon  the  bal 
ance,  and  confidently  expect  that  our  ex 
cellent  national  currency  will  be  perfected 
by  a  speedy  resumption  of  specie  payment. 

14.  The  Republican  party  is  mindful  of 
its    obligations    to   the    loyal   women  of 
America  for  their  noble  devotion  to  the 
cause  of   freedom.      Their    admission  to 
wider  fields  of  usefulness  is  viewed  with 
satisfaction;    and  the  honest    demand  of 
any  class  of  citizens  for  additional  rights 
should  be  treated  with  respectful  considera 
tion. 

15.  We  heartily  approve  the  action  of 
Congress  in  extending  amnesty  to  those 
lately  in  rebellion,  and  rejoice  in  the  growth 
of  peace  and  fraternal  feeling  throughout 
the  land. 

16.  The  Republican  party  proposes  to 
respect  the  rights  reserved  by  the  people  to 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


53 


themselves  as  carefully  as  the  powers  dele 
gated  by  them  to  the  states  and  to  the 
federal  government.  It  disapproves  of  the 
resort  to  unconstitutional  laws  for  the  pur 
pose  of  removing  evils,  by  interference 
with  rights  not  surrendered  by  the  people 
to  either  the  state  or  national  government. 

17.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  general  govern 
ment  to  adopt  such  measures  as  may  tend 
to  encourage  and  restore  American  com 
merce  and  ship-building. 

18.  We  believe  that  the  modest  patriot 
ism,  the  earnest  purpose,  the  sound  judg 
ment,  the  practical  wisdom,  the  incorrupti 
ble  integrity,  and  the  illustrious  services 
of  Ulysses  S.  Grant  have  commended  him 
to  the  heart  of  the  American  people ;  and 
with  him  at  our  head,  we  start  to-day  upon 
a  new  march  to  victory. 

19.  Henry  Wilson,  nominated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  known  to  the  whole  land 
from  the  early  days  of  the  great  struggle 
for  liberty  as  an  indefatigable  laborer  in 
all  campaigns,  an  incorruptible  legislator 
and  representative  man  of  American  insti 
tutions,   is  worthy  to   associate  with  our 
great  leader  and  share  the  honors  which 
we  pledge  our  best  efforts  to  bestow  upon 
them 


1872.— Democratic  (Straight-out)  Platform , 

Louisville,  Ky.,  September  3. 

Whereas,  A  frequent  recurrence  to  first 
principles  and  eternal  vigilance  against 
abuses  are  the  wisest  provisions  for  liberty, 
which  is  the  source  of  progress,  and  fidelity 
to  our  constitutional  system  is  the  only 
protection  for  either  :  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  original  basis  of  our 
whole  political  structure  is  consent  in  every 
part  thereof.  The  people  of  each  state 
voluntarily  created  their  state,  and  the 
states  voluntarily  formed  the  Union  ;  and 
each  state  provided  by  its  written  constitu 
tion  for  everything  a  state  could  do  for  the 
protection  of  life,  liberty?  and  property 
within  it ;  and  each  state,  jointly  with  the 
others,  provided  a  federal  union  for  foreign 
and  inter-state  relations. 

Resolved,  That  all  governmental  powers, 
whether  state  or  federal,  are  trust  powers 
coming  from  the  people  of  each  state,  and 
that  they  are  limited  to  the  written  letter 
of  the  constitution  and  the  laws  passed  in 
pursuance  of  it ;  which  powers  must  be 
exercised  in  the  utmost  good  faith,  the 
constitution  itself  stating  in  what  manner 
they  may  be  altered  and  amended. 

Resolved,  That  the  interests  of  labor  and 
capital  should  not  be  permitted  to  conflict, 
but  should  be  harmonized  by  iudicious 
Jftcrisiation.  While  such  a  conflict  con 
tinues,  labor,  which  is  the  parent  of  wealth, 
is  entitled  to  paramount  consideration. 


Resolved,  That  we  proclaim  to  the  world 
that  principle  is  to  be  preferred  to  power ; 
that  the  Democratic  party  is  held  together 
by  the  cohesion  of  time-honored  princi 
ples,  which  they  will  never  surrender  in 
exchange  for  all  the  offices  which  Presi 
dents  can  confer.  The  pangs  of  the  mi 
norities  are  doubtless  excruciating ;  but 
|  we  welcome  an  eternal  minority,  under  ih.9 
banner  inscribed  with  our  principles, 
rather  than  an  almighty  and  everlasting^ 
majority,  purchased  by  their  abandonment. 

Resolved,  That,  having  been  betrayed  at 
Baltimore  into  a  false  creed  and  a  false 
leadership  by  the  convention,  we  repudiate 
both,  and  appeal  to  the  people  to  approve 
our  platform,  and  to  rally  to  the  polls  and 
support  the  true  platform  and  the  candi 
dates  who  embody  it. 


1875.— The  American  National  Platform, 

Adopted  in  Mass  Meeting,  PUtsburg,  June  9. 

We  hold: 

1.  That  ours  is  a  Christian  and  not  a 
heathen  nation,  and  that  the  God  of  the 
Christian  Scriptures  is  the  author  of  civil 
government. 

2.  That  God  requires  and  man  needs  a 
Sabbath. 

3.  That  the  prohibition  of  the  importa 
tion,  manufacture,  and  sale  of  intoxicating 
drinks  as  a  beverage,  is  the  true  policy  on 
the  temperance  question. 

4.  The    charters    of  all    secret    lodges 
granted  by  our  federal  and  state  legisla 
tures   should    be    withdrawn,   and    their 
oaths  prohibited  by  law. 

5.  That  the  civil  equality  secured  to  all 
American  citizens  by  articles  13th,  14th, 
and    15th  of  our    amended    constitution 
should  be  preserved  inviolate. 

6.  That  arbitration  of  differences  with 
nations  is  the  most  direct  and  sure  method 
of  securing  and  perpetuating  a  permanent 
peace. 

7.  That  to  cultivate  the  intellect  without 
improving  the  morals  of  men  is  to  make 
mere  adepts  and  experts:  therefore,  the 
Bible  should  be  associated  with  books  of 
science  and  literature  in  all  our  educa 
tional  institutions. 

8.  That    land    and    other    monopolies 
should  be  discountenanced. 

9.  That  the  government  should  furnish 
the  people  with  an  ample  and  sound  cur 
rency  and  a  return  to  specie  payment,  as 
soon  as  practicable. 

10.  That    maintenance    of  the   public 
credit,  protection  to  all  loyal  citizens,  and 
justice  to  Indians  are  essential  to  the  honor 
and  safety  of  our  nation. 

11.  And,  finally,  we   demand  for   the 
American  people  the  abolition  of  electoral 
colleges,  and  a  direct  vote  for  President 
and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States, 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


r  [Their  candidates  were  James  B.  Walker, 
Wheaton,  Illinois,  for  President ;  and  Don 
ald  Kirkpatrick,  Syracuse,  New  York,  for 
Vice-President.] 


1876.— Prohibition  Reform  Platform, 

Cleveland,  Ohio,  May  17. 

The  Prohibition  Keform  party  of  the 
United  States,  organized  in  the  name  of 
the  people,  to  revive,  enforce,  and  perpet 
uate  in  the  government  the  doctrines  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  submit,  in 
this  centennial  year  of  the  republic,  for  the 
eufFrages  of'all  good  citizens,  the  following 
platform  of  national  reforms  and  measures : 

First.  The  legal  prohibition  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  the  territories,  and  in 
every  other  place  subject  to  the  laws  of 
Congress,  of  the  importation,  exportation, 
manufacture,  and  traffic  of  all  alcoholic 
beverages,  as  high  crimes  against  society  ; 
an  amendment  of  the  national  constitu 
tion,  to  render  these  prohibitory  measures 
universal  and  permanent ;  and  the  adop 
tion  of  treaty  stipulations  with  foreign 
powers,  to  prevent  the  importation  and 
exportation  of  all  alcoholic  beverages. 

Second.  The  abolition  of  class  legisla 
tion,  and  of  special  privileges  in  the  gov 
ernment,  and  the  adoption  of  equal  suffrage 
and  eligibility  to  office,  without  distinction 
of  race,  religious  creed,  property,  or  sex. 

Third.  The  appropriation  of  the  public 
lands,  in  limited  quantities,  to  actual  set 
tlers  only ;  the  reduction  of  the  rates  of 
inland  and  ocean  postage ;  of  telegraphic 
communication;  of  railroad  and  water 
transportation  and  travel,  to  the  lowest 
practical  point,  by  force  of  laws,  wisely 
and  justly  framed,  with  reference,  not  only 
to  the  interest  of  capital  employed,  but  to 
the  higher  claims  of  the  general  good. 
i  .  Fourth.  The  suppression,  by  laws,  of 
'  lotteries  and  gambling  in  gold,  stocks,  pro 
duce,  and  every  form  of  money  and  pro 
perty,  and  the  penal  inhibition  of  the  use 
of  the  public  mails  for  advertising  schemes 
of  gambling  and  lotteries. 

Fifth.  The  abolition  of  those  foul  enor 
mities,  polygamy  and  the  social  evil ;  and 
the  protection  of  purity,  peace,  and  hap 
piness  of  homes,  by  ample  and  efficient 
legislation. 

Sixth.  The  national  observance  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath,  established  by  laws 
prohibiting  ordinary  labor  and  business 
in  all  departments  of  public  service  and 
private  employment  (works  of  necessity, 
charity,  and  religion  excepted)  on  that  day. 

Seventh.  The  establishment,  by  manda 
tory  provisions  in  national  and  state  con 
stitutions,  and  by  all  necessary  legislation, 
of  a  system  of  free  public  schools  for  the 
universal  and  forced  education  of  all  the 
youth  of  the  land. 


Eighth.  The  free  use  of  the  Bible,  not 
as  a  ground  of  religious  creeds,  but  as  a 
text-book  of  the  purest  morality,  the  best 
liberty,  and  the  noblest  literature  in  our 
public  schools,  that  our  children  may  grow 
up  in  its  light,  and  that  its  spirit  and  prin 
ciples  may  pervade  our  nation. 

Ninth.  The  separation  of  the  govern 
ment  in  all  its  departments  and  institu- 
ions,  including  the  public  schools  and  all 
funds  for  their  maintenance,  from  the  con 
trol  of  every  religious  sect  or  other  asso 
ciation,  and  the  protection  alike  of  all 
sects  by  equal  laws,  with  entire  freedom  of 
religious  faith  and  worship. 

Tenth.  The  introduction  into  all  treaties 
iereafter  negotiated  with  foreign  govern 
ments  of  a  provision  for  the  amicable  set 
tlement  of  international  difficulties  by 
arbitration. 

Eleventh.  The  abolition  of  all  barbar 
ous  modes  and  instruments  of  punishment; 
:he  recognition  of  the  laws  of  God  and 
the  claims  of  humanity  in  the  discipline 
of  jails  and  prisons,  and  of  that  higher 
and  wiser  civilization  worthy  of  our  age 
and  nation,  which  regards  the  reform  of 
criminals  as  a  means  for  the  prevention  of 
crime. 

Twelfth.  The  abolition  of  executive  and 
legislative  patronage,  and  the  election  of 
President,  Vice-President,  United  States 
Senators,  and  of  all  civil  officers,  so  far  as 
practicable,  by  the  direct  vote  of  the  peo 
ple. 

Thirteenth.  The  practice  of  a  friendly 
and  liberal  policy  to  immigrants  from  all 
nations,  the  guaranty  to  them  of  ample 
protection,  and  of  equal  rights  and  privi 
leges. 

Fourteenth.  The  separation  of  the  money 
of  government  from  all  banking  institu 
tions.  The  national  government,  only, 
should  exercise  the  high  prerogative  of 
issuing  paper  money,  and  that  should  be 
subject  to  prompt  redemption  on  demand, 
in  gold  and  silver,  the  only  equal  stand 
ards  of  value  recognized  by  the  civilized 
world. 

Fifteenth.  The  reduction  of  the  salaries 
of  public  officers  in  a  just  ratio  with  the 
decline  of  wages  and  market  prices ;  the 
abolition  of  sinecures,  unnecessary  offices, 
and  official  fees  and  perquisites ;  the  prac 
tice  of  strict  economy  in  government  ex 
penses  ;  and  a  free  and  thorough  investi 
gation  into  any  and  all  alleged  abuses  of 
public  trusts. 


1876.— Independent  (Greenback)  PlatforM, 

Indianapolis,  Ind.,  May  17. 

The  Independent  party  is  called  into 
existence  by  the  necessities  of  the  people, 
whose  industries  are  prostrated,  whoss 
labor  is  deprived  of  its  just  reward  by  a 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


55 


ruinous  policy  which  the  Republican  and 
Democratic  parties  refuse  to  change ;  and, 
in  view  of  the  failure  of  these  parties  to 
furnish  relief  to  the  depressed  industries 
of  the  country,  thereby  disappointing  the 
just  hopes  and  expectations  of  the  suffer 
ing  people,  we  delare  our  principles,  and 
invite  all  independent  and  patriotic  men 
to  join  our  ranks  in  this  movement  for  fi 
nancial  reform  and  industrial  emancipation. 

First.  We  demand  the  immediate  and 
unconditional  repeal  of  the  specie  resump 
tion  act  of  January  14,  1875,  and  the  res 
cue  of  our  industries  from  ruin  and  disas 
ter  resulting  from  its  enforcement ;  and  we 
call  upon  all  patriotic  men  to  organize  in 
every  congressional  district  of  the  country, 
with  a  view  of  electing  representatives  to 
Congress  who  will  carry  out  the  wishes  of 
the  people  in  this  regard  and  stop  the 
present  suicidal  and  destructive  policy  of 
contraction. 

Second.  We  believe  that  a  United  States 
note,  issued  directly  by  the  government, 
and  convertible,  on  demand,  into  United 
States  obligations,  bearing  a  rate  of  inter 
est  not  exceeding  one  cent  a  day  on  each 
one  hundred  dollars,  and  exchangeable  for 
United  States  notes  at  par,  will  afford  the 
best  circulating  medium  ever  devised. 
Such  United  States  notes  should  be  full 
legal  tenders  for  all  purposes,  except  for 
the  payment  of  such  obligations  as  are,  by 
existing  contracts,  especially  made  paya 
ble  in  coin ;  and  we  hold  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  government  to  provide  such  a 
circulating  medium,  and  insist,  in  the 
language  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  that  "  bank 

Caper  must  be  suppressed,  and  the  circu- 
ition  restored  to  the  nation,  to  whom  it 
belongs." 

Third.  It  is  the  paramount  duty  of  the 
government,  in  all  its  legislation,  to  keep 
in  view  the  full  development  of  all  legiti 
mate  business,  agricultural,  mining,  manu 
facturing,  and  commercial. 

Fourth.  We  most  earnestly  protest 
against  any  further  issue  of  gold  bonds  for 
sale  in  foreign  markets,  by  which  we 
would  be  made,  for  a  long  period,  "  hewers 
of  wood  and  drawers  of  water"  to  for 
eigners,  especially  as  the  American  people 
would  gladly  and  promptly  take  at  par  all 
bonds  the  government  may  need  to  sell, 
provided  they  are  made  payable  at  the  op 
tion  of  the  holder,  and  bearing  interest  at 
3.65  per  cent,  per  annum  or  even  a  lower 
rate. 

Fifth.  We  further  protest  against  the 
sale  of  government  bonds  for  the  purpose 
of  purchasing  silver  to  be  used  as  a  sub 
stitute  for  our  more  convenient  and  less 
fluctuating  fractional  currency,  which,  al 
though  well  calculated  to  enrich  owners  of 
silver  mines,  yet  in  operation  it  will  still 
further  oppress,  in  taxation,  an  already 
overburdened  people. 

24 


1876.— Republican  Platform, 

Cincinnati,  Ohio,  June  14. 

When,  in  the  economy  of  Providence, 
this  land  was  to  be  purged  of  human 
slavery,  and  when  the  strength  of  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and 
for  the  people,  was  to  be  demonstrated,  the 
Republican  party  came  into  power.  Its 
deeds  have  passed  into  history,  and  we 
look  back  to  them  with  pride.  Incited  by 
their  memories  to  high  aims  for  the  good 
of  our  country  and  mankind,  and  looking 
to  the  future  with  unfaltering  courage, 
hope,  and  purpose,  we,  the  representatives 
of  the  party,  in  national  convention  as 
sembled,  make  the  following  declaration 
of  principles : 

1.  The  United  States  of  America  is  a 
nation,  not  a  league.     By  the  combined 
workings  of  the  national  and  state  govern 
ments,  under    their    respective   constitu 
tions,  the  rights  of  every  citizen  are  se 
cured,  at  home  and  abroad,  and  the  com 
mon  welfare  promoted. 

2.  The  Republican  party  has  preserved 
these  governments  to  the  hundredth  anni 
versary  of  the  nation's  birth,  and  they  are 
now  embodiments  of  the  great  truths  spo 
ken  at  its  cradle — "  That  all  men  are  cre 
ated  equal;    that  they  are  endowed   by 
their    Creator    with    certain    inalienable 
rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness ;   that  for  the  at 
tainment  of  these  ends  governments  have 
been  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their 
just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  gov 
erned."     Until  these  truths  are  cheerfully 
obeyed,  or,  if  need  be,  vigorously  enforced, 
the  work  of  the  Republican  party  is  un 
finished. 

3.  The  permanent  pacification  of  the 
southern  section  of  the  Union,  and  the 
complete  protection  of  all  its  citizens  in  the 
free  enjoyment  of  all  their  rights,  is  a  duty 
to  which  the  Republican  party  stands  sa 
credly  pledged.    The  power  to  provide  for 
the  enforcement  of  the  principles  embodied 
in  the  recent  constitutional  amendments  is 
vested,  by  those  amendments,  in  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States ;  and  we  declare 
it  to  be  the  solemn  obligation  of  the  legis 
lative  and  executive  departments  of  the 
government  to   put  into   immediate  and 
vigorous  exercise  all  their  constitutional 
powers  for  removing  any  just  causes  of 
discontent  on  the  part  of  any  class,  and 
for  securing    to  every  American    citizen 
complete  liberty  and  exact  equality  in  the 
exercise  of  all  civil,  political,  and  public 
rights.     To  this  end  we  imperatively  de 
mand  a  Congress  and  a  Chief  Executive 
whose  courage  and  fidelity  to  these  duties 
shall    not  falter  until    these    results  are 
placed  beyond  dispute  or  recall. 

4.  In  the  first  act  of  Congress  signed  by 
President  Grant,  the  national  government 
assumed  to  remove  any  doubt  of  its  pur- 


56 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


pose  to  discharge  all  just  obligations  to 
.the public  creditors,  and  "solemnly  pledged 
its  faith  to  make  provision  at  the  earliest 
practicable  period  for  the  redemption  of 
the  United  States  notes  in  coin."  Com 
mercial  prosperity,  public  morals,  and  na 
tional  credit  demand  that  this  promise  be 
fulfilled  by  a  continuous  and  steady  pro 
gress  to  specie  payment. 

5.  Under  the  constitution,  the  President 
and  heads  of  departments  are  to  make 
nominations  for  office,  the  Senate  is  to  ad 
vise  and  consent  to  appointments,  and  the 
House  of  Representatives  is  to  accuse  and 
prosecute  faithless  officers.     The  best  in 
terest  of  the  public  service  demand  that 
these  distinctions  be  respected ;  that  Sena 
tors    and    Representatives    who  may    be 
judges  and  accusers  should  not  dictate  ap 
pointments  to  office.    The  invariable  rule 
in  appointments  should  have  reference  to 
the  honesty,  fidelity,  and  capacity  of  the 
appointees,  giving  to  the  party  in  power 
those  places  where  harmony  and  vigor  of 
administration  require  its  policy  to  be  rep 
resented,  but  permitting  all  others  to  be 
filled  by  persons  selected  with  sole  refer 
ence  to  the  efficiency  of  the  public  service, 
and  the  right  of  all  citizens  to  share  in  the 
honor  of  rendering  faithful  service  to  the 
country. 

6.  We  rejoice  in  the  quickened  con 
science  of  the  people  concerning  political 
affairs,  and  will  hold  all  public  officers  to 
a  rigid  responsibility,  and  engage  that  the 
prosecution  and  punishment  of  all  who  be 
tray  official  trusts  shall  be  swift,  thorough, 
and  unsparing. 

7.  The  public  school  system  of  the  several 
states  is  the  bulwark  of  the  American  Re 
public  ;    and,  with  a  view  to  its  security 
and  permanence,  we  recommend  an  amend 
ment  to  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  forbidding  the  application  of  any 
public  funds  or  property  for  the  benefit  of 
any  schools  or  institutions  under  sectarian 
control. 

8.  The  revenue  necessary  for  current 
expenditures,  and  the  obligations  of  the 
public  debt,  must  be  largely  derived  from 
duties  upon  importations,  which,  so  far  as 
possible,  should  be  adjusted  to  promote 
the  interests  of  American  labor  and  ad 
vance  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  country. 

9.  We  reaffirm  our  opposition  to  further 
grants  of  the  public  lands  to  corporations 
and  monopolies,  and  demand  that  the  na 
tional  domain  be  devoted  to  free  homes 
for  the  people. 

10.  It  is  the  imperative  duty  of  the  gov 
ernment  so  to  modify  existing  treaties  with 
European  governments,  that  the  same  pro 
tection  shall  be  afforded  to  the  adopted 
American  citizen  that  is  given  to  the  na 
tive-born  ;    and  that  all    necessary    laws 
should  be  passed  to  protect  emigrants  in 


the  absence  of  power  in  the  states  for  that 
purpose. 

11.  It  is  the  immediate  duty  of  Con 
gress  to  fully  investigate  the  effect  of  the 
immigration  and  importation  of  Mongo 
lians  upon  the  moral  and  material    in 
terests  of  the  country. 

12.  The  Republican   party  recognizes, 
with  approval,   the   substantial   advances 
recently  made  towards  the  establishment 
of  equal  rights  for  women  by  the  many 
important  amendments  effected  by  Repub 
lican  legislatures  in  the  laws  which  con 
cern  the  personal  and  property  relations 
of  wives,  mothers,  and  widows,  and  by  the 
appointment  and  election  of  women  to  the 
superintendence    of   education,   charities, 
and  other  public  trusts.    The  honest  de 
mands  of  this  class  of  citizens  for  addi 
tional  rights,  privileges,  and  immunities, 
should  be  treated  with  respectful  consider 
ation. 

13.  The  constitution  confers  upon  Con 
gress  sovereign  power  over  the  territories 
of  the  United  States  for  their  government; 
and  in  the  exercise  of  this  power  it  is  the 
right  and  duty  of  Congress  to  prohibit  and 
extirpate,  in  the  territories,  that  relic  of 
barbarism — polygamy;    and   we    demand 
such  legislation  as  shall  secure  this  end 
and  the  supremacy  of  American  institu 
tions  in  all  the  territories. 

14.  The  pledges  which  the  nation  has 
given  to  her  soldiers  and  sailers  must  be 
fulfilled,  and  a  grateful  people  will  always 
hold  those  who  imperiled  their  lives  for 
the  country's  preservation  in  the  kindest 
remembrance. 

15.  We  sincerely  deprecate  all  sectional 
feeling  and    tendencies.      We,   therefore, 
note  with  deep  solicitude  that  the  Demo 
cratic  party  counts,  as  its  chief  hope  of 
success,  upon  the  electoral  vote  of  a  united 
south,  secured  through  the  efforts  of  those 
who  were  recently  arrayed  against  the  na 
tion  ;  and  we  invoke  the  earnest  attention 
of  the  country  to  the  grave  truth  that  a 
success  thus  achieved  would  reopen  sec 
tional  strife,  and  imperil  national  honor 
and  human  rights. 

16.  We  charge  the  Democratic  party 
with  being  the  same  in  chnracterand  spirit 
as  when  it  sympathized  with  treason  ;  with 
making  its  control  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  the  triumph  and  opportunity  of 
the  nation's  recent  foes ;    with  reasserting 
and  applauding,  in  the  national  capital, 
the  sentiments  of  unrepentant  rebellion; 
with  sending  Union  soldiers  to  the  rear, 
and  promoting  Confederate  soldiers  to  the 
front ;  with  deliberately  proposing  to  repu 
diate  the  plighted  faith  of  the  government; 
with  being  equally  false  and  imbecile  upon 
the    overshadowing    financial    questions; 
with  thwarting  the  ends  of  justice  by  its 
partisan  mismanagement  and  obstruction 
of    investigation;      with     proving    itself 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


57 


through  the  period  of  its  ascendency  in 
the  lower  house  of  Congress,  utterly  in 
competent  to  administer  the  government ; 
and  we  warn  the  country  against  trusting 
a  party  thus  alike  unworthy,  recreant,  and 
incapable. 

17.  The  national  administration  merits 
co  nmendation  for  its  honorable  work  in 
the  management  of  domestic  and  foreign 
affairs,  and  President  Grant  deserves  the 
continued  hearty  gratitude  of  the  Ameri 
can  people  for  his  patriotism  and  his  emi 
nent  services  in  war  and  in  peace. 

18.  We  present,  as  our  candidates  for 
President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,   two    distinguished    statesmen,   of 
eminent  ability  and  character,  and  con 
spicuously  fitted  for  those  high  offices,  and 
we  confidently  appeal    to  the  American 
people  to   intrust   the  administration  of 
their  public  affairs  to  Rutherford  B.  Hayes 
and  William  A.  Wheeler. 


18T6.— Democratic  Platform. 

St.  Louis,  Mo.,  June  27. 

We,  the  delegates  of  the  Democratic 
party  of  the  United  States,  in  national  con 
vention  assembled,  do  hereby  declare  the 
administration  of  the  Federal  government 
to  be  in  urgent  need  of  immediate  reform  ; 
do  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  nominees  ol 
this  convention,  and  of  the  Democratic 
party  in  each  state,  a  zealous  effort  and  co 
operation  to  this  end ;  and  do  hereby  ap 
peal  to  our  fellow-citizens  of  every  former 
political  connection  to  undertake,  with  us, 
this  first  and  most  pressing  patriotic  duty. 

For  the  Democracy  of  the  whole  coun 
try,  we  do  here  reaffirm  our  faith  in  the  per- 
manence  of  the  Federal  Union,  our  devo 
tion  to  the  constitution  of  the  United  States, 
with  its  amendments  universally  accepted 
as  a  final  settlement  of  the  controversies 
that  engendered  civil  war,  and  do  here  re 
cord  our  steadfast  confidence  in  the  per 
petuity  of  republican  self-government. 

In  absolute  acquiescence  in  the  will  of 
tjie  majority — the  vital  principle  of  repub 
lics  ;  in  the  supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the 
military  authority  ;  in  the  total  separation 
of  church  and  state,  for  the  sake  alike  of 
civil  and  religious  freedom ;  in  the  equal 
ity  of  all  citizens  before  just  laws  of  their 
own  enactment;  in  the  liberty  of  indi 
vidual  conduct,  unvexed  by  sumptuary 
laws ;  in  the  faithful  education  of  the  ris 
ing  generation,  that  they  may  preserve, 
enjoy,  and  transmit  these  best  conditions 
of  human  happiness  and  hope — we  behold 
the  noblest  products  of  a  hundred  years  of 
changeful  history;  but  while  upholding 
the  bond  of  our  Union  and  great  charter 
of  these  our  rights,  it  behooves  a  free  peo 
ple  to  practice  also  that  eternal  vigilance 
which  is  the  price  of  liberty. 


Reform  is  necessary  to  rebuild  and  es 
tablish  in  the  hearts  of  the  whole  people 
the  Union,  eleven  years  ago  happily  res 
cued  from  the  danger  of  a  secession  of 
states,  but  now  to  be  saved  from  a  corrupt 
centralism  which,  after  inflicting  upon  ten 
states  the  rapacity  of  carpet-bag  tyranny, 
has  honey-combed  the  offices  of  the  Federal 
government  itself,  with  incapacity,  waste, 
and  fraud ;  infected  states  and  municipali 
ties  with  the  contagion  of  misrule;  and 
locked  fast  the  prosperity  of  an  industrious 
people  in  the  paralysis  of  "  hard  times." 

Reform  is  necessary  to  establish  a  sound 
currency,  restore  the  public  credit,  and 
maintain  the  national  honor. 

We  denounce  the  failure,  for  all  these 
eleven  years  of  peace,  to  make  good  the 
promise  of  the  legal  tender  notes,  whiclji 
are  a  changing  standard  of  value  in  the 
hands  of  the  people,  and  the  non-payment 
of  which  is  a  aisregard  of  the  plighted 
faith  of  the  nation. 

We  denounce  the  improvidence  which, 
in  eleven  years  of  peace,  has  taken  from 
the  people,  in  federal  taxes,  thirteen  times 
the  whole  amount  of  the  legal-tender  notes, 
and  squandered  four  times  their  sum  in 
useless  expense  without  accumulating  any 
reserve  for  their  redemption. 

We  denounce  the  financial  imbecility 
and  immorality  of  that  party  which,  dur 
ing  eleven  years  of  peace,  has  made  no  ad 
vance  toward  resumption,  no  preparation 
for  resumption,  but,  instead,  has  obstructed 
resumption,  by  wasting  our  resources  and 
exhausting  all  our  surplus  income ;  and, 
while  annually  professing  to  intend  a 
speedy  return  to  specie  payments,  has  an 
nually  enacted  fresh  hinderances  thereto. 
As  such  hinderance  we  denounce  the  re 
sumption  clause  of  1875,  and  we  here  de 
mand  its  repeal. 

We  demand  a  judicious  system  of  prepa 
ration,  by  public  economies,  by  official  re 
trenchments,  and  by  wise  finance,  which 
shall  enable  the  nation  soon  to  assure  the 
whole  world  of  its  perfect  ability  and  of  its 
perfect  readiness  to  meet  any  of  its  pro 
mises  at  the  call  of  the  creditor  entitled  to 
payment.  We  believe  such  a  system,  well 
devised,  and,  above  all,  intrusted  to  com 
petent  hands  for  execution,  creating,  at  no 
time,  an  artificial  scarcity  of  currency,  and 
at  no  time  alarming  the  public  mind  into 
a  withdrawal  of  that  vaster  machinery  of 
credit  by  which  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  all 
business  transactions  are  performed.  A 
system  open,  public,  and  inspiring  general 
confidence,  would,  from  the  day  of  its 
adoption,  bring  healing  on  its  wings  to  all 
our  harassed  industries — set  in  motion  the 
wheels  of  commerce,  manufactures,  and  the 
mechanic  arts — restore  employment  to  la 
bor — and,  renew,  in  all  its  natural  sources, 
the  prosperity  of  the  people. 

iicibrm   is   necessary   in    the  sum  and 


58 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


modes  of  federal  taxation,  to  the  end  that 
capital  may  be  set  free  from  distrust  and 
labor  lightly  burdened. 

We  denounce  the  present  tariff,  levied 
upon  nearly  four  thousand  articles,  as  a 
masterpiece  of  injustice,  inequality,  and 
false  pretence.  It  yields  a  dwindling,  not 
a  yearly  rising,  revenue.  It  has  impover 
ished  many  industries  to  subsidize  a  few. 
It  prohibits  imports  that  might  purchase 
the  products  of  American  labor.  It  has 
degraded  American  commerce  from  the 
first  to  an  inferior  rank  on  the  high  seas. 
It  has  cut  down  the  sales  of  American 
manufactures  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
depleted  the  returns  of  American  agri 
culture — an  industry  followed  by  half  our 
people.  It  costs  the  people  five  times 
more  than  it  produces  to  the  treasury,  ob 
structs  the  processes  of  production,  and 
wastes  the  fruits  of  labor.  It  promotes 
fraud,  fosters  smuggling,  enricnes  dis 
honest  officials,  and  bankrupts  honest 
merchants.  We  demand  that  all  custom 
house  taxation  shall  be  only  for  revenue. 

Reform  is  necessary  in  the  scale  of  public 
expense — federal,  state,  and  municipal. 
Our  federal  taxation  has  swollen  from  sixty 
millions  gold,  in  1860,  to  four  hundred  and 
fifty  millions  currency,  in  1870 ;  our  ag 
gregate  taxation  from  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
four  millions  gold,  in  1860,  to  seven  hun 
dred  and  thirty  millions  currency,  in  1870 
— or,  in  one  decade,  from  less  than  five 
dollars  per  head  to  more  than  eighteen 
dollars  per  head.  Since  the  peace,  the 
people  have  paid  to  their  tax-gatherers 
more  than  thrice  the  sum  of  the  national 
debt,  and  more  than  twice  that  sum  for  the 
Federal  government  alone.  We  demand 
a  rigorous  frugality  in  every  department 
and  from  every  officer  of  the  government. 

Reform  is  necessary  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
profligate  waste  of  public  lands,  and  their 
diversion  from  actual  settlers,  by  the  party 
in  power,  which  has  squandered  200,000,000 
of  acres  upon  railroads  alone,  and,  out  of 
more  than  thrice  that  aggregate,  has  dis 
posed  of  less  than  a  sixth  directly  to  tillers 
of  the  soil. 

Re.form  is  necessary  to  correct  the  omis 
sion  of  a  Republican  Congress,  and  the 
errors  of  our  treaties  and  our  diplomacy 
which  have  stripped  our  fellow-citizens  of 
foreign  birth  and  kindred  race,  recrossing 
the  Atlantic,  of  the  shield  of  American 
citizenship,  and  have  exposed  our  brethren 
of  the  Pacific  coast  to  the  incursions  of  a 
race  not  sprung  from  the  same  great  parent 
stock,  and  in  fact  now,  by  law,  denied 
citizenship  through  naturalization,  as  being 
neither  accustomed  to  the  traditions  of  a 
progressive  civilization  nor  exercised  in 
liberty  under  equal  laws.  We  denounce 
the  policy  which  thus  discards  the  liberty- 
loving  German  and  tolerates  a  revival  of 
the  coolie  trade  in  Mongolian  women,  im 


ported  for  immoral  purposes,  and  Mongolian 
men,  held  to  perform  servile  labor  contracts 
and  demand  such  modification  of  the  treaty 
with  the  Chinese  Empire,  or  such  legisla 
tion  within  constitutional  limitations,  as 
shall  prevent  further  importation  or  immi 
gration  of  the  Mongolian  race. 

Reform  is  necessary,  and  can  never  be 
effected  but  by  making  it  the  controlling 
issue  of  the  elections,  and  lifting  it  above 
the  two  false  issues  with  which  the  office- 
holding  class  and  the  party  in  power  seek 
to  smother  it: 

1.  The  false  issue  with  which  they  would 
enkindle  sectarian  strife  in  respect  to  the 
public  schools,  of  which  the  establishment 
and  support  belongs  exclusively  to    the 
several  states,  and  which  the  Democratic 
party  has  cherished  from  their  foundation, 
and  is  resolved  to  maintain,  without  preju 
dice  or  preference  for  any  class,  sect,  or 
creed,  and  without  largesses  from  the  trea 
sury  to  any. 

2.  The  false  issue  by  which  they  seek  to 
light  anew  the  dying  embers  of  sectional  hate 
between  kindred  peoples  once  estranged, 
but  now  reunited  in  one  indivisible  re 
public  and  a  common  destiny. 

Reform  is  necessary  in  the  civil  service. 
Experience  proves  that  efficient,  economical 
conduct  of  the  governmental  business  is 
not  possible  if  its  civil  service  be  subject 
to  change  at  every  election,  be  a  prize 
fought  for  at  the  ballot-box,  be  a  brief  re 
ward  of  party  zeal,  instead  of  posts  of  honor 
assigned  for  proved  competency,  and  held 
for  fidelity  in  the  public  employ ;  that  the 
dispensing  of  patronage  should  neither  be  a 
tax  upon  the  time  of  all  our  public  men. 
nor  the  instrument  of  their  ambition. 
Here,  again,  promises,  falsified  in  the  per 
formance,  attest  that  the  party  in  power 
can  work  out  no  practical  or  salutary  re 
form. 

Reform  is  necessary,  even  more,  in  the 
higher  grades  of  the  public  service.  Presi 
dent,  Vice-President,  Judges,  Senators, 
Representatives,  Cabinet  officers — these, 
and  all  others  in  authority — are  the  people's 
servants.  Their  offices  are  not  a  private 
perquisite ;  they  are  a  public  trust.  When 
the  annals  of  this  Republic  show  the  dis 
grace  and  censure  of  a  Vice-President ;  a 
late  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  marketing  his  rulings  as  a  presiding 
officer ;  three  Senators  profiting  secretly  by 
their  votes  as  law-makers ;  five  chairmen 
of  the  leading  committees  of  the  late  House 
of  Representatives  exposed  in  jobbery ;  a 
late  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  forcing  ba 
lances  in  the  public  accounts  ;  a  late  At 
torney-General  misappropriating  public 
funds  ;  a  Secretary  of  the  Navy  enriched, 
or  enriching  friends,  by  percentages  levied 
off  the  profits  of  contractors  with  his  de 
partment  ;  an  Ambassador  to  England  con 
cerned  in  a  dishonorable  speculation ;  the 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


59 


President's  private  secretary  barely  escap 
ing  conviction  upon  trial  for  guilty  compli 
city  in  frauds  upon  the  revenue ;  a  Secre 
tary  of  War  impeached  for  high  crimes 
and  misdemeanors — the  demonstration  is 
complete,  that  the  first  step  in  reform  must 
be  the  people's  choice  of  honest  men  from 
another  party,  lest  the  disease  of  one  poli 
tical  organization  infect  the  body  politic, 
and  lest  by  making  no  change  of  men  or 
parties  we  get  no  change  of  measures  and 
no  real  reform. 

All  these  abuses,  wrongs,  and  crimes — 
the  product  of  sixteen  years'  ascendency  of 
the  Republican  party — create  a  necessity 
for  reform,  confessed  by  the  Republicans 
themselves ;  but  their  reformers  are  voted 
down  in  convention  and  displaced  from  the 
cabinet.  The  party's  mass  of  honest  voters 
is  powerless  to  resist  the  80,000  office-hold 
ers,  its  leaders  and  guides. 

Reform  can  only  be  had  by  a  peaceful 
civic  revolution.  We  demand  a  change 
of  system,  a  change  of  administration,  a 
change  of  parties,  that  we  may  have  a 
change  of  measures  and  of  men. 

Resolved,  That  this  convention,  repre 
senting  the  Democratic  party  of  the  United 
States,  do  cordially  indorse  the  action  of 
the  present  House  of  Representatives,  in  re 
ducing  and  curtailing  the  expenses  of  the 
Federal  government,  in  cutting  down  sa 
laries  and  extravagant  appropriations,  and 
in  abolishing  useless  offices  and  places  not 
required  by  the  public  necessities ;  and  we 
shall  trust  to  the  firmness  of  the  Democra 
tic  members  of  the  House  that  no  commit 
tee  of  conference  and  no  misinterpretation 
of  the  rules  will  be  allowed  to  defeat  these 
wholesome  measures  of  economy  demanded 
by  the  country. 

Resolved,  That  the  soldiers  and  sailors 
of  the  Republic,  and  the  widows  and  or 
phans  of  those  who  have  fallen  in  battle, 
have  a  just  claim  upon  the  care,  protection, 
and  gratitude  of  their  fellow-citizens. 


1S7H. -National  Platform. 

Toledo,  Ohio,  February  22. 

Whereas,  Throughout  our  entire  country 
the  value  of  real  estate  is  depreciated,  in 
dustry  paralyzed,  trade  depressed,  business 
incomes  and  wages  reduced,  unparalleled 
distress  inflicted  upon  the  poorer  and  mid 
dle  ranks  of  our  people,  the  land  filled 
with  fraud,  embezzlement,  bankruptcy, 
crime,  suffering,  pauperism,  and  starvation ; 
and 

Whereas,  This  state  of  things  has  been 
brought  about  by  legislation  in  the  interest 
of,  and  dictated  by,  money-lenders,  bankers 
and  bondholders ;  and 

Whereas,  While  we  recognize  the  fact 
that  the  men  in  Congress  connected  with 


the  old  political  parties  have  stood  up  man 
fully  for  the  rights  of  the  people,  and  met 
the  threats  of  the  money  power,  and  the 
ridicule  of  an  ignorant  and  subsidized 
press,  yet  neither  the  Republican  nor  the 
Democratic  parties,  in  their  policies,  pro 
pose  remedies  for  the  existing  evils ;  and 

Whereas,  The  Independent  Greenback 
party,  and  other  associations  more  or  less 
effective,  have  been  unable,  hitherto,  to 
make  a  formidable  opposition  to  old  party 
organizations ;  and  ( 

Whereas,  The  limiting  of  the  legal-tender 
quality  of  the  greenbacks,  the  changing  of 
currency  bonds  into  coin  bonds,  the  de 
monetization  of  the  silver  dollar,  the  ex 
empting  of  bonds  from  taxation,  the  con 
traction  of  the  circulating  medium,  the 
proposed  forced  resumption  of  specie  pay 
ments,  and  the  prodigal  waste  of  the  public 
lands,  were  crimes  against  the  people ;  and, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  results  of  these  cri 
minal  acts  must  be  counteracted  by  judi 
cious  legislation : 

Therefore,  We  assemble  in  national  con 
vention  and  make  a  declaration  of  our 
principles,  and  invite  all  patriotic  citizens 
to  unite  in  an  effort  to  secure  financial  re 
form  and  industrial  emancipation.  The 
organization  shall  be  known  as  the  "  Na 
tional  Party,"  and  under  this  name  we  will 
perfect,  without  delay,  national,  state,  and 
local  associations,  to  secure  the  election  to 
office  of  such  men  only  as  will  pledge 
themselves  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  es 
tablish  these  principles : 

First.  It  is  the  exclusive  function  of  the 
general  government  to  coin  and  create 
money  and  regulate  its  value.  All  bank 
issues  designed  to  circulate  as  money  should 
be  suppressed.  The  circulating  medium, 
whether  of  metal  or  paper,  shall  be  issued 
by  the  government,  and  made  a  full  legal- 
tender  for  all  debts,  duties,  .and  taxes  ii| 
the  United  States,  at  its  stamped  value. 

Second.  There  shall  be  no  privileged 
class  of  creditors.  Official  salaries,  pensions, 
bonds,  and  all  other  debts  and  obligations, 
public  and  private,  shall  be  discharged  in 
the  legal-tender  money  of  the  United 
States  strictly  according  to  the  stipulations 
of  the  laws  under  which  they  were  con 
tracted. 

Third.  The  coinage  of  silver  shall  be 
placed  on  the  same  footing  as  that  of  gold. 

Fourth.  Congress  shall  provide  said 
money  adequate  to  the  full  employment  of 
labor,  the  equitable  distribution  of  its  pro 
ducts,  and  the  requirement  of  business, 
fixing  a  minimum  amount  per  capita  of  the 
population  as  near  as  may  be,  and  other 
wise  regulating  its  value  by  wise  and  equi 
table  provisions  of  law,  so  that  the  rate  of 
interest  will  secure  to  labor  its  just  reward. 

Fifth.  It  is  inconsistent  with  the  genius 
of  popular  government  that  any  species  of 
private  property  should  be  exempt  from 


60 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


bearing  its  proper  share  of  the  public 
burdens.  Government  bonds  and  money 
should  be  ^axed  precisely  as  other  property, 
and  a  graduated  income  tax  should  be 
levied  for  the  support  of  the  government 
and  the  payment  of  its  debts. 

Sixth.  Public  lands  are  the  common 
property  of  the  whole  people,  and  should 
not  be  sold  to  speculators  nor  granted  to 
railroads  or  other  corporations,  but  should 
be  donated  to  actual  settlers,  in  limited 
quantities. 

Seventh.  The  government  should,  by  gen 
eral  enactments,  encourage  the  develop 
ment  of  our  agricultural,  mineral,  mecha 
nical,  manufacturing,  and  commercial  re 
sources,  to  the  end  that  labor  may  be  fully 
an4  profitably  employed ;  but  no  monopo 
lies  should  be  legalized. 

Eighth.  All  useless  offices  should  be  abol 
ished,  the  most  rigid  economy  favored  in 
every  branch  of  the  public  service,  and 
severe  punishment  inflicted  upon  public 
officers  who  betray  the  trusts  reposed  in 
them. 

Ninth.  As  educated  labor  has  devised 
means  for  multiplying  productions  by  in 
ventions  and  discoveries,  and  as  their  use 
requires  the  exercise  of  mind  as  well  as 
body,  such  legislation  should  be  had  that 
the  number  of  hours  of  daily  toil  will  be 
reduced,  giving  to  the  working  classes  more 
leisure  for  mental  improvement  and  their 
geveral  enjoyments,  and  saving  them  from 
premature  decay  and  death. 

Tenth.  The  adoption  of  an  American 
monetary  system,  as  proposed  herein,  will 
harmonize  all  differences  in  regard  to  tariff 
and  federal  taxation,  reduce  and  equlize 
the  cost  of  transportation  by  land  arid 
water,  distribute  equitably  the  joint  earn 
ings  of  capital  and  labor,  secure  to  the 
producers  of  wealth  the  results  of  their 
labor  and  skill,  and  muster  out  of  service 
the  vast  army  of  idlers,  who,  under  the 
existing  system,  grow  rich  upon  the  earn 
ings  of  others,  that  every  man  and  woman 
may,  by  their  own  efforts,  secure  a  compe 
tency,  so  that  overgrown  fortunes  and  ex 
treme  poverty  will  be  seldom  found  within 
the  limits  of  our  republic. 

Eleventh.  Both  national  and  state  govern 
ments  should  establish  bureaus  of  labor 
and  industrial  statistics,  clothed  with  the 
power  of  gathering  and  publishing  the 
same. 

Twelfth,  That  the  contract  system  of  em 
ploying  labor  in  our  prisons  and  reforma 
tory  institutions  works  great  injustice  to 
our  mechanics  and  artisans,  and  should  be 
prohibited. 

Thirteenth.  The  importation  of  servile 
labor  into  the  United  States  from  China  is 
a  problem  of  the  most  serious  importance, 
and  we  recommend  legislation  looking  to 
its  suppression. 

Fourteenth.  We  believe  in  the  supremacy 


of  law  over  and  above  all  perishable  ma 
terial,  and  in  the  necessity  of  a  party  of 
united  people  that  will  rise  above  old  party 
lines  and  prejudices.  We  will  not  affiliate 
in  any  degree  with  any  of  the  old  parties, 
but,  in  all  cases  and  localities,  will  organize 
anew,  as  united  National  men — nominate 
for  office  and  official  positions  only  such 
persons  as  are  clearly  believers  in  and 
identified  with  this  our  sacred  cause ;  and, 
irrespective  of  creed,  color,  place  of  birth, 
or  past  condition  of  political  or  other  serv 
itude,  vote  only  for  men  who  entirely 
abandon  old  party  lines  and  organizations. 


1819.— National  Liberal  Platform. 

Cincinnati,  Ohio,  September  14. 

1.  Total  separation  of  Church  and  State, 
to  be  guaranteed  by  amendment  of  the 
United  States  constitution ;  including  the 
equitable  taxation  of  church  property,  se 
cularization  of  the  public  schools,  abroga 
tion  of  Sabbatarian  laws,  abolition  of  chap 
laincies,  prohibition  of  public  appropria 
tions  for  religious  purposes,  and  all  mea 
sures  necessary  to  the  same  general  end. 

2.  National  protection  for  national  citi 
zens  in  their  equal  civil,  political,  and  re 
ligious  rights,  to  be  guaranteed  by  amend 
ment  of  the   United  States    constitution 
and  afforded  through  the  United  States 
courts. 

3.  Universal  education,  the  basis  of  uni 
versal  suffrage  in  this  secular  Republic,  to 
be  guaranteed  by  amendment  of  the  United 
States  constitution,  requiring  every  state  to 
maintain  a  thoroughly  secularized  public 
school  system,   and  to  permit    no    child 
within  its  limits  to  grow  up  without  a  good 
elementary  education. 


1880.— Independent  Republican  Principles. 

I.  Independent  Republicans  adhere  to 
the  republican  principles  of  national  supre 
macy,  sound  finances,  and  civil  service  re 
form,  expressed  in  the  Republican  plat 
form  of  1876,  in  the  letter  of  acceptance  of 
President  Hayes,  and  in  his  message  of 
1879;  and  they  seek  the  realization  of 
those  principles  in  practical  laws  and  their 
efficient  administration.  This  requires, 

1.  The  continuance  on  the  statute-book 
of  laws  protecting  the  rights  of  voters  at 
national   elections.     But  national    supre 
macy  affords  no  pretext  for  interference 
with  the  local  rights  of  communities ;  and 
the  development  of  the  south  from  its  pre 
sent  defective  civilization  can  be  secured 
only  under  constitutional  methods,  such  as 
those  of  President  Hayes. 

2.  The  passage  of  laws  which  shall  de 
prive    greenbacks    of  their    legal-tender 
quality,  as  a  first  step  toward  their  ulti- 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


61 


mate  withdrawal  and  cancellation,  and 
shall  maintain  all  coins  made  legal  tender 
at  such  weight  and  fineness  as  will  enable 
them  to  be  used  without  discount  in  the 
commercial  transactions  of  the  world. 

3.  The  repeal  of  the  acts  which  limit  the 
terms  of  office  of  certain  government  offi 
cials  to  four  years ;  the  repeal  of  the 
tenure-of-office  acts,  which  limit  the  power 
of  the  executive  to  remove  for  cause ;  the 
establishment  of  a  permanent  civil  service 
commission,  or  equivalent  measures  to  as 
certain,  by  open  competition,  and  certify 
to  the  President  or  other  appointing  power 
the  fitness  of  applicants  for  nomination  or 
appointment  to  all  non-political  offices. 

II.  Independent    Republicans    believe 
that  local  issues  should  be  independent  of 
party.     The  words  Republican  and  Demo 
crat  should  have  no  weight  in  determining 
whether  a  school  or  city  shall  be  adminis 
tered  on  business  principles  by  capable 
men.     With  a  view  to  this,  legislation  is 
asked  which  shall  prescribe  for  the  voting 
for  local  and  for  state  officers  upon  sepa 
rate  ballots. 

III.  Independent    Republicans    assert 
that  a  political  party  is  a  co-operation  of 
voters  to  secure  the  practical  enactment 
into  legislation  of  political  convictions  set 
forth  as  its  platform.     Every  voter  accept 
ing   that  platform   is  a   member  of  that 
party ;  any  representative  of  that  party  op 
posing  the  principles  or  evading  the  pro 
mises  of  its  platform  forfeits  the  support 
of  its  voters.     No  voter  should  be  held  by 
the  action  or  nomination  of  any  caucus  or 
convention  of  his  party  against  his  private 
judgment.     It  is  his  duty  to  vote  against 
bad  measures  and  unfit  men,  as  the   only 
means  of  obtaining  good  ones ;   and  if  his 
party  no   longer  represents   its  professed 
principles  in  its  practical  workings,  it  is 
his  duty  to  vote  against  it. 

IV.  Independent  Republicans  seek  good 
nominations  through  participation  in  the 
primaries   and  through  the   defeat  of  bad 
nominees  ;  they  will  labor  for  the  defeat  of 
any  local   Republican  candidate,  and,  in 
co-operation  with  those  holding  like  views 
elsewhere,  for  the  defeat  of  any  general 
Republican  candidate  whom  they  do  not 
deem  fit. 


1880.    Republican  Platform. 

Chicago,  Illinois,  June  2. 

The  Republican  party,  in  national  con 
vention  assembled,  at  the  end  of  twenty 
years  since  the  Federal  government  was 
first  committed  to  its  charge,  submits  to 
the  people  of  the  United  States  its  brief 
report  of  its  administration  : 

It  suppressed  a  rebellion  which  had 
armed  nearly  a  million  of  men  to  subvert 
the  national  authority.  It  reconstructed 
the  union  of  the  states  with  freedom,  in 


stead  of  slavery,  as  its  corner-stone.  It 
transformed  four  million  of  human  beings 
from  the  likeness  of  things  to  the  rank  of 
citizens.  It  relieved  Congress  from  the  in 
famous  work  of  hunting  fugitive  slaves, 
and  charged  it  to  see  that  slavery  does  not 
exist. 

It  has  raised  the  value  of  our  paper  cur 
rency  from  thirty-eight  per  cent,  to  the 
par  of  gold.  It  has  restored,  upon  a  solid 
basis,  payment  in  coin  for  all  the  national 
obligations,  and  has  given  us  a  currency 
absolutely  good  and  equal  in  every  part  of 
our  extended  country.  It  has  lifted  the 
credit  of  the  nation  from  the  point  where 
six  per  cent,  bonds  sold  at  eighty-six  to 
that  where  four  per  cent,  bonds  are  eagerly 
sought  at  a  premium. 

Under  its  administration  railways  have 
increased  from  31,000  miles  in  1860,  to  more 
than  82,000  miles  in  1879. 

Our  foreign  trade  has  increased  from 
$700,000,000  to  $1,150,000,000  in  the  same 
time  ;  and  our  exports,  which  were  $20,- 
000,000  less  than  our  imports  in  1860,  were 
$264,000,000  more  than  our  imports  in. 
1879. 

Without  resorting  to  loans,  it  has,  since 
the  war  closed,  defrayed  the  ordinary  ex 
penses  of  government,  besides  the  accruing 
interest  on  the  public  debt,  and  disbursed, 
annually,  over  $30,000,000  for  soldiers' 
pensions.  It  has  paid  $888,000,000  of  the 
public  debt,  and,  by  refunding  the  balance 
at  lower  rates,  has  reduced  the  annual 
interest  charge  from  nearly  $151,000,000 
to  less  than  $89,000,000. 

All  the  industries  of  the  country  have 
revived,  labor  is  in  demand,  wages  have 
increased,  and  throughout  the  entire  coun 
try  there  is  evidence  of  a  coming  prosperity 
greater  than  we  have  ever  enjoyed. 

Upon  this  record,  the  Republican  party 
asks  for  the  continued  confidence  and  sup 
port  of  the  people ;  and  this  convention 
submits  for  their  approval  the  following 
statement  of  the  principles  and  purposes 
which  will  continue  to  guide  and  inspire 
its  efforts : 

1.  We  affirm  that  the  work  of  the  last 
twenty  years  has  been  such  as  to  com 
mend  itself  to  the  favor  of  the  nation,  and 
that  the  fruits  of  the  costly  victories  which 
we  have  achieved,  through  immense  diffi 
culties,  should  be  preserved ;  that  the  peace 
regained  should  be  cherished ;  that  the 
dissevered  Union,  now  happily  restored, 
should  be  perpetuated,  and  that  the  liber 
ties  secured  to  this  generation  should  be 
transmitted,  undiminished,  to  future  gene 
rations;  that  the  order  established  and  the 
credit  acquired  should  never  be  impaired ; 
that  the  pensions  promised  should  be  paid ; 
that  the  debt  so  much  reduced  should  be 
extinguished  by  the  full  payment  of  every 
dollar  thereof;  that  the  reviving  industries 
should  be  further  promoted ;  and  that  the 


62 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


commerce,    already    so  great,  should  be 
steadily  encouraged. 

2.  The  constitution  of  the  United  States 
is  a  supreme  law,  and  not  a  mere  contract ; 
out  of  confederate  states  it  made  a  sove 
reign  nation.    Some  powers  are  denied  to 
the  nation,  while  others  are  denied    to 
states ;  but  the  boundary  between  the  pow 
ers  delegated  and  those  reserved  is  to  be 
determined  by  the  national  and  not  by  the 
state  tribunals. 

3.  The  work  of  popular  education  is  one 
left  to  the  care  of  the  several  states,  but  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  national  government  to 
aid  that  work  to  the  extent  of  its  constitu 
tional  ability.    The  intelligence  of  the  na 
tion  is  but  the  aggregate  of  the  intelligence 
in  the  several  states ;  and  the  destiny  of 
the  nation  must  be  guided,  not  by  the 
genius  of  any  one  state,  but  by  the  aver 
age  genius  of  all. 

4.  The  constitution  wisely  forbids  Con 
gress  to  make  any  law  respecting  an  es 
tablishment  of  religion ;  but  it  is  idle  to 
hope  that  the  nation  can  be    protected 
against  the  influences  of  sectarianism  while 
each  state  is  exposed  to  its  domination.  We, 
therefore,  recommend  that  the  constitution 
be  so  amended  as  to  lay  the  same  prohibi 
tion  upon  the  legislature  of  each  state,  to 
forbid  the  appropriation  of  public  funds  to 
the  support  of  sectarian  schools. 

5.  We  reaffirm  the  belief,   avowed  in 
1876,  that  the  duties  levied  for  the  pur 
pose  of  revenue  should  so  discriminate  as 
to  favor  American  labor ;   that  no  further 
grant  of  the  public  domain  should  be  made 
to  any  railway  or  other  corporation ;  that 
slavery  having  perished  in  the  states,  its 
twin   barbarity — polygamy — must  die    in 
the  territories ;  that  everywhere  the  pro 
tection  accorded  to  citizens  of  American 
birth  must  be  secured  to  citizens  by  Ameri 
can  adoption.    That  we  esteem  it  the  duty 
of  Congress  to  develop  and  improve  our 
water-courses  and  harbors,  but  insist  that 
further  subsidies  to  private  persons  or  cor 
porations  must  cease.    That  the  obliga 
tions  of  the  republic  to  the  men  who  pre 
served  its  integrity    in  the  day   of  battle 
are  undiminished  by  the  lapse  of  fifteen 
years  since  their  final  victory — to  do  them 
perpetual  honor  is,  and  shall  forever  be, 
the  grateful  privilege  and  sacred  duty  of 
the  American  people. 

6.  Since  the  authority  to  regulate  immi 
gration  and  intercourse  between  the  United 
States  and  foreign  nations  rests  with  the 
Congress  of  the    United    States  and  its 
treaty-making    powers,    the     Republican 
party,  regarding  the  unrestricted  immigra 
tion  of  the  Chinese  as  an  evil  of  great 
magnitude,  invoke  the    exercise    of  that 
power  to  restrain   and  limit  that  immigra 
tion  by  the  enactment  of  such  just,  humane, 
and  reasonable  provisions  as  will  produce 
that  result. 


That  the  purity  and  patriotism  which 
characterized  the  early  career  of  Ruther 
ford  B.  Hayes  in  peace  and  war,  and  which 
guided  the  thoughts  of  our  immediate  pre 
decessors  to  select  him  for  a  presidential 
candidate,  have  continued  to  inspire  him 
in  his  career  as  chief  executive,  and  that 
history  will  accord  to  his  administration 
the  honors  which  are  due  to  an  efficient, 
just,  and  courteous  discharge  of  the  public 
business,  and  will  honor  his  interposition 
between  the  people  and  proposed  partisan 
laws. 

8.  We  charge  upon  the  Democratic  party 
the  habitual  sacrifice  of  patriotism  and 
justice  to  a  supreme  and  insatiable  lust  for 
office  and  patronage.  That  to  obtain  pos 
session  of  the  national  and  state  govern 
ments,  and  the  control  of  place  and  position, 
they  have  obstructed  all  efforts  to  promote 
the  purity  and  to  conserve  the  freedom  of 
suffrage ;  have  devised  fraudulent  certifi 
cations  and  returns ;  have  labored  to  un 
seat  lawfully-elected  members  of  Congress, 
to  secure,  at  all  hazards,  the  vote  of  a  ma 
jority  of  the  states  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  ;  have  endeavored  to  occupy,  by 
force  and  fraud  the  places  of  trust  given  to 
others  by  the  people  of  Maine,  and  rescued 
by  the  courageous  action  of  Maine's  pa 
triotic  sons ;  have,  by  methods  vicious  in 
principle  and  tyrannical  in  practice,  at 
tached  partisan  legislation  to  appropria 
tion  bills,  upon  whose  passage  the  very 
movements  of  government  depend ;  have 
crushed  the  rights  of  the  individual ;  have 
advocated  the  principle  and  sought  the 
favor  of  rebellion  against  the  nation,  and 
have  endeavored  to  obliterate  the  sacred 
memories  of  the  war,  and  to  overcome  its 
inestimably  valuable  results  of  nationality, 
personal  freedom,  and  individual  equality. 
Equal,  steady,  and  complete  enforcement 
of  the  laws,  and  protection  of  all  our  citizens 
in  the  enjoyment  of  all  privileges  and  im 
munities  guaranteed  by  the  constitution, 
are  the  first  duties  of  the  nation.  The  dan 
ger  of  a  solid  south  can  only  be  averted  by 
the  faithful  performance  of  every  promise 
which  the  nation  made  to  the  citizen.  The 
execution  of  the  laws,  and  the  punishment 
of  all  those  who  violate  them,  are  the  only 
safe  methods  by  which  an  enduring  peace 
can  be  secured,  and  genuine  prosperity  es 
tablished  throughout  the  south.  What 
ever  promises  the  nation  makes,  the  na 
tion  must  perform ;  and  the  nation  can  not 
with  safety  relegate  this  duty  to  the  states. 
The  solid  south  must  be  divided  by  the 
peaceful  agencies  of  the  ballot,  and  all 
opinions  must  there  find  free  expression ; 
and  to  this  end  honest  voters  must  be  pro 
tected  against  terrorism,  violence,  or  fraud. 
And  we  affirm  it  to  be  the  duty  and  the 
purpose  of  the  Republican  party  to  use  all 
legitimate  means  to  restore  all  the  states  of 
this  Union  to  the  most  perfect  harmony 


POLITICAL  PLATFORMS. 


63 


which  may  be  practicable ;  and  we  submit  to 
the  practical,  sensible  people  of  the  United 
States  to  say  whether  it  would  not  be  dan- 
gerou*  t)  the  dearest  interests  of  our  coun 
try,  at  this  time  to  surrender  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  national  government  to  a 
party  which  seeks  to  overthrow  the  exist 
ing  policy,  under  which  we  are  so  prosper 
ous,  and  thus  bring  distrust  and  confusion 
where  there  is  now  order,  confidence,  and 
hope. 

9.  The  Republican  party,  adhering  to  a 
principle  affirmed  by  its  last  national  con 
vention,  of  respect  for  the  constitutional 
rule  covering  appointments  to  office,  adopts 
the  declaration  of  President  Hayes,  that 
the  ref  >rm  of  the  civil  service  should  be- 
thorough,  radical,  and  complete.  To  this 
end  it  demands  the  co-operation  of  the 
legislative  with  the  executive  department 
of  the  government,  and  that  Congress  shall 
so  legislate  that  fitness,  ascertained  by 
proper  practical  tests,  shall  admit  to  the 
public  service ;  and  that  the  power  of  re 
moval  for  cause,  with  due  responsibility 
for  the  good  conduct  of  subordinates,  shall 
accompany  the  power  of  appointment. 


1880.— Xatloiial  (Greenback;)  Platform, 

Chicago,  Illinois.  June  9. 

The  civil  government  should  guarantee 
the  divine  right  of  every  laborer  to  the  re 
sults  of  his  toil,  thus  enabling  the  pro 
ducers  of  wealth  to  provide  themselves 
with  the  means  for  physical  comfort,  and 
facilities  for  mental,  social,  and  moral  cul 
ture  ;  and  we  condemn,  as  unworthy  of  our 
civilization,  the  barbarism  which  imposes 
upon  wealth-producers  a  state  of  drudgery 
as  the  price  of  a  bare  animal  existence. 
Notwithstanding  the  enormous  increase  of 
productive  power  by  the  universal  intro 
duction  of  labor-saving  machinery  and  the 
discovery  of  new  agents  for  the  increase  of 
wealth,  the  task  of  the  laborer  is  scarcely 
lightened,  the  hours  of  toil  are  but  little 
shortened,  and  few  producers  are  lifted 
from  poverty  into  comfort  and  pecuniary 
independence.  The  associated  monopolies, 
the  international  syndicates,  and  other  in 
come  classes  demand  dear  money,  cheap 
labor,  and  a  strong  government,  and,  hence, 
a  weak  people.  Corporate  control  of  the 
volume  of  money  has  been  the  means 
of  dividing  society  into  hostile  classes,  of 
an  unjust  distribution  of  the  products  of 
labor,  and  of  building  up  monopolies  of 
associated  capital,  endowed  with  power  to 
confiscate  private  property.  It  has  kept 
money  scarce ;  and  the  scarcity  of  money 
enforces  debt-trade,  and  public  and  cor 
porate  loans ;  debt  engenders  usury,  and 
usury  ends  in  the  bankruptcy  of  the  bor 
rower.  Other  results  are — deranged  mar 
kets,  uncertainty  in  manufacturing  enter 


prises  and  agriculture,  precarious  and 
intermittent  employment  for  the  laborer, 
industrial  war,  increasing  pauperism  and 
crime,  and  the  consequent  intimidation 
and  disfranchisement  of  the  producer,  and 
a  rapid  declension  into  corporate  feudalism. 
Therefore,  we  declare — 

First.  That  the  right  to  make  and  issue 
money  is  a  sovereign  power,  to  be  main 
tained  by  the  people  for  their  common 
benefit.  The  delegation  of  this  right  to 
corporations  is  a  surrender  of  the  central 
attribute  of  sovereignty,  void  of  constitu 
tional  sanction,  and  conferring  upon  a  sub 
ordinate  and  irresponsible  power  an  abso 
lute  dominion  over  industry  and  commerce. 
All  money,  whether  metallic  or  paper, 
should  be  issued,  and  its  volume  controlled, 
by  the  government,  and  not  by  or  through 
banking  corporations  ;  and,  when  so  issued, 
should  be  a  full  legal  tender  for  all  debts, 
public  and  private. 

Second.  That  the  bonds  of  the  United 
States  should  not  be  refunded,  but  paid  as 
rapidly  as  practicable,  according  to  con 
tract.  To  enable  the  government  to  meet 
these  obligations,  legal-tender  currency 
should  be  substituted  for  the  notes  of  the 
national  banks,  the  national  banking  sys 
tem  abolished,  and  the  unlimited  coinage 
of  silver,  as  well  as  gold,  established  by 
law. 

Third.  That  labor  should  be  so  pro 
tected  by  national  and  state  authority  as  to 
equalize  its  burdens  and  insure  a  just  dis 
tribution  of  its  results.  The  eight  hour 
law  of  Congress  should  be  enforced,  the 
sanitary  condition  of  industrial  establish 
ments  placed  under  the  rigid  control,  the 
competition  of  contract  convict  labor  abol 
ished,  a  bureau  of  labor  statistics  estab 
lished,  factories,  mines,  and  workshops  in 
spected,  the  employment  of  children  under 
fourteen  years  of  age  forbidden,  and  wages 
paid  in  cash. 

Fourth.  Slavery  being  simply  cheap 
labor,  and  cheap  labor  being  simply  sla 
very,  the  importation  and  presence  of 
Chinese  serfs  necessarily  tends  to  brutalize 
and  degrade  American  labor;  therefore, 
immediate  steps  should  be  taken  to  ab 
rogate  the  Burlingame  treaty. 

Fifth.  Railroad  land  grants  forfeited  by 
reason  of  non-fulfillment  of  contract  should 
be  immediately  reclaimed  by  the  govern 
ment,  and,  henceforth,  the  public  domain 
reserved  exclusively  as  homes  for  actual 
settlers. 

Sixth.  It  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  reg 
ulate  inter-state  commerce.  All  lines  of 
communication  and  transportation  should 
be  brought  under  such  legislative  control 
as  shall  secure  moderate,  fair,  and  uniform 
rates  for  passenger  and  freight  traffic. 

Seventh.  We  denounce  as  destructive  to 
property  and  dangerous  to  liberty  the  ac 
tion  of  the  old  parties  in  fostering  and  sua* 


64 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


taming  gigantic  land,  railroad,  and  money  j  ing  platform  of  national  reforms  and  mea- 

corporations,  and  monopolies  invested  with  sures : 

and  exercising  powers  belonging  to  the  In  the  examination  and  discussion  of  the 

government,  and  yet  not  responsible  to  it  temperance  question,  it  has  been  proven, 

for  the  manner  of  their  exercise.                   |  and  is  an  accepted  truth,  that  alcoholic 

Eiyhth.  That  the  constitution,  in  giving  drinks,  whether  fermented,  brewed,  or  dis- 

Congress  the  power  to  borrow  money,  to  tilled,  are  poisonous  to  the  healthy  human 

declare  war,  to  raise  and  support  armies,  body,  the  drinking  of  which  is  not  only 

to  provide  and  maintain  a  navy,  never  in-  needless  but  hurtful,  necessarily  tending  to 

tended   that  the  men  who    loaned  their  form  intemperate  habits,  increasing  greatly 

money  for  an  interest-consideration  should  the   number,  severity,  and  fatal  termina- 

be  preferred  to  the  soldiers  and  sailors  who  tion  of  diseases,  \veakening  and  deranging 

periled  their  lives  and  shed  their  blood  on  the  intellect,  polluting  the  affections,  hard 


land  and  sea  in  defense  of  their  country ; 
and  we  condemn  the  cruel  class  legislation 
of  the  Republican  party,  which,  while  pro 
fessing  great  gratitude  to  the  soldier,  has 
most  unjustly  discriminated  against  him 
and  in  favor  of  the  bondholder. 

Ninth.  All  property  should  bear  its  just 
proportion  of  taxation,  and  we  demand  a 


graduated  income  tax. 

Tenth.  We  denounce  as  dangerous 


the 


efforts  everywhere  manifest  to  restrict  the 
right  of  suifrage. 

Eleventh.  We  are  opposed  to  an  increase 
of  the  standing  army  in  time  of  peace,  and 
the  insidious  scheme  to  establish  an  enor 
mous  military  power  under  the  guise  of 
militia  laws. 

Twelfth.  We  demand  absolute  democra 
tic  rules  for  the  government  of  Congress, 
placing  all  representatives  of  the  people 
upon  an  equal  footing,  and  taking  away 
from  committees  a  veto  power  greater  than 
that  of  the  President. 

Thirteenth.  We  demand  a  government  of 
the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  peo 


ening  the  heart  and  corrupting  the  morals, 
depriving  many  of  reason  and  still  more  of 
its  healthful  exercise,  and  annually  bring 
ing  down  large  numbers  to  untimely  graves, 
producing,  in  the  children  of  many  who 
drink,  a  predisposition  to  intemperance, 
insanity,  and  various  bodily  and  mental 
diseases,  causing  diminution  of  strength, 
feebleness  of  vision,  fickleness  of  purpose, 
and  premature  old  age,  and  inducing,  in 
all  future  generations,  deterioration  of 
moral  and  physical  character.  Alcoholic 
drinks  are  thus  the  implacable  foe  of  man 
as  an  individual. 

First.  The  legalized  importation,  manu 
facture,  and  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks 
ministers  to  their  use,  and  teaches  the  erro 
neous  and  destructive  sentiment  that  such 
use  is  right,  thus  tending  to  produce  and 
perpetuate  the  above  mentioned  evils. 

Second.  To  the  home  it  is  an  enemy — 
proving  itself  to  be  a  disturber  and  de 
stroyer  of  its  peace,  prosperity,  and  happi 
ness  ;  taking  from  it  the  earnings  of  th< 
husband;  depriving  the  dependent 


e 

wife 

pie,  instead  of  a  government  of  the  bond-  j  and  children  of  essential  food,  clothing, 
holder,  by  the  bondholder,  and  for  the  and  education ;  bringing  into  it  profanity, 
bondholder ;  and  we  denounce  every  at-  abuse,  and  violence ;  setting  at  naught  the 
tempt  to  stir  up  sectional  strife  as  an  effort  to  '  vows  of  the  marriage  altar ;  breaking  up 
conceal  monstrous  crimes  against  the  people,  j  the  family  and  sundering  the  children  from 
Fourteenth.  In  the  furtherance  of  these  I  the  parents,  and  thus  destroying  one  of 

the  most  beneficent  institutions  of  our  Cre 
ator,  and  removing  the  sure  foundation  of 


ends  we  ask  the  co-operation  of  all  fair- 
minded  people.    We  have  no  quarrel  with 


individuals,  wage  no  war  on  classes,  but 
only  against  vicious  institutions.  We  are 
not  content  to  endure  further  discipline 
from  our  present  actual  rulers,  who,  having 
dominion  over  money,  over  transportation, 
over  land  and  labor,  over  the  press  and  the 
machinery  of  government,  wield  unwar 
rantable  power  over  our  institutions  and 
over  life  and  property. 


1880.— Prohibition  Reform  Platform, 

Cleveland,  Ohio,  June  17. 

The  prohibition  Reform  party  of  the 
United  States,  organized,  in  the  name  of 
the  people,  to  revive,  enforce,  and  perpetu 
ate  in  the  government  the  doctrines  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  submit,  for 
the  suffrage  of  all  good  citizens,  the  follow- 


good  government,  national  prosperity,  and 
welfare. 

Third.  To  the  community  it  is  equally 
an  enemy — producing  vice,  demoralization, 
and  wickedness ;  its  places  of  sale  being 
resorts  of  gaming,  lewdness,  and  debauch 
ery,  and  the  hiding-place  of  those  who 
prey  upon  society;  counteracting  the 
efficacy  of  religious  effort,  and  of  all  means 
of  intellectual  elevation,  moral  purity, 
social  happiness,  and  the  eternal  good  of 
mankind,  without  rendering  any  counter 
acting  or  compensating  benefits ;  being  in 
its  influence  and  effect  evil  and  only  evil, 
and  that  continually. 

Fourth.  To  the  state  it  is  equally  an 
enemy— legislative  inquiries,  judicial  inves 
tigations,  and  official  reports  of  all  penal, 
reformatory,  and  dependent  institutions 
showing  that  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
such  beverages  is  the  promoting  cause  of 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


65 


intemperance,  crime,  and  pauperism,  and  of 
demands  upon  public  and  private  charity, 
imposing  the  larger  part  of  taxation,  para 
lyzing  thrift,  industry,  manufactures,  and 
commercial  life,  which,  but  for  it,  would 
be  unnecessary  ;  disturbing  the  peace  of 
streets  and  highways ;  filling  prisons  and 
poor-houses ;  corrupting  politics,  legisla 
tion,  and  the  execution  of  the  laws ;  short 
ening  lives  ;  diminishing  health,  industry, 
and  productive  power  in  manufactures  and 
art;  and  is  manifestly  unjust  as  well  as 
injurious  to  the  community  upon  which  it 
is  imposed,  and  is  contrary  to  all  just 
views  of  civil  liberty,  as  well  as  a  violation 
of  the  fundamental  maxim  of  our  common 
law,  to  use  your  own  property  or  liberty 
so  as  not  to  injure  others. 

Fifth.  It  is  neither  right  nor  politic  for 
the  state  to  afford  legal  protection  to  any 
traffic  or  any  system  which  tends  to  waste 
the  resources,  to  corrupt  the  social  habits, 
and  to  destroy  the  health  and  lives  of  the 
people ;  that  the  importation,  manufacture, 
and  sale  of  intoxicating  beverages  is 
proven  to  be  inimical  to  the  true  interests 
of  the  individual  home,  community,  and 
state,  and  destructive  to  the  order  and  wel 
fare  of  society,  and  ought,  therefore,  to  be 
classed  among  crimes  to  be  prohibited. 

Sixth.  In  this  time  of  profound  peace  at 
home  and  abroad,  the  entire  separation  of 
the  general  government  from  the  drink- 
traffic,  and  its  prohibition  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  territories,  and  in  all  places 
and  ways  over  which,  under  the  constitu 
tion,  Congress  has  control  and  power,  is  a 
political  issue  of  the  first  importance  to  the 
peace  and  prosperity  of  the  nation.  There 
can  be  no  stable  peace  and  protection  to 
personal  liberty,  life,  or  property,  until 
secured  by  national  or  state  constitutional 
provisions,  enforced  by  adequate  laws. 

Seventh.  All  legitimate  industries  require 
deliverance  from  the  taxation  and  loss 
which  the  liquor  traffic  imposes  upon  them ; 
and  financial  or  other  legislation  could  not 
accomplish  so  much  to  increase  production 
and  cause  a  demand  for  labor,  and,  as  a 
result,  for  the  comforts  of  living,  as  the 
suppression  of  thh  traffic  would  bring  to 
thousands  of  homes  as  one  of  its  blessings. 

Eighth.  The  administration  of  the  gov 
ernment  and  the  execution  of  the  laws  are 
through  political  parties ;  and  we  arraign 
the  Republican  party,  which  has  been  in 
continuous  power  in  the  nation  for  twenty 
years,  as  being  false  to  duty,  as  falne  to 
loudly-proclaimed  principles  of  equal  jus 
tice  to  all  and  special  favors  to  none,  and 
of  protection  to  the  weak  and  dependent, 
insensible  to  the  mischief  which  the  trade 
in  liquor  has  constantly  inflicted  upon  in 
dustry,  trade,  commerce,  and  the  social 
happiness  of  the  people ;  that  5,652  dis 
tilleries,  3,830  breweries,  and  175,266  places 
for  the  sale  of  these  poisonous  liquors,  in 


volving  an  annual  waste  to  the  nation  of 
one  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
and  the  sacrifice  of  one  hundred  thousand 
lives,  have,  under  its  legislation,  grown  up 
and  been  fostered  as  a  legitimate  source  of 
revenue ;  that  during  its  history,  six  terri 
tories  have  been  organized  and  five  states 
been  admitted  into  the  Union,  with  consti 
tutions  provided  and  approved  by  Con 
gress,  but  the  prohibition  of  this  debasing 
and  destructive  traffic  has  not  been  pro 
vided,  nor  even  the  people  given,  at  the 
time  of  admission,  power  to  forbid  it  in 
any  one  of  them.  Its  history  furthei 
shows,  that  not  in  a  single  instance  has  an 
original  prohibitory  law  been  passed  by 
any  state  that  was  controlled  by  it,  while 
in  four  states,  so  governed,  the  laws  found 
on  its  advent  to  power  have  been  repealed. 
At  its  national  convention  in  1872,  it  de 
clared,  as  part  of  its  party  faith,  that  "  it 
disapproves  of  the  resort  to  unconstitu 
tional  laws  for  the  purpose  of  removing 
evils,  by  interference  with  rights  not  sur 
rendered  by  the  people  to  either  the  state 
or  national  government,"  which,  the  au 
thor  of  this  plank  says,  was  adopted  by 
the  platform  committee  with  the  full  and 
implicit  understanding  that  its  purpose 
was  the  discountenancing  of  all  so-called 
temperance,  prohibitory,  and  Sunday  laws. 

Ninth.  We  arraign,  also,  the  Democra 
tic  party  as  unfaithful  and  unworthy  of 
reliance  on  this  question ;  for,  although 
not  clothed  with  power,  but  occupying  the 
relation  of  an  opposition  party  during 
twenty  years  past,  strong  in  numbers  and 
organization,  it  has  allied  itself  with 
liquor-traffickers,  and  become,  in  all  tli3 
states  of  the  Union,  their  special  political 
defenders,  and  in  its  national  convention 
in  1876,  as  an  article  of  its  political  faith, 
declared  against  prohibition  and  just  laws 
in  restraint  of  the  trade  in  drink,  by  say 
ing  it  was  opposed  to  what  it  was  pleased 
to  call  "all  sumptuary  laws."  The  Na 
tional  party  has  been  dumb  on  this  que3- 
tion. 

Tenth.  Drink-traffickers,  having  the  his 
tory  and  experience  of  all  ages,  climes,  and 
conditions  of  men,  declaring  their  business 
destructive  of  all  good — finding  no  support 
in  the  Bible,  morals,  or  reason — appeal  to 
misapplied  law  for  their  justification,  and 
intrench  themselves  behind  the  evil  ele 
ments  of  political  party  for  defense,  party 
tactics  and  party  inertia  become  battling 
forces,  protecting  this  evil. 

Eleventh.  In  view  of  the  foregoing  facts 
and  history,  we  cordially  invite  all  voters, 
without  regard  to  former  party  affiliations, 
to  unite  with  us  in  the  use  of  the  ballot  for 
the  abolition  of  the  drinking  system,  under 
the  authority  of  our  national  and  state 
governments.  We  also  demand,  as  a  right, 
that  women,  having  the  privileges  of  citi 
zens  in  other  respects,  be  clothed  with  the 


66 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


ballot  for  their  protection,  and  as  a  rightful 
means  for  the  proper  settlement  of  the 
liquor  question. 

Twelfth.  To  remove  the  apprehension  of 
some  who  allege  that  a  loss  of  public  rev 
enue  would  follow  the  suppression  of  the 
direct  trade,  we  confidently  point  to  the 
experience  of  governments  abroad  and  at 
home,  which  siiows  that  thrift  and  revenue 
from  the  consumption  of  legitimate  manu 
factures  and  commerce  have  so  largely  fol 
lowed  the  abolition  of  drink  as  to  fully 
supply  all  loss  of  liquor  taxes. 

Thirteenth.  We  recognize  the  good  provi 
dence  of  Almighty  God,  who  has  preserved 
and  prospered  us  as  a  nation  ;  and,  asking 
ibr  His  Spirit  to  guide  us  to  ultimate  suc 
cess,  we  all  look  for  it,  relying  upon  His 
omnipotent  arm. 


1880. — Democratic  Platform, 

Cincinnati,  Ohio,  June  22. 

The  Democrats  of  the  United  States,  in 
convention  assembled,  declare : 

First.  We  pledge  ourselves  anew  to  the 
constitutional  doctrines  and  traditions  of 
the  Democratic  party,  as  illustrated  by  the 
teachings  and  examples  of  a  long  line  of 
Democratic  statesmen  and  patriots,  and 
embodied  in  the  platform  of  the  last  na 
tional  convention  of  the  party. 

Second.  Opposition  to  centralization, 
and  to  that  dangerous  spirit  of  encroach 
ment  which  tends  to  consolidate  the  powers 
of  all  the  departments  in  one,  and  thus  to 
create,  whatever  the  form  of  government, 
a  real  despotism ;  no  sumptuary  laws  ; 
separation  of  the  church  and  state  for  the 
good  of  each;  common  schools  fostered 
and  protected. 

Third.  Home  rule  ;  honest  money,  con 
sisting  of  gold  and  silver,  and  paper,  con 
vertible  into  coin  on  demand ;  the  strict 
maintenance  of  the  public  faith,  state  and 
national ;  and  a  tariff  for  revenue  only ; 
the  subordination  of  the  military  to  the 
civil  power ;  and  a  general  and  thorough 
reform  of  the  civil  service. 

Fourth.  The  right  to  a  free  ballot  is  a 
right  preservative  of  all  rights  ;  and  must 
and  shall  be  maintained  in  every  part  of 
the  United  States. 

Fifth.  The  existing  administration  is  the 
representative  of  conspiracy  only  ;  and  its 
claim  of  right  to  surround  the  ballot-boxes 
with  troops  and  deputy  marshals,  to  in 
timidate  and  obstruct  the  elections,  and 
the  unprecedented  use  of  the  veto  to  main 
tain  its  corrupt  and  despotic  power,  insults 
the  people  and  imperils  their  institutions. 
We  execrate  the  course  of  this  administra 
tion  in  making  places  in  the  civil  service  a 
reward  for  political  crime  ;  and  demand  a 
reform,  by  statute,  which  shall  make  it  for 


ever  impossible  for  a  defeated  candidate  to 
bribe  his  way  to  the  seat  of  a  usurper  by 
billeting  villains  upon  the  people. 

Sixth.  The  great  fraud  of  1876-7,  by 
which,  upon  a  false  count  of  the  electoral 
votes  of  two  states,  the  candidate  defeated 
at  the  polls  was  declared  to  be  President, 
and,  for  the  first  time  in  American  history, 
the  will  of  the  people  was  set  aside  under 
a  threat  of  military  violence,  struck  a 
deadly  blow  at  our  system  of  representa 
tive  government.  The  Democratic  party, 
to  preserve  the  country  from  the  horrors  of 
a  civil  war,  submitted  for  the  time,  in  the 
firm  and  patriotic  belief  that  the  people 
would  punish  the  crime  in  1880.  This  is 
sue  precedes  and  dwarfs  every  other.  It 
imposes  a  more  sacred  duty  upon  the  people 
of  the  Union  than  ever  addressed  the  con 
sciences  of  a  nation  of  freemen. 

Seventh.  The  resolution  of  Samuel  J. 
Tilden,  not  again  to  be  a  candidate  for  the 
exalted  place  to  which  he  was  elected  by 
a  majority  of  his  countrymen,  and  from 
which  he  was  excluded  by  the  leaders  of 
the  Republican  party,  is  received  by  the 
Democrats  of  the  United  States  with  deep 
sensibility  ;  and  they  declare  their  confi 
dence  in  his  wisdom,  patriotism,  and  in 
tegrity  unshaken  by  the  assaults  of  the 
common  enemy ;  and  they  further  assure 
him  that  he  is  followed  into  the  retirement 
he  has  chosen  for  himself  by  the  sympathy 
and  respect  of  his  fellow-citizens,  who  re 
gard  him  as  one  who,  by  elevating  the 
standard  of  the  public  morality,  and  adorn 
ing  and  purifying  the  public  service,  merits 
the  lasting  gratitude  of  his  country  and 
his  party. 

Eighth.  Free  ships,  and  a  living  chance 
for  American  commerce  upon  the  seas ; 
and  on  the  land,  no  discrimination  in  favor 
of  transportation  lines,  corporations,  or 
monopolies. 

Ninth.  Amendments  of  the  Burlingame 
treaty  ;  no  more  Chinese  immigration,  ex 
cept  for  travel,  education,  and  foreign  com 
merce,  and,  therein,  carefully  guarded. 

Tenth.  Public  money  and  public  credit 
for  public  purposes  solely,  and  public  land 
for  actual  settlers. 

Eleventh.  The  Democratic  party  is  the 
friend  of  labor  and  the  laboring  man,  and 
pledges  itself  to  protect  him  alike  against 
the  cormorants  and  the  commune. 

Twelfth.  We  congratulate  the  country 
upon  the  honesty  and  thrift  of  a  Demo 
cratic  Congress,  which  has  reduced  the 
public  expenditure  $10,000,000  a  year; 
upon  the  continuation  of  prosperity  at 
home  and  the  national  honor  abroad ;  and, 
above  all,  upon  the  promise  of  such  a 
change  in  the  administration  of  the  govern 
ment  as  shall  insure  a  genuine  and  lasting 
reform  in  every  department  of  the  public 
service. 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


67 


Virginia  Republican. 

[Adopted  August  11.] 

Whereas,  It  is  proper  that  when  the 
people  assemble  in  convention  they  should 
avow  distinctly  the  principles  of  govern 
ment  on  which  they  stand ;  now,  therefore, 
be  it, 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  Republicans  of 
Virginia,  hereby  make  a  declaration  of  our 
allegiance  and  adhesion  to  the  principles 
of  the  Republican  party  of  the  country, 
and  our  determination  to  stand  squarely  by 
the  organization  of  the  Republican  party 
of  Virginia,  always  defending  it  against 
the  assaults  of  all  persons  or  parties  what 
soever. 

Second.  That  amongst  the  principles  of 
the  Republican  party  none  is  of  more  vital 
importance  to  the  welfare  and  interest  of 
the  country  in  all  its  parts  than  that  which 
pertains  to  the  sanctity  of  Government 
contracts.  It  therefore  becomes  the  special 
duty  and  province  of  the  Republican  party 
of  Virginia  to  guard  and  protect  the  credit 
of  our  time-honored  State,  which  has  been 
besmirched  with  repudiation,  or  received 
with  distrust,  by  the  gross  mismanagement 
of  various  factions  of  the  Democratic 
party,  which  have  controlled  the  legisla 
tion  of  the  State. 

Third.  That  the  Republican  party  of 
Virginia  hereby  pledges  itself  to  redeem 
the  State  from  the  discredit  that  now  hangs 
over  her  in  regard  to  her  just  obligations 
for  moneys  loaned  her  for  constructing  her 
internal  improvements  and  charitable  in 
stitutions,  which,  permeating  every  quarter 
of  the  State,  bring  benefits  of  far  greater 
value  than  their  cost  to  our  whole  people, 
and  we  in  the  most  solemn  form  pledge  the 
Republican  party  of  the  State  to  the  full 
payment  of  the  whole  debt  of  the  State,  less 
the  one-third  set  aside  as  justly  falling  on 
West  Virginia  ;  that  the  industries  of  the 
country  should  be  fostered  through  pro 
tective  laws,  so  as  to  develop  our  own  re 
sources,  employ  our  own  labor,  create  a 
home  market,  enhance  values,  and  promote 
the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  people. 

Fourth.  That  the  public  school  system 
of  Virginia  is  the  creature  of  the  Repub 
lican  party,  and  we  demand  that  every 
dollar  the  Constitution  dedicates  to  it  shall 
be  sacredly  applied  thereto  as  a  means  of 
educating  the  children  of  the  State,  with 
out  regard  to  condition  or  race. 

Fifth.  That  the  elective  franchise  as  an 
equal  right  should  be  based  on  manhood 
qualification,  and  that  we  favor  the  repeal 
of  the  requirements  of  the  prepayment  of 
the  capitation  tax  as  a  prerequisite  to  the 
franchise  as  opposed  to  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  and  in  violation  of  the 
condition  whereby  the  State  was  read 
mitted  as  a  member  of  our  Constitutional 
Union,  as  well  as  against  the  spirit  of  the 


Constitution  ;  but  demand  the  imposition 
of  the  capitation  tax  as  a  source  of  revenue 
for  the  support  of  the  public  schools  with 
out  its  disfranchising  effects. 

Sixth.  That  we  favor  the  repeal  of  the 
disqualification  for  the  elective  franchise 
by  a  conviction  of  petty  larceny,  and  of 
the  infamous  laws  which  place  it  in  the 
power  of  a  single  justice  of  the  peace  (oft- 
times  being  more  corrupt  than  the  criminal 
before  him)  to  disfranchise  his  fellow-man. 

Seventh.  Finally,  that  we  urge  the  repeal 
of  the  barbarous  law  permitting  the  im 
position  of  stripes  as  degrading  and  inhu 
man,  contrary  to  the  genius  of  a  true  and 
enlightened  people,  and  a  relic  of  bar 
barism. 

[The  Convention  considered  it  inexpe 
dient  to  nominate  candidates  for  State 
officers.] 


Virginia  IU  adjuster. 

[Adopted  Jnne  2.] 

First.  We  recognize  our  obligation  to 
support  the  institution  for  the  deaf,  dumb 
and  blind,  the  lunatic  asylum,  the  public 
free  schools  and  the  Government  out  of 
the  revenues  of  the  State ;  and  we  depre 
cate  and  denounce  that  policy  of  ring  rule 
and  subordinated  sovereignty  which  for 
years  borrowed  money  out  of  banks  at  high 
rates  of  interest  .for  the  discharge  of  these 
paramount  trusts,  while  our  revenues  were 
left  the  prev  of  commercial  exchanges, 
available  to  ths  State  only  at  the  option 
of  speculators  and  syndicates. 

/Second.  We  reassert  our  purpose  to  settle 
and  adjust  our  State  obligations  on  the 
principles  of  the  "  Bill  to  re-establish  pub 
lic  credit,"  known  as  the  "  Riddleberger 
bill,"  passed  by  the  last  General  Assembly 
and  vetoed  by  the  Governor.  We  main 
tain  that  this  measure  recognizes  the  just 
debt  of  Virginia,  in  this,  that  it  assumes 
two-thirds  of  all  the  money  Virginia  bor 
rowed,  and  sets  aside  the  other  third  to 
West  Virginia  to  be  dealt  with  by  her  in 
tier  own  way  and  at  her  own  pleasure;  that 
it  places  those  of  her  creditors  who  have 
received  but  6  per  cent,  instalments  of  in 
terest  in  nine  years  upon  an  exact  equality 
with  those  who  by  corrupt  agencies  were 
enabled  to  absorb  and  monopolize  our 
means  of  payment ;  that  it  agrees  to  pay 
such  rate  of  interest  on  our  securities  as 
can  with  certainty  be  met  out  of  the  rev 
enues  of  the  State,  and  that  it  contains  all 
the  essential  features  of  finality. 

Third.  We  reassert  our  adherence  to  the 
Constitutional  requirements  for  the  "  equal 
and  uniform"  taxation  of  property,  ex 
empting  none  except  that  specified  by  the 
Constitution  and  used  exclusively  for  "  re 
ligious,  charitable  and  educational  pur 
poses." 


68 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


Fourth.  We  reassert  that  the  paramount 
obligation  of  the  various  works  of  internal 
improvement  is  to  the  people  of  the  State, 
by  whose  authority  they  were  created,  by 
whose  money  they  were  constructed  and 
by  whose  grace  they  live  ;  and  it  is  enjoin 
ed  upon  our  representative  and  executive 
officers  to  enforce  the  discharge  of  that 
duty ;  to  insure  to  our  people  such  rates, 
facilities  and  connections  as  will  protect 
every  industry  and  interest  against  dis 
crimination,  tend  to  the  development  of 
our  agricultural  and  mineral  resources,  en 
courage  the  investment  of  active  capital  in 
manufactures  and  the  profitable  employ 
ment  of  labor  in  industrial  enterprises, 
grasp  for  our  city  and  our  whole  State  those 
advantages  to  which  by  their  geographical 
position  they  are  entitled,  and  fulfil  all  the 
great  public  ends  for  which  they  were  de- 
s'gned. 

Fifth.  The  Readjusters  hold  the  right  to 
a  free  ballot  to  be  the  right  preservative  of 
all  rights,  and  that  it  should  be  maintained 
in  every  State  in  the  Union.  We  believe 
the  capitation  tax  restriction  upon  the  suf 
frage  in  Virginia  to  be  in  conflict  with  the 
XlVth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  We  believe  that  it  is  a 
violation  of  that  condition  of  reconstruc 
tion  wherein  the  pledge  was  given  not  so 
to  amend  our  State  Constitution  as  to  de 
prive  any  citizen  or  class  of  citizens  of  a 
right  to  vote,  except  as  punishment  for 
such  crimes  as  are  felony  at  common  law. 
We  believe  such  a  prerequisite  to  voting  to 
be  contrary  to  the  genius  of  our  institu 
tions,  the  very  foundation  of  which  is  re 
presentation  as  antecedent  to  taxation. 
We  know  that  it  has  been  a  failure  as  a 
measure  for  the  collection  of  revenue,  the 
pretended  reason  for  its  invention  in  1876, 
and  we  know  the  base,  demoralizing  and 
dangerous  uses  to  which  it  has  been  pros 
tituted.  We  know  it  contributes  to  the 
increase  of  monopoly  power,  and  to  cor 
rupting  the  voter.  For  these  and  other 
reasons  we  adhere  to  the  purpose  hitherto 
expressed  to  provide  more  effectual  legisla 
tion  for  the  collection  of  this  tax,  dedicated 
by  the  Constitution  to  the  public  free 
schools,  and  to  abolish  it  as  a  qualification 
for  and  restriction  upon  suffrage. 

Sixth.  The  Readjusters  congratulate  the 
whole  people  of  Virginia  on  the  progress 
of  the  last  few  years  in  developing  mineral 
resources  and  promoting  manufacturing 
enterprises  in  the  State,  and  they  declare 
their  purpose  to  aid  these  great  and  grow 
ing  industries  by  all  proper  and  essential 
legislation,  State  and  Federal.  To  this  end 
they  will  continue  their  efforts  in  behalf 
of  more  cordial  and  fraternal  relations  be 
tween  the  sections  and  States,  and  espe 
cially  for  that  concord  and  harmony  which 
will  make  the  country  to  know  how  earn 
estly  and  sincerely  Virginia  invites  all  men 


into  her  borders  as  visitors  or  to  become 
citizens  without  fear  of  social  or  political 
ostracism ;  that  every  man,  from  whatever 
section  of  country,  shall  enjoy  the  fullest 
freedom  of  thought,  speech,  politics  and 
religion,  and  that  the  State  which  first 
formulated  these  principles  as  fundamental 
in  free  government  is  yet  the  citadel  for 
their  exercise  and  protection. 


Virginia  Democratic. 

[Adopted  August  4.] 

The  Conservative  Democratic  party  of 
Virginia — Democratic  in  its  Federal  rela 
tions  and  Conservative  in  its  State  policy — 
assembled  in  convention,  in  view  of  the 
present  condition  of  the  Union  and  of  this 
Commonwealth,  for  the  clear  and  distinct 
assertion  of  its  political  principles,  doth 
declare  that  we  adopt  the  following  articles 
of  political  faith : 

First.  Equality  of  right  and  exact  jus 
tice  to  all  men,  special  privileges  to  none ; 
freedom  of  religion,  freedom  of  the  press, 
and  freedom  of  the  person  under  the  pro 
tection  of  the  habeas  corpus ;  of  trial  by 
juries  impartially  selected,  and  of  a  pure, 
upright  and  non-partisan  judiciary  ;  elec 
tions  by  the  people,  free  from  force  or  fraud 
of  citizens  or  of  the  military  and  civil  of 
ficers  of  Government ;  and  the  selection 
for  public  offices  of  those  who  are  honest 
and  best  fitted  to  fill  them  ;  the  support  of 
the  State  governments  in  all  their  rights  as 
the  most  competent  administrations  of  our 
domestic  concerns  and  the  surest  bulwarks 
against  anti-republican  tendencies ;  and 
the  preservation  of  the  General  Govern 
ment  in  its  whole  constitutional  vigor  as 
the  best  sheet-anchor  of  our  peace  at  home 
and  our  safety  abroad. 

Second.  That  the  maintenance  of  the 
public  credit  of  Virginia  is  an  essential 
means  to  the  promotion  of  her  prosperity. 
We  condemn  repudiation  in  every  shape 
and  form  as  a  blot  upon  her  honor,  a  blow 
at  her  permanent  welfare,  and  an  obstacle 
to  her  progress  in  wealth,  influence  and 
power ;  and  that  we  will  make  every  effort 
to  secure  a  settlement  of  the  public  debt, 
with  the  consent  of  her  creditors,  which  is 
consistent  with  her  honor  and  dictated  by 
justice  and  sound  public  policy ;  that  it  is 
eminently  desirable  and  proper  that  the 
several  classes  of  the  debt  now  existing 
should  be  unified,  so  that  equality,  which 
is  equity,  may  control  in  the  annual  pay 
ment  of  interest  and  the  ultimate  redemp 
tion  of  principal ;  that,  with  a  view  of  se 
curing  such  equality,  we  pledge  our  party 
to  use  all  lawful  authority  to  secure  a  settle 
ment  of  the  State  debt  so  that  there  shall 
be  but  one  class  of  the  public  debt ;  that 
we  will  use  all  lawful  and  constitutional 
means  in  our  power  to  secure  a  settlement 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


69 


of  the  State  debt  upon  the  basis  of  a  3  per 
cent,  bond,  and  that  the  Conservative- 
Democratic  party  pledges  itself,  as  a  part 
of  its  policy,  not  to  increase  the  present 
rate  of  taxation. 

Third.  That  we  will  Uphold,  in  its  full 
constitutional  integrity  and  efficiency,  our 
public-school  system  for  the  education  of 
both  white  and  colored  children — a  system 
inaugurated  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
State  and  established  by  the  action  of  the 
Conservative  party  years  before  it  was  re 
quired  by  the  Constitution  ;  and  will  take 
the  most  effectual  means  for  the  faithful 
execution  of  the  same  by  applying  to  its 
support  all  the  revenues  set  apart  for  that 
object  by  the  Constitution  or  otherwise. 

Fourth.  Upon  this  declaration  of  prin 
ciples  we  cordially  invite  the  co-operation 
of  all  Conservative  Democrats,  whatever 
may  have  been  or  now  are  their  views 
upon  the  public  debt,  in  the  election  of  the 
nominees  of  this  Convention  and  in  the 
maintenance  of  the  supremacy  of  the 
Democratic  party  in  this  State. 

Resolved,  further,  That  any  intimation, 
coming  from  any  quarter,  that  the  Con 
servative-Democratic  party  of  Virginia  has 
been,  is  now,  or  proposes  to  be,  opposed  to 
an  honest  ballot  and  a  fair  count,  is  a 
calumny  upon  the  State  of  Virginia  as  un 
founded  in  fact  as  it  is  dishonorable  to  its 
authors. 

That  special  efforts  be  made  to  foster  and 
encourage  the  agricultural,  mechanical, 
mining,  manufacturing  and  other  indus 
trial  interests  of  the  State. 

That,  in  common  with  all  good  citizens 
of  the  Union,  we  reflect  with  deep  abhor 
rence  upon  the  crime  of  the  man  who 
aimed  a  blow  at  the  life  of  the  eminent 
citizen  who  was  called  by  the  constitutional 
voice  of  fifty  millions  of  people  to  be  the 
President  of  the  United  States ;  and  we 
tender  to  him  and  to  his  friends  the  sym 
pathy  and  respect  of  this  Convention  and 
of  those  we  represent,  in  this  great  calam 
ity,  and  our  hearty  desire  for  his  complete 
restoration  to  health  and  return  to  the  dis 
charge  of  his  important  duties,  for  the  wel 
fare  and  honor  of  our  common  country. 


COMPARISON  OF  PLATFORM  PLANKS  ON  GREAT 

POLITICAL  QUESTIONS. 
General  Party  Doctrines. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

1856— That  the 
liberal  principles 
embodied  by  Jeffer 
son  in  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independ 
ence,  and  sanctioned 
in  the  Constitution, 
which  makes  ours 


REPUBLICAN. 

1856— That  the 
maintenance  of  the 
principles  promul 
gated  in  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independ 
ence  and  embodied 
in  the  Federal  Con 
stitution,  is  essentia] 


DEMOCRATIC. 

the  land  of  liberty 
and  the  asylum  of 
h  e  oppressed  o  f 
very  nation,  have 
ever  been  cardinal 
principles  in  the 
Democratic  faith; 
and  every  attempt  to 
abridge  the  present 
privilege  of  becom 
ing  citizens  and  the 
owners  of  soil  among 
us  ought  to  be  re 
sisted  with  the  same 
spirit  which  swept 
:he  alien  and  sedi 
tion  laws  from  our 
statute  books. 

[Plank  8. 


1860— Re  affirm 
ed. 


1864— 

1868— 

1872— We  recog 
nize  the  equality  of 
all  men  before  the 
law,  and  hold  that 


REPUBLICAN. 

to  the  preservation 
of  our  Republican 
institutions,  and 
that  the  Federal 
Constitution,  the 
rights  of  the  States, 
and  the  union  of  the 
States  shall  be  pre 
served;  that  with  our 
Republican  fathers, 
we  hold  it  to  be  a 
self-evident  truth 
that  all  men  are  en 
dowed  with  the  in 
alienable  rights  to 
iife,  liberty,  and  the 
pursuit  o  f  happi 
ness,  and  that  the 
primary  object  and 
ulterior  design  of 
our  Federal  Govern 
ment  were  to  secure 
these  rights  to  all 
persons  within  its 
exclusive  jurisdic 
tion.  [Plank  1. 
1860— That  the 
maintenance  of  the 
principles  promul 
gated  in  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independ 
ence  and  embodied 
in  the  Federal  Con 
stitution.  "That  all 
men  are  created 
equal ;  that  they  are 
endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  certain 
inalienable  rights ; 
that  among  these 
are  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  hap 
piness;  that  to  se 
cure  these  rights 
governments  are  in 
stituted  among  men, 
deriving  their  just 
powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  gov 
erned,"  is  essential 
to  the  preservation 
of  our  Republican 
institutions ;  and 
that  the  Federal 
Constitution,  the 
rights  of  the  States, 
and  the  Union  of 
the  States  must  and 
shall  be  preserved. 
[Plank  2. 
1864— 
1868— 

1872— Complete 
liberty  and  exact 
equality  in  the  en 
joyment  of  all  civil, 


70 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

it  is  the  duty  of  Gov 
ernment  in  its  deal 
ings  with  the  peo 
ple  to  mete  out 
equal  and  exact  jus 
tice  to  all,  of  what 
ever  nativity,  race, 
color,  or  persuasion, 
religious  or  politi 
cal.  [Plank  1. 


1876— 


1880  — Opposi 
tion  to  centraliza- 
tionism,  and  to  that 
dangerous  spirit  of 
encroachment 
which  tends  to  con 
solidate  the  powers 
of  all  the  depart 
ments  in  one,  and 
thus  to  create,  what 
ever  be  the  form  of 
Government,  a  real 
despotism. 

[Plank  2. 


REPUBLICAN. 

political  and  public 
rights  should  be  es 
tablished  and  eifec- 
tually  maintained 
throughout  the  Un 
ion  by  efficient  and 
appropriate  State 
and  Federal  Legis 
lation.  Neither  the 
law  nor  its  adminis 
tration  should  ad 
mit  any  discrimina 
tion  in  respect  of 
citizens  by  reasons 
of  race,  creed,  color 
or  previous  condi 
tion  of  servitude. 

f  Plank  3. 
1876— The  United 
Stales  of  America  is 
a  Na  t  i  o  n  not  a 
league.  By  the  com 
bined  workings  of 
the  National  and 
{State  Governments, 
under  their  respec 
tive  constitutions, 
the  rights  of  every 
citizen  are  secured 
at  home  or  abroad, 
and  the  common 
welfare  promoted. 

1880—  The  consti 
tution  of  the  United 
States  is  a  supreme 
law  and  not  a  mere 
contract.  O u t  of 
confederate  States  it 
made  a  sovereign 
nation.  Some  pow 
ers  are  denied  to  the 
nation,  while  others 
are  denied  to  the 
States,  but  the 
boundary  between 
the  powers  dele 
gated  and  those  re 
served  is  to  be  de 
termined  by  the  Na 
tional,  and  not  by 
the  State  tribunal. 
[Cheers.1 
[Plank  2. 


The  Rebellion. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

1864— That  this 
convention  does  ex 
plicitly  declare,  as 
the  sense  of  the 
American  people, 
that  after  four  years 
of  failure  to  restore 
the  Union  by  the  ex- 


REPUBLICAN. 

1864r-That  it  is 
the  highest  duty  of 
every  American  cit- 
i  z  e  n  to  maintain 
against  all  their 
enemies  the  integ 
rity  of  the  Union 
and  the  paramount 


DEMOCRATIC. 
periment  of  war, 
during  which,  un 
der  the  pretense  of 
a  military  necessity 
or  war-power  higher 
than  the  Constitu 
tion,  the  Constitu 
tion  itself  has  been 
disregarded  in  every 
part,  and  public  lib 
erty  and  private 
right  alike  trodden 
down,  and  the  ma 
terial  prosperity  of 
the  country  essen 
tially  impaired,  jus 
tice,  humanity,  lib 
erty,  and  the  public 
welfare  demand  that 
immediate  efforts  be 
made  for  a  cessation 
of  /wstilities,  with  a 
view  to  the  ultimate 
convention  of  the 
States,  or  other 
peaceable  means, 
to  the  end  that,  at 
the  earliest  practi 
cable  moment  peace 
may  be  restored  on 
the  basis  of  the  Fed 
eral  Union  of  the 
States. 

[1st  resolution. 


REPUBLICAN. 

authority  of  the 
Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  United 
States ;  and  that  lay 
ing  aside  all  difter- 
ences  of  political 
opinions,  we  pledge 
ourselves  as  Union 
men,  animated  by 
a  common  senti 
ment,  and  aiming  at 
a  common  object,  to 
d  o  everything  i  n 
our  power  to  aid  the 
Government,  in 
quelling  by  force  of 
arms  the  rebellion 
now  raging  against 
its  authority,  and  in 
bringing  to  the  pun 
ishment  due  to  their 
crimes  the  rebels 
and  traitors  arrayed 
against  it. 

That  we  approve 
the  determination 
of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States 
not  to  compromise 
with  rebels,  or  to 
offer  them  any  terms 
of  peace,  except 
such  as  may  be 
based  upon  an  un- 
conditional  sur 
render  of  their  hos 
tility  and  a  return 
to  their  just  allegi 
ance  to  the  Constitu 
tion  and  laws  of  the 
United  States;  and 
that  we  cull  upon 
the  Government  to 
maintain  this  posi 
tion  and  to  prose 
cute  the  war  with 
the  utmost  possible 
vigor  to  the  com- 

Slete  suppression  of 
le  rebellion,  in  full 
reliance  upon  the 
self-sacrificing  p  a- 
triotism,  the  heroic 
valor,  and  the  un 
dying  devotion  of 
the  American  peo 
ple  to  the  country 
and  its  free  institu 
tions. 

[1st  and  2d  resolu 
tions.] 


Home  Rule. 

DEMOCRATIC.  REPUBLICAN. 

1856— That    we        1856—    *     *     * 
recognize  the  right     The  dearest  consti- 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


71 


DEMOCRATIC. 

of  the  people  in  all 
the  Territories,  in 
cluding  Kansas  and 
Nebraska,  acting 
through  the  legally 
and  fairly  expressed 
will  of  a  majority  of 
actual  residents, 
and  wherever  the 
number  of  their  in 
habitants  justifies  it, 
to  form  a  constitu 
tion  *  *  *  and 
be  admitted  into  the 
Union  upon  terms 
of  perfect  equality 
with  the  other 
States. 


REPUBLICAN. 

tutional  rights  of 
the  people  of  Kan 
sas  have  been  fraud 
ulently  and  violent 
ly  taken  from  them ; 
their  territory  has 
been  invaded  by  an 
armed  force;  spur 
ious  and  pretended 
legislative,  judicial, 
and  executive  of 
ficers  have  been  set 
over  them,  by  whose 
usurped  authority, 
sustained  by  the 
military  power  of 
the  Government, 
tyrannical  and  un 
constitutional  laws 
have  been  enacted 
and  enforced ;  the 
right  of  the  people 
to  keep  and  bear 
arms  has  been  in 
fringed  ;  test-paths 
of  an  extraordinary 
and  entangling  na 
ture  have  been  im 
posed  as  a  condition 
of  exercising  the 
right  of  suffrage 
and  holding  office; 
the  right  of  an  ac 
cused  person  to  a 
speedy  and  public 
trial  by  an  impartial 
jury  has  been  de 
nied;  the  right  of 
the  people  to  be  se 
cure  in  their  per 
sons,  houses,  papers, 
and  effects  against 
unreasonable 
searches  and  seiz 
ures,  has  been  vio 
lated  ;  they  have 
been  deprived  of  life, 
liberty,  and  prop 
erty  without  due 
process  of  law ;  that 
the  freedom  of 
speech  and  of  the 
press  has  been 
abridged;  the  right 
to  choose  their  rep- 
resentatives  has 
been  made  of  no 
effect ;  murders,  rob 
beries,  and  arsons 
have  been  instigated 
and  encouraged, 
and  the  offenders 
have  been  allowed 
to  go  unpunished; 
that  all  these  things 
have  been  done 


DEMOCRATIC. 


25 


1860— That  when 
the  settlers  in  a  Ter 
ritory,  having  an  ad 
equate  population, 
form  a  State  Consti 
tution,  the  right  of 
sovereignty  com 
mences,  and,  being 
consummated  by  ad 
mission  into  the  Un 
ion,  they  stand  on 
an  equal  footing  with 
the  people  of  other 
States;  and  the  State 
thus  organized  ought 
to  be  admitted  into 
the  Federal  Union, 
whether  its  consti 
tution  prohibits  or 
recognizees  the  insti- 
tution  of  slavery. 
[Plank  3,  Breckin- 

ridge,  Dem. 


1864— 

1868  — After  the 
most  solemn  and 
unanimous  pledge  of 
both  Houses  of  Con 
gress  to  prosecute  the 
war  exclusively  for 
the  maintenance  of 
the  Government  and 
the  preservation  of 
the  Union  under  the 
Constitution,  it  [the 
Republican  party] 
has  repeatedly  vio- 


REPUBLICAN. 

with  the  knowledge, 
sanction,  and  pro 
curement  of  the 
present  Adminis 
tration,  and  that  for 
this  high  crime 
against  the  Consti 
tution,  the  Union, 
and  humanity,  we 
arraign  the  Admin 
istration,  the  Presi 
dent,  his  advisers, 
agents,  supporters, 
apologists,  and  ac 
cessories,  either  be 
fore  or  after  the  fact, 
before  the  country 
and  before  the 
world;  and  that  it 
is  our  fixed  purpose 
to  bring  the  actual 
perpetrators  of  these 
atrocious  outrages 
and  their  accom 
plices  to  a  sure  and 
condign  punish' 
ment.  [Plank  3. 

1860  — That  the 
maintenance  invio 
late  of  the  rights  of 
the  States,  and  espe 
cially  the  right  of 
each  State  to  order 
and  control  its  own 
domestic  institutions 
according  to  its  own 
judgment  exclusive 
ly,  is  essential  to  that 
balance  of  power  on 
which  the  perfection 
and  endurance  of  our 
political  fabric  de 
pends  ;  and  we  de 
nounce  the  lawless 
invasion  by  armed 
force  of  the  soil  of 
any  State  or  Terri 
tory,  no  matter  un 
der  what  pretext,  as 
among  the  gravest 
of  crimes. 

[Plank  4. 

1864— 

1868— We  con 
gratulate  the  coun 
try  on  the  assured 
success  of  the  recon 
struction  policy  of 
Congress,  as  evinced 
by  the  adoption,  in 
the  majority  of  the 
States  lately  in  re 
bellion,  of  constitu 
tions  securing  ec^ual 
civil  and  political 
rights  to  all ;  and  it 


72 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

lated  that  most  sa 
cred  pledge  under 
which  alone  was  ral 
lied  that  noble  vol 
unteer  army  which 
carried  our  flag  to 
victory.  Instead  of 
restoring  the  Union, 
it  has,  so  far  as  in  its 
power,  dissolved  it, 
and  subjected  ten 
States,  in  time  of 
profound  peace,  to 
military  despotism 
and  negro  suprema 
cy.  It  has  nullified 
there  the  right  of 
trial  by  jury ;  it  has 
abolished  the  habeas 
corpus,  that  most  sa 
cred  writ  of  liberty ; 
it  has  overthrown  the 
freedom  of  speech 
and  the  press ;  it  has 
substituted  arbitrary 
seizures  and  arrests, 
and  military  trials 
and  secret  star-cham 
ber  inquisitions  for 
the  constitutional 
tribunals  ;  it  has 
disregarded  in  time 
of  peace  the  right  of 
the  people  to  be  free 
from  searches  and 
seizures ;  it  has  en 
tered  the  post  and 
telegraph  offices,  and 
even  the  private 
rooms  of  individuals, 
and  seized  their  pri 
vate  papers  and  let 
ters  witnout  any  spe 
cific  charge  or  notice 
of  affidavit,  as  re 
quired  by  the  or 
ganic  law ;  it  has 
converted  the  Amer- 
can  Capitol  into  a 
bastile ;  it  has  estab 
lished  a  system  of 
spies  and  official  es 
pionage  to  which  no 
constitutional  mon 
archy  of  Europe 
would  now  dare  to 
resort;  it  has  abol 
ished  the  right  of 
appeal  on  important 
constitutional  ques 
tions  to  the  supreme 
judicial  tribunals, 
and  threatens  to  cur 
tail  or  destroy  its 
original  jurisdiction 
which  is  irrevocably 


REPUBLICAN. 

is  the  duty  of  the 
Government  to  sus 
tain  those  institu 
tions  and  prevent 
the  people  of  such 
States  from  being 
remitted  to  a  state 
of  anarchy. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

vested  by  the  Con 
stitution,  while  the 
learned  Chief  Jus 
tice  has  been  sub 
jected  to  the  most 
atrocious  calumnies, 
merely  because  he 
would  not  prostitute 
his  high  office  to  the 
support  of  the  false 
and  partisan  charges 
preferred  against  the 
President.  *  *  * 
Under  its  repeated 
assaults  the  pillars 
of  the  Government 
are  rocking  on  their 
base,  and  should  it 
succeed  in  Novem 
ber  next  and  inaugu 
rate  its  President,  we 
will  meet  as  a  sub 
jected  and  conquered 
people,  amid  the 
ruins  of  liberty  and 
the  scattered  frag 
ments  of  the  Consti 
tution. 

1872— Local  self- 
government,  with 
impartial  suffrage, 
will  guard  the  rights 
of  all  citizens  more 
securely  than  any 
centralized  power. 
The  public  welfare 
requires  the  supre 
macy  of  the  civil 
over  the  military  au 
thority,  and  freedom 
of  persons  under  the 
protection  of  the  ha 
beas  corpus.  We  de 
mand  for  the  indi 
vidual  the  largest 
liberty  consistent 
with  public  order; 
for  the  State  self- 
government,  and  for 
the  nation  a  return 
to  the  methods  of 
peace  and  the  con 
stitutional  limita 
tions  of  power. 

[Plank  4. 

1880— **  "Home 
Kule."  [Plank  3. 


REPUBLICAN. 


1872  — We  hold 
that  Congress  and 
the  President  have 
only  fulfilled  an  im 
perative  duty  in 
their  measures  for 
the  suppression  of 
violent  and  treason 
able  organizations  in 
certain  lately  rebel 
lious  regions,  and  for 
the  protection  of  the 
ballot-box;  and, 
therefore,  they  are 
entitled  to  the  thanks 
of  the  nation. 

[Plank  12. 


1880- 


Internal   Improvements. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

1856— That  the 
Constitution  does 
not  confer  upon  the 
general  Government 


REPUBLICAN. 

1856— That  ap 
propriations  by  con 
gress  for  the  im 
provement  of  river* 


the  power  to  com-    and  harbors  of  a  na- 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

mence  and  carry  on 
a  general  system  of 
internal  improve 
ments.  [Plank  2. 


1860— Reaffirmed. 


REPUBLICAN. 

tional  character,  re 
quired  for  the  ac 
commodation  and 
security  of  our  exist 
ing  commerce,  are 
authorized  by  the 
Constitution  and 
justified  by  the  obli 
gation  of  Govern 
ment  to  protect  the 
lives  and  property 
of  its  citizens. 

[Plank  7. 

I860— That  ap 
propriations  by  Con 
gress  for  river  and 
harbor  improve 
ments  of  a  national 
character,  required 
for  the  accommoda 
tion  and  security  of 
an  existing  c  o  m  - 
merce,  are  author 
ized  by  the  Constitu 
tion  and  justified  by 
the  obligation  of 
Government  to  pro 
tect  the  lives  and 
property  of  its  citi 
zens.  [Plank  15. 

1864— 

1868— 

1872— 

1876— 

1880—  ***  That 
we  deem  it  the  duty 
of  Congress  to  de 
velop  and  improve 
our  seacoast  and 
harbors,  but  insist 
that  further  subsi 
dies  to  private  per 
sons  or  corporations 
must  cease. 


The  National  Dent  and  Interest,  the  Public 
Credit,  Repudiation,  etc. 


1864— 
1868— 
1872— 
1876— 

1880— Plank  2  of 
1856  reaffirmed. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

1864- 


REPUBLICAN. 

1864— That  the 
National  faith, 
pledged  for  the  re 
demption  of  the 
public  debt,  must  be 
kept  inviolate,  and 
that  for  this  purpose 
we  recommend  eco 
nomy  and  rigid  re 
sponsibility  in  the 
public  expenditures, 
and  a  vigorous  and 
just  system  of  taxa 
tion  ;  and  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  every 


DEMOCRATIC. 


1868— Payment  of 
the  public  debt  of 
the  United  States  as 
rapidly  as  practica 
ble  ;  all  moneys 
drawn  from  the  peo 
ple  by  taxation,  ex 
cept  so  much  as  is 
requisite  for  the  ne 
cessities  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  economi 
cally  administered, 
being  honestly  ap 
plied  to  such  pay 
ment,  and  where  the 
obligations  of  the 
Government  do  not 
expressly  state  upon 
their  face,  or  the  law 
under  which  they 
were  issued  does  not 
provide  that  they 
shall  be  paid  in  coin, 
they  ought,  in  right 
and  in  justice,  to  be 
paid  in  the  lawful 
money  of  the  United 
States.  [Plank  3. 

Equal  taxation  of 
every  species  of  pro 
perty  according  to 
its  real  value,  in 
cluding  Government 
bonds  and  other 
public  securities. 

[Plank  4. 


1872  —  We  de 
mand  a  system  of 
Federal  taxation 
which  shall  not  un 
necessarily  interfere 
with  the  industries 
of  the  people,  and 


REPUBLICAN. 

loyal  State  to  sustain 
the  credit  and  pro 
mote  the  use  of  the 
National  currency. 
[Plank  10. 

1868  —  We  de 
nounce  all  forms  of 
repudiation  as  a  Na 
tional  crime ;  and 
the  National  honor 
requires  the  pay 
ment  of  the  public 
indebtedness  in  the 
uttermost  good  faith 
to  all  creditors  at 
home  and  abroad, 
not  only  according 
to  the  letter,  but  the 
spirit  of  the  laws 
under  which  it  was 
contracted. 

[Plank  3. 

It  is  due  to  the 
labor  of  the  nation 
that  taxation  should 
be  equalized  and  re 
duced  as  rapidly  as 
the  national  faith 
will  permit. 

[Plank  4. 

The  national  debt, 
contracted  as  it  has 
been  for  the  preser 
vation  of  the  Union 
for  all  time  to  come, 
should  be  extended 
over  a  fair  period  for 
redemption;  and  it 
is  the  duty  of  Con 
gress  to  reduce  the 
rate  of  interest 
thereon  whenever  it 
can  be  honestly 
done.  [Plank  5. 

That  the  best  po 
licy  to  diminish  our 
burden  of  debt  is  to 
so  improve  our  cred 
it  that  capitalists 
will  seek  to  loan  us 
money  at  lower  rates 
of  interest  than  we 
now  pay  and  must 
continue  to  pay  so 
long  as  repudiation, 
partial  or  total,  open 
or  covert,  is  threat 
ened  or  suspected. 
[Plank  6. 

1872—  *  *  *  A 
uniform  national 
currency  has  been 
provided,  repudia 
tion  frowned  down, 
the  national  credit 
sustained  under  the 


74 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

which  shall  provide 
the  means  necessa 
ry  to  pay  the  expen 
ses  of  the  Govern 
ment,  economically 
administered,  the 
pensions,  the  inter 
est  on  the  public 
debt,  and  a  mode 
rate  reduction  an 
nually  of  the  princi 
pal  thereof.  *  *  * 

The  public  credit 
must  be  sacredly 
maintained,  and  we 
denounce  repudia 
tion  in  every  form 
and  guise.  [Plank?. 

1876 — Reform  is 
accessary  to  estab 
lish  a  sound  curren 
cy,  restore  the  pub 
lic  credit,  and  main 
tain  the  national 
honor. 


1880—  ***  Hon 
est  m  o  n  e  y — t  h  e 
strict  maintenance 
of  the  public  faith 
— consisting  of  gold 
and  silver,  and  pa 
per  convertible  into 
coin  on  demand ; 
the  strict  mainte 
nance  of  the  public 
faith,  State  and  na 
tional.  [Plank  3. 


REPUBLICAN. 

most  extraordinary 
burdens,  and  new 
bonds  negotiated  at 
lower  rates.  *  * 
[Plank  1. 
We  denounce  re 
pudiation  of  the 
public  debt,  in  any 
form  of  disguise,  as 
a  national  crime. 
We  witness  with 
pride  the  reduction 
of  the  principal  of 
the  debt,  and  of  the 
rates  of  interest  upon 
the  balance. 

[Plank  13. 

1876— In  the  first 
act  of  Congress 
signed  by  President 
Grant,  the  National 
Government  as 
sumed  to  remove 
any  doubts  of  its 
purpose  to  discharge 
all  just  obligations 
to  the  public  credi 
tors,  and  "  solemnly 
pledged  its  faith  to 
make  provision  at 
the  earliest  practica 
ble  period  for  the 
redemption  of  the 
United  States  notes 
in  coin."  Commer 
cial  prosperity,  pub 
lie  morals,  and  na 
tional  credit  demand 
that  this  promise  be 
fulfilled  by  a  con 
tinuance  and  steady 
progress  to  specie 
payment.  [Plank  4. 

1880— It  [the  Re 
publican  party]  has 
raised  the  value  of 
our  paper  currency 
from  38  per  cent,  to 
the  par  of  gold  [ap 
plause]  ;  it  has  re 
stored,  upon  a  solid 
basis,  payment  in 
coin  of  all  national 
obligations,  and  has 
given  us  a  currency 
absolutely  good  and 
equal  in  every  parl 
of  our  extended 
country  [applause] 
it  has  lifted  the 
credit  of  the  nation 
from  the  point  o 
where  6  per  cent 
bonds  sold  at  86,  to 
that  where  4  per 


DEMOCRATIC. 


REPUBLICAN. 

cent,  bonds  are 
eagerly  sought  at  a 
premium. 

[Preamble. 


Resumption. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

1872  — A  speedy 
return  to  specie  pay 
ment  is  demanded 
alike  by  the  highest 
c  o  n  s  i  d  e  rations  of 
commercial  morali 
ty  and  honest  gov- 
rnment. 

[Plank  8. 

1876  —  We  de 
nounce  the  financial 
imbecility  and  im 
morality  of  that 
party,  which,  during 
eleven  years  of 
peace,  has  made  no 
advance  toward  re 
sumption,  no  prepa 
ration  for  resump 
tion,  but  instead  has 
obstructed  resump 
tion,  by  wasting  our 
resources  and  ex 
hausting  all  our  sur 
plus  income;  and, 
while  annually  pro 
fessing  to  intend  a 
speedy  return  to 
specie  payments, 
has  annually  enac 
ted  fresh  hindrances 
thereto.  As  such 
hindrance  we  de 
nounce  the  resump 
tion  clause  of  the  act 
of  1875,  and  we  here 
demand  its  repeal. 

1880—*  *  *  Hon 
est  money,  *  *  * 
consisting  of  gold, 
and  silver,  and  pa 
per  convertible  into 
coin  on  demand. 


REPUBLICAN. 

1872—*  *  *  Our 
excellent  national 
currency  will  be 
perfected  by  a  spee 
dy  resumption  of 
specie  payment. 
[Plank  13. 


1876— In  the  first 
act  of  Congress 
signed  by  President 
Grant,  the  National 
Government  as 
sumed  to  remove 
any  doubts  of  its 
purpose  to  discharge 
all  just  obligations 
to  the  public  credi 
tors,  and  solemnly 
pledged  its  faith 
to  make  provision 
at  the  "earliest 
practicable  period 
for  the  redemption 
of  the  United  States 
notes  in  coin."  Com 
mercial  prosperity, 
public  morals  and 
national  credit  de 
mand  that  this  pro 
mise  be  fulfilled  by 
a  continuous  ana 
steady  progress  to 
specie  payment. 

1880—  *  *  *  It 
[the  Republican 
party]  has  restored, 
upon  a  solid  basis, 
payment  in  coin  of 
all  National  obli- 
g  a  t  i  o  n  s ,  and  has 
given  us  a  currency 
absolutely  good  and 
equal  in  every  part 
of  our  extended 
country. 


Capital  and  Labor. 

DEMOCRATIC.  REPUBLICAN. 


1868  —  Resolved, 
That  this  conven 
tion  sympathize  cor- 
d  i  a  1 1  y  with  the 
working  men  of  the 
United  States  in 


1868— 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


'75 


DEMOCRATIC. 

their  efforts  to  pro 
tect  the  rights  and 
interests  of  the  la 
boring  classes  of  the 
country. 
1872— 


1880— The  Demo 
cratic  party  is  the 
friend  of  labor  and 
the  laboring  man, 
and  pledges  itself  to 
protect  him  alike 
against  the  cormo 
rant  and  the  com 
mune.  [Plank  13. 


REPUBLICAN. 


1872— Among  the 
questions  which 
press  for  attention  is 
that  which  concerns 
the  relations  of  capi 
tal  and  labor,  and 
the  Republican  par 
ty  recognizes  the  du 
ty  of  so  shaping  le 
gislation  as  to  secure 
rail  protection  and 
the  amplest  field  for 
capital,  and  for  labor, 
the  creator  of  capital 
the  largest  opportu 
nities  and  a  just 
share  of  the  mutual 
profits  of  these  two 
great  servants  of  ci 
vilization. 

[Plank  11. 
1880— 


Tariff. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

1856  — The  time 
has  come  for  the 
people  of  the  United 
States  to  declare 
themselves  in  favor 
of  *  *  *  progressive 
free  trade  through 
out  the  world,  by 
solemn  manifesta 
tions,  to  place  their 
moral  influence  at 
the  side  of  their  suc 
cessful  example. 
[Resolve  I. 

That  justice  and 
sound  policy  forbid 
the  Federal  Govern 
ment  to  foster  one 
branch  of  industry 
to  the  detriment  of 
any  other,  or  to 
cherish  the  interests 
of  one  portion  to 
the  injury  of  another 
portion  of  our  com 
mon  country. 

[Plank  4. 


REPUBLICAN. 
1856— 


DEMOCRATIC. 

I860— Reafirmed. 


1864r- 

1868—  *  *  *  A 
tariff  for  revenue 
upon  foreign  im 
ports,  and such  equal 
taxation  under  the 
Internal  Revenue 
laws  as  will  afford 
incidental  protec 
tion  to  domestic 
manufactures,  and 
as  will,  without  im 
pairing  the  revenue, 
impose  the  least 
burden  upon  and 
best  promote  and 
encourage  the  great 
industrial  interests 
of  the  country. 

[Plank  6. 

1872—  ****  Re 
cognizing  that  there 
are  in  our  midst 
honest  but  irrecon 
cilable  differences  of 
opinion  with  regard 
to  the  respective 
systems  of  protection 
and  free  trade,  we 
remit  the  discussion 
of  the  subject  to  the 
people  in  their  Con 
gressional  districts, 
and  to  the  decision 
of  the  Congress 
thereon,  wholly  free 
from  executive  in- 


REPUBLICAN. 

1860— That,  while 
providing  revenue 
for  the  support  of 
the  general  Govern 
ment  by  duties  upon 
imports,  sound  poli 
cy  requires  such  an 
adjustment  of  these 
imposts  as  to  encour 
age  the  development 
of  the  industrial  in 
terests  of  the  whole 
country ;  and  we 
commend  that  poli 
cy  of  national  ex 
changes  which  se 
cures  to  the  work- 
ingmen  liberal  wa 
ges,  to  agriculture  re 
munerative  prices, 
to  mechanics  and 
manufacturers  an 
adequate  reward  for 
their  skill,  labor,  and 
enterprise,  and  to 
the  nation  commer 
cial  prosperity  and 
independence. 

[Plank  12. 

1864^- 

1868— 


1872—  *  *  *  * 
Revenue  except 
so  much  as  may 
be  derived  from  a 
tax  upon  tobacco 
and  liquors,  should 
be  raised  by  duties 
upon  importations, 
the  details  of  which 
should  be  so  adjusted 
as  to  aid  in  securing 
remunerative  wages 
to  labor,  and  pro 
mote  the  industries, 
prosperity,  and 

growth  of  the  whole 
country.  [Plank  7. 


76 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

terference  or  dicta 
tion.       [Plank  6. 

1876—  *  *  *  *  We 
demand  that  all 
custom-house  taxa 
tion  shall  be  only  for 
revenue. 

[Plank  11. 


1880—  *  *  *  *  A 
tariff  for  revenue  on 
ly.  [Plank  3. 


REPUBLICAN. 


1876— The  reve 
nue  necessary  for 
current  expendi 
tures  and  the  obliga 
tions  of  the  public 
debt  must  be  largely 
derived  from  duties 
upon  importations, 
which  so  far  as  pos 
sible,  should  be  ad 
justed  to  promote 
the  interests  of 
American  labor  and 
advance  the  prosper 
ity  of  the  whole 
country.  [Plank  8. 

1880— Reaffirmed. 


Education. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

1876— The  false 
issue  with  which 
they  [the  Republi 
cans]  would  enkindle 
sectarian  strife  in  re 
spect  to  the  public 
schools,  of  which 
the  establishment 
and  support  belong 
exclusively  to  the 
several  States,  and 
which  the  Democra 
tic  party  has  cherish 
ed  from  their  foun 
dation,  and  is  resolv 
ed  to  maintain  with 
out  prejudice  or 
preference  for  any 
class,  sect,  or  creed, 
and  without  larges 
ses  from  the  Trea 
sury  to  any. 

1880—  **  Com 
mon  Schools  foster 
ed  and  protected. 
[Plank  2. 


REPUBLICAN. 

1876— The  public 
school  system  of  the 
several  States  is  the 
bulwark  of  the 
American  Republic, 
and  with  a  view  to 
its  security  and  per 
manence  we  recom 
mend  an  Amend 
ment  to  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United 
States,  forbidding 
the  application  of 
any  public  funds  or 
property  for  the  ben 
efit  of  any  schools  or 
institutions  under 
sectarian  control. 
[Plank  4. 


1880— The  work 
of  popular  education 
is  one  left  to  the 
care  of  the  several 
States,  but  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  National 
Government  to  aid 
that  work  to  the  ex 
tent  of  its  constitu 
tional  ability.  The 
intelligence  of  the 
nation  is  but  the 
aggregate  of  the  in 
telligence  in  the 
several  States,  and 
the  destiny  of  the 
Nation  must  be 


DEMOCRATIC.  REPUBLICAN. 

guided,  not  by  the 
genius  of  any  one 
State,  but  by  the 
average  genius  of 
all.  [Plank  3. 


Duty  to  Union  Soldiers  and  Sailors. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

1864— That  the 
sympathy  of  the  De 
mocratic  party  is 
heartily  and  earnest 
ly  extended  to  the 
soldiery  of  our  army 
and  sailors  of  our 
navy,  who  are  and 
have  been  in  the  field 
and  on  the  sea  under 
the  flag  of  our  coun 
try,  and,  in  the  event 
of  its  attaining  pow 
er,  they  will  receive 
all  the  care,  protec 
tion,  and  regard  that 
the  brave  soldiers 
and  sailors  of  the 
Republic  so  nobly 
earned.  [Plank  6. 


1868— ******* 
That  our  soldiers 
and  sailors,  who  car 
ried  the  flag  of  our 
country  to  victory, 
against  a  most  gal 
lant  and  determined 
foe,  must  ever  be 
gratefully  remem 
bered,  and  all'  the 
guarantees  given  in 
their  favor  must  be 
faithfully  carried 
into  execution. 


REPUBLICAN. 

186^-That  the 
thanks  of  the  Ameri 
can  people  are  due 
to  the  soldiers  and 
sailors  of  the  army 
and  navy,  who  have 
periled  their  lives  in 
defense  of  the  coun 
try  and  in  vindica 
tion  of  the  honor  of 
its  flag;  that  the  na 
tion  owes  to  them 
some  permanent  re 
cognition  of  their  pa 
triotism  and  their 
valor,  and  ample  and 
permanent  provi 
sion  for  those  of  their 
survivors  who  have 
received  disabling 
and  honorable 

wounds  in  the  serv 
ice  of  the  country ; 
and  that  the  memor 
ies  of  those  who  have 
fallen  in  its  defence 
shall  be  held  in 
grateful  and  ever 
lasting  remem 
brance.  [Plank  4. 

1868— Of  all  who 
were  faithful  in  the 
trials  of  the  late  war, 
there  were  none  en 
titled  to  more  espe 
cial  honor  than  the 
brave  soldiers  and 
seamen  who  endured 
the  hardships  of 
campaign  and  cruise 
and  imperiled  their 
lives  in  the  service 
of  their  country ; 
the  bounties  and 
pensions  provided 
by  the  laws  for  these 
brave  defenders  of 
the  nation  are  obli 
gations  never  to  be 
forgotten ;  the  wi 
dows  and  orphans  of 
the  gallant  dead  are 
the  wards  of  the  peo 
ple — a  sacred  legacy 
bequeathed  to  the 
nation's  care. 

[Plank  10. 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


77 


DEMOCRATIC. 

1872—*  We  re 
member  with  grati 
tude  the  heroism 
and  sacrifices  of  the 
soldiers  and  sailors 
of  the  Republic,  and 
no  act  of  ours  shall 
ever  detract  from 
their  justly  earned 
fame  for  the  full  re 
ward  of  their  patriot 
ism  [Plank  9. 


REPUBLICAN. 

1872— We  hold  in 
undying  honor  the 
soldiers  and  sailors 
whose  valor  saved 
the  Union.  Their 
pensions  are  a  sacred 
debt  of  the  nation, 
and  the  widows  and 
orphans  of  those 
who  died  for  their 
country  are  entitled 
to  the  care  of  a  gen 
erous  and  grateful 
people.  We  favor 
such  additional  le 
gislation  as  will  ex 
tend  the  bounty  of 
the  Government  to 
all  our  soldiers  and 
sailors  who  were 
honorably  discharg 
ed,  and  who  in  the 
line  of  duty  became 
disabled,  without  re 
gard  to  the  length  of 
service  or  the  cause 
of  such  discharge. 
[Plank  8. 

1876— The  pledges 
which  the  nation 
has  given  to  her 
soldiers  and  sailors 
must  be  fulfilled, 
and  a  grateful  people 
will  always  hold 
those  who  imperiled 
their  lives  for  the 
country's  preserva 
tion,  in  the  kindest 
remembrance. 

[Plank  14. 
1880—  1880— That      the 

obligations  of  the 
Republic  to  the  men 
who  preserved  its  in 
tegrity  in  the  day  of 
battle  are  undimin- 
ished  by  the  lapse 
of  fifteen  years  since 
their  final  victory. 
To  do  them  honor 
is  and  shall  forever 
be  the  grateful  pri 
vilege  and  sacred 
duty  of  the  Ameri 
can  people. 


Naturalization  and  Allegiance. 


1876—***  The 
soldiers  and  sailors 
of  the  Republic,  and 
the  widows  and  or 
phans  of  those  who 
have  fallen  in  battle, 
have  a  just  claim 
upon  the  care,  pro 
tection,  and  grati 
tude  of  their  fellow- 
citizens. 

[Last  resolution. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

1860— That  the  De 
mocracy  of  the  Uni 
ted  States  recognize 
it  as  the  imperative 


REPUBLICAN. 

1860  — The  Re 
publican  party  is 
opposed  to  any 
change  in  our  na- 


DEMOCRATIC. 

duty  of  this  Govern 
ment  to  protect  the 
naturalized  citizen 
in  all  his  rights, 
whether  at  home  or 
in  foreign  lands,  to 
the  same  extent  as 
Its  native-born  ci 
tizens.  [Plank  6. 


1864- 

1868  —  Equal 
rights  and  protec 
tion  for  naturalized 
and  native-born  citi 
zens  at  home  and 
abroad,  the  assertion 
of  American  nation 
ality  which  shall 
command  the  re 
spect  of  foreign 
powers,  and  furnish 
an  example  and  en 
couragement  to  peo 
ple  struggling  for 
national  integrity, 
constitutional  liber 
ty,  and  individual 
rights  and  the  main 
tenance  of  the  rights 
of  naturalized  citi 
zens  against  the  ab 
solute  doctrine  of 
immutable  allegi 
ance,  and  the  claims 
of  foreign  powers  to 
punish  them  for  al 
leged  crime  com 
mitted  beyond  their 
jurisdiction. 

[Plank  8. 


1872— 


REPUBLICAN. 

turalization  laws,  or 
any  State  legislation 
by  which  the  rights 
of  citizenship  hith 
erto  accorded  to  im 
migrants  from  for 
eign  lands  shall  be 
abridged  or  impair 
ed  ;  and  in  favor  of 
giving  a  full  and  ef 
ficient  protection  to 
the  right  of  all  clas 
ses  of  citizens, 
whether  native  or 
naturalized,  both 
home  and  abroad. 
[Plank  14. 

1864— 

1868— The  doc 
trine  of  Great  Bri 
tain  and  other  Euro 
pean  Powers,  that 
because  a  man  is 
once  a  subject  he  is 
always  so,  must  be 
resisted  at  every 
hazard  by  the  Uni 
ted  States,  as  a  re 
lic  of  feudal  times, 
not  authorized  by 
the  laws  of  nations, 
and  at  war  with  our 
national  honor  and 
independence.  Na 
turalized  citizens  are 
entitled  to  protec 
tion  in  all  their 
rights  of  citizenship 
as  though  they  were 
native-born ;  and  no 
citizen  of  the  United 
States,  native  or  na 
turalized,  must  be 
liable  to  arrest  and 
imprisonment  by 
any  foreign  power 
for  acts  done  or 
words  spoken  in  this 
country ;  and,  if  so 
arrested  and  im 
prisoned,  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  Govern 
ment  to  interfere  in 
his  behalf. 

[Plank  9. 

1872  — The  doc 
trine  of  Great  Bri 
tain  and  other  Eu 
ropean  Powers  con 
cerning  allegiance 
— "  once  a  subject 
always  a  subject " — 
having  at  last, 
through  the  efforts 
of  the  Republican 
party,  been  aban- 


78 


AMERICAN    POLITICS. 


DEMOCRATIC. 


1876— 


1880— 


REPUBLICAN. 

doned,  and  the  Ame 
rican  idea  of  the  in 
dividual's  right  to 
transfer  allegiance 
having  been  accep 
ted  by  European 
nations,  it  is  the 
duty  of  our  Govern 
ment  to  guard  with 
jealous  care  the 
rights  of  adopted 
citizens  against  the 
assumption  of  unau 
thorised  claims  by 
their  former  Gov 
ernments,  and  we 
urge  continued  care 
ful  encouragement 
and  protection  of 
voluntary  immigra 
tion.  [Plank  9. 

1876— It  is  the  im 
perative  duty  of  the 
Government  so  to 
modify  existing  trea 
ties  with  European 
governments,  that 
the  same  protection 
shall  be  afforded  to 
the  adopted  Ameri 
can  citizen  that  is 
given  to  the  native- 
born,  and  that  all 
necessary  laws 
should  be  passed  to 
protect  emigrants  in 
the  absence  of  pow 
er  in  the  State  for 
that  purpose. 

1880—  ^  *  *  * 
Everywhere  the  pro 
tection  accorded  to  a 
citizen  of  American 
birth  must  be  se 
cured  to  citizens  by 
American  adoption. 
[Plank  5. 


The  Chinese. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

1876— Reform  is 
necessary  to  correct 
the  omissions  of  a 
Republican  C  o  n  - 
gress,  and  the  errors 
of  our  treaties  and 
our  diplomacy, 
which  have  stripped 
our  fellow-citizens 
of  foreign  birth  and 
kindred  race  re- 
crossing  the  Atlan 
tic,  of  the  shield  of 
American  citizen- 


REPUBLICAN. 

1876— It  is  the 
immediate  duty  of 
Congress  to  fully  in 
vestigate  the  effect 
of  the  immigration 
and  importation 
of  Mongolians  upon 
the  moral  and  ma 
terial  interests  of  the 
country. 

[Plank  11. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

ship,  and  have  ex 
posed  our  brethren 
of  the  Pacific  coast 
to  the  incursions  of 
a  race  not  sprung 
from  the  same  great 
parent  stock,  and  in 
fact  now  by  law  de 
nied  citizenship 
through  naturaliza 
tion  as  being  neither 
accustomed  to  the 
traditions  of  a  pro 
gressive  civili 
zation  nor  ex 
ercised  in  liberty 
under  equal  laws. 
We  denounce  the 
policy  which  thus 
discards  the  liberty- 
loving  German  and 
tolerates  a  revival  of 
the  coolie  trade  in 
Mongolian  women 
imported  for  im 
moral  purposes,  and 
Mongolian  men  held 
to  perform  servile 
labor  contracts,  and 
demand  such  modi 
fication  of  the  trea 
ty  with  the  Chinese 
Empire,  or  such  le 
gislation  within  con 
stitutional  limita 
tions,  as  shall  pre 
vent  further  impor 
tation  or  immigra 
tion  of  the  Mongo 
lian  race. 

1880  —  Amend 
ment  of  the  Burlin- 
game  Treaty.  No 
more  Chinese  immi 
gration,  except  for 
travel,  education, 
and  foreign  com 
merce,  and  therein 
carefully  guarded. 
[Plank  11. 


REPUBLICAN. 


1880-— Since  the 
authority  to  regu- 
1  a  t  e  immigration 
and  intercourse  be 
tween  the  United 
States  and  foreign 
nations  rests  with 
the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  and 
the  treaty-making 
power,  the  Republi 
can  party,  regarding 
the  unrestricted  im 
migration  of  Chinese 
as  a  matter  of  grave 
concernment  under 
the  exercise  of  both 
these  powers,  would 
limit  and  restrict 
that  immigration  by 
the  enactment  of 
such  just,  humane, 
and  reasonable  laws 
and  treaties  as  will 
produce  that  result. 
[Plank  6. 


POLITICAL    PLATFORMS. 


Civil  Service. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

1872  — The  civil 
service  of  the  gov 
ernment  has  become 
a  mere  instrument 
of  partisan  tyranny 
and  personal  ambi 
tion  and  an  object  of 
selfish  greed.  It  is 
a  scandal  and  re 
proach  upon  free  in 
stitutions  and  breeds 
a  demoral  iza- 
tion  dangerous  to 
the  perpetuity  of 
Republican  Govern 
ment.  We  therefore 
regard  a  thorough 
reform  of  the  civil 
service  as  one  of  the 
most  pressing  neces 
sities  of  the  hour; 
that  honesty,  ca 
pacity  and  fideli 
ty  constitute  the 
only  valid  claim  to 
public  employment; 
and  the  offices  of  the 
Government  cease 
to  be  a  matter  of  ar 
bitrary  favoritism 
and  patronage,  and 
public  station  be 
come  again  a  post 
of  honor.  To  this 
end  it  is  imperative 
ly  required  that  no 
President  shall  be  a 
candidate  for  re 
election. 

1876— Reform  is 
necessary  in  the 
civil  service.  Ex 
perience  that  proves 
efficient,  economical 
conduct  of  Govern 
mental  business  is 
not  possible  if  the 
civil  service  be  sub 
ject  to  change  at 
every  election,  be  a 
prize  fought  for  at 
the  ballot-box,  be  a 
brief  reward  of  party 
zeal,  instead  of  posts 
of  honor  assigned  for 
proved  competency, 
and  held  for  fidelity 
in  the  public  «m- 


REPUBLICAN. 

1872 — Any  system 
of  the  civil  service, 
under  which  the 
subordinate  p  o  s  i  - 
tions  of  the  Govern 
ment  are  considered 
rewards  for  mere 
party  zeal  is  fatally 
demoralizing,  and 
we  therefore  favor  a 
reform  of  the  system 
by  laws  which  shall 
abolish  the  evils  of 
patronage  and  make 
honesty,  efficiency 
and  fidelity  the  es 
sential  qualifications 
for  public  positions, 
without  practically 
creating  a  life  ten 
ure  of  office. 

[Plank  5. 


DEMOCRATIC. 

loy ;  that  the  dis- 
>ensing  of  patron 
age  should  neither 
)e  a  tax  upon  the 
ime  of  all  our  pub 
ic  men,  nor  the  in- 
>trument  of  their 
ambition. 


1876— Under  the 
Constitution  the 
President  and  heads 
of  Departments  are 
to  make  nomina 
tions  for  office ;  the 
Senate  is  to  advise 
and  consent  to  ap 
pointments,  and  the 
House  of  Represen 
tatives  to  accuse  anc 
prosecute  faithless 
officers.  The  bes 
interest  of  the  pub 
lie  service  demand; 
that  these  distinc 
tions  be  respected 
that  Senators  an< 
Representatives 


1880—*  *  Tho 
rough  reform  in  the 
civil  service. 


REPUBLICAN. 

who  may  be  judges 
and  accusers  should 
not  dictate  appoint 
ments  to  office.  The 
invariable  rule  in 
a  p  po  intm  ents 
should  have  refer 
ence  to  the  honesty, 
fidelity  and  capacity 
of  the  appointees, 
giving  to  the  party 
in  power  those 
places  where  harmo 
ny  and  vigor  of  ad 
ministration  require 
its  policy  to  be  re 
presented,  but  per 
mitting  all  others  to 
be  filled  by  persons 
selected  with  sole 
reference  to  the  effi 
ciency  of  the  public 
service,  and  the 
right  of  all  citizens 
to  share  in  the  honor 
of  rendering  faith 
ful  service  to  the 
country. 

[Plank  5. 

1880  — The  Re 
publican  party,  ad 
hering  to  the  prin 
ciples  affirmed  by 
its  last  National 
Convention  of  re 
spect  for  the  Consti 
tutional  rules  gov 
erning  appoint- 
ments  to  o  fli  c  e , 
adopts  the  declara 
tion  of  President 
Hayes,  that  the  re 
form  of  the  civil  ser 
vice  should  be  tho 
rough,  radical  and 
complete.  To  this 
end  it  demands  the 
co-operation  of  the 
legislative  with  the 
executive  depart- 
ments  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  and  that 
Congress  shall  so 
legislate  that  fitness, 
ascertained  by  pro 
per  practical  tests, 
shall  admit  to  the 
public  service. 


80 


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81 


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TABULATED  HISTORY— AMERICAN   TARIFFS' 


85 


86 


AMERICAN  POLITICS. 


STATUTES  OF  LIMITATIONS. 

State  Laws  with  reference  to  limitations  of  actions,  show 
ing  the  limit  of  time  on  which  action  may  be  brought. 

COMMODITIES.                                   RATE  OF  DOTT. 

Do.  printed  or  colored,  value  25    f5%c.  per  sq.) 
cents  or  less  per  square  yard  (  yd.  4  20  p.  c.  j 
Do.  Hosiery  35  per  cent. 

STATES  AND 
TEBBITORIES. 

f*1 

§«  £ 

111 

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£ 

1 
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8 

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a 
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03 

lh»p 

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||| 

02  ^  C 

Do.  Lac^s,  cords,   braids,  gimps, 
galloons  and  cotton  laces,  colorea 
and  insertings  35  per  cent 

Do.  Thread-yarn,  warps,  or  warp- 
yarn  not  wound  on  spools,  valued 
at  over  60  and  not  exceeding  80  /30  c.  per  Ib.  ) 
cents  per  pound  (and  20  p  c  f 

Cotton,  valued  at  over  80  cents  per   j  40  c.  per  Ib.  ) 
pound  1  and  20  p  c    j 

Alabama 

Yrs 
1 
1 
3 
1 
1 
2 
1 
1 
2 
1 
3 
1 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
2 
3 
2 
2 
2 
1 
1 
2 
2 

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2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
2 
1 
1,2 
1 
2 
1 
1 
I 
2 
5 
2 
5 
2 
1 

Yrs. 
3 
3 
2 
2 
6 
6 
3 
3 
5 
4 
2 
5 
6 
5 
3 
5 
3 
6 
3 
6 
6 
6 
3 
4 
2 
6 
6 

6 
3 
6 
3 
6 
5 
1 
6 
5 
6 
6 
6 
2 
2 
6 
5 
3 
5 
6 
6 

Yrs. 
6 
5 
4 
2 
6 
6 
6 
3 
3 
6 
4 
10 
20 
10 
5 
5 
5 
20 
3' 
20 
6 
6 
6 
5 
4 
20 
20 

6 
10 
15 
10 
15 
5 
6 
6 
5 
6 
6 
6 
4 
4 
14 
5 
6 
6 
6 
15 

Yrs. 
20 
10 
5 
3 
6 
20 
20 
12 
20 
7 
5 
20 
20 
20 
5 
15 
10 
20 
12 
20 
10 
10 
7 
5 
6 
20 
20 
10 
20 
10 
15 
10 
15 
30 
10 
20 
30 
20 
20 
20 
10 
5 
8 
10 
9 
10 
20 
10 

Yrs. 
10 
10 
5 
3 
17 
20 
20 
12 
20 
20 
5 
10 
20 
10 
15 
15 
20 
20 
12 
20 
10 
20 
7 
10 
4 
10 
20 
10 
20 
10 
15 
10 
15 
30 
20 
20 
30 
20 
20 

10 
7 
8 
20 
20 
10 
20 
21 

Do.  Velvet,  velveteens,  velvet  bind 
ings,  ribbons,  and  vestings  35  per  cent. 
Currants,  Zante,  or  other  1  c.  per  Ib. 
Diamonds  (cut),  cameos,  mosaics, 
gems,  pearls,  rubies,  and  other 
precious  stones  not  set  10  per  cent. 

Arkansas  

California  

Colorado  
Connecticut  
Dakota  

Delaware  .... 

Dolls  35  per  cent 

Dist.  of  Columbia... 
Florida  ..    . 

Embroideries,  of  cotton  or  wool....       35  per  cent! 

Georgia  

Feathers,  ostrich,  cock,  and  other 
ornamental  25  per  cent 

Idaho  

Illinois. 

Feathers  and  flowers,  artificial  and 
ornamental,  not  otherwise  pro 
vided  for  50  per  cent 

Indiana  
Iowa  

Kansas 

Figs  .  .     .                           2l/  c  per  Ib 

Kentucky  
Louisiana.  
Maine 

Fire-crackers,  in  boxes  of  40  packs, 
not  exceeding  80  to  the  pack  $1  per  box. 
Flax  linens,  valued  at  30  cents  or 
less  per  square  yard  35  per  cent 

Maryland  

Massachusetts  

Do.  valued  at  above  30  cents  per 
square  yard                                          40  per  cent 

Minnesota 

Do.    Burlaps,  and  like    manufac 
tures  of  flax,  jute,  or  hemp,  of 
which  either  shall  be  the  com 
ponent  of   chief  value    (except 

Mississippi  
Missouri  
Montana  

Nebraska 

Nevada  

New  Hampshire  
New  Jersey  

Do.  Duck,  canvas,  paddings,  cotton 
bottoms,  diapers,  crash,  hucka 
backs,  handkerchiefs  (not  hem 
med),  lawns,  or  other  manufac 
tures    of  flax,  jute,    or    hemp, 
valued  at  30    cents  or  less  per 
square  yard  35  per  cent 

New  Mexico  
New  York  

North  Carolina  
Ohio 

Ontario  (U.  Canada) 
Oregon  

Do.  valued  at  above  30  cents  per 
sqnare  yard  40  per  cent 

Pennsylvania  
Quebec  (L.  Canada) 
Rhode  Island  
South  Carolina.  
Tennessee  . 

Do.  Thread,  twine  and  pack-thread       40  per  cent. 
Do.  all  other  manufacture*  of  flax 
not  otherwise  provided  for  40  per  cent. 
Fruits  and  nuts  :  — 
Almonds,  not  shelled  6  c.  per  Ib. 
"         shelled  10  c.  per  Ib. 

Texas  

Virginia. 

Filberts  and  walnuts  3  c.  per  Ib. 
Prunes  1  c.  per  Ib. 

Washington  Tertry 
West  Virginia  

Raisins  2>£  c.  per  Ib. 
Furs,  and  manufactures  of  26  per  cent 

Glass-ware  :  — 
Porcelain,   Bohemian,    cut,   en 
graved,  painted,  colored,  printed, 
stained,  silvered,  or  gilded,  not 
including  plate-glass  silvered,  or 

Wisconsin  
Wyoming  

Tne  Uecent  Am< 
vised  Statu 

COMMODIT 

Ale,  porter,  and  beer 

Aniline  dyes  or  colo 

Animals,     living  — 
horses,  sheep,  etc 
Barley     . 

jricaii   Tariffs,    i 
tes,  Sec.  9491,  el 

IBS.                                  RA 

—in  bottles....      35 
in  casks  25 
f50 

under  Re- 
.  geq. 

PE   OF   DUTY. 

e.  per  gall, 
o.  per  gall, 
c.  per  Ib.  ) 
id  35  p.  c.  / 

per  cent. 
.  per  bush, 
per  cent, 
per  cent, 
per  cent, 
per  cent. 
c.  per  Ib. 

per  cent, 
per  cent. 

per  cent. 
3.  per  ton. 

per  doz. 
per  cent. 

•oar  so.  vd. 

Plate-glass,    cast,   polished,   not 
silvered,  above  24  by  30,  and  not 
above  24  by  60                                   25  c  per  sq  ft» 

Above  24  by  60  50  c  per  sq.  ft 

rs  lar 
cattle,     hogs, 
on 

Window-glass,   cylinder,  crown, 
or  common,  unpolished,  above  10 
by  15  and  not  above  16  by  24  2  c.  per  Ib. 
Above  16  by  24  and  not  above  24 
by  30                                                    2\4  c  per  Ib 

.     15  C 
25 
30 

Books  and  other  printed  matter.. 
Braids  of  straw 

Above  24  by  30  3  c  per  Ib. 

Brushes  

40 
30 
4 

45 

Manufactures  of,  not  otherwise 

Buttons  

Cheese  

Hats,  bonnets,  and  hoods,  straw....       40  per  cent. 

Hemp,  jute,  and  other  fibre  :— 
Bflgs,  cotton-bags,  and  bagging 
(except  bagging  for  cotton)  40  per  cent. 

China,  porcelain  and  parian  ware 
plain,  white,  and  not  decoratec 
in  any  manner  ,  

Do.  gilded,  ornamei 
rated  in  any  mann< 
Do.  other  earthen,  st 
ery  ware,  white,  g 
printed,   or   dippe 
colored 

ited  or  deco 
jr  

50 

, 
1 
40 
.      75  < 

*       12 
35 
i 
» 
.  5V«Cc. 

Jute  butts                                       ~         $6  per  ton 

3ne,  or  crock 
lazed,  edged 
i,    or    crean 

Manila,  India,  and  other  like  sub 
stitutes  for  hemp            825  per  ton. 

ndia  Rubber,  manufactures  of  :•— 

Coal,  bitumen,  and  shale  
Corsets  and  corset-cloth,  valued  a 
$6  per  dozen,  or  less  
Do.  valued  over  $6  per  dozen  
Cotton,    manufactures   of  —  plair 
bleached,  value  20  cents  or  less 
Mr  sauare  vard  

Braces,  webbing,  etc  35  per  cent, 
ron  and  steel,  manufactures  of:  — 
In  slabs,  blooms,  loops,  etc  35  per  cent. 
Pie-iron                                        •           $7  Pfir  ton. 

Manufactures  of  iron,  not  other 
wise  orovided  for  ....            35  per  cent 

TABULATED  HISTORY— AMERICAN  TARIFFS. 


87 


{50  c.  per  cu.) 
ft.  &  20  p.  c.  \- 
per  cu.  ft.   J 


COMMODITIES.  KATE  OF  DUTY. 

Iron  and  steel,  manufactures  oft- 
Steel,  and  manufactures  of  pen 
knives,  jack-knives  and  pocket- 
knives 60  per  cent 

All  other  cutlery.including  sword 

blades 35  per  cent. 

In  ingots,  bars,  coils,  sheets,  and 

steel-wire,  not  less  than  %  inch 

diameter,  valued  at  7  cents  per 

pound  or  less 2*4  c.  per  Ib. 

Valued  at  above  7  cents  and  not 

over  11  cents  per  pound 3  c.  per  Ib. 

Muskets,  rifles,  and  other  fire 
arms  35  per  cent. 

Railway  bar,  or  rails,  wholly  of 

steel 1%  c.  per  Ib. 

Man ufaclures  of  steel,  not  other 
wise  provided  for 45  per  cent. 

•Jewelry  of  gold,  silver,  or  other 

metal,  or  imitations  of. 25  per  cent. 

Lf»ad,  and  manufactures  of: — 

Pigs  and  bars,  and  molten 2  c.  per  Ib. 

Leather,  and  manufactures  of:— 

Calf-skins,  tanned,  or  tanned  and 

dressed 25  per  cent. 

Glove?,  of  kid  or  leather,  of  all 

descriptions 60  percent. 

Upper  leather  of  all  kinds,  and 

skins,  dressed  an4  finished,  of  all 

kinds,  not  otherwise  provided  for      20  per  cent. 

Manufactures  of?  and  articles  of 

leather,  or  of  which  leather  shall 

be  a  component  part,  not  other 
wise  provided  for 35  per  cent. 

Lemons  and  oranges 20  per  cent. 

Marble,  and  manufactures  of: 

Veined  and  all  other,  in  block, 

roughed  or  squared,  not  other 
wise  specified 

Mats  of  cocoa-nut,  china,  and  all 

other  floor-matting,  of  flags,  jute, 

or  grass 30  per  cent. 

Metal,  manufactures  of,  not  other 
wise  provided  for ...  35  per  cent. 

Musical  instruments 30  per  cent. 

Oils,  olive,  salad,  in  bottles  or  flasks       $1  per  gall. 

Opium $1  per  Ib. 

Opium  prepared  for  smoking $6  per  Ib. 

Paintings   and    statuary,    not   by 

American  artists 10  per  cent. 

Papier-mache,  manufactures,  arti- 

cle.a,  and  wares  of. 35  per  cent. 

Pickles,  sauces,  and  capers 35  per  cent. 

Rice,  cleaned 2^  c.  per  Ib. 

Salt,    in    bags,    sacks,  barrels,    or 

other  packages 12  c.  per  100  Ibs. 

Salt,  in  bulk 8  c.  per  100  Ibs. 

Sardines  and  anchovies,  packed  in 

oil  or  otherwise 4  c.  per  box. 

Seeds,  flaxs.  or  lius.  (56  Ibs.  to  bush.)     20  c.  per  bush. 
Silk  :— 

Braids,  laces,  fringes,  galloons, 

buttons,  and  ornaments,   dress 

and  piece  goods 60  per  cent. 

Velvets  60  per  cent. 

Ribbons 60  per  cent. 

Ribbons  (edge  of  cotton) 50  per  cent. 

Silk  manufactures  not  otherwise 

provided  for,  made  of  silk,  or  of 

which  silk  is  the  component  or 

chief  value 60  per  cent 

Manufactures  of,  which  have  as 

a  component  thereof  25  per  cent., 

or  over,  in  value  of  cotton,  flax, 

wool,  or  worsted 60  per  cent. 

Soda  caustic 1V4  c.  per  Ib. 

Soda  ash %  c.  per  Ib. 

Spices: 

Cassia,  and  Cassia  Vera 10  c.  per  Ib. 

Nutmegs 20  c.  per  Ib. 

Pepper,  black  and  white  grain  ...         5  c.  per  Ib. 
Spirits  and  wines : — • 

Brandy,  proof $2  per  gall. 


Cordials,   liqueurs,   arrack,    ab 
ch 


$2  per  gall. 


sinthe,  kirschwasser,  ratafia 

Spirits,  other,  manufactured  or 

distilled  from  grain 82  per  gall. 

Spirits,  other  (except    brandy), 
manufactured  or  distilled  from 

other  materials 82  per  gall. 

Cologne-wat^r  and  other  pe---  ( $:J  per  gall.  "| 
fumery,  of  which  alcohol  forms  <  and  50  per  c.  > 
the  principal  ingredient C  Per  8all>  ) 

26 


RATS  OF  DUTY. 

5  c.  plus  25 

per  cent. 

per  Ib. 

1H  c.  plus 

25  c.  per  Ib. 

1%  c.  plus 
25  p.  c.  p.  Ib. 
2  c.  plus  25 
p.  c.  per  Ib. 

2  c  per  Ib. 


COMMODITIES. 

Sugar  and  molasses : — 

Molasses 

Molasses  concentrated,  tank-bot 
toms,  .sirup  of  sugar-cane,   and 

roelado 

Sugar: 

All  not  above  No.  7  Dutch  standard 

Above  No.  7  and  not  above  No. 

10 

Above  No.  7  and  not  above  No.  10 

Above  No.  13  and  not  above  No.  /2%c.  plus  25) 

16 i  p.  c.  per  Ib.  j 

Tartar,  cream  of 10  c.  per  Ib. 

Tartar,  argols,  other  than  crude 6  c.  per  Ib. 

Tin,  plates  or  sheets 1 1-10  c.  per  Ib. 

Tobacco,  and  manufactures  of: — 

Leaf,  unmanufactured  and  not 

stemmed 35  c.  per  Ib. 

(82.50  per  Ib.) 

Cigars,  cigarettes,  and  cheroots..  <  and  25  p.  c.  > 
I       per  Ib.      J 

Toyg,  wooden  and  other 50  per  cent. 

Watches,  of  gold  or  silver 25  per  cent. 

Wines.  Champagne,  and  all  other 

sparkling,  in  bottles,  containing 

not  more  than  1  pint  each  and 

more  than  %  pint 

Wines,  Champagne,  and  all  other 

sparkling,  in  bottles,  containing 

not  more  than  1  quart  and  more 

than  1  pint dozens 

"  Still  wines,  in  casks galls. 

"  in  bottles,  containing  each  not 

more  than  1  quart  and  not  more 

than  1  pint doz.  bots.     $1.60  per  doz. 

Wood :  Boards,  planks,  deals,  and 


$3  per  dozen. 


86  per  doz. 
40  c.  per  gall. 


P 
Wo 


other  lumber..'. M.  ft.     82  per  M.  ft 

Manufactures  of,  not  otherwise 

rovided  for 35  per  cent 

bols,  hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat, 
etc. :  Raw  and  manufactured, 
Class  No.  1,  clothing  wool,  value 


Class  JNo.  1,  clothing  wool,  value 
32  cents  or  less  per  Ib lbs. 


10  c.  per  Ib. 
&  11  p.  c. 

10  c.  p.  " 

11  p.  c., 

10  per  c. 

12  c.  per  Ib.  > 
&10p.c.    v 


*•*•    f   ^»        9 

;.  p.  Ib.  &) 
>.  c.,  less  }• 
3  per  c.  ) 


Value  32  cents  or  less  per 
pound lbs. 

Value     over     32      counts      per 

Sund IDS. 
ass  No.  2,  value  over  32  cents  f 12  c.  per  Ib. » 

per  pound lbs.  \    &  10  p.  c.    / 

Class   No.  3,  carpet   and  other 

similar  wools,  valued  at  12  cents 

or  less  per  Ib lbs. 

Value      over      12      cents      per 

pound lbs. 

Carpets   and    carpetings  of    all 

kinds,  Aubusson  and  Axminster, 

and   carpets   woven   whole    for 

rooms sq.  yds. 

Brussels  carpet  wrought  by  Jac- 

quard  machine sq.  yd. 

Brussels   tapestry,   printed    on 

the  warp  or  otherwise sq.  yds. 

Patent  velvet  and  tapestry  vel 
vet,  printed  on  the  warp  or 

otherwise  sq.  yds. 

Dress  goods,  women  *nd  chil 
dren's,  and  real  or  imitation 

Italian  cloths,  valued  at  not  ex 
ceeding  20  cents  per  sq. 

yd sq.  yds. 

Valued  at  above   20  cents  per 

square  yd sq.  yds. 

"  Dress  goods,  women  and  chil 
dren's,  and  real  or  imitation 

Italian  cloths,  weighing  4  ounces 

and  over  per  square  yard lbs. 

14  Hosiery,  valued  at  above  80  f  50  c.  per  Ib. ) 

cents  per  pound lbs.   1    &  35  p.  c.    / 

Manufactures     not     otherwise 

specified,  valued    at    above   80 

cents  per  pound lbs. 

Wool  cloths lbs. 

*  a 

Cloths lbs. 

Clothing— articles  of  wear lbs.  -j 

,,       / 50  c.  per  Ib. 
Clothing— ready-made ~  lbs.  |  &  40  p.  c. 


3  c.  per  Ib. 
6  c.  per  Ib.  ^ 

50  per  cent. 

44  c.  per  sq. 
yd.  &35p.  c. 
28  c.  per  sq. 
yd.&35p.c. 

40  o.  per  aq. 
yd.  &  35  p.  c. 


6  c.  per  sq. 
yd.  &  35  p.  c. 


f  8  c.  per  sq. ) 
yd.&40p.c.j 

50  c.  per  Ib.  I 
&  35  p.  c. 


88 


AMERICAN  POLITICS. 


COMMODITIES. 

Wool,  manufactures  wholly  or  in 
part  of,  not  otherwise  provided 
for Ibs. 

"  Shawls,  woolen Ibs. 

"  Worsted,  etc.,  not  otherwise  pro 
vided  for Ibs. 


BATE  OF  DUTY. 

i  50  c.  per  Ib.' 
&  35  p.  c. 

"60  c.  per  Ib. 

&  35  p.  c. 
'50c.  per  Ib.' 

&  40  p.  c. 


COMMODITIES.  RATE  OF  DUTY. 

"  Webbings  leltings,  bindings,  (  ,.  ) 

braids,  galloons,  fringes,  cord-  •<  V™  :  •  V 

buttons,  etc Ibs!  (  &  50  p.  c  f 

"  Yarns,  valued  at  above  80  cents  /50  c.  per  lb.1 

per  pound Ibs.  \  &  50  p.  c.  j 

Zinc,  in  sheets 2%  c.  per  Ib. 


THE   CUSTOMS  TARIFF  OF   GREAT   BRITAIN. 

No  protective  duties  are  now  levied  on  goods  imported,  Customs  duties  being  charged  solely  for  the  sake 
of  revenue.  Formerly  the  articles  subject  to  duty  numbered  nearly  a  thousand ;  now  they  are  only  twen 
ty-two,  the  chief  being  tobacco,  spirits,  tea,  and  wine.  The  following  is  a  complete  list: 


ARTICLES.  Duty. 
£   s.  d. 
Ale  or  beer,  spec,  gravity  not  exceeding 

1065°,  per  bhl 080 

Ale  or  beer,  spec,  gravity  not  exceeding 

1090°,  per  bbl 0  11    0 

Ale  or  beer,  spec,  gravity  exceeding  1090°, 

per  bbl.... .:. .7. !  016    0 

Beer,  Mum,  per  bbl 110 

Beer,  spruce,  spec,  gravity  not  exceeding 

1190°,  per  bbl 110 

Beer,  spruce,  exceeding  1190°,  per  barrel..  140 

Cards,  playing,  per  doz.  packs 039 

Chickory  (raw  or  kiln-dried),  cwt- 0  13    3 

Chicory  (roasted  or  ground),  Ib 002 

Chloral  hydrate,  pound 013 

Chloroform,  pound 030 

Cocoa,  pound. 001 

Cocoa,  cwt.,  husks  and  shells 020 

Cocoa  paste  and  chocolate,  pound 002 

Coffee,  raw,  cwt 0  14    0 

Coffee,  kiln-dried,  roasted  or  ground,  per 

pound 002 

Collodion,  gallon 014 

Essence  of  spruce,  10  per  cent,  ad  valorem 

Ethyl,  iodide  of,  gallon 0  13    0 

Ether,  gallon 016 

Fruit,  dried,  cwt 070 


AETICLKS. 


gallon 

„  r,  gallon 

Plate,  gold,  ounce 

Plate,  silver,  ounce 

Spirits,  brandy,  Geneva,  rum,  etc.,  gallon. 

Spirits,  rum,  from  British  Colonies,  gallon 

Spirits,  cologne  water,  gallon 

Tea,  pound 

Tobacco,  unmanufactured,  Ib 

Tobacco,  containing  less  than  ten  per  ct. 
of  moisture,  Ib 

Cavendish  or  Negro  hoad 

Other  manufactured  tobacco 

Snuff,  containing  more  than  13  per  cent, 
of  moisture,  Ib 

Snuff,  less  than  13  per  cent,  of  moisture,  Ib. 

Tobacco,  cigars,  pound 

Varnish,  containing  alcohol,  gallon 

Vinegar,  gallon 

Wine,  containing  less  than  26°  proof  spi 
rit,  gallon 

Wine,  containing  more  than  26°  and  less 
than  42  spirit,  gallon 

Wine,  for  each  additional  degree  of 
strength  beyond  42°,  gallon 


Duty. 
£  s.  s. 
1  4  9 
0  10  5 
001 
0  17  0 
016 
0  10  5 
0  10  2 
0  16  6 
006 
0  31 


036 
046 
040 

039 
046 
060 
0  12  0 
003 

010 
026 
003 


PRESIDENTS    AND   VICE-PRESIDENTS. 


Term 


PRESIDENTS. 
Name. 


Qualified. 


Ulysses  8.  Grant March  4,1869 

22  "  "     March   4, 1873 

28       Rutherford  B.  Hayes March   5, 1877 

24       James  A.  Garfield March   4,  1881 

24a     Chester  A.  Arthur Oct.      20,1881 


VICE-PRESIDEETS. 
Name.  Qualified. 


*1       George  Washington April  30,1789 

2  "               "           March  4,1793 

3  John  Adams March  4,1797 

4  Thomas  Jefferson March  4, 1801 

5  "               "          March  4,1805 

6  James  Madison March   4,1809 

7  "      March  4,1813 

8  James  Monroe March  4, 1817 

9  "           "      March  5,1821 

10  John  Q.  Adams March    4,1825 

11  Andrew  Jackson March  4,1829 

12  "              "        March  4,1833 

13  Martin  Van  Buren March  4,1837 

14  Wm.  H.  Harrison March  4,1841 

14a     John  Tyler April  6,1841 

15  James  K.  Polk March  4,1845 

16  Zachary  Taylor March  6, 1849 

16a     Millard  Fillmore July  10, 1850 

17  Franklin  Pierce March  4, 1853 


18  James  Buchanan March   4,1857 

19  Abraham  Lincoln March   4,1861 

20  "         March    4, 1865 

BOa     Andrew  Johnson April    15,1865 

21 


John  Adams. 


George 


June  3, 1789 

"  " Dec.  2,1793 

Thomas  Jefferson March  4, 1797 

Aaron  Burr March  4,  1801 

Clinton March  4,  18^5 

March  4,1809 

Elbridge  Gerry March  4,  1813 

John  Gaillard Nov.  25,1814 

Daniel  D.  Tompkins March  4,1817 

"  March  5,1821 

John  C.  Calhoun March  4, 1825 

"  ««  March  4,  1829 

Martin  Van  Buren March  4, 1SS3 

Richard  M.  Johnson March  4,1837 

John  Tyler March  4.  1MI 

fSamuel  L.  Southard April  6,1841 

•j-Willie  P.  Mangum May  31. 1842 

George  M.  Dallas March  4,1845 

Millard  Fillmore March  5,1849 

tWilliam  R.  King July  11, 1850 

William  R.  King Maroh  4, 1853 

fDavid  R.  Atrhison April  18,1853 

tJes*e  D  Bright Dec.  5,1*54 

John  C.  Breckinridge March  4,1857 

Hannibal  Hamlin March  4,  18(11 

Andrew  Johnson March  4, 1865 

{Lafayette  S.  Foster April  15, 18G5 

fBenjamin  F.  Wade March  2, 1867 

Schuyler  Colfax March  4, 18C9 

Henry  Wilson March  4, 1873 

fThomas  W.  Ferrv Nov.  22.  1875 

William  A.  Wheeler March  5,1877 

Chester  A.  Arthur March  4'  1881 

fThomas  F.  Bayard Oct.  12,1881 

fDavid  Davis Oct.  13, 1881 


*The  figures  in  this  column  mark  the  terms  held  by  the  Presidents. 
\  Acting  Vice-President  and  President  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate, 


TABULATED   HISTORY— POPULAR  VOTE. 


89 


SUMMARY  OP  POPULAR  AND  ELECTORAL  VOTES  IN  PRESIDENTIAL 
ELECTIONS,  1789-1880. 


o 

KH 

Number  of 

States. 

Total 
Elect.  Vote. 

Party. 

Candidates. 

1 

03 

Popular  Vote. 

Elect.  Vole. 

1769 

[   1792 
1796 

isoa 

10 

15 
16 

16 

73 

135 
138 

138 

George  Washington 

CS 
?4 
9 

6 
6 
4 
3 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
4 

132 
77 
50 
4 
1 
3 

71 
68 
59 
30 
15 
11 
7 
5 
3 
2 
2 
2 
1 

73 
73 
65 
64 
1 

John  Adams  

John  Jay  

R  R.  Harrison  

John  Rutledge  

John  Hancock  

George  Clinton 

Samuel  Huutington  . 

John  Milton         

* 

James  Armstrong  

Edward  Telfair  

Federalist  

George  Washington  

Federalist  

George  Clinton  

Thomas  Jefferson 

Republican  

Federalist  

John  Adams 

Republican.....  

Thomas  Jefferson  
Thomas  Pinckney 

Federalist  ..  .  .         

Republican  

Aaron  Burr  

Samuel  Adams 

Oliver  Ellsworth 

* 

John  Jay 

John  Henry    

Charles  C  Pinckney  .  ... 

Republican  

Republican  

Aaron  Burr           

Federalist  

Federalist  

Federalist  

John  Jay  

8' 

>** 

V-i 

o 
«  •/ 

11 

3» 

'£< 

s 

_  0 

*> 

5  -a 

^i 
S 

Party. 

For  President. 

n 
2 
2 
03 

15 
2 

12 

Popular 
Vote. 

Elect.  Vote. 

For  Vice-President."? 

Elect.  Vote. 

1804 
1808 

1812 
1816 

1820 
1824 

21 
17 

18 
19 

24 
24 

170 
176 

218 
221 

235 
261 

Republican  

Thomas  Jefferson  
Chas.  C.  Pinckney  

James  Madison  

;:z"'.y.r. 

162 
14 

122 
6 
47 

George  Clinton  
Rufus  King  

George  Clinton  
James  Madison  

162 
14 

113 
3 

4T 
9 
3 

1 

131 
86 

1 

183 
22 
5 
4 
3 
4 

218 
8 
4 

1 
1 
3 

182 
30 
24 
13 
9 
2 
1 

Federalist  

Republican  

George  Clinton 

Federalist  

Chas.  C  Pinckney  

5 



Rufus  King  

1 

Tames  Monroe  

Vacancy 

1 

James  Madison  
De  Witt  Clinton 

11 

7 



128 
89 
1 

Elbridge  Gerry  
Jared  Ingersoll  

Federalist        

Republican  

James  Monroe  

16 
q 

183 
34 

D.  D.  Tornpkins  
John  E.  Howard  
James  Ross  

l 

John  Marshall.  

Robt  G.  Harper  

4 

Republican  .       . 

James  Monroe  

24 



231 
1 

D.  D.  Tompkins...  .... 
Rich.  Stockton  
Daniel  Rodney  
Robt.  G.  Harper..  
Richard  Rush  









••*ji  *.  

T 

Republican.. 

Andrew  Jackson  
J^hn  Q  Adam" 

10 
8 
3 
3 

155,872 
105,321 
144,282 
46,587 

99 
84 
41 
27 

::::: 

John  C.  Calhoun  
Nathan  Sanford  
Nathaniel  Macon  
Andrew  Jackson  ».. 
Vf.  Van  Buren  
Henry  Clay  ~. 

Repuhlic  in. 

Republican  

Wm.  H  Crawford  
Henry  Clay  

RfipubMcan  

Vacancy  

90 


AMERICAN  POLITICS. 


SUMMARY  OP  POPULAR  AND  ELECTORAL  VOTES.— [Continue 


u 

1 

1828 
1832 

1836 
1840 

1844 
1848 
1852 
1856 
1860 

1864 
1868 
1872 

1876 
1880 

Number  of  ; 
States. 

0) 

__  ("o 

B  -»i 

S 

Party. 

For  President. 

States.. 

Popular 
Vote. 

"o 

For  Vice-  President. 

1 

8 

3 

24 
24 

26 
26 

26 
30 
31 
31 
33 

36 
37 
37 

38 
38 

261 

288 

294 
294 

275 
290 
296 
296 
303 

314 
317 
366 

369 
369 

Democratic  
Nat.  Republican  

Andrew  Jaoksou  
John  Q.  Adams  

15 

9 

647,231 
509,097 

178 
83 

John  C.  Calhotni  .     .    . 

171 
7 

189 
49 
7 
11 
30 
2 

147 

77 
47 
23 

Richard  R  sh 

William  Smilh 

Democratic  
Nat.  Republican  

Andrew  Jackon  

15 
7 
1 
1 

687,502 
5:  JO,  189 
33,108 

219 
49 
7 
11 

M.  Van  Buren  

John  Sergeant 

Henry  Clay  

William  Wirt 

e   . 

Henry  Lee..              .  . 

William  Wilkin* 

Vacancies  

Martin  Van  Buren  
Wm   H  Harrison 

15 
T 
2 
1 
1 

19 
7 

""761,549 
I    736,656 

1,275,017 
1,128,702 
7,059 

2 

170 
73 
26 
14 
11 

234 

60 

Democratic  

Whig 

R.  M.  Johnson  

Hugh  L.  White  
Daniel  Webster  
W  P   Mangum 

John   Tvler        

William  Smilh 

Whig         

Wm.  H.  Harrison  
Martin  Van  Buren  
James  G.  Birney  

John  Tyler 

234 
48 
...... 

1 

170 

105 

103 
127 

2T>4 
42 

Democratic  

R.  M.  Johnson  

Liberty 

i    w  Tazewell 

James  K.  Polk  

Democratic  
Whig  „  

James  K.  Polk  
Henry  Clay  

15 
11 

15 

15 

27 
4 

19 
11 
1 

17 
11 
2 
3 

22 
3 

1,337,243 

1,299,008 
62,300 

1.3CO,10i 
1,220^44 
291,203 

1601,474 
1,386,578 
156,149 

1,838,169 
1,341.204 
874,534 

1,860,352 
845,763 
1,375,157 
589,581 

2,216,007 
1,808,725 

170 
105 

Geo  M  Dallas 

T.  Frelinghuysen  

Liberty  ... 

James  G.  Birney  

Whig  

103 
127 

254 
42 

174 
114 

8 

180 
72 
12 
39 

212 
21 
81 

Millard  Fillmore  ... 

Democratic  
Free  Soil     .  ... 

Lewis  Cass  

Wm.  O.  Butler  
Chas.  F.  Adams  

Wm.  R  King        

Martin  Van  Buren  

Franklin  Pierce  

Winfield  Scott 

Democratic....,  
Whig 

Free  Democracy  

John  P.  Hale  

Geo.  W.  Julian  

James  Buchanan  
John  C.  Fremont  
Millard  Fillmore  

Abraham  Lincoln  

J.  C.  BreckinrMge  
Wm.  L.  Dayton  
A.  J   Donelson 

174 
114 
8 

180 
72 
12 
39 

212 

11 

214 

80 
23 

286 
47 

Republican  

American 

Republican  

Hannibal  Hamlin  

J.  C.  Breckinndge  

Joseph  Lane 

H  V  John«on 

"Const.  Union"  

Republican.'  
Democratic  

John  Bell  

Edward  Everett  

Abraham  Lincoln...  
Geo.  B.  McClellan  
Vacancies*          . 

Andrew  Johnson  

Geo.  H.  Pendleton...  . 

Republican  

Ulysses  S.  Grant  
Horatio  Seymour  

26 
8 
3 

3,015,071 
2,709,613 

214 

80 
23 

Schuvler  Colfax  
F  P  Blair  Jr 

Republican    

Ulysses  S.  Grant  
Horace  Greeley  
Chas.  O'Conor  
James  Biaok. 

31 

6 

3,597,070 
2.834,079 
29.408 
6,608 

286 

"'42 
18 
2 
1 

Henry  Wilson  ..       

Dem.  and  Lib.  Rep... 
Democratic  

B  Gratz  Brown 

John  Q.  Adams  T.. 

A.  H.  Colquite  
lohn  M.  Palmer  
Geo.  W.  Juiian  

6 
3 
5 
3 
1 
1 
1 
14 

185 

184 

T.  A.  Hendricks  

B.  Grata  Brown  

Chas  J  Jenkins 

T.  E.  Bramlette  
W.  S.  Groesbeck  
Willis  B.  Machen  
N  P   Banks  

.  ..         ...... 

Not  counted  1 

17 

Republican  

R.  B.  Haves            ........ 

21 
17 

4,033,950 

4,284.885 
81,740 
9,522 

4,442,9.50 
4,442,035 
306,867 
12,576 

185 
184 

214 
155 

Wm.  A.  Wheeler  
T.  A.  Hendricks  

S  F  Cary 

Democratic  

S.  J  Tilden 

"Greenback"  
"Prohibition"  

Republican  
Democratic  
"Greenback"  

Peter  Cooper  
Green  C  Smith 

R.  T.  Stewart  

James  A.  Garfield  
W.  S.  Hancock,  
James  B.  Weaver  
Scattering  

19 
19 

Chester  A.  Arthur  
Wm.  H.  English  

214 
155 

*Not  voting— Alabama,  Arkansas,  Florida,  Georgia.  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  Tennessee,  Texas,  and  Virginia. 

t  Not  voting— Mississippi,  Texas,  and  Virginia. 

t Seventeen  votes  rejected,  viz.:  3  from  Georgia  for  Horace  Greeley  (dead),  and  8  from  Louisiana,  and 
6  from  Arkansas  for  U.  S.  Grant    ' 


TABULATED   HISTORY— CABINET  OFFICERS. 


91 


CABINET    OFFICERS  OF  THE  ADMINISTRATIONS. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  President. 
I.  and  II. ;  1789-1797. 

Secretary  of  State,  Thomas  Jefferson,  Virginia, 
September  2(5th,  17*9  ;  Edmund  Randolph,  Virginia, 
January  2d,  1791;  Timothy  Pickering.  Pennsylvania, 
December  lOtn,  1795.  Secretary  of  Treasury,  Alex 
ander  Hamilton,  New  York,  September  llth,  1789; 
Oliver  Wolcott,  Connecticut,  February  2d,  1795. 
Secretary  of  War,  Henry  Ivnox,  Massachusetts, 
September  12th,  1789;  Timothy  Pickering,  Penn 
sylvania,  January  2d,  1795;  James  McHenry,  Mary 
land,  January  27th,  1796.  Attorney  General,  Edmund 
Randolph,  Virginia,  S-ptemher  2(ith,  1789;  William 
Bradford,  Pennsylvania,  January  27th,  1794 ;  Charles 
Lee,  Virginia,  December  10th,  1795.  Postmaster- 
General*  Samuel  Osgood,  Massachusetts,  Septem 
ber  26th,  1789;  Timotny  Pickering,  Pennsylvania, 
August  12th,  1791 ;  Joseph  Habersham,  Georgia, 
February  25th,  1795. 

JOHN  ADAMS,  President. 
III.;  1797-1801. 

Secretary  of  State,  Timothy  Pickering,  continued; 
John  Marshall,  Virginia,  May  13th,  1800.  Secretary 
of  Treasury,  Oliver  WolcoU.  continued;  Samuel 
Dexter,  Massachusetts,  January  1st,  1801.  Secretary 
of  War,  James  McHenry,  continued;  Samuel  Dex 
ter,  Massachusetts,  May  13th,  l&X);  Roger  Griswold, 
Connecticut,  February  3d,  1801.  Secretary  of  tfaoy,^ 
George  Cabot,  Massachusetts,  May  3d,  1798;  Benja 
min  Stoddert,  Maryland,  May  21st,  1798.  Attorney- 
General,  Charles  Lee,  continued;  Theophilus  1'ar- 
eons,  Massachusetts,  February  20th,  1801.  Post 
master-General,  Joseph  Haberisham,  continued. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  President. 
IV.  and  V. ;  1801-1809. 

Secretary  nf  State,  James  Madison,  Virginia,  March 
6th,  1801.  Secretary  of  Treasurn,  Samuel  D-xter, 
continued;  Albert  Gallatin,  Pennsylvania,  May  14th, 
1801.  Secretary  of  War,  Henry  Dearborn,  Massachu 
setts.  March  5th,  1801.  Secretary  of  Navy,  Benjamin 
Stoddart,  con;inued;  Robert  Smith,  Maryland,  July 
15th,  1801 ;  Jac  ->b  Crowninshield,  Massachusetts,  May, 
3d,  18<>5.  Attorney-General.  Levi  Lincoln,  Massa 
chusetts.  March  5th,  1801;  Robert  Smith,  Maryland, 
March  3d,  1805;  John  Breckinridg*,  Kentucky, 
August  7th,  1805;  Caesar  A.  Rodney,  Pennsylvania 
January  20th,  1807.  Postmaster-General,  Joseph 
Habersham,  continued ;  Gideon  Granger,  Connecti 
cut,  November  28th,  1801. 

JAMES  MADISON,  President. 
VI.  and  VII. ;  1809-1817. 

Secretary  of  State,  Robert  Smith,  Maryland,  March 
6th,  1809;"  James  Monroe,  Virginia,  April  2d,  1811. 
Secretary  of  Treasury,  Albert  Gallatin,  continued; 
Georgfi  W.  Campbell,  Tennessee,  February  9th, 
1814;  A.  J.  Dallas,  Pennsylvania,  October  6th,  1814; 
William  H.  Crawford,  Georgia,  October  22d,  1816. 
Secretary  of  War,  William  Eustis,  Massachusetts, 
March  7th,  1809;  John  Armstrong,  New  York,  Janu 
ary  13th,  1813;  James  Monroe,  Virginia,  September 
27th,  1814;  William  H.  Crawford,  Georgia,  August 
1st,  1815.  Secretary  of  N'ivy,  Paul  Hamilton,  South 
Carolina,  March  7th,  1809;  William  Jones,  Pennsyl- 
,vania,  January  12th,  1813;  B.  W.  Cro*-ninshield, 
'Massachusetts,  December  19th,  1814.  Attorney-Gen 
era',  C.  A.  Rodney,  continued;  William  Pinckney, 
Maryland,  December  llth,  1811;  Richard  Rush, 
Pennsylvania,  February  10th,  18U.  Pnstmnster-Gen- 
eral  Gideon  Granger,  continued ;  Return  J.  Meigs, 
Ohio,  March  17th,  1814. 


*Nota  Cabinet  officer,  huf  a  subordinate  of  the 
Treasury  Department  until  1829. 

fNav'il  affairs  were  under  the  control  of  the  Sec 
retary  of  War  until  a  separate  Navy  Department  was 
organized  by  Act  of  April  30th,  1798.  Ttie  Acts 
organizing  the  other  Departments  were  of  the  fol 
lowing  dates:  State,  September  15th,  1789;  Treasury, 
September  2d,  178'J;  War,  August  7th,  17S9.  The 
Attorney-General's  duties  were  regulated  by  the 
Judiciary  Act  of  September  24th.  1789. 


JAMES  MONBOE,  President. 
VIII.  and  IX. ;  1817-1825. 

Secretary  of  State,  John  Quincy  Adams,  Mas°achu» 
setts,  March  5th,  1817.  Secretary  of  Trensun;,  Wil 
liam  H.  Crawford,  continued.  Secretary  of  'War, 
George  Graham,  Virginia,  April  7th,  1817;  John  C. 
Calhoun,  South  Carolina,  October  8th,  1817.  Secretary 
of  Navy,  B.  W.  Crowninshield,  continued;  Smith 
Thompson,  New  York,  November  9  h,  1818:  John 
Rogers,  Massachusetts,  September  1st,  1823;  Samuel 
L.  Southard,  New  Jersey,  September  Kith,  18M3. 
Attorney-General,  Richard  Kush,  continued ;  William 
Wirt,  Virginia,  November  13th,  1817.  Postmaster* 
General,  R.  J.  Meigs,  continued;  John  McLean, 
Ohio,  June  26th,  1823. 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS,  President. 
X.;  1825-1829. 

Secretary  of  State,  Henry  Clay,  Kentucky,  March 
7th,  1825.  'Secretary  of  Treasury,  Richard  Rush, 
Pennsylvania,  March  7th,  1825.  Secretary  of  War, 
James  Barbour,  Virginia,  March  7th,  1825;  Peter  B. 
Porter,  New  York,  May  26th  1828.  Secretary  of  Navy, 
S.  L.  Southard,  continued.  Attorney-General,  William 
Wirt,  continued.  Postmaster-General,  John  McLean, 
continued. 

ANDREW  JACKSON,  President. 
XI.  and  XII. ;  1829-1837. 

Secretary  of  State,  Martin  Van  Buren,  New  York, 
March  6th,  1829;  Edward  Li»ingston,  Louisiana, 
May  24th,  1831 ;  Louis  MeLane*,  Delaware,  M  <y  29th, 
1833 ;  John  Forsyth,  Georgia  June  27th,  1834.  Se^re- 
tary  of  Treasury,  Samuel  D.  Ingham,  Pennsylvania, 
March  6th,  1 829;  Louis  McLaae,  Delaware,  August 
8th,  1831;  William  J,  Duane,  Pennsylvania,  May 
29th,  1833;  Roger  B.  Taney,  Maryland,  September 
23d,  1833;  Levi  Woodbury,  New  Hampshire,  June 
27th,  1834.  Secretary  of  War,  John  H.  Eaton.  Ten 
nessee,  March  9th,  1829;  Lewis  Cass,  Michigan, 
August  1st,  1831;  Benjamin  F  Butler,  New  York, 
March  3d,  1837.  Secretary  of  Navy,  John  Branch, 
North  Carolina,  March  9th,  1829;  Levi  Woodbury, 
New  Hampshire,  May  23d,  1831;  Mahlon  Dickersoa, 
New  Jersey,  June  30th,  1834.  Attorneu-Generat,  John 
M.  Berrien,  Georgia.  March  9th.  1829;  Roger  B. 
Taney,  Maryland,  July  20th,  1831;  Benjamin  F. 
Butler,  New  York,  November  loth,  1833.  P >stmaster~ 
Genera!,,  William  T.  Barry,  Kentucky,  Blaroh  9th, 
1823f;  Amos  Kendall,  Kentucky,  May  1st,  1835. 

MARTIN  VAN  BUREN,  President. 

XIII.;  1837-1841. 

Secretary  of  State,  John  Forsyth,  continued.  Secre- 
tary  of  Treasury,  Levi  Woodbury.  continued.  Secre 
tory  of  War,  Joel  R.  Poin sett.  South  Carolina.  March 
7th,  1837.  Secretary  of  Navy,  Mahlon  Diokerson, 
continued;  James 'K.  Paulding,  New  York,  June 
25th,  1838.  Attorney-General,  Benjamin  F.  Butler; 
Felix  Grundy,  Tennessee,  July  5th,  1838  ;  Henry  D. 
Gilpin,  Pennsylvania.  January  llth,  1810.  Post 
master  Genera/,  Amos  Kendall,  continued;  John  M. 
Niles,  Connecticut,  May  19th,  1840. 

WM.  H.  HARRISON  AND  JOHN  TYLEU,  Presidents. 
XIV.;  1841-1845. 

Secretary  of  State,  Daniel  Webster,  Massachusetts, 
March  5th, '1841 ;  Hueh  S.  Legar«,  South  Carolina, 
May  9th,  1843;  A.  P  Up«hur,  Virginia,  July  24th, 
1843;  John  C.  Calhoun,  South  Carolina,  March  6'h, 
1844.  Secretary  of  Treasury,  Thomas  Ewing,  Ohio, 
March  5th,  Wl;  Waller' Forward,  Pennsylvania, 
September  13th,  1841 ;  John  C.  Spencer,  New  York, 
March  3d,  1843;  George  M.  Bibb,  Kentucky.  June 
15th,  1844.  Secretary  of  War,  John  Bell,  Tonnes -ee, 
March  fith,  1841 ;  John  McLean,  Ohio,  September 
13th,  1841 ;  J  >hn  C.  Spencer,  New  York.  October 
12th,  1841;  James  M.  Porter,  Pennsylvania,  March 
8th,  1843;  William  Wilkins,  Pennsylvania,  Feb 
ruary  15th,  1844.  Secretary  of  Navy,  G.  E.  Baderer, 
North  Carolina,  March  5th,  18 U  ;  A.  P.  Upshur,  Vir 
ginia,  September  13th,  1S41  :  D.ivid  Hensha\y,  Mas 
sachusetts,  July  24th,  1843;  T.  W.  Gilmer,  Virginia, 
February  15th,  1844:  John  Y.  Ma=<on,  Virginia, 
March  14th,  1844.  Attorney-General,  John  J.  Critton- 
den,  Kentucky,  March  *th.  mi  :  Hugh  S.  Legare, 
South  Carolina,  September  13th.  mi;  John  Nelson, 
Maryland,  Julv  1st.  1843.  Postmaster-General.  Fran 
cis  Gratieer.  Now  York,  Mar^h  fith,  1841  :  Charles  A. 
Wickliffe,  Kentucky,  September  13th,  1841. 


92 


AMERICAN  POLITICS. 


JAMES  K.  POLK,  PRESIDENT. 
XV.;  1845-1849. 

Secretary  of  StateJJ&mes  Buchanan,  Pennsylvania 
March  6th,  1845.  Secretary  of  Treasury,  Robert  J 
Walker,  Mississippi,  March  6th,  1845.  Secretary  oj 
War,  William  L.  Marcy,  New  York,  March  Gth,  1845 
Secretary  of  Navy,  Gsorge  Bancroft,  Massachusetts 
March  10th,  1845;  John  Y.  Mason,  September  9th, 
3846.  Attorney-General,  John  Y.  Mason,  Virginia, 
March  5th,  1845 ;  Nathau  Clifford,  Maine,  October 
17th,  1846.  Postmaster- General,  Cave  Johnson,  Ten 
nessee,  March  Gth,  1845. 

ZACHARY  TAYLOR  AND  MILLARD  FIU.MORE,  Presidents 

XVI. ;  1849-1853. 

Secretary  of  State,  John  M.  Clayton,  Delaware, 
March  7th,  1840;  Daniel  Webster,  Massachusetts, 
July  22d,  1850;  Edward  Everett,  Massachusetts, 
December  6th,  W52.  Secretary  of  Treasury,  W.  M. 
Meredith,  Pennsylvania,  March  8th,  1349  ;'  Thomas 
Corwin,  Ohio,  July  23d,  1850.  Secretary  of  War, 
George  W.  Crawford,  Georgia,  March  8th,  1849; 
Winfield  Scott  (ad  interim),  July  23d,  1850  ;  Charles 
M.  Conrad,  Louisiana,  August  15th,  1850.  Secretary 
of  Navy,  William  B.  Preston,  Virginia,  March  8th, 
1849;  William  A.  Graham,  North  Carolina,  July  22d, 
1850;  J.  P.  Kennedy,  Maryland,  July  22d,  1852.  Sec 
retary  of  Interior,  Thoma*  H.  Ewing,  Ohio,  March 
8th,  1849;  A.  H.  H.  Stuart,  Virginia,  September  12th, 
1850.  Attorney  General,  Reverdy  Johnson,  Mary 
land,  March  8th,  1S49 ;  John  J.  Crittenden.  Kentucky, 
July  22d,  1850.  Potitmaster-Gsneral,  Jacob  Col  lamer, 
Vermont,  March  8th,  1849;  Nathan  K.  Hall,  New 
York.  July  23d,  1850;  S.  D  Hubbard,  Connecticut, 
August  31st,  1852. 

FBANKUN  PIERCE,  President. 

XVII.;  1853-1857. 

Secretary  of  State,  William  L.  Marcy,  New  York, 
March  7th,  1853.  Secretary  of  Treasury,  James 
Gntlrifl,  Ken  ucky,  March  7th,  1853.  Secretary 
of  War,  Jetterson  Davis  Mississippi,  March  7th, 
18->3.  Secretary  of  Navy,  James  C.  Dobbin, 
North  Carolina,  March  7th,  1853.  Secretary  of 
Interior,  Robert  McClelland,  Michigan,  March  7th, 
1853;  Jacob  Thompson,  Mississippi,  March  Gth,  1856. 
A  ",->r  net/- General,  Caleb  Gushing,  Massachusetts, 
March  7th,  1853.  Postmaster- General,  James  Camp- 
tell,  Pennsylvania,  March  7th,  1853. 

JAMES  BUCHANAN,  President. 

XVIII.;  18571861. 
Secretary  of  State,  Lewis  Cass,  Michigan,  March 
6th,  1857  ;'J.  S.  Black,  Pennsylvania,  December  17th, 
I860.  Secretary  of  Treasury,  Howell  Cobb,  Georgia, 
March  6th,  1857;  Philip  F.  Thomas,  Maryland, 
December  Hth,  1860;  John  A.  Dix,  New  York,  Janu 
ary  1  Itn.  1861.  Secretary  of  War,  John  B.  Floyd,  Vir 
ginia,  March  6th,  1857;  Joseph  Holt.  Kentucky, 
Jail  nary  I8th,1861.  Secretary  of  Navy,  Isaac  Touc«y, 
Connecticut,  March  Gth,  1857.  Secretary  of  Interior 
Jneob  Thompson,  continued.  Attorney-General,  J.  S. 
Biaek,  Pennsylvania,  March  6th,  1857;  E.  M.  Stan- 
t"  i,  Pennsylvania,  December 20th,  1800.  Postmaster- 
G''wrai,  Aaron  V.  Brown,  Tennessee,  March  6th, 
1;:.>7;  Joseph  Holt,  Kentucky,  March  14th,  1859; 
Horatio  King,  Maine,  February  12th,  1861. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOIN  AND  ANDREW  JOHNSON,  Presidents. 

XIX.  and  XX.;  1881-1869. 

&crcf/try  of  State,  William  H.  Sevvard,  New  York, 
March  5th,  1861.  Secrstary  of  Treasury,  S.  P.  Chase» 
Ohi.->,  March  5th,  18  ;l ;  W.  P.  Fessenden,  Maine, 
July  1st,  1864;  Hugh  McCulloch,  Indiana,  March 
7th,  1865.  Secretary  of  War,  Simon  Cameron,  Penn 
sylvania,  March  5th,  1861 ;  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Penn 


sylvania,  January  15th,  18<52;  U.S  Grant  (ad  interim), 
August  I2tn,  1867:  Edwin  M.  Stanton  (reinstated), 
January  14th,  1868;  J.  M.  Schotield;  Illinois,  May 
28th,  1868.  Secretary  of  Navy,  Gideon  Welles  Con 
necticut,  March  5th.  1861.  Secretary  of  Interior, 
Caleb  P.  Smith,  March  5th,  1861 ;  John  P.  Usher,  In 
diana.  January  8th,  1803;  James  Harlan,  Iowa,  May 
15th,  1885;  O.  H.  Browning,  Illinois,  July  27th,  ISGG. 
Attorney -General,  Edward  Bates,  Missouri,  March 
5th,  1861;  Titian  J.  Coffee,  June  22d,  1863;  James 
Speed,  Kentucky,  December  2d.  1S64;  Henrv  Stan- 
bery,  Ohio,  July  23d,  1866;  William  M.  Evarts,  New 
York,  July  15th,  1868.  Postmaster-General,  Mont 
gomery  Blair,  Maryland,  March  5th,  1861 ;  William 
Denmson,  Ohio,  September  24th,  18C4;  Alexander 
W.  Kandall,  Wisconsin,  July  25th,  1836. 

ULYSSES  S.  GRANT,  President. 

XXI.  and  XXII.;  1869-1877. 

Secretary  of  State,  E.  B.  Washburne,  Illinois, 
March  5th,  1869  ;  Hamilton  Fish,  New  York,  March 
llth,  1839.  Secretary  of  Treasury,  George  S.  Boutwell, 
Massachusetts,  March  lith,  1869;  William  A.  Rich 
ardson,  Massachusetts,  March  17th,  1873;  Benjamin 
H.  Bristow,  Kentucky,  June  2d,  1874;  Lot  M.  Mor- 
rill,  Maine,  June  21st,  1876  Secretary  of  War,  John 
A.  Rawlins,  Illinois.  March  llth,  1869;  William  T. 
Sherman,  Ohio,  September  9th,  1869;  William  W. 
Belknap,  Iowa  October  25th,  1869  ;  Alphonso  Taft, 
Ohio,  March  8th,  1876;  J.  D.  Cameron,  Pennsylvania, 
May  22d,  1876.  Secretary  of  Navy,  Adolph  E.  Borie, 
Pennsylvania.  March  5th,  1869;  George  M.  Robeson, 
New  Jersey,  June  25th.  1869.  Secretary  of  Interior, 
Jacob  D.  Cox,  Ohio,  March  5th,  1869;  Columbus 
Delano.  Ohio,  November  1st,  1870 ;  Zachariah  Chan 
dler,  Michigai,Octoher  19th,  1875.  Attorney  General, 
E.  R.  Hoar," Massachusetts,  March  5th,  1869;  Amos 
T.  Akerman,  Georgia,  June  23d,  1870;  George  H. 
Williams,  Oregon,  December,  14th,  1871;  Edwards 
Pi'M-repont,  New  York,  April  26th,  1875;  Alphonso 
Taft.  Ohio,  May  22d,  1876.  Postmaster- General,  J.  A. 
J.  Creswell,  Maryland,  March  5th,  186!);  Mar-hall 
Jewell,  Connecticut,  August  24th,  1874;  James  M. 
Tyner,  Indiana,  July  12th,  1876. 

RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES,  President. 

XXIII. ;  1877-1881. 

Secretary  of  State,  William  M.  Evarts,  New  York, 
March  l-2th,'l877.  Secretary  of  Treasury,  John  Sher 
man,  Ohio,  March  8th,  1877.  Secretary  of  Wnr,  George 
W.  McCrary,  Iowa,  March  12th,  1877;  Alexander 
Ramsey,  Minnesota.  December  12th,  1879.  Secretary 
of  Navn,  Richard  W.  Thompson,  Indiana,  March 
12th,  1877;  Nathan  Goff,  Jr.,  West  Virginia,  January 
Gth,  1881.  Secretary  of  Interior,  Cur]  Schurz,  Mis- 
«<ouri,  March  12th,  1877.  Attorney-General,  Charles 
Devon*,  Massachusetts,  March  12th,  1877.  Post 
master-General,  David  M.  Key,  Tennessee,  Match 
12th,  1877;  Horace  Maynard,  Tennessee,  August 
25th,  1880. 

JAMES  A.  GARFIKLD  AND  CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR. 

Presidents. 
XXIV. ;  1881-1885. 

Secretary  of  State,  James  G.  Elaine,  Maine.  March 
5th,  1881 ;  Frederick  T.  Frelinghuysen,  New  Jersey, 
December  12th,  1881.  Secretary  of 'Treasury,  William 
H.  Windom,  Minnesota,  March  5th,  1881;  Charles  J. 
Folger.  New  York,  October  '27th,  1881.  Secretary  oj 
War,  Robert  T.  Lincoln,  Illinois,  March  5th,  1881. 
Secretary  of  Navy,  W.  H.  Hunt,  Louisiana.  March 
5th,  J881.  Secretary  of  Interior,  S.  J.  Kirkwood, 
Iowa,  March  5th,  1881.  Attorney- General,  Wayne 
VlacVeagh,  Pennsylvania.  March  5th,  1881 ;  Benja 
min  H.  Brewster,  Pennsylvania,  December  16th, 
1881.  Postmaster-General,  Thomas  L.  James,  New 
York,  March  5th,  1881;  Timothy  0.  Howe,  Wiscon- 
sin,  December  2()th,  1881, 


FOItEIGN  IMMIGRATION  SINCE  18TO,  BY  FISCAL  YEARS.— Official. 


Years. 

Number. 

Years. 

Number. 

Years. 

Number. 

1S70  

387  203 

1874 

313,339 

1878  

138,469 

K~t 

321  350 

1875 

227408 

1879  

177,826 

K72   

404  806 

1876 

169,986 

1880  

457,257 

H7* 

459  803 

1877 

141  857 

1881  

669,431 

Of  the  arri  vr.l*  in  1881, 410,729  were  males  and  253,702  females.  There  were  153.718  from  Great  Britain 
and  Irelana;  210,485  from  Germany;  21,109  from  Austria;  11,890  from  China;  102,922  from  Quebec  and 
Ontario:  14,4?,7  from  Nova  Scotia  ;  40,760  from  Sweden  :  22,795  from  Norway;  15,387  from  Italy  ;  5,227  from 
France;  9,117  from  Denmark,  and  11,293  from  Switzerland. 


TABULATED  HISTORY— PATENT  FEES. 


93 


SIGNERS  OF  THE  DECLARATION  OF1  INDEPENDENCE.    IN  CONGRESS  ASSEM 
BLED  JUL.Y  4th,  1TT6. 

The  following  list  of  members  of  the  Continental  Congress,  who  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
(although  the  nanv  s  are  included  in  the  general  list  of  that  Congress,  from  1774  to  1778),  is  given  separately 
for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  places  and  dates  of  their  birth,  and  the  times  of  their  respective  deatns,  tor 
convenient  reference : 


NAMES  OF  THE  SIGNERS. 

BORN  AT 

DELEGATED  FROM 

DIED. 

Adam''  John          

Braintree,  Mass.,  19  Oct.  1735  
Boston,  Mass.,  27  S  'pt,  1722  
Amesburv,  Mass.,  in  Nov.  1729  
Newington,  Va,  10  Sept.  1736  
Annapolis,  Md.,  20  Sept  1737  ...  . 

4  July,  1826. 
2  Oct.  18JC5. 
19  !Mav  1705. 
10  Oct.  1797. 
14  November,  1832. 
19  June,  i«ll. 
—  September,  1794. 
23  Jan.  1813. 
15  Feb.  1820. 
4  Aug  18''l 

Adams,  Samuel  
Bartle't   Josiah  

'Massachusetts  . 

New  Hampshire  
Virginia 

Braxton  Carter 

Carroll,  Chas  of  Carrollton.. 
Cha«e,  Samuel  

i  Maryland  

Somerset  Co.,  Md.,  17  Apr.  1741.  ... 
Elizabethtown,  N.  J.,  15  Feb.  1726 
Philadelphia.  Pa.,  in  1739.  
Newport,  R.  I.,  22  Dec.  1727  

Suffolk  Co  N.  Y  17  Dec  1734 

(Maryland.         

Clark,  Abraham  

New  Jersey  

Pennsylvania  
R.  I.  &  Prov.  PI  
New  York 

El'lery,  William  , 

Floyd   William            

Franklin,  Benjamin  
Gerry,  Elbridge  
Gwinnet   Button             ..  . 

Boston,  Mass.,  17  Jan.  1706  

Pennsylvania.,  

17  April,  1790. 
23  November,  1814. 
27  May,  1777. 
—  Feb.  1790. 
8  Oct.  1793. 
—  April,  1791. 
1880. 
—  March,  180ft 
10  Oct.  1779. 
—  Oct.  1790. 
13  July,  1785. 
5  Jan.  179(5. 
9  Mav,  1790. 
4  July.  1826. 
19  June,  1794. 
—  April,  1797. 
30  Dec.  1803. 
•12  June,  1778. 
Lost  at  sea,  1779 
24  June,  1817. 
1  Jan.  1787. 
22  Jan.  1798. 
8  May,  1806 
—  April,  1777. 
4  Jan.  1789. 
.,  1709 

Marblehead,  Mass.,  1  July  1744..  . 
Eneland  in  1732 

Massachusetts 

Georgia 

Hal  1  Ly  man 

Connecticut  in  1731  

Georgia  

Hancock,  John  iBraintree,  Mass.,  in  1737 

Massachusetts  
Virginia  

Harrison   Benjamin             i  Berkley  Va             , 

Hart,  John  HonewelL  N.J..  in  1715  

New  Jersey  

Heyward  Thomas  Jr 

St.  Luke's,  S,  C.,  in  1746  
Kingston  N  J  in  1730  . 

South  Carolina  
North  Carolina  
North  Carolina  
R.I.  &  Prov.  PI  
Connecticut 

Hewes  Joseph 

Hooper,  William  

Boston,  Mass.,  17  June,  1742  

Hopkins  Stephen 

Scituate,  Mass.,  7  Mar.,  1707  
Windham,  Conn.,  3  July  1732  
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  in  1737.  .  . 

Hookinson,  Francis  
Jefferson,  Thomas  

Shadwell,  Va.,  13  Apr.  1734  
Stratford  Va  20  Jan  1732 

Virginia    

Virginia 

Lee,  Francis  Lightfoot  
Lewis  Francis  F 

Stratford,  Va.,  14  Oct.  1734  
Landaff,  Wales,  in  Mar.  1713  
Albany,  N.  Y.,  15  Jan.  1716  
St.  George's,  S.  C.,  5  Aug.  1749  
Chester  Co..  Pa.,  19  Mar  1734  
Middleton  Place,  S.C.,  in  1743  
Morrissianna,  N.  Y.,  in  1726  
Lancashire,  Eng.,  Jan.  1733-4  
Ridley  Pa  iti  17?4 

Virginia  

New  York  

New  York 

Lynch,  Thomas,  Jr 

South  Carolina  

McKean,  Thomas  
Middleton,  Arthur  

Delaware           .  . 

South  Carolina  

Morris  Lewis  

New  York  
Pennsylvania  

Morris  Robert 

Nelson'Thomas,  Jr  «... 
Paca,  Wm  
Paine,  Robert  Treat  
Penn  John      

York  \^a  26  Dec  1738 

Virginia  

Wye-Hill,  Md.,  31  Oct.  1740  
Boston,  Mass.,  in  1731  

Massachusetts  
North  Carolina  
Delaware 

11  May,  1804. 
26  Oct.  1800. 
•    •        •  1708 

Caroline  Co  ,  Va.,  17  May  1741  
Cecil  Co  Md  in  1734 

Read,  George  

Dover,  Del.  in  1730  

,  1783. 
—  July,  i77i>. 
19  April,  1813. 
23  Jan.  18<K). 
23  July,  1793. 
11  July,  1806. 
28  Feb.  1781. 
5  Oct.  1787. 
23  Feb.  1781. 
24  June,  1803. 
2  Feb.  1804 
28  Nov.  1785. 
2  Aug.  1811. 
28  Aug.  1798. 
15  Nov.  1794. 
1  Dec.  1797. 
8  June,  1806. 

R<~>s<*  George  

New  Castle  Del  in  1730 

Pennsylvania  

Rush,  Benjamin,  M.  D  
Rutledge,  Edward  

Byberry  Pa  24  Dec  1745 

Pennsylvania 

Charleston,  S.C.,  in  Nov.  1743  
Newton,  Mass.,  19  Apr.  1721  

South  Carolina  

Sherman  Roger 

Connecticut  

Stockton,  Richard  
Stone  Thomas 

Princeton,  l^.J.,  1  Oct.  1730.  .1. 
Charles  Co    Md    in  1742  

New  Jersey  
Maryland  

,  Ireland,  in  1716  

Pennsylvania          .     . 

Thornton  Matthew 

New  Hampshire  
Georgia  

Walton  George 

Frederick  Co.,'Va.,  in  1740  
Kittery  Maine  in  1730 

Whipple  Wm     ..    . 

New  Hampshire  
Connecticut  
Pennsylvania  

Williams,  Wm  

Lebanon,  Conn.,  8  Apr.  1731  
Scotland  ab~>ut  (742  

Wilson  James  

Witherspoon,  John  
Wolcott,  Oliver  

Yester.  Scotland,  5  Feb.  1722  
Windsor,  Conn.,  26  Nov.  1726  
Elizabeth  City  Co.,  Va.,  in  1726... 

New  Jersey  

Wythe  George 

Virginia 

ANTE-WAR  DEBTS  OP  THE  SEVERAL  STATES. 

TABLE  showing  the  Debts  of  the  several  States  before  the  war  (1800-61). 


STATES. 

In  1860-61. 

STATES. 

In  1860-61. 

Maine 

$699  500 

Iowa 

200.00C 

31  669 

24,734,000 

150,00^ 

7,132,627 

Kentucky  

4,729,234 

Rhode  Island  

none, 

California  

55,372 

New  York 

34  182  976 

33,248.141 

'loi'ooo 

9,129,50* 

37  964  602 

3,091,*74 

2,670,750 

Maryland  



Florida  

3S3  000 

Ohio  

14.250,173 
7  770  '^33 

none. 

Michigan  

2,388.843 

Louisiana  

10,023,90* 

Illinois  

10?77,lrtl 
100  000 

3,m»2,r.23 

i  'con  in  

''50  OUO 

10,643,666 

" 

94 


AMERICAN  POLITICS. 


CANDIDATES  FOR  PRESIDENT  AND  VICE  PRESIDENT, 

Since  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  March  1st,  1789. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  Presidents  and  Vice- Presidents  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  those  who 
were  candidates  for  each  office,  since  the  organization  of  the  Government :   (vide  pp.  21-25,  62.) 


1789— George  Washington*  and  John  Adams,  two 
terms,  no  opposition. 

,  1797— John  Adams,  opposed  by  Thomas  Jefferson,* 
who,  having  the  next  highest  electoral  vote,  became 
Vice  President. 

1801— Thomas  Jefferson* and  Aaron  Burr;  beating 
John  Adams  and  Charles  C.  Pinckney.* 

1805— Thomas  Jefferson*  and  George  Clinton ; 
beating  Charles  C.  Pinebney*  and  Rufus  King. 

18t)0— James  Madison*  and  George  Clinton ;  beat 
ing  Charles  C.  Pinckney.* 

18  «3— James  Madison*  and  Eldridge  Gerry  ;  beat 
ing  DeWitt  Clinton. 

1817— James  Monroe*  and  Daniel  D.  Tompkins  ; 
besting  Rufus  King. 

1821— James  Monroe*  and  Daniel  D.  Tompkins; 
beating  John  Quincy  Adams. 

1825— John  Quincy  Adams  and  John  O.  Calhoun  ;* 
beating  Andrew  Jackson,*  Henry  Clay,*  and  Wil 
liam  H.  Crawford  ;*  there  being  four  candidates  for 
President,  and  Albert  Gallatin  for  Vice  President. 

1829— Andrew  Jackson*  and  John  C.  Calhoun*; 
beating  John  Quincy  Adams  and  Richard  Rush. 

1833— Andrew  Jackson*  and  Martin  Van  Buren ; 
beating  Henry  Clay  *  John  Floyd,*  and  William  Wirt 
for  President;  and  William  Wilkins,  John  Sergeant, 
aii'l  Henry  Lee*  for  Vice  President. 

1837 — Martin  Van  Buren  and  Richard  M.  John 
son*;  beating  William  H.  Harrison,  Hugh  L.  White, 
and  Daniel  Webster  for  President,  and  John  Tyler* 
for  Vice  President. 

1841— William  H.  Harrison  and  John  Tyler* ;  beat- 
iug  Martin  Van  Buren  and  Littleton  W.  Tazewell.* 


Harrison  died  one  month  after  his  inauguration 
and  John  Tyler*  became  President  for  the  rest  of 
the  term. 

1845— James  K.  Polk*  and  George  M.  Dallas ;  beat 
ing  Henry  Clay*  and  Theodore  Frelingrhuy-en. 

1849— Zachary  Taylor*  and  Mi!I*rd  Fillmore;  beat 
ing  l>wis  Cass  and  Martin  Van  Buren  for  President;^ 
and  William  O.  Butler*  and  C.  F.  Adams,  for  Vice 
Pres  dent. 

1853— franklin  Pierce  and  William  R.  King*: 
beating  Winn'eld  Scott  and  William  A.  Graham.* 

1857— James  Buchanan  and  John  C.  Breckin- 
ridge*;  beating  John  C.  Fremont  and  Millard  Fill- 
more  for  President,  and  William  L.  Dayton  and  A. 
J.  Donaldson*  for  Vice  President. 

1861— Abraham  Lincoln  and  Hannibal  Hamlin ; 
beating  John  Bell,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  J.  C. 
Breckinridg  -*  for  President. 

1865— Abraham  Lincoln  and  „  ndrew  Johnson,* 
Union  candidates ;  beating  G.  B.  McClellan  and  G. 
H.  Pendleton. 

1*69— Ulysses  S  Grant  and  Schuyler  Col  fax;  beat 
ing  Horatio  Seymour  and  Fr^nk  P.  Blair,  jr. 

1873— Ulysses  S.  Grant  and  Henry  Wjlson  ;  beating 
Horace  Greeley  and  B.  Gratz  Brown,  for  President 
and  Vice  President. 

1877— Rutherford  B.  Hayes  and  Wm.  A.  Wheeler ; 
beating  Samuel  Tilden  and  Thomas  A.  Hendiicks. 

1881— James  A.  Garfield  and  Chester  A.  Arthur; 
beating  General  W.  S.  Hancock  and  W.  H.  English. 
Arthur  .succeeded  Garfield,  after  his  death  from  as 
sassination,  Sept.  19, 1881,  and  David  Davis  is  now 
Acting  Vice  President. 


*  Candidates  from  Southern  States. 


NUMBER  OF  ELECTORAL  VOTES  TO  WHICH  EACH  STATE  HAS  BEEN  ENTI 
TLED,  AT   EACH  ELECTION,  1789-1816. 


STATES. 

1 

§ 

g 

§ 

i 

1 

2 

GO 

w 

GO 

1 

3 

1 

S 

i 

i 

•*t> 

00 

i 

S 

H 

£ 

1 

i 

S 

cc 

(M 

£ 

| 

1 

3 

5 

5 

7 

7 

3 

j 

9 

3 

9 
3 

J 

< 

9 

^ 

4 

8 

| 

{ 

10 
6 
6 

K 
6 
( 
t 
6 
3 

^ 

11 
21 
15 
11 

12 
8 
7 
8 
13 
11 
5 
8 
15 
3 
3 
5 
9 
36 

10 
22 
3 
20 
4 
7 
1-2 
8 
5 
11 
5 
10 

12 
7 
8 
3 
6 
3 
4 
12 
22 
15 
13 
9 
13 
8 
6 
8 
14 
13 
7 
9 
16 
5 
3 
4 
9 
36 
11 
23 
3 
30 
4 
9 
12 
13 
4 
12 
6 
11 

Connecticut  ... 
Delaware  

Florida 

7 
3 

9 
3 

9 
3 

9 
3 

9 

• 

<j 
3 

9 
4 

9 
4 

9 
4 

8 
3 

8 
3 

8 
3 

8 

C 

"ii 

5 
9 

8 
3 

"ii 

£ 

f 
3 

"if 
0 

12 

6 
3 

6 

r 

3 

6 
3 

6 
3 

6 

6 
3 
4 
11 
21 
15 
11 
5 
12 
8 
7 
8 
13 
11 
5 
8 
15 
3 
3 
5 
9 
35 
10 

1 

29 
4 
7 
12 
8 
5 
11 
5 
10 

5 

4 

4 

4 

6 

6 

8 

8 

8 
3 

*J 

1 

9 
3 

5 

11 
9 

10 
9 

12 

4 

K 
11 
1:1 
4 

ii 

11 

13 

4 

K 
11 
13 
4 

9 
16 
13 
* 
3 
11 
7 
7 
7 
12 
8 
4 
7 
11 

1 

K 
13 
8 

11 

»- 

7 
7 
12 
8 
4 
7 
11 
3 
3 
5 

7 

33 
9 
21 
3 
2(5 
4 
6 
10 
6 
6 
10 
5 
8 

« 

4 

4 

4 

8 

8 

12 
3 

12 

| 

12 
3 
9 
11 
15 

14 
5 
fl 

11 
15 

14 
5 

0 
11 
15 

15 
5 
10 
10 
14 

15 
5 
10 
10 
14 
3 

15 

i< 

10 
14 
3 

12 
6 
9 
8 
12 
5 

12 
6 
9 
8 

12 
5 

12 
6 
8 
8 

13 
6 

12 
6 
8 

8 

13 

I 

12 
6 
8 
8 
13 
6 
4 
7 
1 

Maine  

8 
10 

10 
16 

10 
16 

10 
16 

11 
19 

11 

19 

11 
22 

11 

22 

Massachusetts  

Mississippi  

3 
3 

3 
3 

3 
3 

4 
4 

4 
4 

4 
4 

6 
7 

6 
7 

7 
9 

7 
9 

Missouri  

Nevada  

3 
5 
7 
33 
9 
21 
3 
20 
4 
f> 
10 
6 
5 
10 
5 
8 

New  Hampshire  
New  Jersey  
New  York  

5 
1 

8 

7 

6 
7 
12 
12 

6 
7 
12 
12 

6 
7 
12 
12 

7 
8 
19 
14 
3 

7 
8 
19 
14 
3 

8 
8 

29 
15 
8 

8 
8 

20 
15 
8 

8 
8 
2!) 
15 
8 

8 
8 

36 
15 
16 

8 
8 

36 
15 
16 

7 
8 
42 
15 
21 

7 
8 
42 
15 
21 

7 
8 
42 
15 
21 

6 

7 
30 
11 
23 

6 
7 
3(5 
11 
23 

5 
7 
35 
Id 
23 

5 
7 
35 
10 

23 

5 
7 
36 
10 
23 
3 
27 
4 
8 
12 
4 
6 
15 

North  Carolina  
<  >hio               

Pennsylvania  

10 
3 

7 

15 

4 

8 

15 
4 
8 
3 

15 

20 

20 

25 

25 

25 

28 

28 

3D 

30 

30 

21'. 

26 

27 

27 
4 
8 
12 
4 
5 
15 

South  Carolina  
Tennessee  

8 

3 

10 
5 

10 
5 

11 
8 

11 

8 

11 
8 

11 
11 

11 
11 

11 
15 

11 
15 

11 
15 

0 
13 

9 
13 

S 

17 

8 
12 
4 
5 

15 

4 
21 

4 

21 

4 
21 

6 
24 

6 
24 

8 

25 

8 
25 

8 
25 

7 
24 

7 
24 

7 

23 

7 
2:5 

7 
23 

6 

17 

12 

West  Virginia 

4      5 

5 

5 

Total  

91 
13 

135 
.15 

138 
16 

138 
16 

176 
17 

176 
17 

218 
18 

221 
19 

235 
24 

261 
24 

261 
24 

28S 
24 

294 
26 

294 
26 

275 

26 

2'JO 
30 

296 
31 

296 
31 

303 
33 

314 
36 

317 
37 

366 
37 

3G9 
38 

401 
38 

Number  of  States.... 

THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

RENEWED  BOOKS  ARE  SUBJECT  TO  IMMEDIATE 
RECALL 


LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  S]ip-50m-8,'66(G5530s4)458 


N2  486345 

E695 
Cooper,  T.V.  C682 

Campaign  of  '84. 


LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY^FCALIFORNIA 


